What is Martin Buber’s legacy to Jewish thought? Buber was certainly one of the most prolific and influential Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century. His writings covered a vast array of disciplines, including several areas of philosophy, mystical traditions from around the world and Hasidism, as well as biblical scholarship, hermeneutics and translation. Above all, he was a visionary thinker, who sought to overcome the ’sickness of the age' by engaging in authentic relationships with others and teaching his students and readers to do the same.

In assessing Buber’s legacy to Jewish thought, I will outline the parallels between the development of his approach to hermeneutics and his changing view of the ideal way of relating to others, particularly other human beings and God. I will look in some detail at I and Thou, Buber’s masterpiece of dialogical philosophy, and explore the extent to which his mature philosophy of dialogue is challenged by the Shoah.

EARLY WRITINGS

Buber was born in 1878 in Vienna. Following the separation of his parents when he was three years old, he was raised until the age of fourteen by his paternal grandparents in Galicia. As a child growing up on his grandfather’s estate in Poland, Buber participated in a traditionally observant Jewish life and was also exposed to the Hasidic way of life of some of his Jewish neighbours in Poland. Buber’s grandfather, Solomon, was a prominent scholar in the Haskalah – Jewish enlightenment movement – whose critical editions of Midrash are still highly regarded.