Heidegger in Hebrew: Translation, politics, reconciliation

This article deals with the largely neglected topic of Martin Heidegger’s Jewish reception by examining the translation of The Origin of the Work of Art into Hebrew by Shlomo Zemach in 1968. The various challenges confronting the coming-into-being of this translation are outlined by drawing on previously unknown archival material, including correspondence between Zemach and Vittorio Klostermann (Heidegger’s German publisher), as well as between Zemach and Heidegger himself. With a look at Heidegger’s reception in post-Holocaust Israel as reflected in the debates over his work provoked by Zemach’s translation, the article examines the question of the implied ties between translation and reconciliation and the particular political, moral, and religious challenges raised by putting Heidegger’s philosophy into Hebrew, the holy language