Martin Buber

Scholar, theologian and philosopher, Martin Buber is one of the twentieth century's most influential thinkers. He believed that the deepest reality of human life lies in the relationship between one being and another. Between Man and Man is the work where he puts this belief into practice, applying it to the concrete problems of contemporary society. Here he tackles subjects as varied as religious ethics, social philosophy, marriage, education, psychology and art. --From publisher's description.

Examines the relations between Israel and the Arab nations and discusses methods for achieving a just peace in the Middle East

"Martin Buber's writings on Zion and Zionism go back to the early years of this century. To him, Zion was not primarily a political issue. Zionism implies a reorientation of the entire being, an overcoming of a Diaspora mentality, a catharsis, and a readiness to build in the land of Israel a new, just, free, and creative community." "On Zion grew out of a series of lectures delivered by Buber in 1944. World War II was still raging. News of extermination of Jews reached the West; the British administration of Palestine refused entry to Jewish refugees. The Palestinian Arabs offered stiff resistance to Zionism. Buber's political orientation called for a binational state and for equality of rights for both Jews and Arabs. But, just as strongly, he insisted on the sacred, ethical mission implied in Zionism. Buber illustrates his strong faith by analyzing the centrality of Zion to biblical and talmudic thought, how it inspired medieval thinkers and mystics, and how it moved modern Jews from Moses Hess to Rav Kook and A.D. Gordon."--BOOK JACKET.

This text acquaints the reader with Martin Buber's works on scripture and with his endeavour to elucidate the meanings of biblical ideas in ages past and in our own time.

According to Hasidic lore, the various ways in which men learn to perfect themselves are the "rungs" on the ladder leading to the realm of heaven. It is said: "No limits are set to the ascent of man, and to each and every one the highest stands open. Here it is only your personal choice that decides.". The tales and aphorisms retold here by Martin Buber belong to the teachings of Hasidism, the mystical movement that swept Eastern European Jewry in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Fanciful and sober by turn, these sayings never swerve from their basic purpose: to arouse in man an awareness of his condition and to show him the way to the righteous life. In Martin Buber they have an ideal editor and interpreter. The relation is reciprocal, for Buber's own religious philosophy owes much to Hasidism, through its emphasis on joyful worship and its belief that "there is no rung of being on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere and at all times."