LES COLLOQUES DES INTELLECTUELS JUIFS DE LANGUE FRANÇAISE

LES COLLOQUES DES INTELLECTUELS JUIFS DE LANGUE FRANÇAISE , French organization founded as a branch of the World Jewish Congress in 1957. Initiated in the aftermath of World War ii by Edmond *Fleg and Léon *Algazi, the Colloques des Intellectuels juifs de langue française were intended to provide the shattered community of French Jews with answers grounded in Judaism. Asserting that, despite the Holocaust, Jewish existence should continue to move forward, they chose the term "intellectual" as an act of faith in this very particular historical context. Pedagogues and former members of the Ecole d'Orsay headed the Colloques, which attempted to establish a rational Judaism and to claim its singularity within modernity; they decided to give the texts of the tradition a central place in these conferences. To this end, they included in each session a biblical lesson and a talmudic lesson, which quickly became a semi-formal institution. Under the direction of André *Néher, and later of Jean Halpérin, renowned personalities such as the philosophers Wladimir *Jankelevitch and Jean Wahl, the psychoanalyst Eliane Amado *Lévi-Valensi, the lawyer Wladimir Rabi, and the writer Claude *Vigée regularly lectured there. The Conferences, whose proceedings are always published, are held every two years and have become significant events in French Judaism, thanks to the growing fame of the talmudic lessons given by Emmanuel *Levinas. The first Conference (whose proceedings were published as Jewish Consciousness in 1963) intended to define the Jewish condition and the contents that should be given to a Jewish existence, using the conceptual tools of existentialism and phenomenology. From the beginning, the relation of French Jewry to the State of Israel was given a central place in the conferences, which also dealt with questions raised by French politics at the time. A. *Memmi, E. *Touati, and R. *Misrahi related to the question of colonialism, and asked whether the Diaspora should criticize Israeli politics in the spirit of the heated debates taking place there. The contributions of Judaism to science and to the new technologies was highlighted through the reflections of the biologist H. *Atlan and C. Riveline, a professor at the Ecole des mines, who were both removed from Jewish tradition. At the end of 1968, L. Askénazi, Amado Lévi-Valensi, and Néher moved to Israel. From the group of founders Levinas was the only one to remain in France. The orientation of the conferences then changed. During the 1970s Jewish identity and the notion of the universal in the light of this identity were less discussed. Devoted to the "loneliness of Israel," the 15^th Conference was held (1975) in a climate of concern which gave rise to a feeling of isolation, originating in the feeling that the empathy for Jews, which had shaped itself in the wake of the Holocaust, had come to an end. The later conferences during the 1970s sought renewal, and were more and more focused on contemporary issues and opened themselves to the social sciences. The 1980s reinforced this trend. From then on, and with the involvement of the Fondation du Judaïsme français, the intellectuals who are part of the colloquium have, among other things, attempted to work out the relationship between economics and ethics (L'Argent, Le Quant-à-Soi, L'Idée d'humanité, Le Corps). Discussions of memory and history provided themes for several Conferences (Mémoire et histoire, Le temps désorienté, Difficile Justice) as did political questions (Politique et religion, morale et politique en péril, Idoles), while essential themes (Israël, le judaïsme et l'Europe, La Bible au présent) moved to the foreground. After the death of Levinas a new generation appeared, whose primary aim was to define a positive and vivid sense of belonging to Judaism. Even if the influence of the Colloque des Intellectuels juifs de langue française seemed less vital at the outset of the 21 ^{century, it played a significant role in the second half of the 20th century.}

[Perrine Simon-Nahum (2^nd ed.)]