Language:
English
Year of publication:
2013
Titel der Quelle:
Bamidbar; Journal for Jewish Thought and Philosophy
Angaben zur Quelle:
1 (2013) 53-72
Keywords:
Amado Lévy-Valensi, Eliane,
;
Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945) Influence
;
Jewish women in the Holocaust
;
Jewish philosophy, Modern
Abstract:
The early life of the Israeli philosopher and psychoanalyst Éliane Amado Lévy-Valensi (1919-2006) was affected by the Holocaust: she had to flee German-occupied Paris to avoid deportation, and her mother died in Auschwitz. With all this, she seems to never mention the Holocaust in her works. Argues that this first impression is wrong, since her analysis of the Holocaust and its place among other cases of genocide can be found between the lines of remarks that focus on other things. In her works, Lévy-Valensi developed a specific conception of antisemitism, and her understanding of the origins of the Holocaust and its significance, or its message for the Jews and the whole of humanity, is derived from it. She views antisemitism as a destructive endeavor, at the core of which are ignorance and a denial of Judaism, rather than a scapegoat conception; the Holocaust is the most spectacular manifestation of this denial. The antisemites and the self-hating Jews agree on one point: they ignore the Jew either in others or in themselves, and deny him objective reality. Thus, Jewish self-hatred implicates the Holocaust no less than does destructive antisemitism. The main message that the Holocaust has brought to the Jew is the imperative of preserving his Jewishness, and to the non-Jew the imperative of preserving his singularity. Lévy-Valensi regards the State of Israel not as a compensation for the Holocaust or a refuge for the Jews, but as a place where the path toward authenticity no longer encounters the obstacle of antisemitism.
URL:
Locate this publication in Israeli libraries
