Between Safed and Vienna: Chaijm Bloch’s 1927 Translation of Sefer ha-Hezyonot to

German.

Boaz Huss (draft)

Gershom Scholem described Vital’s Sefer ha-Hezyonot as “one of the most curious and revealing

documents we possess, for very few authors have revealed their most intimate thoughts and

feelings with such disconcerting candor.1”

Many interesting studies were dedicated to this curious and revealing document, and we

have just heard two fascinating lectures about the book and its historical context. I will not add

another discussion of the book, or its context. Rather, I will speak about one of its later

reincarnations – a German rendering of Sefer ha-Hezyonot, which was published in Vienna in

1927, under the title The Memoire the Kabbalist Vital, by the independent orthodox scholar,

imaginative author and anti-Zionist polemicist, Rabbi Chajim Bloch (1881-1973). This, I

promise you, is also a most curious and revealing document.

Chajim Bloch (1881-1973), was born in Galicia, where he was ordained as a Rabbi, and

started publishing articles in the Jewish Press. Later, he moved to Vienna, and in 1919, he

published a book about the Golem of Prague, 2 which was trnslated to English, French and Dutch.

In the following years, he published many more books in German, on Kabbalah and Hasidism

(including a German rendition of Shivhei ha-Ari), 3 Jewish folklore and humor,4 and other

topics.5 In 1923, he published, in Hebrew, a collection of original letters from the Baal Shem Tov

and his diciples,6 that contained forged documents.7 Bloch was published in Hartmann’s 1931

International Directory of Psychic Science and Spiritualism, as a Cabbalist advisor and

practitioner.8 (I am indebted to Sam Glauber for this information).

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 In 1939 Bloch immigrated to the United States, where he continued his literary and

scholarly work, mostly in Hebrew. Several of his writings at that period were dedicated to his

anti-Zionist polemics and to controversies with other orthodox Rabbis. His book Dovev Siftei

Yeshenim, a collections of letters written by Hassidic and Rabbincal autorities against Zionism,

contains forgereis, which possibly were made by Bloch himself. 9 Bloch died in New York City

in 1973.

Bloch 1927 abridged and revised translation of Sepher ha-Hezyonot, opens with a preface

written by Franz Spunda (1890-1963), a well-known author of Esoteric literature and a German

nationalist, who later joined the Austrian National Socialist party. Although Spunda praises

Sefer ha-Hezyonot, for its scientific core and its magical poetry, his criticizes Judaism for its

legalistic nature. Kabbalah, which consists of manipulating the astral light through letters and

numbers, he wrote, is difficult for an Aryan to understand because of its strict mathematical

rules. However, he says, the 19th century French occultists, Eliphaz Levi, Stanislas de Guaita and

Papus, succeeded to comprehend Kabbalah in a scientific way, which is confirmed by modern

parapsychological research.

Bloch added as a postscript to his translation of Sefer ha-Hezyonot, a letter he received

from the Jewish Psychoanalyst Wilhelm Stekel (1868 –1940). Stekel, who was born to a Jewish

orthodox family in Galicia, was a central member of Freud's psychoanalyt circle, although later,

Freud distanced himself from him.

By the way, Bloch, related in one of his later writings, that Stekel showed him notes of

erotic dreams of his patients, including “a dream of one of the leaders of Hassidism in Poland. 10”

Stekel indeed described a case of a Rabbi he treated, that was referred to him by Frued, in his

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book, Conditions of Nervous Anxiety and their Treatment. As Maya Balakirsly-Katz showed, this

Rabbi was the fifth Habad Rebbe, Shalom Dovber Schneerson. 11

In his postscript to Sefer ha-Hezyonot, Stekel writes that he found much interest in the

book, because it sheds light on the Kabbalah, and makes it more humane. However, he did not

find the book helpful in explaining mysticism, and asserted that from his standpoint, Kabbalah

was a psychopathological attempt to cure suffering and to restore disturbed emotional balance.

Nonetheless, Stekel reassured Bloch, Vital’s book pleased him much, from a Jewish

perspective. Every line of the book, he writes, speaks of the great idealism and incomparable

religious devotion of our forefathers. Their political powerlessness brought them to take the reins

of their destiny in their hands, and to try and bring an end to the misery of their Jewish existence

through secret methods.

I would like to turn now to Bloch’s own introduction to Sefer ha-Hezyonot. Bloch offers

a short discussion of the book and its editions, of the life and works of Hayyim Vital, and of the

Kabbalah. He dedicates several pages to dreams in Judaism, and mentions Freud’s

psychoanalytic approach to dreams.

Bloch asserts that he is aware that Vital’s stories may seem strange and difficult to

apprehend, and that some may regard them as pathological. However, he says, the stories reveal

Vital’s pure and saintly personality. Although the memoires do not present systematic teachings,

they reveal the hidden longing for the unattainable and endless Divinity. Vital’s stories, Bloch

says, are saturated with the old question, which still occupies the best writers of our time – “what

was I, before I became who I am today”. Bloch also emphasizes the Jewish national value of the

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book. He writes that the uniqueness and profoundness of Jewish legends is found in the longing,

aspirations and hopes of the people who were enslaved and oppressed for two thousand years.

Bloch tells of the background and the reasons for his decision to publish the translation of

Sefer ha-Hezyonot. He mentions the increasing interest in mysticism, the occult and the

Kabbalah, in German, as well as in English and French speaking countries, and the esoteric and

theosophical organizations that spring up like mushrooms.

Bloch relates that he received the drive to translate and publish Vital’s work, from three

publications that appeared at the time. The first was Aharon Marcus (1842-1946) book on

Hasidism, which was published in 1901, and offered a modern interpretation of Hasidism,

informed by the current psychological trends of his time. The second was the German translation

of Emanuel Swendenborgs book Heaven and Hell, in which the 18 th century Swedish visionary

describes the afterlife of spirits. The third book was the German translation of the visions and

miracles of the Indian Christian missionary Sadhu Sundar Singh, which were published by the

German theologian and scholar of religions, Friedrich Heiler (1892-1967) in 1924. If a leading

scholar such as Heiler did not shy from relating the wonders of the modern Sadhu, and to assure

their reality, says Bloch, I shouldn’t deny the modern reader an acquaintance with the stories of

Hayyim Vital.

Bloch asserts that he did not come to defend or promote Kabbalah, nor that he succumbed

to the literary fashion of the day. However, because he believes that the character and moral

power of a people is best known through its legends, he decided to present the secretes of

Judaism to the western world.

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 Bloch adds one more reason for publishing the book – the accusation of the notorious

anti-Semite theologian, August Rohling (1839-1931), in his book Polemics and Human Sacrifice

of Rabbinism, published in 1883, that there is a mention of ritualistic use of blood of Christian

virgins in Hayyim Vital’s Sefer ha-Likutim, Although Rohling`s accusations, were refuted, says

Bloch, many non-Jewish readers are still looking for incriminating evidence in Kabbalistic

books. Such readers, he writes, will become better informed when they will discover that there is

nothing else in the teaching of Kabbalah but a passionate and insatiable longing for perfection,

purity of action, and redemption of the Jewish people, and of humanity as a whole. 12

Bloch added a short postscript to his translation, dedicated to his friend Herbert Silberer,

who committed suicide a few years previously. Silberer (1882 –1923), was a

Viennese psychoanalyst and esotericist, whose extensive publications include a book on dreams,

and a book on the relationship between modern psychology, mysticism and esoteric

traditions.13 Sliberer had a falling-out with Freud, which may have been one of the reasons for

his suicide.

In the postscript, Bloch relates that Silberer encouraged him to publish the book, and

promised him to write an introduction in which he will discuss the mystical elements in Vital’s

dreams. Bloch relates that he discontinued his work on Sefer ha-Hezyonot following Silberer

suicide, but was later encouraged by Franz Spunda to complete the work.

In later years, Bloch related some more interesting stories concerning the publication of

Sefer ha-Hezyonot. In 1951, He published in Hebrew, a memoire entitled “My Meeting with

Freud and the argument I had with him about Moses our Prophet.”

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 In the memoire, Bloch tells that he started to translate Sefer ha-Hezyonot at the request of

Dr. Joseph Bloch. Dr. Joseph Bloch (1850-1923), who was not a related to Chajim, was an

Austrian rabbi, scholar and politician, who became known in 1885 for his fierce, and successful

debate with August Rohling. According to Chajim Bloch’s 1951 memoire, it was Joseph Bloch

who urged him to prepare the translation of Sefer ha-Hezyonot, because an article published in an

anti-Semite newspaper in 1923, repeated August Rohling’s accusations.

By the end of 1923, Joseph Bloch died, and soon afterwards, Silberer, who encouraged

him in his work, took his own life. Because of this, Chajim Bloch relates, he lost the desire to

continue with the translation. However, in the summer of 1925, he fell asleep, while reading

another book of Hayyim Vital, Shaarei Kedusah. In his dream, Dr. Joseph Bloch stood before

him, and told him, “why have you not translated Sefer ha-Hezyonot as you promised me. Rabbi

Hayyim Vital is standing next to me, and he also asks you to make good of your promise, and

your reward in heaven will be great”.

Chajim Bloch continues, and tells that following the dream, he visited Sigmund Freud,

and asked him to write a scientific introduction to the translation. Freud, says Bloch, read the

manuscript, declared that the book will be a great contribution to Psychoanalytic science, and

agreed to write the introduction.

Freud and Bloch continued their conversation, and now it was Freud’s turn to show

Bloch a manuscript of his – a research about Judaism which he was working on for many years.

“My heart sank and the hairs of my flesh stood up,” writes Bloch, “as I saw the chapter titles –

“Moses was an Egyptian from birth,” and “The Jews Killed Moses.”” Bloch describes a long and

heated discussion they had, in which he argued against Freud’s theory and the damage it will

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bring. The discussion concluded with Freud exclaiming – “I will not write the introduction to

your book, and I do not want to see your face again.”14

Before concluding, I would like to mention another interesting story concerning Bloch’s

edition of Sefer ha-Hezyonot. In two of his later publications, he tells of a visit he paid, in 1931,

to August Rohling, who was 92 at the time.15 According to Bloch, after a long conversation, in

which Rohling repeated his assertion that he had found evidence for Jewish ritualistic use of

Christian blood, in the Talmud, the Zohar, and in Vital’s Sefer ha-Likutim, Rohling asked Bloch

for a copy of his translation of Sefer ha-Hezyonot. According to Bloch, he gave him a copy with

the dedication: “To the most honorable Canonicus Prof. August Rohling, who was once a hater

of the Jews, from Chajim Bloch, a friend of the Christians and all human beings, as a memory of

my visit, and with the hope the God will give you the courage to admit that you were wrong is

your fight against Judaism.”

To conclude:

Chajim Bloch’s 1927 German translation of Sefer ha-Hezyonot, is indeed, a most curious and

revealing document. Its importance lies in the light is sheds on it author, Chajim Bloch, a

fascinating and influential figure, who has not been sufficiently studied yet, and on the Viennese

contexts of his literary activities in the interwar war period in Vienna. His translation of Sefer ha-

Hezyonot reveals the fascinating network of Jewish rabbis and scholars, occultist, scholars of

religion, and psychoanalysts, who were involved in Bloch’s production of the book. The stories

concerning the publication of the translation reveal not only the considerable literary talent of

Bloch, but also the different cultural factors that stimulated the interest in Sefer ha-Hezyonot, and

in Jewish Kabbalah at the time, and determined the ways Kabbalah was transmitted, studied and

interpreted. These cultural factors include modern psychology, western esotericism, religious

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studies, as well as Jewish nationalism, and Jewish responses to anti-Semitism. Although Bloch’s

translation may not contribute much to the understanding of the curious text which was created

in early modern period in the Ottoman Empire, it reveals much about the social factors and

cultural frameworks that shaped the interest and perception of the text in early 20 th century

Vienna. These factors and frameworks, which come to the fore in Bloch’s translation, still have a

considerable impact on the contemporary perceptions and studies of Vital’s Sefer ha-Hezyonot.

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1
Gershom Scholem, Sabbatai Sevi: The Mystical Messaiah, 26.
2
Der Prager Golem, Von Seiner "Geburt" Bis Zu Seinem "Tod." Mit Einem Geleitwort Von

Hans Ludwig Held (Wien: Verlag von Dr. Blochs Wochenschrift, 1919).
3
Kabbalistische Sagen (Leipzig: Verlag der Asia Major, 1925).
4
Ostjüdischer Humor (Berlin: B. Harz, 1920); Hersch Ostropoler, Ein Jüdischer Till-

Eulenspiegel Des 18. Jahrhunderts. Seine Geschichten Und Streiche (Berlin, Wien: B. Harz

Verlag, 1921).

Blut Und Eros Im Jüdischen Schrifttum Und Leben. Von Eisenmenger Über Rohling Zu 5

Bischoff. Mit Einem Nachwort Von Max Grunwald. Wien (Sensen-Verlag, 1935).

6
,‫ברלין‬-‫ וינא‬,'‫ על פי העתקות נאמנות ומדוייקות וכו‬,‫ קובץ מכתבים מקוריים מהבעש"ט ותלמידיו זי"ע‬,‫חיים בלוך‬

.‫ תרפ"ג‬,‫הוצאה עברית מנורה‬

7
‫ נדפס שנית בגרשם‬.104-106 '‫ עמ‬,1924 ,‫ תרפ"ד‬,‫ ב‬,‫ספר א‬-‫ קרית‬,‫ מכתבים מקוריים מהבעש"ט‬,‫גרשם שלום‬

‫ יונתן מאיר במאמר‬.‫ שם‬,‫ מאת דוד אסף‬,‫ וראה את הנספח הביבליוגרפי למאמר‬. 374-376 ,‫ השלב האחרון‬,‫שלום‬

.‫ עמד על כך שבארכיון שלום ישנה התכתבות בין שלום לבלוך‬,‫הביקורת שלו על השלב האחרון‬
8
William C. Hartmann & Harry Price, Hartmann's international directory of psychic science and

spiritualism: the only book of its kind in the world (Jamaica, N.Y: Occult Press, 1931), 53, 93.

9
‫ מכתבים מזויפים‬,‫ זיוף המכתבים נדון בספרו של שמואל הכהן וינגרטן‬,‫ תשכ"ה‬-‫ ניו יורק תשי"ט‬,‫דובב שפתי ישנים‬

.‫ ירושלים תשמ"ב‬,‫נגד הציונות על שמם של גדולי ישראל‬

.55 '‫ עמ‬,‫ היכל לדברי חז"ל ופתגמיהם‬,‫ בלאך‬10

11
Balakirsky-Katz, An Occupational Neurosis: A Psychoanalytic Case History of a Rabbi

9
12
Bloch, Lebenserinnerungen, 37; Balakirsky-Katz, A Rabbi, a Priest, and a Psychoanalyst 10.
13
Silverer, Probleme der Mystik und ihrer Symbolik
14
Bloch tells of his meetings with Freud also in his introduction to Heichal le-Divrei Hazal, p. 35

(but without any reference to this story)

15
Published in Ha-Olam, and republished in ‫ודע מה שתשיב‬, pp. 57-72.

10