Volume 40, Number 18 · November 4, 1993
Prophets With Honor
By Avishai Margalit
Judaism, Human Values, and the Jewish State
by Yeshayahu Leibowitz, edited by Eliezer Goldman, translated by Eliezer Goldman, by Yoram Navon, by Zvi Jacobson, by Gershon Levi, by Raphael Levy
Harvard University Press, 291 pp., $39.95
The Letters of Martin-Buber: A Life of Dialogue
edited by Nahum N. Glatzer, by Paul Mendes-Flohr, translated by Richard Winston, by Clara Winston, by Harry Zohn
Schocken, 722 pp., $45.00
Encounter on the Narrow Ridge: A Life of Martin Buber
by Maurice Friedman
Paragon, 496 pp., $18.95 (paper)
On Intersubjectivity and Cultural Creativity
by Martin Buber, edited by S.N. Eisenstadt
University of Chicago Press, 264 pp., $15.95 (paper)
Scripture and Translation
by Martin Buber, by Franz Rosenzweig, translated by Lawrence Rosenwald, by Everett Fox
University of Indiana Press
Early this year a ninety-year-old man was driving Israel crazy. In January Professor Yeshayahu Leibowitz was declared the winner of the Israel Prize, which is awarded by the minister of education in a formal ceremony on Independence Day to honor an Israeli citizen for his life's work. The winners are usually highly respected Israelis whose activities are not controversial. Leibowitz is different. According to the judges, the prize was awarded to him partly because he has been a 'rebuker at the gates.' In biblical times the courts of law were located at the city gates, and a 'rebuker at the gates' was a person who defended the rights of the oppressed. The expression came to mean a social critic with religious inspiration, practically synonymous with a prophet.
Review, 7303 words
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