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The Genius of Judaism
For more than four decades, Bernard-Henri Lévy has been a singular figure on the world stage—one of the great moral voices of our time. Now Europe's foremost philosopher and activist confronts his spiritual roots and the religion that has always inspired and shaped him—but that he has never fully reckoned with.
The Genius of Judaism is a breathtaking new vision and understanding of what it means to be a Jew, a vision quite different from the one we’re used to. It is rooted in the Talmudic traditions of argument and conflict, rather than biblical commandments, borne out in struggle and study, not in blind observance. At the very heart of the matter is an obligation to the other, to the dispossessed, and to the forgotten, an obligation that, as Lévy vividly recounts, he has sought to embody over decades of championing “lost causes,” from Bosnia to Africa’s forgotten wars, from Libya to the Kurdish Peshmerga’s desperate fight against the Islamic State, a battle raging as we speak. Lévy offers a fresh, surprising critique of a new and stealthy form of anti-Semitism on the rise as well as a provocative defense of Israel from the left. He reveals the overlooked Jewish roots of Western democratic ideals and confronts the current Islamist threat while intellectually dismantling it. Jews are not a “chosen people,” Lévy explains, but a “treasure” whose spirit must continue to inform moral thinking and courage today.
The Genius of Judaism is a breathtaking new vision and understanding of what it means to be a Jew, a vision quite different from the one we’re used to. It is rooted in the Talmudic traditions of argument and conflict, rather than biblical commandments, borne out in struggle and study, not in blind observance. At the very heart of the matter is an obligation to the other, to the dispossessed, and to the forgotten, an obligation that, as Lévy vividly recounts, he has sought to embody over decades of championing “lost causes,” from Bosnia to Africa’s forgotten wars, from Libya to the Kurdish Peshmerga’s desperate fight against the Islamic State, a battle raging as we speak. Lévy offers a fresh, surprising critique of a new and stealthy form of anti-Semitism on the rise as well as a provocative defense of Israel from the left. He reveals the overlooked Jewish roots of Western democratic ideals and confronts the current Islamist threat while intellectually dismantling it. Jews are not a “chosen people,” Lévy explains, but a “treasure” whose spirit must continue to inform moral thinking and courage today.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2016
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About the author
Bernard-Henri Lévy
107 books240 followersBernard-Henri Lévy is a philosopher, activist, filmmaker, and author of more than thirty books including The Genius of Judaism, American Vertigo, Barbarism with a Human Face, and Who Killed Daniel Pearl? His writing has appeared extensively in publications throughout Europe and the United States. His documentaries include Peshmerga, The Battle of Mosul, The Oath of Tobruk, and Bosna! Lévy is cofounder of the antiracist group SOS Racisme and has served on diplomatic missions for the French government.
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December 1, 2021
A Very French Mitzvah
The Hebrew word mitzvah means both a divine communication and a gift or blessing. If you are Jewish, Bernard-Henri Levy's new book is a mitzvah to be celebrated in both senses. If you are not Jewish, well, you may feel that somewhat regrettable. I am not Jewish; but thanks to halachic law my two sons are. So my response to The Genius of Judaism must be a sort of grateful but measured enthusiasm.
Levy's introduction is almost Kabbalistic in its summary of the wisdom of the Torah and the people who have preserved that wisdom for the world. But this same introduction is also decidedly French, a demonstration of the enculturation of Judaism without loss to itself. Levy's patently Talmudic exegesis of the French title of the book is a perfect example of this phenomenon. French itself becomes transcendent through a sort of Judaic filter. He even writes eventually of the real historic "Jewishness of France."
Importantly, the Genius of Judaism is not, unlike the similarly named 19th century treatise by the Catholic Chateaubriand - The Genius of Christianity - an apologia, that is to say, an explanation or defence of Judaism against its opponents, whoever they might be. Levy makes it clear he does not intend to start or continue a quarrel. His purpose is celebration, and he invites the world to celebrate with him. He does not argue why the world should share in this celebration. You either get what he is talking about or you don't. Levy is not out to covert.
But this sort of reserve, almost diffidence, does not prevent Levy from pointing out the lack of any defence by those who do oppose Judaism, the world's anti-Semites, those who embrace "the oldest form of hate...a very special form of madness." This is a madness which has historically evolved as necessary to fit the times. Levy is not the least shy in pointing out that the new anti-Semitism, although always attracting the historical residue of deicidal, racial and social reformist factions, is now framed in the purportedly non-sectarian language of political justice. This is bunk says Levy: "The truth is that one can now be anti-Semitic only by being anti-Zionist."
Nor does Levy's French enculturation mean assimilation. Not because there are not Jews who try to 'pass' for other than what they are; but because the non-Jewish world can be counted on to assure that doesn't happen. If a Jew forgets he is a Jew, there is always a helpful Gentile or two who is willing to nudge him back into his heritage. This, of course, is a consequence of Judaism being primarily a genetic rather than dogmatic religion. If one is born into it, there is no way out. It's the one thing that the Jew, Paul of Tarsus, couldn't steal in his creation of a new religion; although God knows, he certainly tried to distort it. Paradoxically it is his, Paul's, followers who can be relied upon to pass the tradition on.
Despite the existence, often the growth, of European anti-Semitism, Levy finds much to celebrate. The new relationship with Christian churches is everywhere to be seen. When Pope Francis feels confident enough in 2014 to say in a press interview that "inside each Christian is a Jew" something fundamental has occurred in both Jewish and Christian histories. Perhaps, Levy even dares to think, it is Judaism that can provide Christianity "a chance of revitalising its ailing body." From the perspective of Judaism, this possibility promotes awareness of the "Noachic" covenant, God's biblical pact with the entire, including the non-Jewish, world.
Israel, not despite of but because of political controversy, is also to be celebrated as the success that it is. As a democracy it functions remarkable well for a still young country, not just in the formal but the essential informal aspects of democracy like a vigorous press and judicial investigative integrity. Israel also has done what it set out to do: form a shelter, a refuge, a rock for the perennially dispossessed Jews of the world. This fact is easier to forget but no less important than it has always been.
Levy even sees a new interpretation of the Holocaust emerging, one that de-fuses the attempt to play the competitive victim game. The Holocaust he perceives as a "metric of adversity" not for comparison with other similar tragedies like Rwanda, or Cambodia, or Bosnia, or African slavery but as a permanent memory by which these can be recognised for what they are quickly enough and generally enough so that something can be done to mitigate their effects. In other words, the Holocaust is an important memory for the world, not just for Jews.
Perhaps the greatest reason for celebration that Levy sees is a generalisation of the experience he has had in his own life - the "rupture with that civic but bloodless Judaism" which had emerged after WWII. This is thanks to the work of Jews like Emmanuel Levinas who were able to connect contemporary philosophy with "that other deposit of meaning and concepts that he calls 'Biblical sense'." Athens has met Jerusalem. In French fiction, to continue his description of this cultural change, 'the Jew' has now become a real person, free of victimhood, even on occasion good-looking! This new spirit of French Judaism he characterises as:
"...a positive Judaism...A Judaism proud of its values, of the intellectual tradition it bore, and of its memory. A Judaism that began to consider itself less in terms of what the world owed it than of what it could offer the world...Judaism standing tall...a vigilant Judaism confident of it resources...They [Jews] are strong through study and spirit. They are strong through their memory and through their efforts to know... [T]hey dedicate themselves to the astonishing discovery that God is a writer whose book must never become an unclaimed inheritance."
For Levy, "It is quite an adventure to be a Jew." But being a member of the chosen people is a burden, a "heavy load", not a privilege. Judaism's secret is that it "is a piercing, penetrating force" that creates "an ungraspable, bounding quality" in Jewish life. "That is what it means to be chosen. That is the genius of Judaism."
The Hebrew word mitzvah means both a divine communication and a gift or blessing. If you are Jewish, Bernard-Henri Levy's new book is a mitzvah to be celebrated in both senses. If you are not Jewish, well, you may feel that somewhat regrettable. I am not Jewish; but thanks to halachic law my two sons are. So my response to The Genius of Judaism must be a sort of grateful but measured enthusiasm.
Levy's introduction is almost Kabbalistic in its summary of the wisdom of the Torah and the people who have preserved that wisdom for the world. But this same introduction is also decidedly French, a demonstration of the enculturation of Judaism without loss to itself. Levy's patently Talmudic exegesis of the French title of the book is a perfect example of this phenomenon. French itself becomes transcendent through a sort of Judaic filter. He even writes eventually of the real historic "Jewishness of France."
Importantly, the Genius of Judaism is not, unlike the similarly named 19th century treatise by the Catholic Chateaubriand - The Genius of Christianity - an apologia, that is to say, an explanation or defence of Judaism against its opponents, whoever they might be. Levy makes it clear he does not intend to start or continue a quarrel. His purpose is celebration, and he invites the world to celebrate with him. He does not argue why the world should share in this celebration. You either get what he is talking about or you don't. Levy is not out to covert.
But this sort of reserve, almost diffidence, does not prevent Levy from pointing out the lack of any defence by those who do oppose Judaism, the world's anti-Semites, those who embrace "the oldest form of hate...a very special form of madness." This is a madness which has historically evolved as necessary to fit the times. Levy is not the least shy in pointing out that the new anti-Semitism, although always attracting the historical residue of deicidal, racial and social reformist factions, is now framed in the purportedly non-sectarian language of political justice. This is bunk says Levy: "The truth is that one can now be anti-Semitic only by being anti-Zionist."
Nor does Levy's French enculturation mean assimilation. Not because there are not Jews who try to 'pass' for other than what they are; but because the non-Jewish world can be counted on to assure that doesn't happen. If a Jew forgets he is a Jew, there is always a helpful Gentile or two who is willing to nudge him back into his heritage. This, of course, is a consequence of Judaism being primarily a genetic rather than dogmatic religion. If one is born into it, there is no way out. It's the one thing that the Jew, Paul of Tarsus, couldn't steal in his creation of a new religion; although God knows, he certainly tried to distort it. Paradoxically it is his, Paul's, followers who can be relied upon to pass the tradition on.
Despite the existence, often the growth, of European anti-Semitism, Levy finds much to celebrate. The new relationship with Christian churches is everywhere to be seen. When Pope Francis feels confident enough in 2014 to say in a press interview that "inside each Christian is a Jew" something fundamental has occurred in both Jewish and Christian histories. Perhaps, Levy even dares to think, it is Judaism that can provide Christianity "a chance of revitalising its ailing body." From the perspective of Judaism, this possibility promotes awareness of the "Noachic" covenant, God's biblical pact with the entire, including the non-Jewish, world.
Israel, not despite of but because of political controversy, is also to be celebrated as the success that it is. As a democracy it functions remarkable well for a still young country, not just in the formal but the essential informal aspects of democracy like a vigorous press and judicial investigative integrity. Israel also has done what it set out to do: form a shelter, a refuge, a rock for the perennially dispossessed Jews of the world. This fact is easier to forget but no less important than it has always been.
Levy even sees a new interpretation of the Holocaust emerging, one that de-fuses the attempt to play the competitive victim game. The Holocaust he perceives as a "metric of adversity" not for comparison with other similar tragedies like Rwanda, or Cambodia, or Bosnia, or African slavery but as a permanent memory by which these can be recognised for what they are quickly enough and generally enough so that something can be done to mitigate their effects. In other words, the Holocaust is an important memory for the world, not just for Jews.
Perhaps the greatest reason for celebration that Levy sees is a generalisation of the experience he has had in his own life - the "rupture with that civic but bloodless Judaism" which had emerged after WWII. This is thanks to the work of Jews like Emmanuel Levinas who were able to connect contemporary philosophy with "that other deposit of meaning and concepts that he calls 'Biblical sense'." Athens has met Jerusalem. In French fiction, to continue his description of this cultural change, 'the Jew' has now become a real person, free of victimhood, even on occasion good-looking! This new spirit of French Judaism he characterises as:
"...a positive Judaism...A Judaism proud of its values, of the intellectual tradition it bore, and of its memory. A Judaism that began to consider itself less in terms of what the world owed it than of what it could offer the world...Judaism standing tall...a vigilant Judaism confident of it resources...They [Jews] are strong through study and spirit. They are strong through their memory and through their efforts to know... [T]hey dedicate themselves to the astonishing discovery that God is a writer whose book must never become an unclaimed inheritance."
For Levy, "It is quite an adventure to be a Jew." But being a member of the chosen people is a burden, a "heavy load", not a privilege. Judaism's secret is that it "is a piercing, penetrating force" that creates "an ungraspable, bounding quality" in Jewish life. "That is what it means to be chosen. That is the genius of Judaism."
June 27, 2018
Judaism and its believers have been subjected to discrimination and reprisals right from its origin around 2600 years ago. Apart from a brief stint of glory before Christ, their land, places of worship and right to self-rule have been hopelessly appropriated by others. It was Judaism that introduced the concept of monotheism to humanity. But what is it that evokes so much opposition from other faiths? A satisfactory answer is not yet received for this question and that’s why I had taken this book in the hope that it’d provide some clues to its exclusivity. The passion against Jews has hardened with the growth of Islamic extremism. The state of Israel is in the grip of a mortal conflict with Palestinian Arabs over a stretch of parched land saturated with history and belief. Though the Palestinian claim to sovereignty is uncontested, their struggle to gain it smacks of religious fanaticism. However, the growing violence in the region makes it a hotspot of international ramifications. As a result of all this, Jews in Europe are said to be facing a hostile crowd again after the Nazi holocaust. Bernard-Henri Levy is a French philosopher and one of the most esteemed and best-selling writers in Europe. He is the author of more than thirty books, mostly in French, including this one. Levy has undertaken several diplomatic missions for the French government. In this book, he takes stock of the position of Jews in France and expresses alarm at the steadily growing trend of anti-Semitism. He also proposes a way for Jews to engage with the rest of the world which takes its inspiration from the example of Prophet Jonah detailed in the Jewish scriptures. At the end of it all, my question unfortunately remains unanswered.
Levy expresses deep concern about anti-Semitism that is returning to haunt European Jews again. On a serious consideration of the coming predomination of an ideology of hatred, anti-Semitism poisons the body politic of Europe causing more damage to it than perhaps the physical attacks it may inflict on its victims. The author makes a historical analysis of the origins of it and identifies four distinct phases in its evolution. Jews were accused of deicide because they were supposed to have crucified Jesus Christ. Medieval Jews were persecuted on this count. However as the era of Enlightenment dawned, theological certainties gave way to rational thought. But surprisingly, Jews continued to be on the receiving end. The Enlightenment era thinkers accused them not for killing Jesus but rather for inventing him. A century later, with the advent of Industrial Revolution and modern capitalism, the socialist camp vented their ire on Jews for supposedly manipulating the levers of control that guided the capitalist system. Many of the captains of finance and industry happened to be Jews, but the public equated these icons which formed only a micro-minority of the Jewish population taken as a whole, to the ordinary individuals. But the strange fact unobserved by the author is that many of the socialist gurus like Marx also happened to be Jews. With the onset of modern science, racial and genetic aspects came in handy for the anti-Semites.
This book identifies anti-Semitism of the twenty-first century being run by the three engines of anti-Zionism, Holocaust denial, and reaction against crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians. Modern Islamic societies are pitted against Israel on this issue, but the appeal of jihadism on ordinary Muslims remain as strong as ever. Levy concludes that an internal battle is being raged between two Islams – the Islam of the throat-slitters and enlightened Islam. There is no doubt that the legitimate concerns of Palestine are to be accommodated within the two-state system. Anti-Semitism sometimes erupts in anger against continued American support to Israel. Levy proposes several arguments on why this is the most natural thing for Americans to do. The first and foremost is that Israel is the only true democracy in the region and the only island of stability. Ignoring this may be self-defeating for the Western civilization which amounts to betraying its roots and allowing them to dry up. The author finds it so tiresome having to defend Israel quite often, so distressing to have to present the same evidence over and over. For the record, Israel is a successful multi-ethnic democracy in which Arabs are given equal rights except that of obligatory military service. They are represented in Israeli parliament in proportions unheard of in any Western democracy. Arabic is the official second language of the country and Arabs have one out of the four judges in Israel’s Supreme Court. In contrast to this, Palestinian towns are overflowing with hate and fury where people dance in the streets when an Israeli soldier is lynched.
Holocaust deniers are painfully unmindful of the lessons that pogrom offered to humanity so as not to repeat it. Mass murders are commoner than people think, but Nazi genocide of Jews, represented by Auschwitz is unique for three reasons. It is the only massacre designed to be final, to annihilate even the traces of the exterminated – their culture, language, places of worship, books. Then, it was extermination without any right to appeal. All of the prospective empire was to be judenfrei. This stirred up anti-Semitic persecutions in conquered territory as well, such as Ukraine. All these events set in motion a fierce wind of transformation in European revolutionaries of the 1970s who were Jews. They turned away from Mao to Moses.
A large part of the book is dedicated to examine Jewish injunctions on its adherents and how it reconciles the modern man in performing his duty to the civil society in which he lives. Levy argues that Jews subject the verses of the Talmud to the work of soul-searching, stimulation and suspension of accepted meaning that the Jews have practiced till then. The book treats the experiences of Prophet Jonah as a model to be emulated in the present world. As the Bible says, Jonah was commanded by God to proceed to the enemy capital of Nineveh, and to ask the people there to mend their bad ways or else face imminent divine wrath. Though reluctant at first, Jonah does this after he himself faces the displeasure of God by having to stay in the belly of a whale for many days. This redemption of Nineveh, whose people were antagonistic to the Jewish nation, serves as a metaphor today where Levy extends it to his work in Libya and Ukraine, both of which expressed a strong anti-Semitic sentiment.
Many parts of the book are written in an abstruse style, mixing religious philosophy with humanistic thought. Readers might wonder what exactly the genius of Judaism mentioned in the title is. Levy saves them the trouble by clearly defining what he means by it. The genius of Judaism resides in the effort of going to Nineveh (in the abstract sense); in the relationship with other religions and with the outside world that is the meaning of the lives of so many Jews. It also resides in the ability to produce a little of the intelligence that will offer people, all people, a little of the teaching that they need to be different from the others, to stand out from the crowd to which they are never fated to belong. Levy’s definition of Judaism is also startling. Approaching God only through belief is the point of departure from Judaism and the birth-certificate of Christianity. No Jew is required to ‘believe’ in God. Instead, they are encouraged to know Him through the study of holy writ and its commentaries. Now, would you ‘believe’ that!!?
The book is recommended only to philosophically oriented readers.
Levy expresses deep concern about anti-Semitism that is returning to haunt European Jews again. On a serious consideration of the coming predomination of an ideology of hatred, anti-Semitism poisons the body politic of Europe causing more damage to it than perhaps the physical attacks it may inflict on its victims. The author makes a historical analysis of the origins of it and identifies four distinct phases in its evolution. Jews were accused of deicide because they were supposed to have crucified Jesus Christ. Medieval Jews were persecuted on this count. However as the era of Enlightenment dawned, theological certainties gave way to rational thought. But surprisingly, Jews continued to be on the receiving end. The Enlightenment era thinkers accused them not for killing Jesus but rather for inventing him. A century later, with the advent of Industrial Revolution and modern capitalism, the socialist camp vented their ire on Jews for supposedly manipulating the levers of control that guided the capitalist system. Many of the captains of finance and industry happened to be Jews, but the public equated these icons which formed only a micro-minority of the Jewish population taken as a whole, to the ordinary individuals. But the strange fact unobserved by the author is that many of the socialist gurus like Marx also happened to be Jews. With the onset of modern science, racial and genetic aspects came in handy for the anti-Semites.
This book identifies anti-Semitism of the twenty-first century being run by the three engines of anti-Zionism, Holocaust denial, and reaction against crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians. Modern Islamic societies are pitted against Israel on this issue, but the appeal of jihadism on ordinary Muslims remain as strong as ever. Levy concludes that an internal battle is being raged between two Islams – the Islam of the throat-slitters and enlightened Islam. There is no doubt that the legitimate concerns of Palestine are to be accommodated within the two-state system. Anti-Semitism sometimes erupts in anger against continued American support to Israel. Levy proposes several arguments on why this is the most natural thing for Americans to do. The first and foremost is that Israel is the only true democracy in the region and the only island of stability. Ignoring this may be self-defeating for the Western civilization which amounts to betraying its roots and allowing them to dry up. The author finds it so tiresome having to defend Israel quite often, so distressing to have to present the same evidence over and over. For the record, Israel is a successful multi-ethnic democracy in which Arabs are given equal rights except that of obligatory military service. They are represented in Israeli parliament in proportions unheard of in any Western democracy. Arabic is the official second language of the country and Arabs have one out of the four judges in Israel’s Supreme Court. In contrast to this, Palestinian towns are overflowing with hate and fury where people dance in the streets when an Israeli soldier is lynched.
Holocaust deniers are painfully unmindful of the lessons that pogrom offered to humanity so as not to repeat it. Mass murders are commoner than people think, but Nazi genocide of Jews, represented by Auschwitz is unique for three reasons. It is the only massacre designed to be final, to annihilate even the traces of the exterminated – their culture, language, places of worship, books. Then, it was extermination without any right to appeal. All of the prospective empire was to be judenfrei. This stirred up anti-Semitic persecutions in conquered territory as well, such as Ukraine. All these events set in motion a fierce wind of transformation in European revolutionaries of the 1970s who were Jews. They turned away from Mao to Moses.
A large part of the book is dedicated to examine Jewish injunctions on its adherents and how it reconciles the modern man in performing his duty to the civil society in which he lives. Levy argues that Jews subject the verses of the Talmud to the work of soul-searching, stimulation and suspension of accepted meaning that the Jews have practiced till then. The book treats the experiences of Prophet Jonah as a model to be emulated in the present world. As the Bible says, Jonah was commanded by God to proceed to the enemy capital of Nineveh, and to ask the people there to mend their bad ways or else face imminent divine wrath. Though reluctant at first, Jonah does this after he himself faces the displeasure of God by having to stay in the belly of a whale for many days. This redemption of Nineveh, whose people were antagonistic to the Jewish nation, serves as a metaphor today where Levy extends it to his work in Libya and Ukraine, both of which expressed a strong anti-Semitic sentiment.
Many parts of the book are written in an abstruse style, mixing religious philosophy with humanistic thought. Readers might wonder what exactly the genius of Judaism mentioned in the title is. Levy saves them the trouble by clearly defining what he means by it. The genius of Judaism resides in the effort of going to Nineveh (in the abstract sense); in the relationship with other religions and with the outside world that is the meaning of the lives of so many Jews. It also resides in the ability to produce a little of the intelligence that will offer people, all people, a little of the teaching that they need to be different from the others, to stand out from the crowd to which they are never fated to belong. Levy’s definition of Judaism is also startling. Approaching God only through belief is the point of departure from Judaism and the birth-certificate of Christianity. No Jew is required to ‘believe’ in God. Instead, they are encouraged to know Him through the study of holy writ and its commentaries. Now, would you ‘believe’ that!!?
The book is recommended only to philosophically oriented readers.
September 18, 2021
Man oh man! What a doozy. Not sure what entirely I got myself into here.
Bernard-Henri Levy is a controversial French thinker and human rights advocate. He identifies as being part of the left, but his stances on Israel, radical Islam and antisemitism have made him unpopular amongst some of his French and European compatriots.
His book is a hodge-podge of ideas. For something that proports to be about Judaism’s inherent strengths, he starts with several chapters on the nature of historical and contemporary antisemitism. He then moves on to how Jewish thinking influenced the creation of French culture, which personally reminded me of my scarce knowledge of that country’s literature and philosophy. :/
His most interesting ideas center around Jonah and his mission to Niveneh, which Levy extrapolates to his own human rights advocacy, particularly in the Ukraine and Libya. He says that the strength of Judaism, as verified through the Jonah story and Talmudic interpretations, is advocating for justice even when wrongdoers may not be sincere or contrite. Always here to help the underdog. Which is a nice counterpoint, I suppose, to his searing takedown of fascism, communism, radical Islam and antisemitism that is or has been endemic in those communities.
It’s a slog to get through the text. Not sure what of that is owed to the translation from French. But in English the sentences are either choppy or never-ending. The points Levy is trying to make often get lost in the mire. And for how much some stick out to me, I wonder if the rest are too grand and sweeping, a smokescreen instead of nuance. I can’t help but get the impression that Levy likes to hear himself speak, perhaps to the detriment of his message.
But there’s a lot to admire, too. Maybe in camaraderie—as someone else who doesn’t really count herself as traditionally learned or observant, but still finds much to be admired about the argumentative, challenging and always deepening layer of Jewish texts and understanding, as started by the Mishnah and the Talmud. I’m also in agreement about the dangers of revolutionary thinking and conspiracy theories, which he labels as “magical thinking.” I never quite linked magical thinking and conspiracy theories before, but of course it makes sense—this fantastical belief that something inhuman and occultist controls the world—almost always labeled as Jews—which links Enlightenment antisemitism to the “blood libel” antisemitism that preceded it.
Levy’s revolutionary chatter is more difficult to follow, and it’s also steeped in his conversation with the book that, in part, inspired his: THE GENIUS OF CHRISTIANITY by Francois-Rene Chateaubriand. Levy posits that Judaism influenced the Western world just as much as it’s more popular cousin. He then points to Chateaubriand’s commentary on Moses as part of Judaism’s staying power: “But then Eudore, whom the reader recognizes as a stand-in for Chateaubriand, delivers a speech in praise of Moses, calling him the ‘legislator of the Israelites’ who had the wisdom to endow his people with admirable laws that have ‘resisted time’ and given rise to institutions so ‘miraculous’ that they enabled people to resist all manner of oppression and subjugation and, ‘four thousand years later’ to ‘still exist.’”
Then Levy points this “emancipating power of Judaism” against revolutionary movements: “unutterable as the insatiable coruscant and necessarily untenable justifications for the carnage the word has wrought.” This sentence points to where Levy is losing the thread of the narrative due to grand-standing verbiage. But I was drawn to the idea, nonetheless, by coming to my own conclusions through other study about the dangers of the violent revolutionary spirit. Revolution, at its core, does seem like a coming wave—once it folds into the ocean, like the Bolsheviks into the Soviet Union, it becomes something damning, another form of oppression to be resisted. So I like the contradiction with the steadiness of the Jewish narrative that goes all the way back to Moses.
I don’t profess to be as well-learned or as well-traveled as Levy, but hopefully my thoughts are more readable. I like to challenge myself with this sort of philosophical thinking around the High Holidays, but next year may I gravitate towards a text that is more readable! We shall see.
Bernard-Henri Levy is a controversial French thinker and human rights advocate. He identifies as being part of the left, but his stances on Israel, radical Islam and antisemitism have made him unpopular amongst some of his French and European compatriots.
His book is a hodge-podge of ideas. For something that proports to be about Judaism’s inherent strengths, he starts with several chapters on the nature of historical and contemporary antisemitism. He then moves on to how Jewish thinking influenced the creation of French culture, which personally reminded me of my scarce knowledge of that country’s literature and philosophy. :/
His most interesting ideas center around Jonah and his mission to Niveneh, which Levy extrapolates to his own human rights advocacy, particularly in the Ukraine and Libya. He says that the strength of Judaism, as verified through the Jonah story and Talmudic interpretations, is advocating for justice even when wrongdoers may not be sincere or contrite. Always here to help the underdog. Which is a nice counterpoint, I suppose, to his searing takedown of fascism, communism, radical Islam and antisemitism that is or has been endemic in those communities.
It’s a slog to get through the text. Not sure what of that is owed to the translation from French. But in English the sentences are either choppy or never-ending. The points Levy is trying to make often get lost in the mire. And for how much some stick out to me, I wonder if the rest are too grand and sweeping, a smokescreen instead of nuance. I can’t help but get the impression that Levy likes to hear himself speak, perhaps to the detriment of his message.
But there’s a lot to admire, too. Maybe in camaraderie—as someone else who doesn’t really count herself as traditionally learned or observant, but still finds much to be admired about the argumentative, challenging and always deepening layer of Jewish texts and understanding, as started by the Mishnah and the Talmud. I’m also in agreement about the dangers of revolutionary thinking and conspiracy theories, which he labels as “magical thinking.” I never quite linked magical thinking and conspiracy theories before, but of course it makes sense—this fantastical belief that something inhuman and occultist controls the world—almost always labeled as Jews—which links Enlightenment antisemitism to the “blood libel” antisemitism that preceded it.
Levy’s revolutionary chatter is more difficult to follow, and it’s also steeped in his conversation with the book that, in part, inspired his: THE GENIUS OF CHRISTIANITY by Francois-Rene Chateaubriand. Levy posits that Judaism influenced the Western world just as much as it’s more popular cousin. He then points to Chateaubriand’s commentary on Moses as part of Judaism’s staying power: “But then Eudore, whom the reader recognizes as a stand-in for Chateaubriand, delivers a speech in praise of Moses, calling him the ‘legislator of the Israelites’ who had the wisdom to endow his people with admirable laws that have ‘resisted time’ and given rise to institutions so ‘miraculous’ that they enabled people to resist all manner of oppression and subjugation and, ‘four thousand years later’ to ‘still exist.’”
Then Levy points this “emancipating power of Judaism” against revolutionary movements: “unutterable as the insatiable coruscant and necessarily untenable justifications for the carnage the word has wrought.” This sentence points to where Levy is losing the thread of the narrative due to grand-standing verbiage. But I was drawn to the idea, nonetheless, by coming to my own conclusions through other study about the dangers of the violent revolutionary spirit. Revolution, at its core, does seem like a coming wave—once it folds into the ocean, like the Bolsheviks into the Soviet Union, it becomes something damning, another form of oppression to be resisted. So I like the contradiction with the steadiness of the Jewish narrative that goes all the way back to Moses.
I don’t profess to be as well-learned or as well-traveled as Levy, but hopefully my thoughts are more readable. I like to challenge myself with this sort of philosophical thinking around the High Holidays, but next year may I gravitate towards a text that is more readable! We shall see.
February 6, 2017
French philosopher and intellectual Bernard-Henri Levy explores what it means to be a Jew in the contemporary world and looks at the rise of anti-Semitism. He affirms his own commitment to Jewish faith, culture and the State of Israel in this cross between a memoir and philosophical treatise. I found the book mainly accessible and readable, but don’t feel that I am qualified to pass judgement on his conclusions. Nevertheless I found it an interesting read.
June 9, 2017
This book is not you just pick up and read. You dip in and out from time to time, so rich and complex is the material. I enjoyed the book but felt a bit overwhelmed by it at times.
October 8, 2021
Muita ambivalência em relação a diversas afirmações, mas vale em especial o entusiasmo gigantesco do autor.
July 17, 2017
First of all let me say that I am aware that this is controversial author and I fully intend to read some of his adversaries as Simon has helpfully pointed out. nevertheless I find this book so happy full of rich and varied Source material with Jewish and non-jewish that this is worth a 5-star rating simply because it is definitely a reference book that I would want to have in the original French.
Second and more importantly, I think I would probably translate this book as the essence of Judaism.
Finally , he appears to Define Judaism as a willingness to , even in the face of danger, question and use knowledge based on logic . To me this seems to fall within the idea of defining Jewish people as those who wrestle with God. I personally equate his questioning and Knowledge or Learning with the Rabbinical command to learn and to teach since the best students ore a good student must ask questions.
En fin, I do not agree with everything he said but in the case that he is making I believe he puts forth valid arguments and this book is well worth studying arguing with and learning all his Source materials . I'll be reading it again in the original French.
Second and more importantly, I think I would probably translate this book as the essence of Judaism.
Finally , he appears to Define Judaism as a willingness to , even in the face of danger, question and use knowledge based on logic . To me this seems to fall within the idea of defining Jewish people as those who wrestle with God. I personally equate his questioning and Knowledge or Learning with the Rabbinical command to learn and to teach since the best students ore a good student must ask questions.
En fin, I do not agree with everything he said but in the case that he is making I believe he puts forth valid arguments and this book is well worth studying arguing with and learning all his Source materials . I'll be reading it again in the original French.
June 29, 2017
This is an amazing book! I listened to it first on Audible, now have purchased the book and am reading (in order to highlight) it because of the depth and profundity of it's writing. I recommend it to all Jews, scholarly Chistians, persons who have concerns about Holocaust denial, and generally are fascinated by the Jewish people and Jewish thought!
December 12, 2022
The first book I read by Levy, but not the last. Gave me such an interesting perspective on Judaism. Levy's perspective on Jonah is the most interesting I have ever read.
April 23, 2019
an important book from a great thinker.
January 11, 2025
Throughout his oeuvre, at least the part I've read in English translation, Lévy's reflections, for the non-French intellectual immersed in that nation's culture, politics, and literature, dim for those of us not raised in his homeland. Yet this version channels the marvelous flow of his style, the passion of his insights, and the self-aware mingling of pride and modesty as he investigates, to think well.
For that process permeates this account from around 2018. He takes on a lot, as usual. Libya, Ukraine, Kurds, ISIS (aka Daesh), and the refugee crisis after the war in Syria swirl, and he tries to reconcile these excursions into pain and fear with Jonah's call to Nineveh, the city, where the Jew must go as a prophet, however unwillingly, to witness to the truth of Torah and the necessity of its humane voices. He contemplates on these pages, engages in imaginary dialogues now and then as the Book of Jonah looms larger, and he confronts the timeless, alas, emanations of anti-semitism, and, timely as ever as I turn the pages, its exposition as anti-Zionism, which he presciently limns.
I liked a lot in this as highlights show. And I skimmed a lot, too, for the middle of the text delved so deep, if unsurprisingly given the pull, the gravity of Lévy's dense weight of ideas, speculations, and meditations, into Franco-European factors which surround his daily career and his many contacts.
Not perfect, therefore, but like his contemporary, Emmanuel Carrère, Lévy combines his personal experiences with his febrile energy. They both transform their legacy as highly-educated scions for the betterment of themselves and of us, and rather than hoard their erudition, flaunt their equally entitled friends in high places, or preen on their refined sensibilities, at least they have the courtesy to share their flaws, reveal their doubts, and preserve their mental and spiritual struggles in books.
There's astonishingly fervent passages. Lévy incorporates Rashi's grandson, the Sinai theophany to Moses, the incorporeal nature of divine light shown there, the force of what cannot contain itself in matter or vision we can comprehend. Despite the uneven pace, the diary-like tone of the contents in many sections, and the sensation of listening to a smart man speculate aloud rather than formulate intricate reasoning sustained in length, it's a fair trade. For getting instead Lévy's consciousness as filtered--note his frequent nods to Proust--into print, and left not entirely scoured of its sediment and its nourishment gleaned from his Jewish heritage, and his distillation into cloudy rather than transparent inspiration and facile interpretation, we get the benefits of his frail, yearning humility.
For that process permeates this account from around 2018. He takes on a lot, as usual. Libya, Ukraine, Kurds, ISIS (aka Daesh), and the refugee crisis after the war in Syria swirl, and he tries to reconcile these excursions into pain and fear with Jonah's call to Nineveh, the city, where the Jew must go as a prophet, however unwillingly, to witness to the truth of Torah and the necessity of its humane voices. He contemplates on these pages, engages in imaginary dialogues now and then as the Book of Jonah looms larger, and he confronts the timeless, alas, emanations of anti-semitism, and, timely as ever as I turn the pages, its exposition as anti-Zionism, which he presciently limns.
I liked a lot in this as highlights show. And I skimmed a lot, too, for the middle of the text delved so deep, if unsurprisingly given the pull, the gravity of Lévy's dense weight of ideas, speculations, and meditations, into Franco-European factors which surround his daily career and his many contacts.
Not perfect, therefore, but like his contemporary, Emmanuel Carrère, Lévy combines his personal experiences with his febrile energy. They both transform their legacy as highly-educated scions for the betterment of themselves and of us, and rather than hoard their erudition, flaunt their equally entitled friends in high places, or preen on their refined sensibilities, at least they have the courtesy to share their flaws, reveal their doubts, and preserve their mental and spiritual struggles in books.
There's astonishingly fervent passages. Lévy incorporates Rashi's grandson, the Sinai theophany to Moses, the incorporeal nature of divine light shown there, the force of what cannot contain itself in matter or vision we can comprehend. Despite the uneven pace, the diary-like tone of the contents in many sections, and the sensation of listening to a smart man speculate aloud rather than formulate intricate reasoning sustained in length, it's a fair trade. For getting instead Lévy's consciousness as filtered--note his frequent nods to Proust--into print, and left not entirely scoured of its sediment and its nourishment gleaned from his Jewish heritage, and his distillation into cloudy rather than transparent inspiration and facile interpretation, we get the benefits of his frail, yearning humility.
February 9, 2017
This is an odd book but an enjoyable. It is a short set of essays by a distinguished French philosopher on the meaning of Judaism to him today. I would explicitly add that Levy views himself as an irreligious person and this is more a reflection by him on Judaism (and the process of textual study and criticism) as a mode of thinking and a source of thoughtful ethical action. It is a personal work tied to his prior work in areas of pronounced religious and sectarian conflict in the Middle East and Ukraine. The perspective seems to be one of guided and continual thinking from sacred texts and prior commentaries and thought with a view towards orienting one to living and acting in the world in a way that looks for principled religious action to engage with the world, including those that are outside of one's religious identity. This is a thoughtful coverage of Judaism as a based for a thoughtful, examined, ethical, and religious life in the world. Surprising to me, Levy does not emphasize belief in God but more stresses the need to engage in thoughtful study that guides action.
I am not overly burdened by much knowledge of Jewish scriptures - indeed I am inadequate in background in the Christian tradition as well, although I have been more exposed to that tradition and have engaged it in various ways. So while I followed Levy's book, I do not pretend to have done more than follow the arguments as best as I can. That is a start, I guess.
Levy is a French philosopher and this book is an English translation. That poses other obstacles that require some care. The book is much better written with a more engaging flow than you find in English language essays and books. The trouble is that it is harder to follow the arguments, which come from a context with more of a sense of late Hegalian post-structural argumentation that can stop unwary readers in their tracks sometimes. It is hard to sort out the difference between summary statements of philosophical issues and the arguments that were employed to reach conclusions. It is possible to make sense of this but it is work to someone from a different background and training experience. I understood Hegal only dimly and political theories around the late 1960s and 1970s were murky at best and ran afoul of events quickly, as Levy notes with reference to Cambodia and the Cultural Revolution.
I had heard about this book in connection with discussions of modern forms of antisemitism. These are developed early in the book and are very worthwhile. The middle portion of the book goes into the historical influences of Judaism on various revolutionary traditions, especially the French Revolution. This was also engaging, especially for the Medieval referents, but got harder to follow as more modern revolutionary traditions were considered. The final parts of the book went into his positive assessment of the importance of Judaism today and focused on the book of Jonah and the role of engagement in the broader non-Jewish world. This was fascinating to read and allowed Levy to tie his own experiences and writings into the arguments. It motivated me to read more of him.
Overall, I felt unable to fully engage in this book because the subject matter is generally out of my comfort zone. It was very well worth reading however, and I am motivated to learn more.
I am not overly burdened by much knowledge of Jewish scriptures - indeed I am inadequate in background in the Christian tradition as well, although I have been more exposed to that tradition and have engaged it in various ways. So while I followed Levy's book, I do not pretend to have done more than follow the arguments as best as I can. That is a start, I guess.
Levy is a French philosopher and this book is an English translation. That poses other obstacles that require some care. The book is much better written with a more engaging flow than you find in English language essays and books. The trouble is that it is harder to follow the arguments, which come from a context with more of a sense of late Hegalian post-structural argumentation that can stop unwary readers in their tracks sometimes. It is hard to sort out the difference between summary statements of philosophical issues and the arguments that were employed to reach conclusions. It is possible to make sense of this but it is work to someone from a different background and training experience. I understood Hegal only dimly and political theories around the late 1960s and 1970s were murky at best and ran afoul of events quickly, as Levy notes with reference to Cambodia and the Cultural Revolution.
I had heard about this book in connection with discussions of modern forms of antisemitism. These are developed early in the book and are very worthwhile. The middle portion of the book goes into the historical influences of Judaism on various revolutionary traditions, especially the French Revolution. This was also engaging, especially for the Medieval referents, but got harder to follow as more modern revolutionary traditions were considered. The final parts of the book went into his positive assessment of the importance of Judaism today and focused on the book of Jonah and the role of engagement in the broader non-Jewish world. This was fascinating to read and allowed Levy to tie his own experiences and writings into the arguments. It motivated me to read more of him.
Overall, I felt unable to fully engage in this book because the subject matter is generally out of my comfort zone. It was very well worth reading however, and I am motivated to learn more.
March 4, 2017
I wish I could recommend this book more- its hard to describe- let alone to find the right person to recommend to this mental feast t. Perhaps this book is a blog of apparently disconnected insights that are best understood as mile markers on the author's intellectual journey to awareness and insight.Bernard- Henri Levi is brilliant , but often impenetrable. His analysis of Anti-Semitism is profound, his efforts to fix the world and alleviate suffering are exemplary, His journey from Leftist and disillusionment to Hebrew Scholar and voice of leadership was captivating - I thought I was really keeping up with him and then he humbled me. His analysis of the impact of Judaism on the creation of modern French left me in the dust. Turns out I really don't know French literature and was soon lost. The intellectual tour deforce was amazing- I simply don't know anyone who can climb the heights he has reached. I could not keep up.
April 30, 2017
A complicated look at Jewish intellectual pursuit of understanding the Torah and Talmud while trying to grasp the undercurrent of the reappearance of anti-Semitism. A complex and thought-provoking book from a modern philosopher and polymath. Not an easy read at all but inspired me to think. And anyone who ends a book about Jewish though by quoting Leonard Cohen isn't half bad.
September 30, 2017
More than just about Judaism a very good read that also takes in why intervention in Libya has been successful compared to the lack of intervention in Syria, why anti-Semitism is rising and so much more. My first BHL and there will be more.
October 25, 2019
I have no idea what the author is trying to convey to me 90% of the time. It sounds like unorganized ramblings that leave me constantly trying to hold onto the thread of the author's crazed thoughts. DO NOT READ.
February 7, 2020
A well written peace on the beautiful qualities of Judaism and how people who are antisemitic get it wrong when they see Jews as seeing themselves better than other when they get the meaning and concept of chosen people wrong.
February 12, 2017
A great extended book length essay on Jewish identity (and exceptionalism?). It is reassuring to know philosophers like him still walk, live, and teach in our modern world.
February 19, 2017
Good reading
The book is a quest for understanding. Deep, full of parallels, modern, challenging. Short but must be read slow and in a thoughtful way.
The book is a quest for understanding. Deep, full of parallels, modern, challenging. Short but must be read slow and in a thoughtful way.
February 25, 2017
Passion
A very inspired book.Well worth reading.When you read this book you feel the author put his heart into the story.
Hesh
A very inspired book.Well worth reading.When you read this book you feel the author put his heart into the story.
Hesh
May 6, 2017
always humbling and good for my vocabulary...
July 4, 2017
A meditation on what it means to be Jewish today - at times both depressing and hopeful. I wouldn't recommend unless you *really* like philosophy, but if you do then I would recommend immediately.
August 21, 2018
Unapologetic. Angry. Don’t regret reading but it didn’t keep me in I was bored a lot! If you’d like to hear the perspective of the humbless then hear ya go lol
February 23, 2024
Serious review: quite a bit of Bernard Henri-Lévy’s writing goes over my head, but I’m certain that this book was as disjointed and messy at it seemed. Though there are truly brilliant and beautiful sections (Jonah, for example) the reading experience is hindered by Lévy’s poor organization.
Alternative review: 🚨🚨YAP LEVELS CRITICAL ‼️‼️
Alternative review: 🚨🚨YAP LEVELS CRITICAL ‼️‼️
February 5, 2024
Bernard Levy fashions himself a modern-day prophet following in the footsteps--if not in the belly of the whale--of the biblical Jonah. Truthfully the conceit is just that: a conceit. He writes a lot about his trips to what he describes as our Ninevehs; namely, Ukraine and Libya. It's not in the least interesting. In fact it's a lot of bloviation.
It's tempting to blame the translator for this unnecessarily wordy text, but as I read through Bernard Levy's The Genius of Judaism I started to realize that it's his style of writing that is the real problem. Take this passage for example:
[blockquote]Because of all this, because this is our situation, our condition, our fate, we must put all our weight on the scale of the good and the bad, we must weight in with every bit of our meager force, we must lend to it our humblest hand and words...Words old and new. Words of glory or mistrust. Gratuitous words. Words howled out or whispered. Words boldly pronounced but lacking resonance. Words timorously uttered and echoing long. Spoken words and words that speak.[/blockquote]
I won't belabor the point by quoting more, but it goes on for quite a bit longer just like that.
That bloviation crowds out space for genuine, thoughtful analysis. Often, though, when it is there, it's unimpressive--his typology of anti-semitism, for instance--or simply wrong. Case in point on the latter, he writes that the orthodox Jews of today "have abandoned the idea of multiple meanings that has always been the beating heart of Talmudic scholarship." Clearly he's hanging out with the wrong orthodox Jews! To point readers wanting a different take, more convincingly argued, I would recommend two books I've enjoyed on orthodox Talmudic scholarship: Chaim Saiman's Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law and Catherine Chalier's Reading the Torah: Beyond the Fundamentalist and Scientific Approaches, which I also read translated from its original French.
There are two parts of Levy's book I would mention that I liked. First, his writing about Rashi and his role in tracing back the French language to its origins was really interesting. I didn't realize that Rashi was a vintner living a rather prodigious and bountiful life in the Champagne wine region. The second discussion I enjoyed was near the very end when he wrote about how the Jew is not commanded to believe in G-d, and that some people--Levy himself included--would even go so far to say that faith is NOT allowed because it muscles out of the way that far more important pursuit; namely, the pursuit of knowledge.
I wasn't surprised logging on to Goodreads upon conclusion to find that The Genius of Judaism gets quite low ratings. Sometimes Goodreads readers get it right! I look forward to reading their reviews to see if they picked up on some of the same themes that I have. (c)Jeffrey L. Otto, February 4, 2024
It's tempting to blame the translator for this unnecessarily wordy text, but as I read through Bernard Levy's The Genius of Judaism I started to realize that it's his style of writing that is the real problem. Take this passage for example:
[blockquote]Because of all this, because this is our situation, our condition, our fate, we must put all our weight on the scale of the good and the bad, we must weight in with every bit of our meager force, we must lend to it our humblest hand and words...Words old and new. Words of glory or mistrust. Gratuitous words. Words howled out or whispered. Words boldly pronounced but lacking resonance. Words timorously uttered and echoing long. Spoken words and words that speak.[/blockquote]
I won't belabor the point by quoting more, but it goes on for quite a bit longer just like that.
That bloviation crowds out space for genuine, thoughtful analysis. Often, though, when it is there, it's unimpressive--his typology of anti-semitism, for instance--or simply wrong. Case in point on the latter, he writes that the orthodox Jews of today "have abandoned the idea of multiple meanings that has always been the beating heart of Talmudic scholarship." Clearly he's hanging out with the wrong orthodox Jews! To point readers wanting a different take, more convincingly argued, I would recommend two books I've enjoyed on orthodox Talmudic scholarship: Chaim Saiman's Halakhah: The Rabbinic Idea of Law and Catherine Chalier's Reading the Torah: Beyond the Fundamentalist and Scientific Approaches, which I also read translated from its original French.
There are two parts of Levy's book I would mention that I liked. First, his writing about Rashi and his role in tracing back the French language to its origins was really interesting. I didn't realize that Rashi was a vintner living a rather prodigious and bountiful life in the Champagne wine region. The second discussion I enjoyed was near the very end when he wrote about how the Jew is not commanded to believe in G-d, and that some people--Levy himself included--would even go so far to say that faith is NOT allowed because it muscles out of the way that far more important pursuit; namely, the pursuit of knowledge.
I wasn't surprised logging on to Goodreads upon conclusion to find that The Genius of Judaism gets quite low ratings. Sometimes Goodreads readers get it right! I look forward to reading their reviews to see if they picked up on some of the same themes that I have. (c)Jeffrey L. Otto, February 4, 2024
November 7, 2017
This book is somewhat difficult to traverse primarily because of Levy's constant name dropping rendering non-French intellectuals who may be reading this book out in left field. The first third of this book deals with underlying causes and irrationalities behind anti-semitism through the ages and is well done. As is Levy's description of the reasons supporting his love of Israel. When it comes to his analysis of the impact of Judaism on France and the claims that France owes so much of its culture to Jews- Rashi being the number one reason-- this becomes quite a stretch.
Levy is criticized (Meir Soloveitchek in Commentary) for his concern with the "choseness" of Jews. His criticism is based on Levy's admission that he doesn't read/understand Hebrew, much less Aramaic and is not really familiar with the sources of his own arguments--Bible,Mishnah, Talmud. While true, I didn't find this to be a central part of the book at all.
There is some discussion of Jews as a treasure but Levy empasizes that all people are dear to God. "What is essential to grasp that no pride is attached to the unconscious knowledge of being a treasure." (p. 128).
There is much emphasis in the book on Jonah and his refusal to obey God and go to Nineveh (a great city that was sinning) and talk to them to get them to repent, until finally compelled to by God. Levy then draws parallels to why he went to Lviv (Ukraine) to speak at a conference, as it was based on his desire to remind Ukrainians of their participation in the Holocaust. The same parallel with Jonah underlay Levy's motive to go to Benghazi (Libya) and exhort the French to remove Gaddafi who was massacring his people (There is public acknowledgement of the role Levy played in the removal of Gaddafi.) Lots of self justification.
Just as Jonah went to Nineveh so do Jews need to go to other places and speak out to their inhabitants- e.g. Iraqi Kurds. For some people it is a waste of time, but for others Levy feels it's his way of obeying the commandment of universalism that is the heart of Jewish thought as expressed in the book of Jonah (p. 187).
It's only with 15 pages to go (p. 214) that we finally find what Levy believes is the genius of Judaism- it is the constant search for knowledge, the ability to offer to all people a little bit of the intelligence that will allow them to stand out from others. This is the heritage of the Talmud- the constant questioning, debating, and exploring. In contrast to Christianity, whose doctrine is based on belief and faith, Jewish genius lies in knowing, accepting, and understanding.
Levy is criticized (Meir Soloveitchek in Commentary) for his concern with the "choseness" of Jews. His criticism is based on Levy's admission that he doesn't read/understand Hebrew, much less Aramaic and is not really familiar with the sources of his own arguments--Bible,Mishnah, Talmud. While true, I didn't find this to be a central part of the book at all.
There is some discussion of Jews as a treasure but Levy empasizes that all people are dear to God. "What is essential to grasp that no pride is attached to the unconscious knowledge of being a treasure." (p. 128).
There is much emphasis in the book on Jonah and his refusal to obey God and go to Nineveh (a great city that was sinning) and talk to them to get them to repent, until finally compelled to by God. Levy then draws parallels to why he went to Lviv (Ukraine) to speak at a conference, as it was based on his desire to remind Ukrainians of their participation in the Holocaust. The same parallel with Jonah underlay Levy's motive to go to Benghazi (Libya) and exhort the French to remove Gaddafi who was massacring his people (There is public acknowledgement of the role Levy played in the removal of Gaddafi.) Lots of self justification.
Just as Jonah went to Nineveh so do Jews need to go to other places and speak out to their inhabitants- e.g. Iraqi Kurds. For some people it is a waste of time, but for others Levy feels it's his way of obeying the commandment of universalism that is the heart of Jewish thought as expressed in the book of Jonah (p. 187).
It's only with 15 pages to go (p. 214) that we finally find what Levy believes is the genius of Judaism- it is the constant search for knowledge, the ability to offer to all people a little bit of the intelligence that will allow them to stand out from others. This is the heritage of the Talmud- the constant questioning, debating, and exploring. In contrast to Christianity, whose doctrine is based on belief and faith, Jewish genius lies in knowing, accepting, and understanding.
October 24, 2018
This is a book I wanted to like--and likely a book I would have liked… had it been a half (or a third) the length that it is.
Lévy often writes in long sentences, very long sentences. In one case, I found one that covered more than a page--almost two. And therein, he includes words--and even clauses--not necessary to his point--and sometimes even distracting from that point. The reader loses the thread.
And sometimes, he becomes self-indulgent, dwelling excessively (it seems) on his own life, his own travels, his writings.
At the same time, however, there are nuggets of good sense--and even wisdom--buried in that superabundance of words. In the second part, he deals with an extensive exegesis of the (biblical) Book of Jonah where, despite his many digressions, he develops the notion of the Jewish people as a "light unto the nations" (to borrow a term from the Prophet Isaiah).
Jonah, he writes,
Lévy finds the essence of Judaism in this concerns for the "nations," this obligation, this responsibility to non-Jews.
Had he condensed that last section to the story of Jonah and to this lesson he draws from that great biblical text, his book would have been more stronger.
Importantly, he does see why Jews, his people, my people value study, learning, discussion and debate. And he notes, that of all the sacred texts of the various traditions, the Talmud is perhaps one of the few that is "signed," where the authors are identified. We know the names of the various authors, the great rabbis of our tradition.
And perhaps in them, we see a reflection of ourselves as Jews today, wrestling with this great ideas and struggling to express them such that they can help enlighten our fellows.
Lévy often writes in long sentences, very long sentences. In one case, I found one that covered more than a page--almost two. And therein, he includes words--and even clauses--not necessary to his point--and sometimes even distracting from that point. The reader loses the thread.
And sometimes, he becomes self-indulgent, dwelling excessively (it seems) on his own life, his own travels, his writings.
At the same time, however, there are nuggets of good sense--and even wisdom--buried in that superabundance of words. In the second part, he deals with an extensive exegesis of the (biblical) Book of Jonah where, despite his many digressions, he develops the notion of the Jewish people as a "light unto the nations" (to borrow a term from the Prophet Isaiah).
Jonah, he writes,
is the prophet to whom it is demanded to go <>, otherwise said spoke, to a a city which is not a city of Israel…. this spirt of Judaism that I have been searching, it is, admittedly, in the effort of going to Nineveh; it is, of course, in this relationship with the other and outside [the community] which is the meaning of life to so many Jews and, in any case, of mine.(My translation.)
Lévy finds the essence of Judaism in this concerns for the "nations," this obligation, this responsibility to non-Jews.
Had he condensed that last section to the story of Jonah and to this lesson he draws from that great biblical text, his book would have been more stronger.
Importantly, he does see why Jews, his people, my people value study, learning, discussion and debate. And he notes, that of all the sacred texts of the various traditions, the Talmud is perhaps one of the few that is "signed," where the authors are identified. We know the names of the various authors, the great rabbis of our tradition.
And perhaps in them, we see a reflection of ourselves as Jews today, wrestling with this great ideas and struggling to express them such that they can help enlighten our fellows.
October 14, 2018
As others have written, to fully understand most of the first half of the book, one would need to have read a great deal of the writings of French philosophers, particularly Jewish French philosophers and sages. The second half of the book includes a great deal of consideration of the Biblical story of Jonah, God's command that he go to Nineveh to announce impending judgment on that City and its inhabitants due to their immoral and wicked behavior. If you are a Jew, that Torah portion will be familiar, as it is typically read on Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.
Levy points to the message of this story from the Old Testament as a guiding light in his efforts to work with and help people all around the globe in their efforts to throw off the shackles of dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and to help these underdogs tell their stories. It is this part of the book that I found most enjoyable.
This book reads like someone is thinking out loud, but with many references to what were for me relatively obscure or unfamiliar writings of others. Levy is an academic, and his writing shows it. Notwithstanding the glowing reviews of this book, I found it sometimes tedious, sometimes unnecessarily obtuse and sometimes not flowing in an orderly way.
It is about Levy's search for meaning in the writings of his religious heritage, a religion he admits he does not practice in any kind of observant way. Yet he finds much to like and respect in the writings that underpin Judaism and in those who study the Torah. Levy as a philosopher is a deep thinker and he therefore identifies with those highly observant, Orthodox Jews, who spend a great deal of their time not only studying the Torah, but searching for and questioning its meaning. I only wish he had identified more than one Torah portion that he could rely upon to speak about the genius of Judaism, for I am confident there is much to learn elsewhere in the Book.
Levy points to the message of this story from the Old Testament as a guiding light in his efforts to work with and help people all around the globe in their efforts to throw off the shackles of dictatorships, authoritarian regimes and to help these underdogs tell their stories. It is this part of the book that I found most enjoyable.
This book reads like someone is thinking out loud, but with many references to what were for me relatively obscure or unfamiliar writings of others. Levy is an academic, and his writing shows it. Notwithstanding the glowing reviews of this book, I found it sometimes tedious, sometimes unnecessarily obtuse and sometimes not flowing in an orderly way.
It is about Levy's search for meaning in the writings of his religious heritage, a religion he admits he does not practice in any kind of observant way. Yet he finds much to like and respect in the writings that underpin Judaism and in those who study the Torah. Levy as a philosopher is a deep thinker and he therefore identifies with those highly observant, Orthodox Jews, who spend a great deal of their time not only studying the Torah, but searching for and questioning its meaning. I only wish he had identified more than one Torah portion that he could rely upon to speak about the genius of Judaism, for I am confident there is much to learn elsewhere in the Book.
February 23, 2017
Bernard-Henri Levy is a brilliant French philosopher, journalist, activist/humanitarian, and filmmaker. This book espouses his complicated and original views of the meaning and uniqueness (not "chosenness") of Judaism. It is a fascinating, but difficult book (myriads of references to French, European, African, and Jewish thinkers and writers, many of whom will not be familiar to the general reader). Especially compelling is his analysis of the Book of Jonah as the central metaphor of the Jewish task ("go to Nineveh", the enemy city, to cause them to repent), compelling us to reach out to the Other. He is not traditionally religiously observant; rather, his experience of Judaism involves study and activism (a la Levinas and others).
April 17, 2016
C'est plein d'idées superbes de quelqu'un qui écrit bien et connait beaucoup de choses. Le contenu est parfois irritant : que cherche-t-il à démontrer ? Et puis beaucoup de mégalomanie.
De belles pages sur Jonas.
Et aussi :
Il n'est pas demandé au Juif du plus instruit au plus ignorant, du plus grand (qui est aussi le plus petit), au plus petit (qui est aussi le plus grand), de "croire en Dieu".
Le but de l'étude, c'est l'étude.
De belles pages sur Jonas.
Et aussi :
Il n'est pas demandé au Juif du plus instruit au plus ignorant, du plus grand (qui est aussi le plus petit), au plus petit (qui est aussi le plus grand), de "croire en Dieu".
Le but de l'étude, c'est l'étude.
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