To mark the 50th anniversary of the death of Martin Buber (1878-1965), the Leo Baeck Institute of Jerusalem, the Martin Buber Society of Fellows at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and the Martin Buber Chair for Jewish Thought and Philosophy, Goethe University in Frankfurt am Main are to jointly hold a conference in Jerusalem to highlight and evaluate Buber’s ramified contributions to the cultural and political life in Palestine-Eretz Yisrael [or Palestine/the Yishuv] and the State of Israel.
Buber is justifiably celebrated for his single role, ever since he commenced his university studies at the fin-de-siecle, in promoting German-Jewish and interfaith dialogue, which he vigorously reaffirmed with the rise of Hitler and after the war. Upon his emigration to Palestine in 1938, he sought to apply his seminal principle of dialogue to various exigent issues confronting the Yishuv, particularly in adult education, theatre, the kibbutz movement, and the "Arab Question" -- all of which bore in his judgment on the ethical and spiritual character of the society and culture of the Zionist project.
Martin Buber’s life and work continues to enjoy wide scholarly and public attention. Yet, he is mainly known for his philosophical and theological writings, which given their overarching significance have largely eclipsed his engagement in multiple aspects of Israeli culture and politics. We wish to correct this situation, by not only mapping his varied contributions to the cultural and political landscape of Palestine and Israel, but also indicating how the “dialogue” with Buber’s legacy has continued to engage Israeli society.
Accordingly, we organize the conference around the following themes:
Christian-Jewish dialogue
German-Israeli dialogue
Buber in the Israeli academia (such as sociology, philosophy, education, Hebrew Bible and Comparative Religion)
Buber and the Israeli arts (theatre and the creative arts)
Buber and the Kibbutz movement
Buber and politics
Buber and Arab-Jewish rapprochement
Buber and Adult Education
Buber’s public reception in Israel
Buber’s role as an Israeli Jew in Germany
Needless to say, this is a but a tentative list. We are open to other suggestions.
Important: Please consider participation in a pre-conference close workshop for young scholars on May 8. More details on the purpose and module will be announced soon.
Scholars interested in participating in the conference are invited to submit proposals via this SUBMISSION FORM: https://docs.google.com/a/mail.huji.ac.il/forms/d/1k5way1is95qrZTT2YfFPdkBRgMPJjnJKHGHOaghiOxY/viewform.
Proposals should be submitted in English by November 15, 2014. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by December 31, 2014.
For questions please contact Buber.Conference@gmail.com
Conference language: mainly English, with one evening open to the wider public in Jerusalem that will be held in Hebrew (it will be simultaneously translated).