Dialogue on the Wisdom of the Kabbalah and the Antiquity of the Book of the Zohar

This is the first complete translation of Dialogue on Kabbalah, a literary-philosophical dialogue composed by the great Italian Jewish scholar Samuel David Luzzatto (1800–1865), also known as Shadal. Originally published in Hebrew in 1852, the Dialogue depicts a multi-faceted and acrimonious disputation between two scholars, who debate the authority and authenticity of Jewish mystical traditions. This work subjects Kabbalah, along with its textual centerpiece the Zohar, to both a rigorous critique and an impassioned defense, thereby inviting the reader to critically examine this centuries-old debate. The topics discussed in this dialogue—in which both protagonists display an impressive degree of textual and rhetorical competence—range across history, philosophy, philology, liturgy, theology, literature, and law.