Cultural Memory in the Present #: Emmanuel Levinas's Talmudic Turn

- Blurb -

In this rich intellectual history of the French-Jewish philosopher Emmanuel Levinas' s Talmudic lectures in Paris, Ethan Kleinberg addresses Levinas' s Jewish life and its relation to his philosophical writings while making an argument for the role and importance of Levinas' s Talmudic lessons. Pairing each chapter with a related Talmudic lecture, Kleinberg uses the distinction Levinas presents between "God on Our Side" and "God on God' s Side" to provide two discrete and at times conflicting approaches to Levinas' s Talmudic readings. One is historically situated and argued from "our side" while the other uses Levinas' s Talmudic readings themselves to approach the issues as timeless and derived from "God on God' s own side. " Bringing the two approaches together, Kleinberg asks whether the ethical message and moral urgency of Levinas' s Talmudic lectures can be extended beyond the texts and beliefs of a chosen people, religion, or even the seemingly primary unit of the self. Touching on Western philosophy, French Enlightenment universalism, and the Lithuanian Talmudic tradition, Kleinberg provides readers with a boundary-pushing investigation into the origins, influences, and causes of Levinas' s turn to and use of Talmud.