This chapter traces recurring topics of the entire modern period and its academic treatment, summarizing the differences between subperiods, briefly pointing at domains for further research, and outlining current scholarly trends. Modern Kabbalah has consistently returned to the Lurianic corpus and to the general themes of gender, messianism and experience. It canbe divided into three phases: early, high and late modernity. A crisis of authority posed by Sabbateanism and blended with a more general religious crisis distinguishes the early modern period. This was in turn resolved through the high modern canons of the eighteenth century, an era of stabilization and proliferation of Kabbalah. The rapprochement between Kabbalah and philosophy characterizes the late modern period, along with its messianism, modernism and globalization. Possible areas for future research include a survey of the commentaries on Luria, a treatment of the modern kabbalistic exegesis of a handful of earlier binding sources and a discussion on the role of technology — both in the facilitating and propagation of Kabbalah, and as a theme in kabbalistic discourse.

This chapter examines modern Kabbalah’s autonomous yet continuous relationship with premodern Kabbalah. Its autonomy is attributed to various external factors such as new technologies, geopolitical and ideological shifts, vernacular developments and dramatic historical events. These factors are evident in the self-consciousness of modern kabbalists and reflected in a shift toward larger fraternal groups, as well as increasingly disseminated personal, exoteric styles of writing. The continuity is presented through a synopsis of medieval Kabbalah, which addresses a few continuous themes: exegesis, which includes a discussion of the commitment to certain sacral texts as well as its theosophy (primarily the sefirotic system), theurgy, gender and magic (albeit with some reservation). This synopsis concludes with a comparative reflection addressing medieval Kabbalah’s relationship to Christianity and Islam. The author closes by stressing that modern kabbalists inherited not a doctrine but a series of complexities and debates, which, fueled by the dynamic processes of modernity, accounts for the richness and vastness that is modern Kabbalah.

Kabbalah’s impact as a catalyst on mass social movements, effect on European intellectual life, quantitative vastness and global reach, and its qualitative complex diversity in theosophical systems, techniques, experiences and conflicts cannot be overstated. Nonetheless, the serious treatment of these topics has been limited to specified studies. This book represents the first attempt to provide modern Kabbalah with a comprehensive history, beginning from the mid-sixteenth-century spiritual revolution that took place in the Galilean town of Safed, up until the present day. The implications of the book include the need to place modern Kabbalah within its own context both as autonomous from but also continuous with earlier periods, as well as within a broader Jewish and extra-Jewish historical context. It will offer an account of central schools, figures, works and themes, and a treatment of recent and contemporary developments. Moreover, it will provide a critical history of scholarship in various languages but will prioritize the texts themselves, reflecting their prominence in Kabbalah. Finally, it will point toward areas for further research in the study of modern Kabbalah.