Léon Ashkénasi

Léon Yehouda Ashkénasi (born June 21, 1922 in Oran , † October 21, 1996 in Jerusalem ), known in France under the nickname Manitou , was a French rabbi . He was one of the central figures of French Jewry after the end of World War II . Ashkénasi has revived Jewish philosophy in France and, together with personalities like André Neher and Emmanuel Levinas, brought it to a new bloom.

biography

Childhood and youth in Algeria

Léon Ashkénasi was one of eight children in the family of the last city rabbi of Oran. His mother came from a distinguished family of Sephardic rabbis. He describes his childhood under the influence of several cultures as happy. He sees himself as an “Algerian Frenchman of the Jewish religion” (“Français d'Algérie de religion juive”), “praying in Hebrew, singing in Arabic, speaking French”. He completed his education at the French school. The family lived in a Jewish district, which, unlike the Jewish quarters in Morocco or Tunisia, was open to the outside world. The anti-Semitism had that would have been for the family concern in these conditions no power.

The war shook this seemingly natural order of things. The Vichy regime passed exceptional laws against the Jews, which also applied in Algeria. The Algerian French of the Jewish religion became native Algerian Jews . These laws remained in force even after the Allies invaded Algeria in 1942, because the Allies initially relied on the local leadership of the Vichy regime. Members of the rabbi's family, including Léon, found themselves prominently on a list of possible hostages drawn up by representatives of the local administration. Only with the appearance of Charles de Gaulle in Algeria in 1943 were the Jews restored to their former civil rights.

In 1940 Léon Ashkénasi joined the EEIF ( Éclaireuses éclaireurs israélites de France - Israelite scouts in France ), a movement that joined the Resistance in the same year . In 1943 he joined the Foreign Legion as a military chaplain . With the African-French troops he took part in the liberation struggles in France from 1944 and was wounded in 1945, a few weeks before the victory over Germany.

At that time he was confronted for the first time with open rejection from politically justified anti-Semitism by his French compatriots. He began to deal with the peculiarity of Judaism, with the possibility of a life in the Diaspora and with Zionism , but initially did not put his ideas into practice.

Post-war years in France

Following a call from Robert Gamzon , known as Castor , Léon Ashkénasi founded a school in Orsay together with him and some other EEIF leaders . They called this école des cadres Gilbert Bloch ( Kaderschule Gilbert Bloch ) after a Jewish Resistance fighter who fell in 1944. The aims of this school were to re-establish Jewish life in France and to train executives for public administration. A large number of honest executives had been murdered during the German occupation. The school wanted to help make up for this loss.

There he met his future wife Esther, called Bambi , a survivor of the Shoah . He followed the teachings of Jacob Gordin, a Russian-Jewish philosopher in exile, and was instructed by him in the traditional teachings of the Ashkenazim . From the latter he got his nickname Manitou . Although Jacob Gordin died in 1947, he had a strong influence on Léon Ashkénasi staying and teaching at the École Gilbert Bloch.

When Robert Gamzon emigrated to Israel in 1949, Léon Ashkénasi became the head of the school. He became president of the UEJF, Union des étudiants juifs de France ( Association of Jewish Students in France ). From 1954 to 1955 he was General Commissioner of the EEIF. He completed his studies in philosophy at the Musée de l'Homme with a diploma.

He made a name for himself as the protagonist of a revived, specifically Jewish religious-cultural life. He saw the attempt at assimilation as a failure, turned against a liberal Judaism, “watered down by two centuries of Haskalah ” (“affadi par deux siècles de Haskalah”), against the reform Judaism of the Consistoire central Israelite , and against rationalism the universities, “who cannot distinguish between learning and wisdom and can no longer believe in the things he speaks of” (“qui confondant érudition et sagesse, ne sait plus croire aux choses dont il parle”). At the same time, however, he also criticized the rigidification in Orthodox Judaism . He was involved in the Judeo-Christian dialogue, but rejected the idea of ​​mixing the two faiths, a judéo-christianisme . Instead, he emphasized that Judaism can be proud of its traditions and origins and does not have to justify itself to other worldviews.

He saw himself as a "rabbi who teaches at universities" ("rabbin qui enseigne aux universitaires"). In 1957 he presented the World Association of Jewish Students with a work entitled l'héritage du judaïsme et l'université ( The Legacy of Judaism and the University ). In it he criticized the universities as unsuitable for imparting Jewish teaching that is both modern and conscious of its traditions. In the years that followed, he hosted a series of conferences across the French-speaking world to remedy this. He founded a number of study centers, including the Center universitaire d'études juives ( University Center for Jewish Studies ).

Life in Israel

In 1968, shortly after the Six Day War , he emigrated to Israel. There he devoted himself to studying the teachings of Rabbis Zwi Jehuda Kook and Yehuda Ashlag . He founded the Mayanot and Yaïr Jewish Study Centers , which were mainly attended by French-speaking Jews in Israel.

He served on numerous government bodies and other associations devoted to education and relationships with Jews living outside Israel. He contributed to the rapprochement between Israel and Cameroon and subsequently devoted himself to relations with other African countries.

Work and publications

In the French-speaking world, Léon Ashkénasi remained a prominent figure as a Jewish philosopher after his death, while outside of this sphere he is hardly known. Above all, he has emerged as a speaker, but some books with texts by him have also been published:

• Marcel Goldman (Editor): La parole et l'écrit , ( Speech and Scripture ) Collection of articles by Léon Ashkénasi, Édition Albin Michel
  • Volume 1: Penser la tradition juive aujourd'hui ( Thinking the Jewish tradition in modern times. ), ISBN 2-226-10844-0
  • Volume 2: Penser la vie juive aujourd'hui ( Thinking Jewish life today. ), ISBN 2-226-15433-7
• Michel Koginsky (editor): Un Hébreu d'origine juive. Hommage au rav Yéhouda Léon Askénazi, Manitou ( A Hebrew of Jewish origin. Homage to the Rabbi Yéhouda Léon Askénazi, Manitou ), text collection, Éditions Omaya, 1998
• Ki Mitsion , Jerusalem, Manitou Foundation , 1997
  • Volume 1 - Notes sur la Paracha
  • Volume 2 - Moadim

Web links

• Fondation Manitou, Jerusalem (in French)