Questioning Judaism

Interviews by Elisabeth Weber

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by Elisabeth Weber,

Translated by Rachel Bowlby

Stanford University Press

Due/Published August 2004, 208 pages, paper

ISBN 0804742200

In the wake of the Dreyfus affair and the Shoah, many French intellectuals have maintained rich and complex relationships with Judaism, beyond as well as within the religious dimension. Whether they approach it via history, philosophy, biblical studies or sociology, or following a personal itinerary, many contemporary intellectuals are deeply involved in Jewish culture.

Interviewed at length by Elisabeth Weber, this volume presents the meditations of seven well-known French thinkers on the special relations of their own intellectual pursuit to Judaism. As memory or as the place of "circumfession" (in Jacques Derrida's words), as the symbol of the "unrepresentable" (Jean-Fran�ois Lyotard) or as the witness, according to Emmanuel Levinas, to a "biblical humanity," Judaism is continually engaged in renewing and displacing contemporary thought.

The volume includes interviews with: Pierre Vidal-Naquet, Jacques Derrida, Rita Thalmann, Emmanuel Levinas, LŽon Poliakov, Jean-Francois Lyotard, and Luc Rosenzweig.

Series: Cultural Memory in the Present

Review

In 1791, following the Revolution, many Jews would soon come to embrace the values of Republican France, a loyalty they maintained despite the abhorrent treatment they suffered in the following years. (It is said that many deported French Jews sang the “Marseillaise” as they were sent off to concentration camps.) The Dreyfus Affair and the willing deportation of French Jews by the Vichy government are the two most notorious events in a history dotted with virulent outbreaks of anti-Semitism. The treatment of Algerian Jews represents yet another wrinkle to the complex relationship between France and its Jewish citizens. In 1830, Algerian Jews joyfully greeted the French colonizers as protectors against Muslim persecution. However, Algerian Jews would soon suffer pogroms during the colonial period and second-class citizenship and deportation during World War II. In the postwar years, French society has struggled with the legacy of anti-Semitism, admitting mistakes, but also viewing incidents of persecutions, particularly those that occurred during German occupation, as aberrations. This new collection of interviews with prominent French Jewish intellectuals explores the complex and frequently tragic history of French Judaism. The thinkers discuss this history and the ways in which Judaism shapes their lives and work. In particular they consider Jewish tradition and ethics, the role of Jewish women in the Resistance, and the question of justice. The difficulty in representing the Holocaust hangs over many of these interviews, and the contributors speculate on questions of memory and history. Questioning Judaism offers new perspectives on both the history of Jews in France and the works of prominent French intellectuals.

The volume includes interviews with Jacques Derrida, Emmanuel Levinas, Jean-François Lyotard, Léon Poliakov, Luc Rosenzweig, Rita Thalmann, and Pierre Vidal-Naquet