The Orientalizing Jew: Martin Buber between East and West

The article will present Martin Buber as a paradigm case for the flexible perspectives unique to the modern Jewish condition, as Jews became a group with access to both the underprivileged and privileged positions within cosmopolitan settings. The article will contrast Buber’s early work on Hasidism with his later studies of the Hebrew Bible, demonstrating a shift from self-identification as a member of the “Orient” over to an orientalising perspective on Ancient Israel and their modern “heirs” – indigenous Arabs.