I and Thou
Jerusalem · 1923
M
Martin Buber
Martin Buber
1878 CE–1965 CE · Modern · Vienna
Martin Buber (1878–1965) was the most widely-read Jewish philosopher of the twentieth century. Born in Vienna and raised in Lvov by his grandfather (the Talmudist Solomon Buber), he combined deep absorption of Hasidic spirituality with German philosophical training. His 1923 masterwork *Ich und Du* (I and Thou) argued that all real life is meeting — that the I-Thou relationship between persons (and ultimately with the Eternal Thou) is the primary mode of human existence, in contrast with the instrumental I-It relations of analysis and use.
From 1938 he taught at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and his retellings of Hasidic tales (*The Tales of the Hasidim*) introduced the Baal Shem Tov and his disciples to the modern Western reader. Though never formally observant, he was a tireless advocate of Hebrew humanism and of Arab-Jewish dialogue. He stands at the intersection of philosophy, mysticism, and modern Jewish self-understanding.
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Stop 1 of 61878–1892Born
ViennaוינהAustria
What they did here
Born in Vienna in 1878 to an Orthodox Jewish family.
About Vienna
Vienna, on the Danube, is the capital of Austria. It grew from the Roman legionary camp of Vindobona, begun around 97 CE, and became the residence of the Habsburg emperors; Ottoman armies besieged it in 1529 and 1683 without taking it. Its university, founded in 1365, is often called the oldest in the German-speaking world, St. Stephen's Cathedral is its principal church, and Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis here. Jews are recorded from the 1190s; in the 13th century Isaac ben Moses, author of Or Zarua, headed its rabbinical court and yeshiva. The community was destroyed in 1420-21 and expelled in 1670, then grew to about 200,000 by the 1920s; some 65,000 Viennese Jews were murdered in the Holocaust.
In Vienna at the same time
Aron Salomo Nathanson, Isaac Hirsch Weiss, Adolf Jellinek, Szymon Dankowicz, Solomon Schechter, Yitzchak Friedman
Across the traditions, in Vienna at the same time
In the same place & time
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Sages whose lives overlapped with Martin Buber’s in the same cities, drawn from their recorded journeys.
Across the traditions
In the same tradition
Aron Salomo Nathanson, Isaac Hirsch Weiss, Moritz Steinschneider, Adolf Jellinek, Isaac Judah Schmelkes, Szymon Dankowicz, Hermann Cohen, Dovid Tzvi Hoffman, Bernhard Jacobsohn, Solomon Schechter, Julius Theodor, Yitzchak Friedman, Eduard Baneth, Minhat Yehuda, Zelig Reuven Bangis, Imrei Emes, Isser Zalman Meltzer, Yaakov Chaim Sofer (Kaf HaChaim)
Works(4)
Tales of the Hasidimאור הגנוז
Jerusalem · 1947
Buber's retelling of stories of the Baal Shem Tov, the Maggid, R. Nachman of Bratslav, and the early Hasidic masters — the work that introduced Hasidism to the modern Western reader.
Full text not yet available in our corpus.
Two Types of Faithשני סוגי אמונה
Jerusalem · 1951
Buber's contrast of Jewish emunah (trust within covenant) with Greek-Christian pistis (assent to propositions).
Full text not yet available in our corpus.
I and Thou (Ich und Du)אני ואתה
Jerusalem · 1923
1923 philosophical classic distinguishing the I-Thou relation of mutual presence from the I-It relation of use and analysis. The defining 20th-c. Jewish philosophical work.
Full text not yet available in our corpus.
Related figuresFFranz RosenzweigGGershom ScholemSuggested by shared subject matter, not a documented teaching relationship.