Edmond Flegenheimerbetter known asEdmond Fleg,(26 November 1874 – 15 October 1963) was a Jewish French writer, thinker, novelist, essayist and playwright of the 20th century. Fleg's oeuvre was crucial in constructing a modern French Jewish identity, rendering him an instrumental figure in the Jewish awakening during theinterwar years.AfterWorld War I,Jewish writers began articulating a new, cultural definition of what it meant to be a Jew within the context ofFrench Third Republicuniversalism.Through his writings — based on Jewish and Christian texts—Fleg formed the foundation of a modern French Jewish spirituality and self-understanding, which allowed secular French Jews to preserve their Jewish identity.[1]In doing so, Fleg was calling for an exploration of the living texts of traditional Judaism as the basis for a modern Jewish identity, establishing a new literary direction devoted to re-interpreting biblical texts and legends, and liturgies.[2]
Life
editEdmond Fleg was born in Geneva on 26 November 1874 to a Swiss-based Alsatian Jewish family.[3]At the time of his birth, Fleg's parents were residing in Geneva, but their familial roots were in France. Given their connection to France, Fleg's family expressed a strong loyalty to the emancipatory values of theFrench Revolutionwhen Jews were granted full citizenship. As French-identified Jews, Fleg's parents found the principles of Judaism as they understood them to be identical with the liberal ideals of the French revolution: tolerance, equality, and freedom.[4]
Throughout his childhood, Fleg received both a religious and secular education. As a young boy, Fleg quickly began to question god, spirituality, and religion. While reflecting on his Bar Mitzvah, Fleg recalled, "I had no understanding of Hebrew, I didn't understand one word." According to Fleg the entire spectacle felt artificial to him. Years later he would say, "lying in bed, my soul was searching, asking the Eternal to show me when Judaism had become so distasteful." He developed a disdain for his parents' apparent inconsistencies and found the rabbi and cantor to be boring and uninspiring.[5]
He began his formal education, first, in Paris at theLycée Louis Le Grandand then atÉcole Normale Supérieure.[6]Both institutions were known for its emphasis onNeo-Kantianismwhich appealed to middle-class Frenchman such as Fleg.[7]In 1899 he qualified as a teacher of the German language.[8] He became the best friend of the editorLucien Moreau(1875–1932), later one of the leaders of theAction Française. They agreed that Jewish and French nationalisms "traveled in parallel lines", and rejected assimilation.[9]
DuringWorld War One,Fleg joined theFrench Foreign Legionin order to fight for his adopted country. He won theCroix de Guerreand he was honored later, in 1937, by being made an officer of theLegion of Honor.[10]
From 1904 to 1920 Fleg was a successful playwright. His work was influenced by the disturbances caused by theDreyfus affair,by his participation in the Third Zionist Congress in Basel and by the reports of pogroms. The antisemitism unleashed by the Dreyfus affair, which put France in turmoil, shattered Fleg's world view. Fleg would later write: "Initially the Dreyfus Affair passed unnoticed for me...but later it pushed me into reality and the 'Jewish problem.' It became very difficult to forget completely that you were a Jew. "[11]As the affair progressed, Fleg had no doubt that Dreyfus was innocent. This woke Fleg up to the political and social realities around him. Fleg came to believe that the injustice was a sign that he shared the same destiny of Dreyfus by the mere fact that they were both Jews, whether he liked it or not. Fleg, and other Franco-Jewish intellectuals developed a deep sense of betrayal, and many began openly identifying asDreyfusards.This is also when Fleg heard for the first time aboutZionism.[12]
Ecoute, Israëlappeared between 1913 and 1948, and theAnthologie juivefrom 1923 to 1953. In 1928 F. die Schrift published hisPourquoi je suis juif. In 1949 he was co-founder of the Amitiés judéo-chrétiennes. His 1960 workVers le Monde qui vientgave his message of hope with which he wanted to build a bridge to Christianity.[8]
From 1923 Fleg editedJudaïsme,a book series published by Les Éditions Rieder, Paris.[13]
Both of Fleg's sons were killed fighting for France in the Second World War.[14]
Edmond Fleg died in Paris on 15 October 1963.[8]
Works
editEdmond Fleg's writing can be divided into three main categories: religious poetry, biographical works, and autobiographical and other essays on Jewish themes. Considered to be one of France's leading writers, he authored countless essays, 17 plays and operas, 10 books of poetry and four novels. He also he compiled anthologies, and translated and adapted work by other writers and poets.
Books
edit- Anthologie juive(1921;The Jewish Anthology,1925)
- L'Enfant prophète(1926;The Boy Prophet,1928)
- Pourquoi je suis Juif(1928;Why I am a Jew,1929),
- The life of Solomon(1930)
- Jésus, raconté par le Juif Errant(1933;Jesus, Told by the Wandering Jew,1934)
- Ecoute Israël(1921)
- Ma Palestine(1932;The Land of Promise,1933)
- Nous de l'Esperance(1949)
- La Terre que Dieu habite(1953;The Land in which God Dwells,1955)
Plays
edit- La Maison du Bon Dieu(1920)
- Le Juif du Pape(1925;The Pope's Jew)
- Le Message(1904)
- La Bête(1910)
- Le Trouble-fête(1913).
Biographies
edit- Moïse raconté par les Sages(1928;The Life of Moses,1928)
- Salomon(1930;The Life of Solomon,1929)
Translations
edit- Shalom Aleichem and the Passover Haggadah (1925)
- Selections from Maimonides'Guideand from the Zohar.
Poetry
edit- La Mur des Pleurs / Wall of Weeping (1919)
- Hear O Israel
- The Lord is our God,
- The Lord is One,
- And thou shalt love the Lord.
- Translations
He translated a part of the Bible in French;Genesisin 1946 andExodusin 1963.
Opera Librettist
edit- He was originally commissioned to write the libretto in 1912, and completed a long version within that year.[15]
References
edit- ^Wolitz, Seth L. (1994). "Imagining the Jew in France: From 1945 to the Present".Yale French Studies(85): 119–34.doi:10.2307/2930070.JSTOR2930070.
- ^Kavka, Martin (2006-10-18). "Origins of the Other: Emmanuel Levinas between Revelation and Ethics. By Samuel Moyn. Cornell University Press, 2005. 268 pages. $29.95".Journal of the American Academy of Religion.74(4): 1003–1005.doi:10.1093/jaarel/lfl011.ISSN1477-4585.
- ^Charnow, S. (2013-12-01). "Imagining a New Jerusalem: Edmond Fleg and inter-war French ecumenism".French History.27(4): 557–578.doi:10.1093/fh/crt088.ISSN0269-1191.
- ^Leff, Lisa Moses. (2006).Sacred bonds of solidarity: the rise of Jewish internationalism in nineteenth-century France.Stanford University Press.ISBN0-8047-5251-6.OCLC470577615.
- ^Fleg, Edmond (1945).Why I am a Jew.Bloch Publishing Company. pp.7–8.
- ^Charnow, S. (2013-12-01). "Imagining a New Jerusalem: Edmond Fleg and inter-war French ecumenism".French History.27(4): 557–578.doi:10.1093/fh/crt088.ISSN0269-1191.
- ^Martha, Hanna (1996).The mobilization of intellect: French scholars and writers during the Great War.Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press. p. 35.OCLC603958145.
- ^abcFleg, Edmond – Historisches Lexikon.
- ^Moricz 2008,p. 103.
- ^The Zionist idea: a historical analysis and reader.Hertzberg, Arthur. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. 1997.ISBN9780827612310.OCLC989853295.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Unglaub, Erich (2014-01-01), ""Une heure avec…" Frédéric Lefèvre ",Echt inszeniert,Wilhelm Fink Verlag, pp. 151–175,doi:10.30965/9783846757727_009,ISBN978-3-8467-5772-7
- ^Hagbi, Yaniv."THE BOOK OF EDMOND: MANIFESTATIONS OF EDMOND FLEG'S WORLDVIEW IN HIS L'ANTHOLOGIE JUIVE YANIV HAGBI":215.
{{cite journal}}
:Cite journal requires|journal=
(help) - ^Alfaric Prosper,Judaïsme, Œuvres publiées sous la direction d'Edmond Fleg, Paris, Rieder, 1925. Fasc. 2, Jean de Pauly, Le livre du Zohar, Pages traduites du Chaldaïque,(note bibliographique),Revue d'Histoire et de Philosophie religieuses,1926, 6-1, p. 97. Retrieved 18 April 2022.
- ^The Zionist idea: a historical analysis and reader.Hertzberg, Arthur. Philadelphia: Jewish Publication Society. 1997.ISBN9780827612310.OCLC989853295.
{{cite book}}
:CS1 maint: others (link) - ^Ewans 2007,p. 105.
Sources
edit- Ewans, Michael (2007),"Oedipe, Edsmond Fleg and George Enesco",in M. Ewans (ed.),Opera from the Greek: Studies in the Poetics of Appropriation,Ashgate, pp. 105–128,ISBN9780754660996
- Fleg, Edmond(in German), Historisches Lexikon der Schweiz,retrieved2017-09-09
- Moricz, Klara (2008-02-05),Jewish Identities: Nationalism, Racism, and Utopianism in Twentieth-Century Music,University of California Press,ISBN978-0-520-25088-8,retrieved2017-09-08
Further reading
edit- "Ergebnis der Suche nach: Woe=118533843 im Bestand: Gesamter Bestand"(in German). DEUTSCHEN NATIONAL BIBLIOTHEK.Retrieved18 September2013.