The path of the spirit is different from every other path; it unifies spiritual and social landscapes, carves paths of creativity through these paths, joins them together and then returns and splits into new paths. In truth, even those who follow it all their lives are always at its starting point; it always meets them anew.

The way of the spirit that Eliezer Schweid has carved out in his life and deeds involves three areas, which in his hands are one: research, teaching, and philosophical creation. His research, over a period of fifty years, is collected in dozens of books and hundreds of papers. In his research he sheds light on and interprets diverse worlds of thought, from the thought of the Hebrew Bible to contemporary thought. In everything he has done, he has been an innovator, a groundbreaker, and a thought-provoker, and has raised new questions. Many of the paths that he paved have served as a challenge to those who followed him as well as those who carved out parallel and even conflicting paths.

This jubilee book, presented to Eliezer Schweid on his seventy-fifth birthday, is dedicated to these three areas of his life. The first section is devoted to an analysis, critique, and examination of Schweid’s own thought. The second section deals with a series of issues linked to the cultural and educational status accorded to the study of Jewish culture in general, and the study of the philosophy that this culture has generated in particular. The last two sections deal with research and philosophical issues anchored in Jewish nationhood and modern Jewish philosophy. Thus the book seeks not only to honor Schweid and to express the love and admiration that the authors feel toward him, but also to continue to carve out new paths of the spirit.