June 13th marks the (Gregorian) anniversary of the death of Martin Buber, one of the most important and influential 20th century figures in the realms of Jewish philosophy and the philosophy of education.

Buber was born in Vienna in 1878. At the age of three he was taken from the home of his parents to be raised by his grandparents in Galicia. Buber’s grandfather, Solomon Buber, was a respected scholar who was well-learned both in the traditional approach to Torah study and in the historical-critical method of studying Jewish sources. As a result, he provided Buber with both a traditional and modern education. 

Already as a teenager Buber ceased his religious observance. At the end of 1896, he left Galicia to study art and philosophy at the University of Vienna, where he would receive his doctorate eight years later. His dissertation analyzed the teachings of Nicolaus Cusanus and Jacob Boehme, two late medieval Christian mystics. The choice of dissertation topic signaled his interest in mysticism and Christianity and his lack of interest in Judaism, until he was attracted to Zionism at the age of twenty. He worked intensively for a number of years to promote cultural Zionism. But at the age of twenty-six, he developed an interest in Hassidism and gave up his political and journalistic activities, spending the next five years in intensive research and study of hassidic texts. He translated them, wrote about their religious vision, and saw it as his duty to transmit this message.

In 1923 he published his classic work on dialogue, I and Thou. This work established his status as a world class philosopher. He also became involved in adult Jewish education and in biblical studies, in partnership with fellow Jewish philosopher Franz Rosenzweig. Together they embarked on a translation of the Bible into German. They also opened the Lehrhaus, an innovative and popular adult Jewish educational institution, in Frankfurt in 1920. One of its groundbreaking features was that the teachers were not rabbis or scholars with a background in rigorous religious study, but lay professionals with an interest in Jewish sources. Rosenzweig wanted teachers who were also seekers, and thus were simultaneously teachers and students.

In 1938 Buber left Germany for Palestine, and until 1951 he served as a professor of social thought at Hebrew University. Here too, Buber involved himself in adult Jewish education. He became a leading Israeli public intellectual and social critic, and was active in the Brit Shalom movement which advocated a bi-national Jewish state. Even after Israel’s establishment he remained a critic of Ben-Gurion and the country’s leadership. He died in 1965 in Jerusalem.

Buber’s philosophy is unique. His work extends across religion, mythology, philosophy, sociology, education, psychology, art and literature. He draws from a range of cultural sources such as Hassidism, Eastern religions, Christian mysticism, and German sociology. Most notably,  Buber does not “do philosophy”. He never wrote a systematic work that attempted to set out his philosophy in a comprehensive manner; indeed, he did not believe that philosophy could articulate his vision. As he argued, 

"I must say it once again: I have no teaching. I only point to something. I point to reality. I point to something in reality that had not, or had too little, been seen. I take him who listens to me by the hand and lead him to the window and point to what is outside." (The Philosophy of Martin Buber, p. 693). 

Thus, Buber is interested in shifting our gaze so that we focus on an aspect of reality that is often hidden from our perception and cannot be presented using rational-philosophic means.

What is this aspect of reality that people have previously failed to recognize? What does Buber reveal to us that we were unable to see previously? To answer this question we must explore the most central notion in Buber's philosophy (and the one he is most famous for): the dichotomy between I-it and I-thou relationships.

This post is based on a course given by Dr. Ari Ackerman, which aims to develop a vision for Jewish education.