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|birth_place = [[Vienna]], [[Austria-Hungary]]
|death_date = {{Death date and age|mf=yes|1965|06|13|1878|02|08}}
|death_place = [[Jerusalem
|school_tradition = [[Continental philosophy]]<br>[[Existentialism]]<br>[[Neo-Hasidism]]
|main_interests = {{hlist | [[Ontology]] | [[philosophical anthropology]]}}
|education=[[University of Vienna]]
| signature = Martin_Buber_Signature_from_Goldman_Collection.png
}}
'''Martin Buber''' ({{lang-he|מרטין בובר}}; {{lang-de|Martin Buber}}, {{IPA-de|ˈmaʁtiːn̩ ˈbuːbɐ|pron|De-Martin Buber.ogg}}; {{lang-yi|מארטין בובער}}; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian
▲| notable_ideas = ''Ich-Du'' (I–Thou) and ''Ich-Es'' (I–It)<br>[[philosophy of dialogue]]
▲'''Martin Buber''' ({{lang-he|מרטין בובר}}; {{lang-de|Martin Buber}}, {{IPA-de|ˈmaʁtiːn̩ ˈbuːbɐ|pron|De-Martin Buber.ogg}}; {{lang-yi|מארטין בובער}}; February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was an Austrian Jewish and Israeli [[philosopher]] best known for his [[philosophy of dialogue]], a form of [[existentialism]] centered on the distinction between the [[I and Thou|I–Thou]] relationship and the I–It relationship.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.roberthsarkissian.com/iof/BUBER.HTM|title=Island of Freedom - Martin Buber|website=Roberthsarkissian.com}}</ref> Born in [[Vienna]], Buber came from a family of observant Jews, but broke with Jewish custom to pursue secular studies in [[philosophy]]. He produced writings about Zionism and worked with various bodies within the Zionist movement extensively over a nearly 50 year period spanning his time in Europe and the Near East. In 1923, Buber wrote his famous essay on existence, ''[[I and Thou|Ich und Du]]'' (later translated into English as ''I and Thou''),<ref name=":0" /> and in 1925, he began translating the [[Hebrew Bible]] into the [[German language]] reflecting the patterns of the [[Hebrew language]].
He was nominated for the [[Nobel Prize in Literature]] ten times, and the [[Nobel Peace Prize]] seven times.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.nobelprize.org/nomination/archive/show_people.php?id=1421|title=Nomination Database|website=Nobelprize.org|access-date=2017-01-24}}</ref>
[[Image: Martin Buber 1963.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Buber in 1963]]
== Biography ==
Martin ([[Hebrew language|Hebrew]] name: ''מָרְדֳּכַי,'' ''Mordechai'') Buber was born in [[Vienna]] to an Orthodox Jewish family. Buber was a direct descendant of the 16th-century rabbi [[Meir ben Isaac Katzenellenbogen|Meir Katzenellenbogen]], known as the Maharam (מהר"ם), the Hebrew acronym for “'''M'''ordechai, '''H'''a'''R'''av (the Rabbi), '''M'''eir”, of [[Padua]]. [[Karl Marx]] is another notable relative.<ref name="unbroken" /> After the divorce of his parents when he was three years old, he was raised by his grandfather in Lemberg (now [[Lviv]] in Ukraine).<ref name="unbroken">{{Citation | last = Rosenstein | first = Neil | title = The Unbroken Chain: Biographical Sketches and Genealogy of Illustrious Jewish Families from the 15th–20th Century | volume = 1, 2 | edition = revised | publisher = CIS | place = New York | year = 1990 | isbn = 0-9610578-4-X}}</ref> His grandfather, [[Solomon Buber]], was a scholar of [[Midrash]] and [[Rabbinic Literature]]. At home, Buber spoke [[Yiddish language|Yiddish]] and German. In 1892, Buber returned to his father's house in [[Lemberg]].
Despite Buber's putative connection to the [[Davidic line]] as a descendant of Katzenellenbogen, a personal religious crisis led him to break with Jewish [[Halakha|religious customs]]. He began reading [[Immanuel Kant]], [[Søren Kierkegaard]], and [[Friedrich Nietzsche]].<ref name="Wood1969">{{cite book| first =Robert E | last = Wood|title=Martin Buber's Ontology: An Analysis of I and Thou |url=https://archive.org/details/martinbubersonto0000wood| url-access =registration |date=1 December 1969|publisher= Northwestern University Press|isbn = 978-0-8101-0650-5 | page =[https://archive.org/details/martinbubersonto0000wood/page/5 5]}}</ref> The latter two, in particular, inspired him to pursue studies in philosophy. In 1896, Buber went to study in Vienna (philosophy, [[art history]], German studies, [[philology]]).
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In 1898, he joined the [[Zionism|Zionist]] movement, participating in congresses and organizational work. In 1899, while studying in [[Zürich]], Buber met his future wife, [[Paula Winkler]], a "brilliant Catholic writer from a Bavarian peasant family"<ref>The Pity of It All: A History of Jews in Germany 1743–1933. p. 238. (2002) {{ISBN|0-8050-5964-4}}</ref> who in 1901 left the Catholic Church and in 1907 [[Conversion to Judaism|converted to Judaism]].<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.tameri.com/csw/exist/buber.shtml |title=The Existential Primer |publisher=Tameri |access-date=August 28, 2011}}</ref>
Buber, initially, supported and celebrated the Great War as a
In 1930, Buber became an honorary professor at the [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main|University of Frankfurt am Main]], but resigned from his professorship in protest immediately after [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power in 1933. He then founded the Central Office for Jewish Adult Education, which became an increasingly important body as the German government forbade Jews from public education. In 1938, Buber left Germany and settled in [[Jerusalem]], [[Mandatory Palestine]], receiving a professorship at [[Hebrew University]] and lecturing in [[anthropology]] and introductory [[sociology]]. After the creation of the [[1948 in Israel|state of Israel in 1948]], Buber became the best known Israeli philosopher.
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In a 1910 essay entitled "He and We," Buber established himself and Herzl as diametrically opposed in their perspectives on Zionism. Buber described Herzl by saying, "The impulse of the elementally active person (Elementaraktiver) to act is so strong that it prevents him from acquiring knowledge for the sake of knowledge," and, according to Buber, when a person like Herzl is aware of his Jewishness, "In him awakens the will to help the Jews to whom he belongs, to lead the where they can experience freedom and security. Now he does what his will tells He does not see anything else."<ref name="Schmidt 2000 18–26">{{Cite journal |last=Schmidt |first=Gilya G. |date=2000 |title=Martin Buber's Conception of the Relative and the Absolute Life |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/42943022 |journal=Shofar |volume=18 |issue=2 |pages=18–26 |jstor=42943022 |issn=0882-8539}}</ref> In that same essay, Buber would draw a parallel between Herzl and [[Baal Shem Tov]], the founder of Hasidism, arguing that both seek to reinstate the Jewish people, the difference coming in their approaches; Herzl affecting change indirectly via history whereas Baal Shem Tov sought to achieve improvement directly through religion.<ref name="Schmidt 2000 18–26"/>
===
[[File:ירושלים_-_מר_יצחק_בן_צבי_פרופסור_מרטין_בובר_ומר_ליאו_הרמן-JNF039458.jpeg|alt=Martin Buber, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, and Leo Herman in Jerusalem (1915)|thumb|270x270px|Martin Buber, Yitzhak Ben Zvi, and Leo Herman in Jerusalem (1915)]]
Buber produced multiple writings on Zionism and nationalism
Buber continued to explore and develop his views on Zionism in these years. One such notable piece of writing is a letter to a professor entitled "Concepts and Reality" in 1916. In this letter, Buber addresses the issues of nationalism, Messianism, and Hebrew within the Zionist movement of the period.<ref name=":02">{{Cite book |last=Buber |first=Martin |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/48877750 |title=The Martin Buber reader : essential writings |date=2002 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |others=Asher D. Biemann |isbn=0-312-24051-1 |edition=1st |location=New York |pages=261–267 |oclc=48877750}}</ref> Buber argued that nationalism is not a natural phenomenon, and that Zionism is a movement centered around religiosity, not nationalism.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Martin Buber reader : essential writings {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/48877750 |access-date=2023-05-10 |website=www.worldcat.org |page=264 |language=en}}</ref> However, according to Buber, the messianic movement within
In the early 1920s, Martin Buber started advocating a [[Binational solution|binational]] Jewish-Arab state, stating that the Jewish people should proclaim "its desire to live in peace and brotherhood with the Arab people, and to develop the common homeland into a republic in which both peoples will have the possibility of free development."<ref name=":1">{{cite web |date=May 15, 2005 |title=Jewish Zionist Education |url=http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/bios/buber.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091222163127/http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/people/BIOS/buber.html |archive-date=December 22, 2009 |access-date=August 28, 2011 |publisher=Jafi |place=[[Israel|IL]]}}</ref> Buber rejected the idea of Zionism as just another [[Nationalism|national movement]], and wanted instead to see the creation of an exemplary society; a society which would not be characterized by Jewish domination of the Arabs. It was necessary for the Zionist movement to reach a consensus with the Arabs even at the cost of the Jews remaining a minority in the country. In 1925, he was involved in the creation of the organization [[Brit Shalom (political organization)|Brit Shalom]] (Covenant of Peace), which advocated the creation of a binational state, and throughout the rest of his life, he hoped and believed that Jews and Arabs one day would live in peace in a joint nation.
In a 1929 essay entitled "The National Home and National Policy in Palestine," Buber explores Jewish right to the land of Israel before engaging with the question of Jewish-Arab relations.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Martin Buber reader : essential writings {{!}} WorldCat.org |url=https://www.worldcat.org/title/48877750 |access-date=2023-05-10 |website=www.worldcat.org |pages=280–288 |language=en}}</ref> According to Buber, the Zionist right to establish a country in Israel originates from their ancient, ancestral connection to the land, the fact that Jews have worked to cultivate the land in recent years, and the future prospect that a Jewish state offers as
=== Post 1938: Zionist views from Israel and post-Independence Zionism ===
[[File:Martin_Buber_(997009326773305171).jpg|alt=Martin Buber in Israel (1962)|thumb|Martin Buber in Israel (1962)]]
Living and writing in Jerusalem, Buber increased his political involvement, and continued to develop his ideas on Zionism. In 1942, he co‑founded the [[Ihud]] party, which advocated a bi-nationalist program. Nevertheless, he was connected with decades of friendship to Zionists and philosophers such as [[Chaim Weizmann]], [[Max Brod]], [[Hugo
Buber evaluated the competing strains of cultural and political
== Literary and academic career ==
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In 1930, Buber became an honorary professor at the [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main|University of Frankfurt am Main]]. He resigned in protest from his professorship immediately after [[Adolf Hitler]] came to power in 1933. On October 4, 1933, the [[Nazism|Nazi]] authorities forbade him to lecture. In 1935, he was expelled from the ''Reichsschrifttumskammer'' (the National Socialist authors' association). He then founded the [[Central Office for Jewish Adult Education]], which became an increasingly important body, as the German government forbade Jews to attend public education.<ref name="BuberMendes-Flohr2005">{{cite book| first = Martin | last = Buber| editor-first =Paul R | editor-last = Mendes-Flohr|title=A land of two peoples: Martin Buber on Jews and Arabs|url = https://archive.org/details/landoftwopeoples00mart| url-access = registration |year=2005|publisher= University of Chicago Press|isbn= 978-0-226-07802-1}}</ref> The Nazi administration increasingly obstructed this body.
Finally, in 1938, Buber left Germany, and settled in [[Jerusalem]], then capital of [[Mandatory Palestine|Mandate Palestine]]. He received a professorship at [[Hebrew University]], there lecturing in [[anthropology]] and introductory [[sociology]]. The lectures he gave during the first semester were published in the book ''The problem of man'' (''Das Problem des Menschen'');<ref name = "Schaeder1991">{{Citation | editor-last = Schaeder | editor-first = Grete | contribution = Martin Buber: A Biographical Sketch | first = Martin | last = Buber | year = 1991 | title = The letters of Martin Buber: a life of dialogue | isbn= 978-0-8156-0420-4|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=tGi6968aQSoC&pg=PA52 | page = 52| publisher = Syracuse University Press }}</ref><ref>{{Cite book| first = Martin | last = Buber | editor-first = Asher D | editor-last = Biemann | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=BTzPiYZUIPwC&pg=PA12 | title = The Martin Buber reader: essential writings | year=2002 | page = 12| publisher = Palgrave Macmillan | isbn = 9780312292904 }}</ref> in these lectures he discusses how the question "What is Man?" became the central one in [[philosophical anthropology]].<ref>{{Citation | last = Schaeder | first = Grete | year = 1973 | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=A7e4AAAAIAAJ | title = The Hebrew humanism of Martin Buber | page = 29| publisher = Wayne State University Press | isbn = 9780814314838 }}</ref> He participated in the discussion of the Jews' problems in [[Palestine (region)|Palestine]] and of the Arab question – working out of his Biblical, philosophic, and Hasidic work.
He became a member of the group ''[[Ihud]]'', which aimed at a [[Binational solution|bi-national]] state for [[Arab]]s and Jews in Palestine. Such a binational confederation was viewed by Buber as a more proper fulfillment of Zionism than a solely Jewish state. In 1949, he published his work ''[[Paths in Utopia]]'',<ref name = "Paths">{{cite book| first =Martín | last = Buber|title=Paths in Utopia|url= https://books.google.com/books?id=MXGSnCcRaUwC|year=1996|publisher= Syracuse University Press|isbn= 978-0-8156-0421-1}}</ref> in which he detailed his [[communitarian]] [[socialist]] views and his theory of the "dialogical community" founded upon interpersonal "dialogical relationships".
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Buber argued that human life consists of an oscillation between ''Ich‑Du'' and ''Ich‑Es'', and that in fact ''Ich‑Du'' experiences are rather few and far between. In diagnosing the various perceived ills of [[modernity]] (e. g., isolation, dehumanization, etc.), Buber believed that the expansion of a purely analytic, material view of existence was at heart an advocation of ''Ich‑Es'' relations - even between human beings. Buber argued that this paradigm devalued not only existents, but the meaning of all existence.
== Students and colleagues ==
Buber was a sort of mentor figure in the lives of [[Gershom Scholem]] and [[Walter Benjamin]], the 'Kabbalist of the Holy City' and the 'Marxist Rabbi' of Berlin during the era leading up to, overlapping with proceeding after the Holocaust (Benjamin died during his escape from Europe, but Buber retained contact with Scholem after the war).<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last=Scholem |first=Gershom |title=Walter Benjamin: The Story of a Friendship |publisher=JPS |year=1981 |pages=7, 13, 25-29,88, 105,110,116,118,127,138,186}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=1980-05-01 |title=How I Came to the Kabbalah |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/gershom-scholem/how-i-came-to-the-kabbalah/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Commentary Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref>
While his relationship with these two was sometimes unilaterally contentious (with the students occasionally attacking or critiquing their patron somewhat viciously) Buber acted as an impresario, publisher and by various means as one of the great sponsors of their careers and growing reputations. Scholem was to be amongst the friends and interested parties who helped attend to and orchestrate Buber's eventual emigration to Palestine from the very beginning stages of that discussion during the rise of Hitler.<ref name=":3" /><ref>{{Cite web |date=1980-05-01 |title=How I Came to the Kabbalah |url=https://www.commentary.org/articles/gershom-scholem/how-i-came-to-the-kabbalah/ |access-date=2024-05-04 |website=Commentary Magazine |language=en-US}}</ref> They corresponded also in regards to their work with [[Brit Shalom (political organization)|Brit Shalom]], an early think-tank that was tasked with figuring out the dynamics of two-state solution to be brokered between Israel and Palestine more than twenty years before Israel became a nation state--and also about a great many issues regarding their shared interest in ancient, sacred and often mystical Jewish literature whilst keeping tabs likewise on mutual acquaintances and important publications in their fields of interest.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Scholem |first=Gershom |title=A Life In Letters}}</ref> Scholem dedicated his bibliography of the Zohar to Buber.<ref name=":3" />
== Hasidism and mysticism ==
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* In 1958, he was awarded the [[Israel Prize]] in the humanities.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashyag/Tashkab_Tashyag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashyah |title=Recipients |year=1958 |language=he |publisher=Israel Prize |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120208115723/http://cms.education.gov.il/EducationCMS/Units/PrasIsrael/Tashyag/Tashkab_Tashyag_Rikuz.htm?DictionaryKey=Tashyah |archive-date=February 8, 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
* In 1961, he was awarded the [[Bialik Prize]] for Jewish thought.<ref name=bialik>{{cite web|title=List of Bialik Prize recipients 1933–2004 |language=he |publisher=Tel Aviv Municipality |url=http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071217143811/http://www.tel-aviv.gov.il/Hebrew/_MultimediaServer/Documents/12516738.pdf |archive-date=2007-12-17 }}</ref>
* In 1963, he won the [[Erasmus Prize]] in [[Amsterdam]].<ref>{{cite
== Published works ==
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*1937, I and Thou, transl. by Ronald Gregor Smith, Edinburgh: T. and T. Clark. 2nd Edition New York: Scribners, 1958. 1st Scribner Classics ed. New York, NY: Scribner, 2000, c1986
*1952, Eclipse of God, New York: Harper and Bros. 2nd Edition Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press, 1977.
*1952, Good & Evil, New York: Scribner
*1957, Pointing the Way, transl. Maurice Friedman, New York: Harper, 1957, 2nd Edition New York: Schocken, 1974.
*1960, The Origin and Meaning of Hasidism, transl. M. Friedman, New York: Horizon Press.
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*1967b, On Judaism, edited by Nahum Glatzer and transl. by Eva Jospe and others, New York: Schocken Books.
*1968, On the Bible: Eighteen Studies, edited by Nahum Glatzer, New York: Schocken Books.
*1970a, I and Thou, a new translation with a prologue “I and you” and notes by Walter Kaufmann, New York:
*1970b, Mamre: Essays in Religion, translated by [[Greta Hort]], Westport, Conn.: Greenwood Press.
*1970c, Martin Buber and the Theater, Including Martin
*1972, Encounter: Autobiographical Fragments. La Salle, Ill.: Open Court.
*1973a, On Zion: the History of an Idea, with a new foreword by Nahum N. Glatzer, Translated from the German by Stanley Godman, New York: Schocken Books.
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[[Category:1878 births]]
[[Category:1965 deaths]]
[[Category:Austrian Jews]]▼
[[Category:Jews from Galicia (Eastern Europe)]]
[[Category:20th-century Israeli Jews]]
[[Category:Austrian emigrants to Israel]]
[[Category:Writers from Vienna]]
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[[Category:Translators of the Bible into German]]
[[Category:Hasidic Judaism]]
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[[Category:20th-century Austrian male writers]]▼
[[Category:20th-century philosophers]]▼
[[Category:Philosophers of Judaism]]
[[Category:Austrian socialists]]
[[Category:Austrian pacifists]]
[[Category:Austrian Jewish theologians]]
[[Category:Israeli socialists]]
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[[Category:Judaic scholars]]
[[Category:Existentialist theologians]]
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[[Category:Jewish philosophers]]
[[Category:Jewish socialists]]
[[Category:Utopian socialists]]
[[Category:Presidents of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities]]
[[Category:Jewish translators of the Bible]]
[[Category:20th-century Austrian translators]]
[[Category:Jewish emigrants from Nazi Germany]]
[[Category:20th-century Jewish theologians]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Burials at Har HaMenuchot]]
▲[[Category:20th-century Austrian male writers]]
[[Category:Immigrants of the Fifth Aliyah]]
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