The memoirs of Nahum N. Glatzer

The geographic, spiritual, and intellectual journeys of Nahum Glatzer (1903-1990) - prolific scholar, Brandeis University professor, and editor of the Schocken publishing house - reveal a rich cultural ambiance that no longer exists, as well as a breadth of perspective and learning that remains enviable in our time.

This collection of 78 memoir entries, written as a document for his family, offers personal glimpses of Glatzer, complementary to his scholarship. In part one, episodes and vignettes in chronological sequence recount the decisive events of his travels from Bodenbach to Boston and from strict Orthodoxy to a more historical, cultural, and aesthetic understanding of Judaism.

The second part contains anecdotal and at times humorous accounts of some of the many outstanding personalities Glatzer knew and interacted with - including two of the leading German-Jewish thinkers of the twentieth century, Martin Buber and Franz Rosenzweig. The final section presents a variety of Glatzer's experiences and expressions of faith, both personal and social. The events themselves become moments of religious psychology or theological insight.

For Glatzer, as for Rosenzweig, the world was transformed by speech and the realities brought into existence through it. Michael Fishbane's detailed introduction presents the historical background of Glatzer's life and work.