Difficult Freedom

Emmanuel Levinas was born in Kaunas, Lithuania, in 1906, and became a naturalized French citizen in 1930. His many books include Existences and Essences and Otherwise Than Being or Beyond Essence. He died in Paris in 1995.

• Bibliographical InformationTranslator's NoteForewordPart I: Beyond PathosChapter 1. Ethics and SpiritChapter 2. A Religion for AdultsChapter 3. JudaismChapter 4. The Pharisee is AbsentChapter 5. Judaism and the FEminineChapter 6. The Diary of Léon BrunschvicgChapter 7. Being a Westerner Chapter 8. Means of IdentificationChapter 9. The Ark and the MummyPart II: CommentariesChapter 10. Messianic TextsPart III: PolemicsChapter 11. Place and UtopiaChapter 12. A New Version of Jesus Narrated By the Wandering JewChapter 13. The Spinoza CaseChapter 14. Have You Reread Baruch?Chapter 15. Persons or FiguresChapter 16. A Voice on IsraelChapter 17. Poetry and the ImpossibleChapter 18. Simone Weil Against the BibleChapter 19. Loving the Torah More Than GodChapter 20. An Eye For an EyeChapter 21. The Struthof CaseChapter 22. The Name of a Dog, or Natural RightsChapter 23. The Virtues of PatiencePart IV: OpeningsChapter 24. Jewish Thought TodayChapter 25. Jacob GordinChapter 26. Religion and ToleranceChapter 27. Israel and UniversalismChapter 28. Monotheism and LanguageChapter 29. 'Between Two Worlds'Chapter 30. Judaeo-Christian FriendshipPart V: DistancesChapter 31. Freedom of SpeechChapter 32. Judaism and the PresentChapter 33. The State of Israel and the Religion of IsraelChapter 34. From the Rise of Nihilism to the Carnal JewChapter 35. The Meaning of HistoryChapter 36. The Light and the DarkChapter 37. Heidegger, Gagarin and UsChapter 38. Hegel and the JewsChapter 39. Exclusive RightsPart VI: Hic et NuncChapter 40. How is Judaism Possible?Chapter 41. Assimilation TodayChapter 42. Space is Not One-DimensionalChapter 43. Reflections on Jewish EducationChapter 44. Education and PrayerChapter 45. For a Jewish HumanismChapter 46. Antihumanism and EducationPart VII: SignatureChapter 47. SignatureNotesSelected Glossary of Names and TermsIndex

Insofar as these confessional writings continue to a certain extent Levinas's meditations on the face, they are considered essential to a serious appraisal of his work as a whole. But there are additional reasons why these writings are of substantial interest. First, they make explicit a dimension in Levinas's work-its inspiration in or reference to Judaism-that is only implicit in the philosophical work... Secondly, these confessional writings in themselves constitute a remarkable access to and 'translation' of Judaism. MLN