“Spinoza is without any doubt a kabbalist”: on previously unknown translation of the book Elucadrius Cabbalisticus (“Explanation of Kabbalah”) by Johann Wachter

Abstract

This article is devoted to the previously unknown translation of the book of the German philosopher Johann Wachter Elucidarius cabbalisticus. This book deals with philosophy of Benedict Spinoza, which the author understands in connection with Jewish mysticism, Kabbalah. The translation into Russian was made by Semen Novikov in 1820 but remained unpublished. The article expounds on the content of the manuscript; the manuscript itself is being examined in the broad context of Masonic literature of the 18th — 19th centuries related to Kabbalah. The main idea of Wahter’s book is that Kabbalah is an ancient doctrine, a certain form of primordial philosophy or wisdom that is transmitted by the Jews. It is transmitted secretly, in order to avoid profanisation. Spinoza’s philosophy is a form of the elite Kabbalah, the origin of which he was concealing, avoiding Hebrew and unnecessary references to Kabbalistic texts. The main match of Spinoza and Kabbalah is in the formula: “Nature is God, but God is not nature”. The translation made by Semen Novikov is a clear evidence of interest in Jewish mysticism among Russian thinkers of the early 19th century. It demonstrates the fact that Russian Freemasons not only were the agents of western values and western philosophy but were also the fi rst to have conceptualised in Russian a signifi cant amount of European humanities, part of which is Kabbalah.

Keywords

• Spinoza
• Kabbalah
• Jewish mysticism
• Johann Wachter
• Freemasonry
• history of Freemasonry in Russia
• philosophy of Spinoza
• Theophan Prokopovich
• Jewish philosophy
• esotericism
• tradition