Famous Israeli Philosophers

Martin Buber was an Austrian and Israeli philosopher who received ten nominations for the Nobel Prize in Literature and seven nominations for the Nobel Peace Prize. Renowned for his philosophy of dialogue, Buber is best known for his famous essay, I and Thou. In 1951, he was honored by the University of Hamburg with the prestigious Goethe Award.

Gershom Scholem was a German-born Israeli philosopher and historian. He is much respected as the founder of the modern academic study of Kabbalah. He became the first professor of Jewish Mysticism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. He was lifelong friends with fellow philosopher Walter Benjamin and was devastated when the latter died by suicide in 1940. 

Joseph Raz is an Israeli legal, moral, and political philosopher. He is known for his conception of perfectionist liberalism and is a prominent advocate of legal positivism. He was a professor of philosophy of law at the University of Oxford for most of his career. He was elected to the American Academy of Arts & Sciences in 1992. 

Sextus Julius Africanus was a Christian traveler and historian who lived and worked in the late second and early third centuries. He is believed to have had a great influence on the Christian writer Eusebius. Little is known about his life, but it is believed that he served under Roman Emperor Septimius Severus. Only fragments of his work survive. 

An M.A. in Clinical Psychology from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, Bracha Lichtenberg Ettinger initially worked as psychoanalyst in Israel and England. Although self taught, she later decided to become a professional artist, eventually moving to Paris, where along with painting, drawing and photography, she also started writing and began serving as visiting professor at various European and Asian universities.