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IN-DEPTH FEATURES
When Danny Cohn-Bendit, called "Danny the Red," and Pierre
Victor, later known as Reb Benny Levy, mounted the barricades
in 1968, they never realized that they were taking part in
something that would later be compared to the French
Revolution. The same is true about Jean-Claude Ziegler
(currently known as Rav Chaim Ziegler) the leader of the
student revolution in Lyons, and others from additional
French cities. After Ziegler and Levy were finished with this
revolution they went through a personal revolution. This time
it was not a political or social uprising; it was a genuine
revolution.
A Jew is always a revolutionary. At no time is a Jew's
neshomoh at rest; it continually aspires for more. His
neshomoh's true place is never where it finds itself
at a given time! Either it ascends to the heights or descends
to the lowest possible depths. Of the four leaders of the
French student rebellion (see box) three were Jews and two of
them became ba'alei teshuvoh: Benny Levy, first a well-
known philosopher, later studied Torah in Yerushalayim. Jean-
Claude Ziegler became Rav Chaim Ziegler, originally trained
as a scientist and now serving as a senior lecturer in
Arachim (a dynamic international kiruv
organization).
Throughout history, Jews were often catalysts of revolutions,
but only a few experienced a genuine revolution. From the
Student Revolution, sometimes called the New French
Revolution, to a revolution of their life itself.
Rav Yehuda Aryeh Cohen, principal of the Ofakim Beis Yaakov
Seminary, and Rav Chaim Ziegler offer some thoughts about
Benny Levy, a person with whom they were well acquainted.
Here is the profile of a revolutionary.
Child Prodigy
When HaRav Yehuda Halevi (not the famous personage bearing
that name) arrived at Jaffa from Ragusa and later served as
the head of the Jewish community of Jaffa during Turkish and
British rule, he never imagined that his great-grandson,
Benny Levy, would be an internationally known philosopher and
considered one of the most brilliant philosophic minds of the
whole world.
His offspring moved from Jaffa to Halab (Aleppo) in Syria.
Benny Levy himself was born in Egypt in 1945, at the end of
World War II, and was raised in Cairo as the scion of a
traditional Halabi family until the age of eleven. At that
time, because of the "Kadesh Campaign" in Eretz Yisroel (the
1956 Israel-Egypt war), his family was forced to leave Egypt
for Belgium.
In Belgium, Levy completed his high school studies and, after
a break of two years, continued his academic studies in
Paris. Here he was a student in the Ecole Normale
Superieure, a prestigious teachers' college in which
prominent French intellectuals studied and taught.
It did not take long until Levy became known, even in that
esteemed institution of higher education, as an outstanding
genius in the fullest sense of the word, even though it was a
competitive school that only admitted the most talented
students. Even in his first year, Benny Levy stood out in his
studies -- and also as a committed political leftist. Besides
his expertise in ancient Greek, he devoted his first year to
a deep and systematic study of writings of the founders of
Communism. His comprehensive and profound knowledge of this
subject was legendary.
Already at this point in his life, one could discern a
leading motif that characterized his personality until his
last day on earth: Benny Levy constantly tried to combine
theory and reality. It is the adherence to this idea that
caused him to become a baal teshuvoh at the end of his
life and to genuinely come nearer to his Father in Heaven.
One may say of Benny Levy that there never lived such a first-
rate philosopher who started out so embedded in falsity but
who finally reached the one and only truth to such a great
extent. Besides studying the revolutionary writings of Karl
Marx, Friedrich Engels and their disciples, in the middle
1960s he established, together with Alain Zismer (a Jew) and
Serge Julie, the "Proletarian Left," which was a
revolutionary movement in France, led by Levy. He devoted
himself more and more to the radical ideologies that at that
time knocked on the windows of Parisian aristocracy, and even
became a devout Communist.
***
His public name, Pierre Victor, was only an alias, stuck on
him by a French writer. Although he did not have French
citizenship, Levy was considered the leader of the French
students. In an article that was printed this year after
Levy's petiroh on Chol Hamoed Succos 5764, Serge
Julie, his partner in that movement, wrote that Benny Levy's
speeches to his audience made such a profound impression that
they often took time out in the middle of his speech in order
to digest and correctly understand what he had said.
And then came the gigantic Student Revolution (in May 1968,
against De Gaulle's Fifth Republic, see separate box). The
student disorders and major confrontations, wildcat strikes
in factories that involved several million workers and
virtually paralyzed France, stirred up not only all of Europe
but actually the whole world -- but it all eventually blew
over.
Nonetheless, the aims and aspirations of the Student
Revolution did not wane and "Pierre Victor" continued to
cling to his vision of a better France. He even founded a
newspaper, Les Affaires du Peuple (People's Affairs),
that ran into difficulties because its editors were taken
into custody by the police, one after the other, due to the
government's determination to put an end to what it regarded
as dangerous agitation.
Only after the arrests intensified did the newspaper's
editors decide to ask for the help of the one person in
France whom no one would dare arrest. This was in 1970, two
years after the Student Revolution. Jean Paul Sartre (1905-
1980), the famed French existentialist philosopher and
writer, was regarded as immune to being put behind bars.
Sartre would comment sharply about every topic of interest on
the public agenda and would publish his criticism in a
journal called Les Temps Modernes (Modern Times) that
was founded and edited by him and Simone de Beauvoi. He also
stood at the head of all street protests organized against
the establishment.
Sartre was a natural revolutionary and pacifist and a person
who spearheaded all anti-establishment campaigns. He would
have been imprisoned a long time ago if not for his good
friend in the Elysees (the eighteenth-century palace that is
the official residence of the President of France) President
Charles de Gaulle, who arrogantly saw in him a partner for
the title "a great man who made history."
Sartre agreed to take Levy's newspaper under his patronage.
After he added his name to the list of the editors, the paper
immediately became immune to the normal rules of law and
order and the police left it alone.
Ultimately, in 1973, Levy decided to dismantle the
"Proletarian Left." He was afraid that the organization, like
other similar organizations in Europe, would turn into a pure
terrorist organization. In that same year he established an
influential daily called Liberation, a moderate
leftist newspaper that comes out daily to this very day
alongside a long line of long-established daily
newspapers.
Benny Levy: "I was forced to become an
observant Jew"
The "Socratic Circle" was the name of the philosophic club
that Benny Levy started after he abandoned the path of
practical revolution and decided to instead delve into
philosophy per se. Amazingly, exactly at this time,
the authorities found out that the person who was the leader
of the "Proletarian Left" was not even a French citizen. The
authorities understood that they had a golden opportunity to
expel Pierre Victor, the man whom they regarded as being
dangerous to the republic, from France. After his United
Nations passport was confiscated, he was ordered to report to
the police station every two weeks, together with his
relatives and a lawyer. This was because of his past as one
of the major leaders of the leftist revolution.
The person who came to Levy's aid was again Jean Paul Sartre.
In response to the authorities' harassment, Sartre not only
protected Levy but made sure that he was awarded French
citizenship.
However, it seems that the greatest compliment that Levy
received from Sartre was his appointing him in 1974 as his
personal secretary.
A new stage in Levy's life started. Sartre was surprised to
discover how well-versed Levy was in his writings, and some
say that he knew them better than Sartre himself. Sartre was
enchanted with Levy's rare mixture of intellect and readiness
to take part in revolutions.
Together they perused philosophic texts and together they
analyzed contradictions in texts of Western philosophy.
Jointly they tried to compare the intent of the authors
contained in the details of their writings with their general
intent.
Benny Levy's main interest was in political philosophy, in
which he saw the linkage between philosophy with reality, and
it was precisely that reality that he longed to change for
the better. Both of them thought that they would be able to
reform society by presenting an improved Western political
philosophy. They worked together for six years. Their
collective effort even bore literary fruit in the joint
publication of three books.
In an interview with Uri Paz at the end of 5761 (2001), Benny
Levy commented with words that bear enormous portent:
"Although I tried every possibility that existed to remain
loyal to non-Jewish Western culture, logic forced me to be a
Jew. I was a Jew who wholeheartedly aspired to assimilate.
Since I was an intellectual, I aspired to be a distinguished
French non-Jewish-type of intellectual. Sartre prevented
this. My criticism of culture during the revolution, although
expressed incorrectly, was in a certain sense a basic
preparation for the process of my returning to Jewish
heritage."
First Meeting Between Benny Levy and
Judaism
When did the first meeting between Benny Levy and his
religion, Judaism, take place?
The first time he came in contact with his Judaism at all was
in 1976, when Jean Jacqled, a French researcher of
Kaballah, tried to charm him with the beauty of Jewish
mysticism. Later, also Charles Mufsique interested him in
Jewish sources and Shmuel Trigani even taught him a little
Chumash. But these were only weak flickers of light,
and the way of Torah could not yet be perceived in them.
The first turning point came after the second publication of
Liberte Difficile (Difficult Freedom) written by a
Jewish-French philosopher Emmanuel Levinas. That author
offered an alternative to Western philosophy while making
extensive use of classical Jewish sources. "I remember that
sparks glittered in my eyes," remarked Levy about reading the
text of the book for the first time, at age 17. After being
enchanted with Levinas' book he added: "At this period, my
thought underwent a revolution. It was a real explosion!"
Although that did not yet lead to adopting true traditional
Judaism, it lit the spark within Benny's limited world of
ideas at that time.
Benny Levy: "Sartre himself forced me to sign my true name,
Benny Levy, on my discourses. I simply went out of my mind
when I first saw my Jewish name on black and white referring
to me. I am obliged to Sartre for being introduced to Judaism
and his opening the way for me to embrace it. This allowed me
to come to part of myself, or to be more exact, to link on to
my own Jewish identity."
And then, precisely when they began dealing with the subject
of the essence of Judaism, Levy began to study Judaism. When
this subject came up for discussion, Sartre firmly declared
that Levy has a misconception. In contrast to his previous
conception, Sartre understood that there exists a Jewish
reality, with a root, a stem and source, that is different
from other religions. Sartre realized that the miracle of the
Jewish Nation's survival is metaphysical. He came to this
conclusion by contemplating the struggle for survival of the
Jew, scattered among the nations, a struggle in which he saw
a continuing history of striking roots followed by uprooting
them, a history of collapse followed by rebuilding.
Levy published articles in which he declared that Sartre,
reconsidered his philosophical views (that the survival of
the Jewish people is an understandable historical phenomenon)
but was accused by philosophers of deliberate distortion.
Sartre's wife also protested vehemently but Sartre himself
remained quiet about this until almost his very end. Only
before his death did he confess: It was all a mistake.
The whole time, Levy did not respond to those who abused him
but searched for the true way, a search into himself, a slow
and consistent search, into his own Nation's sources.
After Sartre died in 1980, a French university offered Levy a
position teaching philosophy, on the condition that he first
complete his doctorate. It took Levy only three months to
earn his Ph.D. in philosophy.
He began teaching philosophy in the university and, parallel
to this, devoted most of his time to studying Torah. Judaism,
which until now was considered by him something archaic and
fossilized, suddenly became transformed into something
flowing and spirited.
His slow journey to the bosom of his fathers and his Nation's
heritage, accelerated. He began participating in Torah
classes, but after a lesson was over, continued enjoying
himself in Parisian restaurants, as customary of the local
intellectuals. Still, he felt that what he was doing was
bizarre and inconsistent. "Something hit me hard," he later
said. "It is impossible to hear profound ideas of the Vilna
Gaon about the significance of gid hanosheh and at the
same time go to a restaurant and, chas vesholom, eat
it."
This contradiction and falsehood bothered him immensely. As a
result, he bravely decided to follow through to the end.
Having started with a life according to mistaken ideas, he
finally set out on a journey of genuine return to Judaism. He
began with the Student Revolution and continued to explore
the secrets of Western philosophy. In that way, he arrived
from his world of Western culture at remote domains far
removed from it, from ivory academic towers to the benches of
the Torah World in Yerushalayim.
Into Torah
Here begins Benny Levy's stage of life as a Torah-observant
Jew. This phase started with a meeting of Benny Levy with
HaRav Eliyahu Abutbol, who headed the yeshiva of students in
Strasbourg.
1984 was a fateful year for Benny Levy. In that year he moved
his family from Paris to Strasbourg so he could dedicate
himself to Torah study and there he began to gradually
observe mitzvos. Many people who appreciated his new life
style and spiritual changeover were influenced by him. Nine
years ago, he left Strasbourg for the Bayit Vegan
neighborhood of Yerushalayim. His Rav in Yerushalayim was
HaRav Moshe Shapira who, besides his Torah scholarliness, is
a well-known Torah intellectual. Benny Levy felt that HaRav
Shapira's personality and his discourses held the solutions
to philosophical issues he had not yet resolved.
He was only fifty-eight years old when he passed away. He
suffered a massive heart attack on Chol Hamoed Succos and was
buried that same night at Har HaMenuchos of Yerushalayim. His
new book, To Be a Jew was published on the week of his
passing, as if to signify the last stop of one of the
greatest thinkers of our generation.
HaRav Moshe Shapira eulogized him in his shul in Bayit
Vegan by saying:"In our generation he was like Avrohom Ovinu
who came to recognize the existence of a Creator." He also
dedicated one of his weekly shiurim given in Sanhedria
Murchevet (to an audience of hundreds) to the memory of Benny
Levy.
May his soul be bound in the bond of life!
Street fighting broke out, spilled into the Latin Quarter,
and the major confrontation spread to the Sorbonne, the
prestigious Paris university. The revolution spilled over to
all the universities of France and then to factories as well.
It turned out to be a real rebellion against the French Fifth
Republic of Charles de Gaulle, with barricades, burning of
ancient and precious furniture of the university, with
police, truncheons, beatings, and wounded.
This was an outburst against the "outdated" regime. The
students argued that the French higher educational system was
inflexible and corrupt. The universities became "factories"
for producing professionals rather than institutions for
teaching humanities. The students intended to generate the
change by force, if necessary. The government tried to crush
the uprising but was unsuccessful. The universities remained
under the control of the students who were initially
enthusiastically backed by the populace. The police were busy
with the rebels and crime was rampant. Houses and stores were
looted. The stock market collapsed, without any direct
connection to the revolution. The workers threatened to join
the revolution.
President Charles de Gaulle began to consider resignation.
Army units were sent to surround the parliament out of fear
that it would be taken over. De Gaulle, at his imposing
height, appeared bent over, as if he had suddenly aged. He
left Paris unexpectedly by helicopter on May 29 and returned
the next day with a promise of armed support from the
commanders of the French occupation troops in Germany. Danger
of a civil war hovered in the air.
The streets were empty when de Gaulle, in a dramatic four-
minute radio address to the nation, claimed that the whole
revolution was a plot of the Communists, France's
archenemies, and he was the only barrier to anarchy or
Communist rule. In this way, he minimized the sympathy of the
nation for the students. This sufficed. France that "almost"
changed, reverted to its old ways.
Although the actual revolution died out, there were, however,
considerable repercussions: the government made a series of
concessions to protesting groups. Workers began receiving
higher wages and their working conditions were improved,
higher education was modernized and teachers and students
were given a voice in running their institutions.
At the head of this revolution, Jews stood out. What Binyamin
Levy and his friends did throughout France was only a natural
result of the fact that a Jew, Daniel Cohn-Bendit, was the
head of the revolution, and of the fact also that Chaim
Ziegler, a scientist and today a respected lecturer in the
Arachim Movement, and others, took an active part in it. They
generated a rebellion in France similar to what Leon Trotsky
(org. Lev Davidovich Bornstein, 1879-1940), Grigory Zinoviev
(org. Arnov Radomylsky, 1883-1936), and Lev Borisovich
Kamenev (org. Rosenfeld, 1883-1936) did in Russia. All of
them had their Jewishness in common. This common denominator
is frequently emphasized by movements wanting to prove that
Jews are interested in taking over the world and setting up a
new world order. Similarly, Karl Henrich Marx (1818-1883),
regarded as the founder and premier theorist of modern
socialism and international Communism, was a Jew who
apostasized to Christianity, a grandson of the Rav of the
city Trier in southwest Germany and a grandson of the famed
Katzenelson family. What do Jews find so special in
revolutions?
"The neshomoh does not find any satisfaction from all
the pleasures in this world," writes Rabbeinu R' Moshe Chaim
Luzzatto in his classic mussar work Mesillas
Yeshorim. Subsequently, the author cites the Medrash
Rabbah on Koheles (6:7): "All man's toil is for
his mouth, yet his wants are never satisfied," and then
remarks, "To what can this be compared? It is similar to a
commoner marrying a princess. Even if he will bring her all
of the pleasures of this world, it will be of trivial value
for her since she is the king's daughter. The same is true of
the nefesh. Even if one brings it all pleasures of
this world it is of trivial value for it since the
neshomoh stems from the higher heavens. Chazal
(Tanchuma, Pekudei 3) write: `You were created against
your will, and you were born against your will.' This is
because the neshomoh does not like this world at all,
but on the contrary, despises it" (Chapter One).
The same was true with Benny Levy and his colleagues. They
did not find their true place in this world. They wanted to
reform the world, to change it into something a little more
spiritual, to somewhat lift it up from the earth. However,
they were unsuccessful; their revolution failed. In truth
they were looking for their own revolution, their spiritual
changeover, and that they, boruch Hashem, eventually
found. They found the place from where their neshomoh
was carved.
Not all of them. But from the heights of glory of being an
assistant to Prof. Jean Paul Sartre, a person who, in his
time, was considered the foremost philosopher in the world,
Benny Levy arrived to the bench in a beis medrash in
Yerushalayim. He started with Sartre and ended up,
lehavdil, listening to the Torah teachings of the
gaon HaRav Moshe Shapira shlita in Bayit
Vegan.
He went a long way: from the center of non-Jewish
chochmah (wisdom) to the Toras Emes (True
Torah) of the Jews. He was born an assimilated Jew and died
as a true baal teshuvoh. Also Jean Claude Ziegler who
later became Rav Chaim Ziegler, who once inflamed the masses
in Lyons, now fervently appeals to his audiences to reform
the world through taking part in the kingdom of Heaven.
Only Danny Cohn-Bendit, "Danny the Red," and some other Jews
who stood at the head of the Student Revolution, sank
increasingly deeper.
As a member of the Bundestag, the lower house of the German
parliament, Cohn-Bendit is today far away from any Jewish
influence. Every year, on the day of the revolution, his
friends come to his house and they talk about the rebellion
and discuss what was done and what was not done. However, the
real revolution occurred in a remote country, nowhere near
their house. It happened, happens and will happen. On the
contrary for those who raise any doubts let them ask HaRav
Ziegler and he will tell you.
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