"The psalm reads: "For singing to our God is good." It is good if man can so bring it about that God sings within him." From: I-Thou
Martin Buber was the foremost and most widely known Jewish Theologian during the times of the Shoah. Buber was an outspoken critic of Hitler and the Third Reich in the World Community in a time when such outspokeness was an opportunity for certain imprisonment and death. As a young man, Buber became more and more concerned about Jewish identity, as many European Jews were becoming so enculturated in European society as see themselves as nationals first, and Jews only second. Buber became involved heavily as a young man in World Zionist meetings and politics, which led him to champion Jewish rights throughout the better part of the 20th century. Buber is most known to the world community for his concepts of the "I-Thou ", the authentic relationship of first, God to Man, and secondly, Self to Others. His theology also focused upon issues such as the sacredness of the name, which allowed 'access' and communion with the person and with God: it was a bittersweet paradox in theology for a generation of Jews whose names would be taken from them. He is also known and respected among Existentialists, both believing and unbelieving for his focus on 'authenticity' or creating the 'genuine' in existence.
1A formidable Jewish voice,
he helped set the stage of Modern Jewish theology in Germany and the World in modern times. Placing his own life at risk, his was an ardent voice warning of the threat of Nazism to the Jewish Community. He was the theologian who warned repeatedly about Kittl, the Nazi Theologian whom Buber claimed made anti- Semitism, "theologically acceptable".
