Philosopher and Poseq- 77 ­

Therefore, both areas continue to evolve in their separate ways and one might say in search of an individual who can present a unified theory of observance along with a practical expression of it. This paper will attempt to see where we stand rather than seek new avenues.

Some of the individuals who were leaders among liberal Jews might have been expected to present a rationale for the commandments. They did not. So, for example, Leo Baeck (1873-1959), the last great liberal rabbi of Germany who stayed behind with his community as its national president, wrote many scholarly essays, but his emphasis was more on midrash and agadah than on halakhah. His essay,"Mysticism and the Commandments" in Judaism and Christianity , really dealt more with the phenomenon of mysticism

than with halakhah. Leo Baeck considered halakhah as only"one constituent part of the divine revelation",(4) although personally

observant in a liberal manner. halakhah did not possess the authority for him which it once had for traditional Jews . His last book, This People, Israel, was a kind of a midrash which hardly dealt with halakhic considerations at all.

Perhaps the most influential thinkers of twentieth century European Jewry were Martin Buber (1878-1965) and Franz Rosenzweig (1886-1929). Martin Buber ’s approach to halakhah can be read a number of different ways. He was accused of being antinomian. After all, the entire I-Thou system of philosophy depended upon a an existentialist approach to God and Judaism . This could occur entirely outside the halakhic system. For him it is not only the end result which may be doubtful when viewed through the eyes of