ABSTRACT
"Heretical religiosity" is a liminal position that protects the constant tension between a religiosity that is not a reflection of accepted religious practices and heresy, especially metaphysical heresy. Martin Buber turned towards philosophy and theology, and Gershom Scholem was content to remain a historian. Scholem was not afraid to tackle nihilism and heresy, and examined their dialectical metamorphoses, while Baruch Kurzweil thought that by so doing Scholem was dragging Judaism into the depths of nihilism. The Jewish youths were educated in the European academies where they absorbed the intellectual climate of the period and read the works of the radical Weimar philosopher. Israel Eldad sought an existentialist and heroic nationalism, while Kurzweil foresaw the nihilistic consequences of turning the theological into the political. Walter Kaufmann claimed that because Friedrich Nietzsche was an inseparable part of German history and culture, a study of his legacy is to a great extent a study of the history of Germany.
