Benjamin Fondane`s Quest for Judaism

Benjamin Fondane (1898-1944) a Jewish philosopher and poet, was born in Romania, and from an early age grappled with his Jewishness as it reflects in his early poetry. It is however upon his move to Paris in 1923, and his meeting with the Russian Jewish Philosopher Lev Shestov, and under the influence of the latter, that his quest for Judaism will become gradually more pivotal in his intellectual life. Along thinkers like Kafka, Celan, Shestov and many others Fondane seeks an alternative to Western Philosophy. However, neither traditional observance, nor secular Zionism seem to quench his thirst for what can be defined as Jewish Existentialism. In many of the works he wrote until he was murdered at Auschwitz in October 1944, Fondane aimed to redefine the meaning and purpose of History and Jewish Law. He did so both as a rigorous Existential Philosopher and by rereading classical Jewish sources from the Bible and the Talmud. In my paper I will shortly present this intriguing contemporary Jewish thinker and his Philosophy. I will try to demonstrate its relevance for today`s renewed quest for Judaism` meaning.