Rosenzweig, Franz

(1886-1929)

   religious existentialist; organized the Freies Jüdische Lehrhaus (Free Jewish School) in 1920. Born in Kassel to a respected manufacturer of dyestuffs, he studied medicine (passing his Physikum in 1907), history (with Friedrich Meinecke*), and philosophy (with Heinrich Rickert*) during 1905-1912. Berlin* awarded his doctorate in 1912 for a thesis on Hegel s political thought (published in 1920 as Hegel und der Staat). Al-though Meinecke urged him to pursue an academic career, he declined, knowing that his Judaism jeopardized his success. In 1913, while studying law, he ex-perienced a spiritual crisis, almost converted to Christianity, and then devoted himself to religious philosophy. After serving most of World War I in the Bal-kans, he published his three-part magnum opus, a religious philosophy entitled Der Stern der Erlosung (The star of redemption, 1918-1919). A Nietzsche-inspired critique of Western philosophy (especially Hegel), Stern refuted efforts to combine the elements of God, the world, and man into one essence; for Rosenzweig, man was a lonely being, devoured by doubt.

   Rosenzweig assumed direction in August 1920 of Frankfurt s new Indepen-dent House of Judaic Studies (its instructors included Leo Baeck and Martin Buber*) and was appointed Privatdozent for Jewish religious philosophy two years later at Frankfurt. Unfortunately, the onset of a progressive paralysis pre-cluded his accepting the appointment. With the help of his wife and a special typewriter, he continued his scholarship, establishing his place at the center of an anti-Hegelian revolt. Mirroring many of the ideas of Martin Heidegger,* he called for an existential theology while advocating a renewal of classical Jewish thought. From 1925 he and Buber worked on a translation of the Old Testament; at his death ten volumes (Genesis to Isaiah) were complete.

   REFERENCES:Bach, German Jew; Glatzer, Franz Rosenzweig; Guttmann, Philosophies of Judaism; Mendes-Flohr, Philosophy of Franz Rosenzweig.