Martin Buber

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.