World Sacred Scriptures

The wisdom of Martin Buber

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Q uestion: In the Sayings of the Fathers we read: "Who is wise? He who learns from all men, as it is said, 'From all my teachers I have gotten understanding."' Then why does it not say: "He who learns from every teacher"?
Answer: The master who pronounced this dictum is intent on making it clear that we can learn not only from those whose occupation is to teach but from every man. Even from a person who is ignorant, or from one who is wicked, you can gain understanding as to how to conduct your life.
"You can learn from everything," the rabbi of Sadagora once said to his hasidim. "Everything can teach us something, and not only everything God has created. What man has made has also something to teach us."
"What can we learn from a train?" one hasid asked dubiously.
"That because of one second one can miss everything."
"And from the telegraph?"
"That every word is counted and charged."
"And the telephone?"
"That what we say here is heard there."

quote 2763 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.65

Q uestion: It is written: "And ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." Rashi, our teacher, comments: "These are the words, no more and no less." What does he mean by that?
Answer: Moses was good. He wanted to reveal more to the people, but he was not allowed. For it was God's will that the people make an effort of their own. Moses was to say just these words to them, no more and no less, so that they might feel: Something is hidden here, and we must strive to discover it for ourselves. That is why, further on, we read: "And he set before them all these words." No more and no less.

quote 2762 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.62

I nfinity shall he contained in every deed of man, in his speaking and seeing, listening and walking, standing still and lying down.

quote 2761 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.55

I t is impossible to tell men what way they should take. For one way to serve God is by the teachings, another by Prayer, another way by fasting, and still another by eating. Everyone should carefully observe which way his heart draws him, and then choose that way with all his strength.

quote 2760 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.54

T his is the secret of the unity of God: no matter where I take hold of a shred of it, I hold the whole of it. And since the teachings and all the commandments are radiations of his being, he who lovingly does one commandment utterly and to the core, and in this one commandment takes hold of a shred of the unity of God, holds the whole of it in his hand, and has fulfilled all.

quote 2759 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.54

M an should serve God with all his strength, for all of it is needed. God wants us to serve him in all ways. And this is what is meant: It sometimes happens that a man takes a walk and talks with one person or another. And since, during this time, he cannot study, he should cling to God and join the Names of God with his soul. And when a man goes on a journey and cannot pray as usual, he should serve God in other ways. Let him not grieve because of this, for God wants us to serve him in all ways, now in this way and now in that way, and it is he who bade the man talk to people or undertake a journey, so that God might be served in these ways as well.

quote 2758 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.53

I t is written in the psalm: I shall not die, but live." In order really to live, man must first give himself to death. But when he has done so, he discovers that he is not to die, that he is to live.

quote 2757 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.53

I t is written: "And Abel, he also brought." The "he" is what he brought: he brought himself. Only when a man brings himself, too, is his sacrifice valid.

quote 2756 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.53

I n order to perfect oneself, one must renew oneself day by day.

quote 2755 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.51

M an is always passing through two doors: out of the world and into the next, and out and in again.

quote 2754 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.40

T his is how: when man studies or prays with reverence and devoutness begotten of
love, and fastens and binds his spirit to God and remembers that nothing is void of him and with out him, but that everything is filled with life granted by the Creator, then, in all he sees, he sees the living power of the Creator and hears his living voice.

quote 2753 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.39

B efore the soul enters the air of this world, it is conducted through all the worlds. Last of all, it is shown the first light which once-when the world was created-illuminated all things, and which God removed when mankind grew corrupt. Why is the soul shown this light? So that, from that hour on, it may yearn to attain the light, and approach it rung by rung in its life on earth. And those who reach it, the zaddikim-into them the light enters, and out of them it shines into the world again. That is the reason why it was hidden.

quote 2752 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.38

T o commune with your Maker in solitude and silence, to recite psalms and pray to him-this it is good to do with your whole heart, until you are overwhelmed with weeping and weep to God as a child weeps to its father. But to weep according to plan in the midst of prayer-that is unworthy! He who does so can no longer say what he says with a whole heart, and the truly great weeping will not overwhelm him. Even thoughts about prayer are like "alien thoughts" which hinder the soul from fixing itself wholly upon God.
There are people who can utter words of prayer with true fervor, so that the words shine like a precious stone whose radiance shines of itself. Then again there are people whose words are nothing but a window that has no light of its own, but only lets the light in and shines for that reason.

quote 2751 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.30

I t is written: "An altar of earth thou shalt make unto Me . . . And if thou make Me an altar of stone, thou shalt not build it of hewn stones, for if thou lift up thy tool upon it, thou hast profaned it."
The altar of earth is the altar of silence, which pleases God beyond all else. But if you do make an altar of words, do not hew and chisel them, for such artifice would profane it.

quote 2750 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.30

T he psalm reads: "For singing to our God is good."
It is good if man can so bring it about that God sings within him.

quote 2749 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.30

W hen a Jew is about to say: 'Blessed art thou, 0 Lord our God, King of the world," and prepares to utter the first word, the word "blessed," he shall do so with all his strength, so that he will have no strength left to say "art thou." And this is the meaning of the verse in the Scriptures: "But they that wait for the Lord shall exchange their strength." What we are really saying is: "Our Father in heaven, I am giving you all the strength that is within me in that very first word; now will you, in exchange, give me an abundance of new strength, so that I can go on with my prayer."

quote 2748 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.29

H e who prays in sorrow because of the bleakness which burdens his spirit, and thinks he is praying in the fear of God, or he who prays in joy because of the radiance in his spirit, and thinks he is praying in the love of God-his prayers are no good at all. For his fear is the burden of sadness, and his love is nothing but empty joy.

quote 2747 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.28

F aith is a very strong thing, and if a man has faith and a simplicity that does not rationalize, he will be found worthy of reaching the rung of grace which is even higher than that of holy wisdom. He will be vouchsafed great and overwhelming grace in God in very blissful silence, until he will be able to bear the greatness of this silence no longer, and will cry aloud out of the fullness of his soul.

quote 2746 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.24

T his whole world is a cloak for the lowest rung of holiness, for its feet, as it were. As it is written: "And the earth is my footstool." God limits the godliness he has in infinity, and narrows it down to the focus of the material world in which man exists. And there he assigns every man his thought and word and deed according to the day, the place, and the person, and hides therein the signs to lead men to his service.
And so a man should immerse himself in the task of understanding the signs which are cloaked in thought and word and deed and so given to him in particular, in his work and his affairs, and in everything God appoints for him day by day.

quote 2745 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.23

T here are two kinds of love: the love of a man for his wife, which should manifest itself in secret and not where there are spectators, for this love can be consummated only in a place apart from other beings; and there is the love for one's brothers and sisters and children, a love which does not require secrecy.
And there are two kinds of love for God: the spent in learning and praying and fulfilling the commandments, which should be shown in and not in the presence of others, lest it tempt to glory and pride; and the love shown in the company of other human beings, when one bears and speaks, gives and takes, and, in one's secret heart, clings to God and never ceases dwelling upon him.

quote 2744 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.21

M an himself is the source of all his troubles, for the light of God pours over him eternally. But through his all-too-bodily existence man comes to cast a shadow, so that the light cannot reach him.

quote 2743 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.20

I n the psalm we read: "How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart by day? "
As long as I take counsel in my soul, there must be sorrow in my heart all day. Only when I know of no further counsel that can help me, and I give up taking counsel, and know of no other help but God, will help be vouchsafed me.

quote 2742 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.20

I n the Scriptures we read: "When any man of you bringeth an offering unto the Lord !' Only he who brings himself to God as an offering may be called man.

quote 2741 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.19

I n the Scriptures we read: "I stood between the Lord and you." The "I" stands between God and us. When a man says "I" and presumes to use his Maker's word, he is shutting himself off from him. But there is no dividing wall before him who sacrifices his 'I" For of him it is written: "I am my beloved's, and his desire is toward me!' When my "I" comes to belong to my beloved, then his desire is toward me.

quote 2740 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.19

Q uestion: Why is it written: "In the day that God created a man on earth," and not "in the day that God created man on earth"?
Answer: You shall serve your Creator as if there were only one man in the world, only you yourself.

quote 2739 | Martin Buber
Martin Buber’s ten rungs, collected Hassidic saying, p.18

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On other page(s): History and calligraphy of Martin Buber

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