Conclusion

This concluding chapter describes how previous studies of Judah Loew ignored his theology. Moreover, previous studies have attempted to portray him as he was not, i.e., as a proto-modern. Thus, a penultimate goal of this book has been to demonstrate the cohesion amongst the events which constitute Loew's biography, the mystical theology contained in his massive writings, and the social conditions which evoked his concern. It provides a first attempt at a comprehensive study of the major themes of Loew's theology of Judaism. Ultimately, Judah Loew's world view derived from Jewish religious tradition, specifically from Jewish mystical tradition. The chapter then considers how Jewish life and thought in Central and Eastern Europe have been neglected by modern Jewish scholarship. Historians of Jewish mysticism have virtually disregarded the significant contributions of late medieval Jewish European mystics to the development of Jewish mystical speculation.