The didactic emphasis on Nietzsche's presence in the life and work of Yoseph Hayim Brenner in unprecedented scope and depth aims to stress Brenner's Hebraism. What has been his utmost concern is the typical existentialist question, free of any national boundaries and religions: "Who is a Man?
Brenner is the most important modern Hebrew writer who wished to create
his own personal authenticity. He did not believe that secularization will lead
to disintegration or to assimilation but to the creation of a new type of an
authentic Hebrew, who will be able to write for himself, mainly by his own
resources, his own unique book of life.
Brennner's 'secret sweetness' is nurtured by three central 'burning fires' (as is the Yiddish meaning of his name): 1. His personal and immediate direct relation to God of Abraham, Yitzhak and Yaacov, and not to the rabbinical rites and lore. 2. His burning desire to foster a vibrant modern Hebrew literature. 3. His longing for a genuine authentic Mensch that will replace the unattainable Nietzschean ideal of the Übermensch. Hence one of the main tenets of this research is that we cannot explain or understand Brenner solely by using the Nietzschean prism.
Brenner's ultimate effort to write in a half-dead language (Hebrew) to a half-alive people (the Jewish people) is his "why of life" that helped him accept almost "any how".
Brenner used Nietzsche to overcome his attraction to prevalent
political-cultural ideologies that ended with an 'ism', such as communism,
socialism, anarchism, or Bundism. Thus he used Nietzsche in a Nietzschean way
to overcome his initially strong attachment to the "Herald of
Zarathustra" (the fictive literary personification of the authentic
hero). Brenner gladly embraced
Zarathustra's bid to his pupils: "Now I bid you lose me and find
yourselves; and only when you have all denied me will I return to you".