Myśliciele żydowscy XX wieku – Gershom Scholem (1897–1982)
Jewish thinkers of the 20th century – Gershom Scholem (1897–1982)

Summary/Abstract: The contribution of the Jewish thinkers to world philosophy is difficult to measure. Many of them became assimilated, adapting their mentality to the mentality of the countries in which they lived. It is worth mentioning here such figures as Henri Bergson, Léon Brunschvicg, Georg Simmel and Ernst Cassirer. Franz Rosenzweig, Martin Buber or Emmanuel Levinas traced their thinking back to religious and historic origins. They attempted to explain away philosophical and universal problems, reinstating Jewish and biblical metaphysics, without formally referring to the Jewish thought. However, when they devote themselves to their own work, they are Jewish through and through. There is yet another group of Jews: agnostic and atheistic Jews desperately seeking salvation, striving to discover their own identities, shattered by Shoah. I undertake to analyse the output of these thinkers, who, as it were, feel uncomfortable in their own skin. Gershom Scholem’s considerations of messianism, hasidism and kabbalah show different ways of seeking the identity of being Jewish and understanding the history of Judaic thought.

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