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Bernard Henri LevyBernard Henri L…
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The Genius of Judaism Kindle Edition
by Bernard Henri Levy (Author), Steven B. Kennedy (Translator) Format: Kindle Edition
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (256)
From world-renowned public intellectual Bernard-Henri Lévy comes an incisive and provocative look at the heart of Judaism.
“A smart, revealing, and essential book for our times.”—The Washington Post
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.
Lévy’s most passionate book, and in many ways his most personal, The Genius of Judaism is a great, profound, and hypnotic intellectual reckoning—indeed a call to arms—by one of the keenest and most insightful writers in the world.
Praise for The Genius of Judaism
“In The Genius of Judaism, Lévy elaborates on his credo by rebutting the pernicious and false logic behind current anti-Semitism and defends Israel as the world’s most successful multi-ethnic democracy created from scratch. Lévy also makes the case for France’s Jews being integral to the establishment of the French nation, the French language, and French literature. And last, but certainly not least, he presents a striking interpretation of the Book of Jonah. . . . A tour de force.”—Forbes
“Ardent . . . Lévy’s message is essentially uplifting: that the brilliant scholars of Judaism, the authors of the Talmud, provide elucidation into ‘the great questions that have stirred humanity since the dawn of time.’ . . . A philosophical celebration of Judaism.”—Kirkus Reviews
“Lévy (Left in Dark Times), a prominent French journalist and politically engaged philosopher, turns his observations inward here, pondering the teachings of Judaism and the role they have played in contemporary European history as well as in his own life and intellectual inquiry. . . . [Lévy’s] musings on the meaning of the story of Jonah and the relevance of symbolic Ninevahs in our time are both original and poetic. . . . A welcome addition to his oeuvre.”—Publishers Weekly
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Print length
236 pages
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Review
"In The Genius of Judaism, Lévy elaborates on his credo by rebutting the pernicious and false logic behind current anti-Semitism and defends Israel as the world's most successful multi-ethnic democracy created from scratch. Lévy also makes the case for France's Jews being integral to the establishment of the French nation, the French language, and French literature. And last, but certainly not least, he presents a striking interpretation of the Book of Jonah. . . . A tour de force."--Forbes
"Ardent . . . Lévy's message is essentially uplifting: that the brilliant scholars of Judaism, the authors of the Talmud, provide elucidation into 'the great questions that have stirred humanity since the dawn of time.' . . . A philosophical celebration of Judaism."--Kirkus Reviews
"Lévy (Left in Dark Times), a prominent French journalist and politically engaged philosopher, turns his observations inward here, pondering the teachings of Judaism and the role they have played in contemporary European history as well as in his own life and intellectual inquiry. . . . [Lévy's] musings on the meaning of the story of Jonah and the relevance of symbolic Ninevahs in our time are both original and poetic. . . . A welcome addition to his oeuvre."--Publishers Weekly
Praise for Bernard-Henri Lévy's Left In Dark Times
"Moving and inspiring . . . Bernard-Henri Lévy, perhaps the most prominent intellectual in France today, [speaks] truth to power."--The Boston Globe
"Continually asking himself as well as others to confront the hard questions, [Lévy] produces a text that [is] highly absorbing."--The New York Times Book Review
"[Lévy's] discussion of contemporary anti-Semitism is sophisticated, detailed and convincing."--Los Angeles Times
American Vertigo
"An entertaining trip, as much in the tradition of Jack Kerouac as Tocqueville."--The New York Times
"Perceptive, pugnacious, passionate [and] exquisitely written."--The New York Observer
"It's difficult to remember when a writer of any nationality so clearly and thoughtfully delineated both the good and bad in America. [Grade: A]."--Entertainment Weekly
About the Author
BERNARD-HENRI LEVY is a philosopher, journalist, activist, and filmmaker. Among his dozens of books are American Vertigo, Barbarism with a Human Face, and Who Killed Daniel Pearl? His writing has appeared in a wide range of publications throughout Europe and the United States. His films include the documentaries Bosna! and A Day in the Death of Sarajevo. Levy is co-founder of the antiracist group SOS Racism and has served on diplomatic missions for the French government.
Product details
ASIN : B01EQ2OX5A
Publisher : Random House
Accessibility : Learn more
Publication date : 10 January 2017
Edition : Translation
Language : English
File size : 3.4 MB
Screen Reader : Supported
Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
X-Ray : Enabled
Word Wise : Enabled
Print length : 236 pages
ISBN-13 : 978-0679643791
Page Flip : Enabled
Best Sellers Rank: 464,257 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)238 in Jewish Social Studies
391 in Human Rights Law
392 in Religious Philosophy (Kindle Store)
Customer Reviews:
4.0 4.0 out of 5 stars (256)
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4 out of 5 stars
4 out of 5
256 global ratings
Joseph Myren
5.0 out of 5 stars ABSOLUTELY, OUTSTANDING!!!Reviewed in Canada on 30 May 2025
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ABSOLUTELY, OUTSTANDING!!! I also have as an audiobook
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Zeljko Z.
5.0 out of 5 stars Not to miss....😇Reviewed in the United States on 26 January 2017
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Wonderful book in a convoluted presentation of Bernard Henry. It is an honest deeply felt exposition coming from Bernards brain and heart. His historical knowledge and social experience and philosophical insights are unmatched. This book is thoughtful and even though it reflects Bernard personal Gestalt it remains objective. It is a intellectual exercise artistic and religious experience.
I recommend it highly to intellectually mindedand motivated readers.
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Caro
5.0 out of 5 stars EnlighteningReviewed in the United Kingdom on 8 November 2017
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Haven't finished reading, but am finding it, as is usual with Levy's work, fascinating and enlightening, with outlooks I hadn't thought of. Brilliant writing and brilliant translation.
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Danielle McPherson
5.0 out of 5 stars Great bookReviewed in Mexico on 22 January 2025
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good read
a delight
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Peter Herold
4.0 out of 5 stars Quirky but very interestingReviewed in Germany on 23 February 2024
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Bernard-Henri Lévy explains in this book that “The Genius of Judaism” is a tradition of critical analytic, “irreligious” wrestling with the texts of the Torah and Talmud which leads to self-discovery opposed to uncritical recital in Islam and “celebratory” Christianity. He describes the contribution of Jews and Judaism to French and Western culture and talks about current antisemitism.
The writing is rather quirky and it’s all rather France-centred, but I quite like this - I’m enjoying the references to other French philosophers and thinkers (Sartre, Levinas, Malraux, Foucault) and didn’t know of role of Jewish scholar Rashi in developing the French language.
As an atheist I thought I’d be skipping the section on religion - I remember being deeply disappointed when I found that Plato’s proof of the separation between mind and body crucially depended on there being a G-d and feared similar disappointment with Lévy - but in fact Lévy argues that, whereas in Islam the Koran is rather rote-recited with little critical thought and Christians only marginally less mindlessly (he doesn’t hold back …) celebrate the “good news”, reading the Torah (1st 5 books of Old Testament) and the Talmud is much more a process of discovery of oneself and the nature of being a human amongst all the other humans, and that the willingness to undergo and be formed by this introspection is what makes Jews “the chosen people”.
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