The Kabbalistic Shovel in Masonic Textual Archaeology: Kabbalah in Nineteenth-Century Freemasonry

In the liberal atmosphere of the July Monarchy (1830–1848) new scientificity was gaining ground in historiography. The Rankean ideal of exploring wie es eigentlich gewesen qua the objective of historical enquiry became the guiding principle of positivism, an approach that relied on primary sources, source criticism, and comparative historical method. The religious freedom of the period secured free enquiry into the history of religions, which had a strong syncretising characteristic. In Masonic science, the quest for uncovering the shared essence of all religions that was putatively preserved in Freemasonry became an important theme in contemporary masonic literature. The talk will demonstrate how Kabbalah, the ancient lore of the Jewish people, was looked upon in this milieu as a tool that could uncover this essence. Through visual and textual Kabbalistic-Masonic sources I will also address the question of how Kabbalistic ideas were used by Jewish Freemasons to provide underpinnings for the Jewish origin of Freemasonry narrative in order to fight discrimination against Jews within the fraternity. 

Dr Peter Lanchidi earned his PhD at the Ben-Gurion University as an Azrieli Fellow and has a background in Jewish studies, art history and aesthetics. Previously, he worked in legal practice for several years. His research focuses on the interplay between Kabbalah and Freemasonry, nineteenth-century Masonic visual material, and Jewish-Christian relations within Freemasonry. Currently, he teaches in the Eötvös Loránd University (ELTE) in Budapest and is part of an Israeli research project on Jewish Western Esotericism. 

The Kabbalah lecture series in Budapest organised and co-hosted by  Eötvös Loránd University & Jewish Theological Seminary—University of Jewish Studies. It offers scholars, students, and the public the opportunity to gain insight into some of the latest results of modern Kabbalah scholarship. The five guest speakers will present novel, hitherto little understood aspects of the long and variegated history of Kabbalah and Kabbalah research from the early modern period up until the present time. The speakers will deliver talks on topics from their field of expertise, exploring questions on Kabbalah and book culture, Jewish Magic, Freemasonry, Mysticism, and Protestantism. 

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