“Adolescence is a serious problem of life”: N. F. S Grundtvig, Martin Buber and Adult Education in Israel

This chapter explores the close connections between the ideas of the Danish educator N.F.S. Grundtvig, the Israeli philosopher Martin Buber and the latter’s establishment of ‘Beit-HaMidrash Le-morei Am’ (School for Educators of the People) in Jerusalem in 1949. There were similarities not only between the institutions they founded, and their educational aims, but also in the way they taught. In many ways, Grundtvig’s mid-nineteenth century vision on adult education, translated by Buber, was realized a century later in Israel, a testament to the extensive transfer of ideas between Denmark and Israel unknown until now.