Introduction to Shadal’s Dialogue

This chapter provides the broader historical and philosophical context for this text at hand, as well as gives an overview and analysis of the Dialogue itself. It begins with an overview of the history of Kabbalah and Zohar criticism between the thirteenth century and the nineteenth century, thereby placing this text in its correct intellectual tradition. It outlines the spiritual and intellectual biography of Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), clarifying the central role that this text plays in the intellectual development of one of Europe’s most prolific and influential Judaic scholars of this period. It points out the unique characteristics of the Dialogue, arguing that its literary and intellectual qualities bestow upon it a rare place in rabbinic history. It then proffers two new readings of the Dialogue (classified here as the typological and the ideological readings), arguing that this work contains multiple layers of tension and argumentation which collectively serve to draw the reader into the debate. Finally, it outlines the reception of the Dialogue when it was finally published in 1852, describing both the positive and negative reactions elicited by its arguments.