Hryhorii Skovoroda and the Traditions of Judaica in Kyiv and Kharkiv

Abstract

In contemporary Ukrainian humanities scholarship, the concept of Judaica has increasingly entered academic circulation; however, its historical roots within the national scholarly tradition remain insufficiently theorised. In the context of the revival of Jewish studies, the problem of continuity in intellectual traditions acquires particular relevance. The figure of Hryhorii Skovoroda, whose intellectual biography is closely associated with the scholarly milieus of Kyiv and Kharkiv, enables a renewed consideration of the origins of Ukrainian Judaica and of the role played by biblical studies in the eighteenth century in shaping contemporary academic approaches. The aim of this study is to establish a possible link between Skovoroda’s interests in biblical scholarship, the history and culture of the Jewish people, and the formation of Judaica as an interdisciplinary field of the humanities in Ukraine.

The methodological framework of the study is grounded in approaches from the history of science, with particular emphasis on internalism, as well as in the reconstruction of the intellectual context of the eighteenth century. Accordingly, the research employs historical-comparative, historical-genetic, biographical, textological and related methods. The scholarly novelty of the study lies in its attempt to conceptually relate the emergence of Ukrainian Judaica to Skovoroda’s intellectual legacy. For the first time, the historical continuity of biblical studies from the eighteenth century to contemporary academic programmes is also traced.

The article examines Skovoroda’s familiarity with Hebrew, the distinctive features of his biblical exegesis, and his use of Hebrew names and concepts. It analyses the role of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy in shaping his interest in biblical languages, as well as the typological affinities between his views and certain Kabbalistic and Gnostic ideas in the absence of direct historical contacts. Taking this into account, the study traces the relationship between the intellectual activity of Hryhorii Skovoroda and the contemporary development of Judaica in Ukraine. In particular, it delineates the role and place of the Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, the International Solomon University, and the A. Yu. Krymskyi Institute of Oriental Studies of NAS of Ukraine in the advancement of Judaica.

As a result, it is demonstrated that Skovoroda’s interest in the Old Testament tradition was systematic in nature, although his practical command of Hebrew was limited. The study concludes that the thinker’s legacy constitutes an important intellectual precondition for the development of Judaica in Ukraine, while the continuity between eighteenth-century biblical studies and contemporary programmes is predominantly one of intellectual and symbolic reception.