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Benny Lévy

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For the publicist and politician (1740–1814), seePierre Victor, baron Malouet.
Benny Lévy
Born(1945-08-28)28 August 1945
Cairo,Egypt
Died15 October 2003(2003-10-15)(aged 58)
Jerusalem,Israel
Era20th-century philosophy
RegionWestern Philosophy
SchoolContinental philosophy
Main interests
Marxism,Existentialism,Existential phenomenology,Talmud
Notable ideas
return to tradition

Benny Lévy(alsoPierre Victor;28 August 1945 – 15 October 2003) was a philosopher, political activist and author. A political figure ofMay 1968 in France,he was the disciple and last personal secretary ofJean-Paul Sartrefrom 1974 to 1980. Along with him, he helped founding the French newspaperLibérationin 1972.

After having encountered theJewish philosophyofEmmanuel Levinasin 1978, he operated a return to tradition. He then founded theInstitut d'études lévinassiennesin Jerusalem withAlain FinkielkrautandBernard-Henri Lévy.

Benny Lévy is known for his unusual itinerary fromMaoismtoJudaism,or "from Mao to Moses", which was also followed by a few other philosophers of his generation.

May 68 and the Gauche prolétarienne[edit]

Born in Egypt to a Jewish family originally fromAleppo,in present-day Syria.[1]Benny Lévy grew up without experiencing Judaism as a faith. He left Egypt after theSuez Crisisof 1956 and immigrated to Belgium then France with his family. His elder half-brother, Eddy Lévy, stayed in Egypt, converted to Islam in 1956 and changed his name to Adil Rifaat.[2]The historian of mathematicsTony Lévyis his brother.

Benny Lévy soon proved to be a brilliant student and completed his studies at theÉcole Normale Supérieure,learning under such key intellectual figures asMarxist philosopherLouis AlthusserandJacques Derrida,founder ofdeconstruction.He entered theUnion des étudiants communistes(UEC), a student communist group, and then at his foundation in 1966 the MaoistUnion des jeunesses communistes marxistes-léninistes(UJC - ml). He became one of the main leader of this latter organization afterRobert Linhart.Benny Lévy was an important figure during theMay 68 Student Revolt.After these events, the direction of the UJC-ml was put in minority, and founded the MaoistGauche prolétarienne(GP, Proletarian Left). Taking the pseudonym of Pierre Victor, Benny Lévy was one of its main leaders, along withAlain Geismar.

As editor of the Maoist newspaperLa Cause du Peuple(The Cause of the People), he was arrested repeatedly by the French police, who were determined to suppress the unrest. By 1970, with arrests occurring more frequently, Lévy and the other editors decided to turn toJean-Paul Sartre,whom they knew benefited from protection to police harassment. Sartre responded by adding his name to the list of editors, and the arrests indeed stopped. It was then discovered by the government that the proletarian leftwing leader Pierre Victor was, in fact, astatelessrefugee.The passport given to him by theUnited Nationswas confiscated, and he was ordered to appear at the local police station once every two weeks with his relatives and a lawyer. The organisation was outlawed in 1970. As stateless and leader of an outlawed organisation, Benni Lévy was forced toclandestinityuntil 1973, date of the auto-dissolving of the GP. By this point, however, Lévy had developed a very amicable relationship with Sartre, who decided to make him his protégé and asked him to serve as his personal secretary, which he remained from September 1974 till Sartre's death in 1980. Sartre interceded to PresidentValéry Giscard d'Estaing,and Lévy wasnaturalized.

The thought of the Return[edit]

During these six years, Lévy worked with Sartre, and the two men produced four books until Sartre's death. While working with Sartre, Lévy began to discover Judaism, initially through his research into theKabbalah,which he conducted with his mentor. Their work together created a stir among the circle that surrounded Sartre, because Sartre had begun introducing new ideas and terms that evoked religious and, more specifically, Jewish concepts, such as Redemption andMessianism.Some, includingSimone de Beauvoirbegan accusing Lévy of brainwashing Sartre and faking his writings. After this Ms de Beauvoir and Mr Levy were no longer on speaking terms. Two months before his death, Sartre responded to these critics, claiming that he had indeed abandoned some of his earlier ideas.[citation needed]In 1978, Lévy encountered Levinas, and started learning Hebrew and beginningTalmudicstudies.

Starting in 1975, he taught at theUniversity of Paris-VII,founded in the wake of May 68, before obtaining a doctorate in philosophy at theSorbonnein 1985, and a habilitation to direct researches (HDR) in philosophy in 1998, under the direction ofDominique Lecourtat Paris-VII.

Benny Lévy embraced Jewish Orthodoxy, and began to study in ayeshivainStrasbourg.He finally immigrated toIsraelin 1997, where he established theInstitut d'études lévinassiennesin Jerusalem along withBernard-Henri LévyandAlain Finkielkraut,and learned with Rabbi Moshe Shapira. He died suddenly during the holiday ofSukkotin 2003. InEtre Juif,he wrote:

To be Jewish. To be, in an absolutely singular manner... a thought of the Return. The Return to the Sinaï... The thought of the Return (la pensée du Retour) requires a critique of the atheology of the modern jew. Theology of the silence of God after Auschwitz, critique oftheodicy,finally return to the notion of absolute Evil, these are the points through which one must pass in a critical manner. In this sense, this book addresses itself at any man, insofar as he is still sensible to the question of the origin of evil.[3]

Bibliography[edit]

  • Alain Finkielkraut,Benny Lévy, Le Livre et les Livres, essai sur la laïcité,Verdier,2006.
  • Jean-Paul Sartre& Benny Lévy, L'espoir maintenant: les entretiens de 1980, présentés et suivis du Mot de la fin par Benny Lévy, Publication: Paris: Verdier, 1991.
  • Philonen regard des pharisiens de l'intériorité, Publication: Lille 3: ANRT, 1986 Description matérielle: 3 microfiches; 105x148 mm Note(s): Th. 3e cycle: Hist. de la philos.: Paris 1: 1985.
  • Être Juif, Verdier, 2003.
  • La confusion des temps, Verdier, 2004
  • La cérémonie de la naissance, Verdier, 2005
  • Le Logos et la lettre: Philon d'Alexandrie en regard des pharisiens, Publication: Lagrasse: Verdier, 1988.
  • Le meurtre du pasteur: critique de la vision politique du monde, Paris: B. Grasset: Verdier, 2002.
  • Le Nom de l'homme: dialogue avec Sartre, Publication: Lagrasse: Verdier, 1984.
  • On a raison de se révolter, sous le pseudonyme de Pierre Victor, avec Jean-Paul Sartre et Philippe Gavi, Gallimard, collection "La France sauvage", 1974.
  • "Today's Hope: Conversations with Sartre".Telos44 (Summer 1980). New York: Telos Press.
  • Visage continu: la pensée du retour chez Emmanuel Lévinas, Publication: Lagrasse: Verdier, 1998.

References[edit]

  1. ^Lardinois, Philippe (2008).De Pierre Victor à Benny Lévy: une trajectoire saisissante(in French). Editions Luc Pire.ISBN978-2-87415-942-8.
  2. ^Mahmoud Hussein, jumeaux de l'islam. Le Monde, 1 March 05
  3. ^French:« Être Juif. Être, de manière radicalement singulière; être, irrémissiblement rivé à son judaïsme comme le dit Emmanuel Lévinas, présent tout le long des lignes de ce texte. À partir de cette facticité juive, s'esquissent quelques propositions pour une pensée du Retour. Retour au Sinaï. Là précisément où le juif est rivé. La pensée du Retour requiert une critique de l'athéologie du juif moderne. Théologie du silence de Dieu après Auschwitz, critique de la théodicée, enfin recours à la notion de Mal absolu, voilà les points par où il faut passer de manière critique. En ce sens, ce livre s'adresse à tout homme pour autant qu'il est encore sensible à la question de l'origine du Mal. »

Further reading[edit]

  • Beinin, Joel.The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora.Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998 1998[1]
  • Sébastien Repaire,Sartre et Benny Lévy,Paris, L'Harmattan, 2013.

External links[edit]

Categpry:Egyptian people of Syrian descent

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