Franz Rosenzweig and Jehuda Halevi

Book excerpt: Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929), one of the most daunting modern Jewish thinkers, exercises a profound influence on contemporary philosophy and modern Jewish thought. In this seminal study, Barbara Galli provides the first English translation of Franz Rosenzweig's Jehuda Halevi: Zweiundneunzig Hymnen und Gedichte, a German translation of the poems of the great medieval Jewish poet Jehuda Halevi, followed by a lively, interpretive response. Galli's primary aim is to explore Rosenzweig's statement that his Notes to Halevi's poems exemplify a practical application of the philosophic system he set out in The Star of Redemption. Through an extended, multifaceted investigation of Rosenzweig's thought, Galli uncovers his philosophy of translation, out of which she determines and unravels his philosophic conclusion and his belief that there is only one language. In the final chapters, she concentrates on the Notes to the poems, and in doing so attempts to philosophize according to Rosenzweig's own mandate: full speech is word and response.