The theoretical discussion on Israeli art usually begins with Martin Buber’s speech at the Fifth Zionist Congress (Basel, 1901), during which he asked Zionist Jews to participate in the creation of modern Jewish culture by practicing modern Jewish art. In this speech, as well as in his various writings on Jewish nationalism in the course of the decade, Buber often uses the term “Jewish soil.” Throughout the historiography of Israeli art, the concept has been understood concretely, and “Jewish soil” has been perceived as the land of Israel. In fact, Buber’s text in the congress can be traced as the beginning of the Palestino-centric paradigm of Israeli artistic practice: modern Jewish art is created only when the Jew returns to his land—the soil of Israel. In this presentation, I will reread Buber’s speech from 1901 while referring to his early national and aesthetic philosophy. This in-depth study will allow me to scrutinize the accepted reading of Buber’s early thought on modern Jewish art and present a new perspective of its understanding. My main argument is that, unlike the widespread and literal reading of the term “Jewish soil,” Buber used the term as a metaphor for “spiritual infrastructure.” In fact, Buber believed that modern Jewish national art could exist anywhere and not only in the land of Israel even though the founding paradigm of Israeli art was based on his words and considered Israeli art as the most authentic form of modern Jewish art.