The Star of Redemption

Acknowledgments

vii Acknowledgments Friendships have formed, are forming, through us, between us, those of us who have met with Franz Rosenzweig upon the pages he left for us, these very rich pages that touch us to think, to think anew. First to Rosenzweig, and then to all friends known and unknown, to friendships that will form, in a hundred years and in hundreds of years—to these souls, thank you. Were it proper, and I think it is not for a work of translation only, were it proper to dedicate this volume to someone, it would be to Rafael Rosenzweig, who has been kind to us who have come to his father’s writings. Along with his father’s, may his memory be for a blessing. This edition before us is the 1920 original version of Rosenzweig’s Stern der Erlösung, in an English translation. The appendices that were prepared by Nahum N. Glatzer in accordance with Rosenzweig’s instructions included in both the 1930 and the 1954 German editions, are here omitted; they can be found, expanded , in William W. Hallo’s English editions of 1970, 1971, and 1985. The marginal headings, or more accurately, subject guides, which were devised by Rosenzweig subsequent to the 1920 publication, and which are set in the 1930 and 1954 German edition, however, are replicated here. Because Rosenzweig wanted his name to appear only at the end of the Star (a request denied by his publisher), and because he wished further that one day vaster communities might philosophize in life within the “new thinking,” and that this be done without attributing this way of thinking and living to his name, either in association or in thanks, I am therefore partially attempting to comply with these wishes by leaving out the biographical information included in the 1930 and 1954 German editions. By now, at any rate, many places amply provide details of the course of Rosenzweig’s brief life on earth. The index, which I hope will be helpful, is likely, even yet, insufficient for the nature of the tastes and needs of all, and certainly insufficient for the nature of Rosenzweig’s symphonically, poetically composed opus, with its repetitions comprising reversals, its crescendos, its pianissimos, rest notes, and silent notes of allusion. A second volume could be prepared, to accompany these silent notes. The sprinkling of footnotes is merely a foretaste, denoting incompleteness on the one hand, and on the other hand the completeness of the Star as it stands unannotated. Yet, my smattering of footnotes may provide an impetus for a fuller treatment, indeed for a complete book solely of annotations. Anna M. Rosenberg, of the older Vienna, my first professor of German, over thirty years ago now, has become an intimate friend, in part through helping me translate some of the more tricky sentences of Rosenzweig’s writings throughout many seasons. She did not wish to be acknowledged, but she who breathed the same air as Rosenzweig did—how can I not acknowledge her? viii Karin Doerr, professor of German language and literature, has devoted much of her research to the changes in and the usages of the German language leading up to, during, and since the bleak Third Reich. She kindly offered to discuss some of Rosenzweig’s terminology, and to read through early versions of my typescript . My attempts at thanking her never seem to measure up, for she (wrongly) claims that no thanks are due. William W. Hallo’s translation of the Star has benefited those of us who were first introduced to Rosenzweig in the English language. The benefits of these thirty-four years remain young for a work that is lasting. In many, or even most ways, my own translation seems somehow foreign to me, so long has Hallo’s rendering been a part of me. As difficult as it was, during this work, I tried to forget that copies of his edition sit on my shelves, some now tattered from repeated use, and did not turn to them, even though Kafka’s policeman would sneeringly laugh on many a day, saying “Give up, give up.” May that policeman turn back again, may the fog lift from his blindness to other, mysterious forms of collaboration and conversation. Between black and white, blended, there may be, not gray, but a silvery starlight until that day of golden light, with no words between. Alexandre Derczansky and Jean-Louis Schlegel prepared a French translation over twenty years ago. This...