This study examines Buber's unique concept of “Urdistanz” (primordial distance) and tries to show that this concept has been influenced by German philosophers. Philological coincidences reveal that besides referring to Uexküll explicitly, Buber has referred to Scheler and Heidegger implicitly. Buber has used ideas from “Weltoffenheit” (Scheler) and “In-der-Welt-sein” (Heidegger) to form his concept of “Urdistanz”. Therefore, the concept of “Urdistanz” has been formed to explain the close relationship between the being of a human being and the existence of the world as a world.
The concept of “Urdistanz” can be detected in section 54 of Ich und Du wherein Buber states that the fundamental duality of the world, whose manifestation for human beings is the duality of Ich-Du/Ich-Es. Buber used the ideas of German philosophers in order to restate the theological description of this section in philosophical terms as the human devotion to the world-creation of God is a critical idea that has prompted him to insist on the close relationship between the world and human being.

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The Abraham narrative has strongly influenced Martin Buber's thought in three ways. Firstly, Abraham has a role to connect creation and redemption in the Bible. Secondly, the character of Abraham, along with Noah, represents the ideal human figure in the Hebrew Bible. Finally, he has a mission to prepare God's providence for the coming future King.
Noah and Abraham are both described as righteous, whole men, but Noah walked with God, while Abraham walked before Him. The contract made between Abraham and God stipulated that Abraham would walk before Him (Gen 17:1). Therefore, to fulfill his role as the Lord's herald, Abraham traversed the province of the Lord and claimed it as the Lord's dwelling place by building altars at Schechem, Beersheba and Jerusalem. Therefore, the Lord could come and make these areas His dwelling place.
This is the reason behind the requirement of Isaacs sacrifice in Gen. 22. Abraham called the place, Mount Moriah as “YHWH Will See” and built the altar with Isaac. Mount Moriah would become the place in Jerusalem where Solomon would build the Temple of God in II Chr. 3:1, thus pointing towards the importance of Zion (Jerusalem) for the future King. The prophecy of Isaiah claims to bring all the nations to the mountain of the Lord, where they might join the community of mankind in Isa. 2:1-5. Therefore Abraham's mission is to connect God's promise of the land (Gen. 12) and His dominion (Gen. 22) with the kingdom of God prophesied by Isaiah. In this way Abrahams's mission lays the foundation of the origin of Zionism.

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