Martin Buber, Zionism and the Palestinians

DOCUMENT II: Martin Buber, Zionism and the Palestinians

Martin Buber (1878-1965) was, arguably, the most important Jewish religious philosopher of the 20th century and one of the most important modern representatives of the human spirit. He wrote widely in the fields of art, education, sociology, philosophy, politics, religion, biblical interpretation, Judaism and Zionism. His work, I and Thou, has been universally recognized as one of the major classics of 20th century thought. Buber was concerned with the question of how to bring the reality of the Divine into the contemporary secular world. Through his writing and activism he was able to bear witness to the continued existence of the Holy. Throughout his mature life he translated the message of the Bible in ways that would matter to modern men and women. Buber also discovered the 18th century Jewish mystical movement called Hasidism; and, through his work, these marvelous tales and spiritual teachings were revealed to the Western world for the first time. Buber believed that spiritually-grounded human relationships between individuals needed to be the core of any genuine community. In political and economic terms this meant that small intentional communities were the ideal forms of social existence. This has been called utopian or communitarian socialism.

Buber was critical of the excessive individualism of capitalist countries and the excessive authoritarianism of communist nations. Buber became a Zionist in 1898, believing that European anti-Semitism made it necessary for Jews to have their own homeland. He soon became disenchanted with Theodore Herzl's brand of nationalistic political Zionism. Instead, he favored the form of Zionism developed by Ahad Ha'am, based on the fundamental moral and spiritual values of Judaism. Zionism was to be no less than a Jewish path to bring about tikkun olam -- redemption of the world-- through establishment of truth and justice in all of the institutions and activities of the Jewish settlement in Palestine. In this way Zionism could contribute to human civilization as a whole and avoid self-centered nationalism. Thus, it becomes clear why Buber became an early advocate for Jewish-Arab cooperation. How could the Jewish people establish a state that did not provide justice and security for all of its inhabitants, Jews and non-Jews? He hoped for deep and continuing solidarity of genuine interests between the two peoples. When friction did arise, he wrote that the Arab question would be the moral litmus test of Zionism. In 1921 he proposed a federation of Middle Eastern states to link the Jewish community with its Arab neighbors.

Buber was still living in Germany in 1925 when a number of his followers in Palestine started an organization called Brit Shalom (A Covenant of Peace). The founders of Brit Shalom based their ideology on Buber's writings, advocating a democratic bi-national state in which Jews and Arabs would be completely equal. Buber became the leading Zionist leader in Germany in the 1930's. When Hitler came into power, Buber traveled to different Jewish communities and worked to strengthen the people's spirits. In 1938 he finally came to Palestine, where he became a professor at the Hebrew University. He and his comrades, including Rabbi Judah Magnes, worked with moderate Arabs to try to forge links between the two peoples. They tried to influence the direction of Zionism, but very unfortunately they never received a fair hearing. Had Buber's views been taken seriously, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict might have been averted.

In 1939 Mohandas Gandhi published an article stating that it was wrong and inhumane to impose Jews on the Middle East, which belonged to the Arabs. He wrote that Jews should stay in Europe and do non-violent civil disobedience with Nazis! Buber believed Gandhi was totally off the mark. In a letter to Gandhi he wrote: "We considered it a fundamental point that in this case two vital claims are opposed to each other, two claims of a different nature and a different origin which cannot objectively be pitted against one another and between which no objective decision can be made as to which is just, which unjust. We considered and still consider it our duty to understand and to honor the claim which is opposed to us and to endeavor to reconcile both claims. We could not and cannot renounce the Jewish claim; something even higher than the life of our people is bound up with this land, namely its work, its divine mission. But we have been and are still convinced that it must be possible to find some compromise between this claim and the other, for we love this land and we believe in its future; since such love and such faith are surely present on the other side as well, a union in the common service of the land must be within the range of possibility. Where there is faith and love, a solution may be found even to what appears to be a tragic opposition."

Following the war for independence in 1948, Buber told Ben Gurion that he believed that one of the most important priorities of the new state of Israel should be to solve the refugee problem. Ben Gurion refused to listen. Throughout the remainder of his life, Buber worked to defend the civil rights of Israeli Arabs, and he urged Jews and Arabs to engage in genuine dialogue. He continued to try to influence public policy in this arena until his death in 1965.

Also see:

DOCUMENT III: Statements by Martin Buber