ROSENZWEIG, FRANZ

ROSENZWEIG, FRANZ (1886–1929), religious existentialist; organized the Freies Ju¨dische 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). Although Meinecke urged him to pursue an academic career, he declined, knowing that his Judaism jeopardized his success. In 1913, while studying law, he experienced a spiritual crisis, almost converted to Christianity, and then devoted himself to religious philosophy. After serving most of World War I in the Balkans, he published his three-part magnum opus, a religious philosophy entitled Der Stern der Erlo¨sung (The star of redemption, 1918–1919). A Nietzscheinspired 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 Independent 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 precluded 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.