Letters of Love

The Author: Ephraim Meir is Professor of Modern Jewish Philosophy at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat-Gan Israel. He is the author of Star from Jacob: Life and Work of Franz Rosenzweig (1994) and of Jewish Existential Philosophers in Dialogue (2004).

«Ephraim Meir’s book is the first greater attempt to scientifically evaluate the Gritli Letters and to relate them to Rosenzweig’s writings, especially to his religious-philosophical main work, ‘Der Stern der Erlösung’ [Star of Redemption]. With his work, Ephraim Meir does remarkably well – and on a superior intellectual level – in maintaining the balance between biographical representation and philosophical discussion, in such a way that one becomes more understandable through the other. His book will doubtless refresh and give new life to the discussion of the man and the thinker, Franz Rosenzweig.» (Wolfdietrich Schmied-Kowarzik, Kassel University, Germany)«This interesting and skillfully written work reveals exciting and compelling information on the life and thought of Franz Rosenzweig. It is based on more than one thousand recently unearthed letters, which Rosenzweig had written to his beloved during critical years of his life. The book is well documented and written with much erudition. It opens a new gate to a wider and deeper understanding of one of the greatest Jewish philosophers of the twentieth century.» (Rivka Horwitz, Ben Gurion University of the Negev, Be’er Sheva, Israel)«Ephraim Meir masterfully interweaves the corpus of Franz Rosenzweig’s published writings with the many written testimonies to Rosenzweig’s personal life to demonstrate two critical lessons for readers of Rosenzweig: First, Rosenzweig’s life and writings are so intimately connected that one cannot be understood adequately without the other; and second, the love in Rosenzweig’s personal life and the revelation in his religious and Jewish thinking constitute the central focus of both. ‘Letters of Love’ is the first book-length treatment of the significance of the Gritli Letters for understanding the writings of Rosenzweig. Ephraim Meir has set a high standard for others to follow by drawing from the depth of his understanding of contemporary continental philosophy and the richness of his personal odyssey into Jewish spirituality.» (Norbert Samuelson, Arizona State University, United States)