Book Description
Franz Rosenzweig is one of the greatest contributors to Jewish philosophy in the twentieth century and is, with Martin Buber and Abraham Heschel, one of the Jewish thinkers most widely read by Christians. On Jewish Learning collects essays, speeches, and letters that express Rosenzweig's desire to reconnect the profound truths of Judaism with the lives of ordinary people. An assimilated Jew and scholar of German philosophy, Rosenzweig was on the point of conversion to Christianity when the experience of a Yom Kippur service in 1913 brought him back to Judaism, and he began to study with philosopher Hermann Cohen. Seeking how to be an observant Jew in the modern world, Rosenzweig refused to characterize the traditions of Jewish law as mere rituals, customs, and folkways. His aim for himself and for others was to find Judaism by living it, and to live it by knowing it more deeply. MODERN JEWISH PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION: TRANSLATIONS AND CRITICAL STUDIES, Elliot Wolfson and Barbara Galli, series editors
About the Author
Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929) helped establish Das Freie Jüdische Lehrhaus (Free House of Jewish Learning) in Frankfurt-am-Main. His most influential book is The Star of Redemption, and his German translation, with Martin Buber, of the Bible is considered the finest since Martin Luther's.
On Jewish Learning FROM THE PUBLISHER
On Jewish Learning collects essays, speeches, and letters that express Rosenzweig's desire to reconnect the profound truths of Judaism with the lives of ordinary people. An assimilated Jew and scholar of German philosophy, Rosenzweig was on the point of conversion to Christianity when the experience of a Yom Kippur service in 1913 brought him back to Judaism, and he began to study with philosopher Hermann Cohen. Seeking how to be an observant Jew in the modern world, Rosenzweig refused to reduce the traditions of Jewish law to mere rituals, customs, and folkways. His aim for himself and for others was to find Judaism by living it, and to live it by knowing it more deeply.
SYNOPSIS
As a founder of the House of Jewish Learning in Germany, author of The Star of Redemption, and co-translator with Martin Buber of the Hebrew Bible, Rosenzweig (1886-1929) is a widely read modern Jewish lay philosopher. This collection includes three of his essays on a renaissance in Jewish learning, and letters between him and Buber. Originally published by Schocken Books. Annotation c. Book News, Inc.,Portland, OR