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Article: Apocalyptic for the Millennium.
- Article from:
- Judaism
- Article date:
- January 1, 1999
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1999 American Jewish Congress. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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I WAS TAUGHT BY HERMANN COHEN AND MARTIN BUBER, who did not otherwise always agree, that I should beware of Apocalypticism at all costs. Biblical Prophecy, they thought, issued in two streams: Jewish ethics and law on the one hand, and proto-gnostic heresies on the other. I should remember that while Judaism occasionally produced some strange dualistic (Persian?) texts, the canon limited itself to a knowledge of God's will for us in the form of mitzoot, especially, in ethical behavior
Gershom Scholem exploded my self-confidence. He uncovered messianic and mystical texts that were clearly apocalyptic or even worse. The Dead Sea Scrolls included strange and ...