Really to Live

Martin Buber

Martin Buber (February 8, 1878 – June 13, 1965) was a Jewish philosopher, theologian, story-teller, and teacher.

Ten Rungs: Collected Hasidic Sayings

‘For there is no rung of being on which we cannot find the holiness of God everywhere and at all times’ The sacred tales and aphorisms collected here by Martin Buber have their origins in the traditional Hasidic metaphor of life as a ladder, reaching towards the divine via ascending rungs of perfection. Through Biblical riddles and interpretations, Jewish proverbs and spiritual meditations by turns profound, fanciful and tender, they seek to awaken in the reader a full awareness of the urgency of the human condition, and of the great need for self-recognition and spiritual renewal. Progressing from The Rung of God and Man through to the ultimate Rung of Redemption , Ten Rungs provides a profound, exquisite insight into the mystical piety and joy that defines Hasidic lore. Yet, true to Martin Buber’s own faith in the dialogic relation between men as a mirror of God’s eternal presence with us, they never cease also to emphasize practical advancement and the central meaningfulness of earthly existence. ‘No one can really be devout in relation to God, if he is not devout toward His creation And so, dear reader, these pages are not concerned with the mysteries of heaven, but with your life and mine, in this hour and the next.’

–Martin Buber, Olga Marx [Ten Rungs: Collected Hasidic Sayings (via Readings Website)].

Additional Martin Buber Quotes

“Man is always passing through two doors: out of the world and into the next, and out and in again.”

–Martin Buber [“Ten Rungs: Collected Hassidic sayings” (1938)] p. 53.

“Man must be free of it all, of his bad conscience and of the bad salvation from this conscience in order to become in truth the way. Now, he no longer promises others the fulfillment of his duties, but promises himself the fulfillment of man.”

–Martin Buber [“What Is Man?” (1938)] p. 178.