Introduction and explanatory notes

Shovel Shaft

Dr. Yitzchak Breuer (Frankfurt 1933 - Jerusalem 1956) was a unique Jewish personality in the first half of the 20th century: a scholar, jurist, original thinker and public leader, and Prof. Baruch Kurzweil already stated at the time: "It is impossible for a modern, educated Jew, who considers the religious values ​​of Judaism to be a positive factor, to ignore the writings of Yitzhak Breuer." However, most of his compositions were written in German, and therefore are not present enough in the religious and philosophical discourse.

In the entirety of Breuer's writings, the book "Elijahu", which appears here for the first time in a Hebrew translation, is extremely unique: a personal aspect stands out in it, since it was written following a soul-searching that the author made after the death of his son, a few hours after his birth, as described at the beginning of the essay, And it is dedicated - unlike most of Breuer's writings - to the topic of the family. It expresses original and very interesting opinions about the place of the family in relation to the nation and the state, about the place of femininity and masculinity and their mutual relations, and about love as the fundamental value of the Torah and humanity as one. All this out of intellectual honesty, refreshing humor and a profound and original historical-philosophical view.