Kabbalah: Occultism in “science fiction”

Kabbalah:  Occultism in “science fiction”

In the trilogy pertaining to the title, three aspects of Science Fiction-New Age thought will be examined as an outgrowth of ideas derived from the mysticism of the Kabbalah. In Part 1 the theory of “extraterrestrial life” will be examined; in part 2 the “hollow earth” theory, and in part 3 the theory of “pre-Adamians”. The last two theories are completely intertwined and dependent on the first, as will be evident in the respective articles. 

The trilogy is completed with an Appendix. In it, the source is given in translation, namely. pages 15a-16a of the work by Rabbi Pinchas Elijah Hurwitz (1765-1821), titled “Sepher ha-Breet” (Bible of the Testament, 1797). The rabbi was a Lithuanian Jew who lived in Vilna. In his time, the scattered Jewish groups who were living in ghettos were severely lacking in learning about the social and intellectual changes taking place in the rest of Europe. He - along with other rabbis of his time - had undertaken to help Jewish thought to pursue the current trend and create a Jewish “enlightenment”. This is explained, by the fact that he was a Kabbalist and consequently a radical.

In his time the Jews, cut off from developments, had not realized that the philosophy of Europe was no longer an advanced Aristotelianism. Rabbis like Hurwitz tried to present the new currents of thought in a more Jewish manner. His book, “Sepher ha-Breet”, was an amalgam of new scientific and geographical discoveries spiked with a strong dose of Kabbalistic metaphysics intended to introduce the Jews to the new world. It quickly became a best-seller in Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. For the new radical current, its conflict with conservatism and the role of Pinchas Elijah Hurwitz, I will not refer to the work “Fiddler on the Roof”, but to Yoel Matveyef and his work titled “Between Enlightenment and Romanticism, Computational Kabbalah of Rabbi Pinchas Elijah Hurwitz” History and Philosophy of Logic 32 (2011), pp. 85-101.

George Hadzistamatiou   Researcher
Translation: K. N.