About the Author

Gershom Scholem (1897 1982) was a noted authority on Jewish mysticism. His scholarly achievements were enormous in the field of Jewish mysticism. No other contemporary writer equaled him in breadth of knowledge, depth of perception, and power of synthesis. Among his numerous publications were Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941), Jewish Gnosticism, Merkabah Mysticism, and the Talmudic Tradition (1960), The Messianic Idea in Judaism (trans. 1971), Sabbatai Zevi, the Mystical Messiah (1973), and Kabbalah (1974). Klaus Ottmann is a philosopher, writer, and curator based in New York. He has written numerous essays on art, design, and philosophy, and is the author of The Genius Decision: The Extraordinary and the Postmodern Condition; The Essential Michelangelo; The Essential Mark Rothko; Wolfgang Laib: A Retrospective; and James Lee Byars: Life, Love, and Death. He is the curator of the sixth SITE Santa Fe international biennial, which takes place between July and December 2006.