Was Simone Weil a Jew?

Publication Type

Journal Article

Year of Publication

2001

Author

Yourgrau, Palle

Journal

Partisan Review

Volume

68

Number

4

Pages

631-641

Language

English

Publish Dates

Fall

Keywords

antisemitism
collective
Judaism
Hebrew Bible
Wyschogrod, Michael
Courtine-Denamy, Sylvie

Annotation

This article looks at Simone Weil’s relationship to Judaism, particularly the charge that she herself, although Jewish, was anti-Semitic. The author discusses the various arguments for Weil’s anti-Semitism in relation to her theological and philosophical views on the ‘collective’ element in religion. Michael Wyschogrod’s and Sylvie Courtine-Denamy’s discussions of Simone Weil in relation to Edith Stein are touched upon and briefly analyzed. The article concludes with a brief look at other scholars who also struggled with some of the problems that arise in the reading of ‘difficult texts’ so troubling to Weil.