Levinas, Judaism, and the Feminine: The Silent Footsteps of Rebecca

NOTES

NOTES INTRODUCTION 1. “Ethics and Politics,” trans. Jonathan Romney, in The Levinas Reader, ed. Seán Hand (London: Blackwell, 1996), 294. 2. There are a couple of stylistic conventions that need to be mentioned before proceeding . Levinas distinguishes between autre and autrui; Autre and Autrui. Unfortunately, his use of these terms is not always consistent. Autrui, lowercase or capitalized, refers to the personal other, while autre generally refers to otherness as such—other table, other chair, or alterity—otherness. However, there are several instances where autre is capitalized—to indicate its contrast to the Same and occasionally to refer to God, the latter being especially important . For ease of reading, I have, in most cases, left “other” in the lowercase. It should be apparent from the context when I am referring to a personal other, when I am referring to God, and when I am referring to otherness as such. Again, for ease of reading and to reduce stylistic awkwardness, I occasionally use the masculine pronoun to refer to God. I am aware of the issues surrounding the gendered references to God, but have chosen to follow the standard JPS and Plaut translations here. 3. See, for example, Levinas’s essay “Judaism and the Feminine,” in which he talks about such concrete women as Rebecca and Sarah, celebrating them for their feminine attributes , but, nonetheless, locating the feminine attributes within concrete women. 4. Levinas does not explicitly equate maternity with the feminine in this work. However , in “Judaism and the Feminine,” he says, “‘[M]an without woman diminishes the image of God in the world.’ And this leads us to another dimension of the feminine— maternity” (“JF” 34/JeF 56). 5. This body of literature is immense. See, for example, the work of Rachel Adler, Judith Baskin, Rachel Biale, Susannah Heschel, Laura Levitt, Miriam Peskowitz, Judith Plaskow, Susan Shapiro, Ellen Umansky, and Laurie Zoloth. See also Hava TiroshSamuelson , ed., Women and Jewish Philosophy (Bloomington: Indiana University Press, forthcoming). Other collections which take up similar questions include Lynn Davidman and Shelly Tenenbaum, eds., Feminist Perspectives on Jewish Studies (New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1994) and Tamar Rudavsky, ed., Gender and Judaism (New York: New York University Press, 1995). Again, the body of literature is immense and the above list is not intended to be exhaustive. 6. See, for example, Jonathan Boyarin and Daniel Boyarin, “Tricksters, Martyrs, and Collaborators: Diaspora and the Gendered Politics of Resistance,” in Powers of Diaspora: Two Essays on the Relevance of Jewish Culture (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, 2002), 35–102. The Boyarins’ thesis supports my position that it is not uncommon for Judaism (and for Jews) to view itself as feminine and therefore civilized, while viewing nonJews as masculine and therefore barbaric. 1. JUDAISM AND THE ETHICAL: RECOVERING THE OTHER 1. Levinas indicates the way in which the original imperative of the face of the other, the ethical relation, turns into something scientific in appearance, by the way we rationalize, universalize, seek knowledge, make decisions, and demand truth. 158 | Notes to pages 10–15 2. See “A Dialogue with Emmanuel Levinas,” in Richard A. Cohen, ed., Face to Face with Levinas (New York: State University of New York Press, 1986), 18; and “Interview with François Poirié,” in IR, 62. 3. I hesitate to cite Levinas’s interviews, since the status of an interview in a philosophical argument is unclear to me. Philosophers say many things, even in interviews. But what they say in an interview does not change the fact that the writing in the project to which they refer might say something other than what they had hoped or believed it to say. My intention in turning to Levinas’s interviews is not to verify the philosophical text, but to counter how commentators and readers of his work might have misunderstood what he said elsewhere. 4. Levinas’s position is indebted to segments of the Judaic tradition, specifically the modern or rationalist themes that have informed contemporary Judaism. His thought has also been informed by modern Jewish philosophy, such as Martin Buber, I and Thou, trans. Ronald G. Smith (New York: Scribner’s, 1958) and Between Man and Man, trans. Ronald G. Smith (New York: Macmillan, 1965). See also Franz Rosenzweig, The Star of Redemption, trans. William W. Hallo (Notre Dame, Ind.: University of Notre Dame Press, 1970). 5. In “The Temptation of Temptation,” Levinas tells us that “to receive the gift of the Torah—a Law—is to fulfill it before consciously...