Lamentations of Youth: The Diaries of Gershom Scholem 1913–1919

While best known for his foundational works on the history of Jewish mysticism, the German-born Gershom Scholem's interests were not only wide ranging but so advanced as to still be pertinent in contemporary academic thought. This substantial selection from his unpublished youthful diaries, written when Scholem was between the ages of 16 and 22, is a major addition to his published work: even in his late teen years, Scholem is a full-blown intellectual writing profoundly about important religious and social issues and taken seriously by established scholars like Martin Buber. These entries detail everyday happenings—including Scholem's extraordinarily close friendship with Walter Benjamin—as well as his musings on a wide range of topics, including the new Zionist movement. There is also a passion that conveys Scholem's humanity; when friends were killed in WWI, he wrote: “The old men should be shipped off to war. They can kill one another if they want, they shouldn't rob youth of its blood, which is a vicious act against the future of society.” These diaries are vital reading for anyone interested in 20th-century Jewish culture, Jewish mysticism and the history of Zionism. (Jan.)