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Ephraim Meir (1949- )

Ephraim Meir (Hebrew: אפרים מאיר) is Professor of modern Jewish Philosophy at Bar-Ilan University, Ramat Gan, Israel. He is regularly the Levinas guest professor for Jewish Dialogue Studies and Interreligious Theology at the Academy of World Religions, University of Hamburg.

Biography

Born in 1949 in Belgium, Meir studied at the Catholic University of Louvain, where he earned an MA in sciences of religion, an MA in biblical philology and an MA as well as a PhD in theology. From 1975-1980 he was at the Belgian Foundation of Scientific Research. From 1980 until 1982, he was theological secretary of the Ecclesiastical Province of Holland. In 1982, Meir converted to Judaism with his wife and their four children. The year after, they emigrated to Israel where another child was born. He was first a researcher at The Academy of Hebrew Language, Givat Ram, Jerusalem, before he started teaching in the Department of Jewish Thought at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva.

From 1989 on, Meir teaches in the Department of Jewish Philosophy at the Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan. He was twice Chair of his Department. Meir was a guest professor at Marc Bloch University, Strasbourg; Hochschule für Jüdische Studien; Heidelberg and University of Arizona, Phoenix. From 2009 on, he is guest professor at the Academy of World Religions of Hamburg University during the summer. He is vice-president of the International Rosenzweig Society.

His son Jonatan Meir is Professor at the Goldstein-Goren Department of Jewish Thought Ben-Gurion University of the Negev.

Academic career

His areas of of specialization are: modern and contemporary Jewish thought, including Rosenzweig's philosophy, Buber's and Heschel's Jewish thought, Jewish existentialism and Jewish dialogical philosophy, Levinas's Jewish writings and ethical metaphysics and Jewish thought on the Shoah. He is a pioneer in interreligious theology from a Jewish point of view. Here comes an overview of his research activities.

Contribution to the Levinas research

In Israel, Ephraim Meir was one of the first to disseminate and promote Levinas's ethical metaphysics and Jewish thought. Through his translation of Levinas’s work, he has contributed to Levinas's reception in Israel. His view on the close relationship and the juncture between the Jewish world and the general world in Levinas’s work comes into expression in his Levinas’s Jewish Thought Between Jerusalem and Athens (2008).[1] [2] [3]

Jewish existentialism

A focal point in Meir’s research is the study of Jewish existentialism. In his Jewish Existential Philosophers in Dialogue (2004), he brings together Jewish and non-Jewish existentialists and discusses the special contribution of Jewish philosophers to existential philosophy. Difference and dialogue between the Jewish and general culture is also the theme in his Differenz und Dialog (2013).

Rosenzweig research

Among the Jewish existentialists, Meir paid special attention to Franz Rosenzweig, One of his books on Rosenzweig, Letters of Love. Franz Rosenzweig’s Spiritual Biography and Oeuvre in Light of the Gritli Letters (2006), comprises an in-depth analysis of Rosenzweig’s letters to Gritli Rosenstock-Huessy. These letters, which were published in 2002, offer new insights into the biography and work of Rosenzweig. The volume is a pioneering work, influential for the further study of Rosenzweig's thought.

Buber and Heschel

Meir conducted research into the thoughts of Martin Buber and Abraham Joshua Heschel, which resulted in the volume Between Heschel and Buber A Comparative Study (2012) [4], published in cooperation with Alexander Even-Chen. He also wrote a book on Martin Buber’s “I and Thou”: ''Jij zeggen met Martin Buber. Dialogische Opmerkingen bij Bubers 'Ik en jij''' (2006). [5]

Jewish thought on the Shoah

Meir has special interest in Jewish thought on the Shoah. His book on the subject ''Towards an Active Memory. Society, Man and God after Auschwitz'' (2006) deals with the shaping of memory on the Shoah and takes part in the lively discussion in Israel on the universal or particular character of the Shoah.

Dialogical view on identity

Meir discusses the theme of identity in his Identity Dialogically Constructed  (2011). The same theme recurs in his book Dialogical Thought and Identity (2013),  published by Magnes in cooperation with De Gruyter. In the volume, Meir explores the problem of identity as treated primarily, but not exclusively, by Jewish dialogical thinkers and offers his own view on identity, in which dialogue is an integral element.

Contribution to the construction of an interreligious theology

Another book entitled Interreligious Theology. Its Value and Mooring in Modern Jewish Philosophy (2015), a follow-up of the aforementioned one, is a contribution to an emerging new theology that promotes the interrelatedness of religions and in which encounter, openness, hospitality, active dialogue and permanent learning are central. It is the first greater attempt to construct a dialogical, interreligious theology from a Jewish point a view.

Published work

1.     My Heart is in Zion: Present, Past and Future of Zionism (Dutch), Hague: Omniboek, 1983.

2.     Star from Jacob. Life and Work of Franz Rosenzweig (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1994.

3.     E. Lévinas, Éthique et Infini. Dialogues avec Philippe Nemo, transl. into Hebrew by E. Meir in cooperation with S. Re’em, introduced and annotated by E. Meir, Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 1995 (includes an interview with Levinas).

4.     Modernes jüdisches Denken, Fuldatal: Atelea Verlag, 1996.

5.     Towards an Active Memory. Man, Society and God after Auschwitz (Dutch), Amsterdam: Amphora Books, 2003.

6.     Jewish Existential Philosophers in Dialogue (Hebrew), Jerusalem: Magnes Press, 2004.

7.     The Rosenzweig Lehrhaus: Proposal for a Jewish House of Study in Kassel Inspired by Franz Rosenzweig’s Frankfurt Lehrhaus (Research and Position Papers, Rappaport Center), Ramat Gan: Bar Ilan University, 2005.

8.     Letters of Love. Franz Rosenzweig’s Spiritual Biography and Oeuvre in Light of the Gritli Letters, New York: Peter Lang, 2006.

9.     Towards an Active Memory. Society, Man and God after Auschwitz (Hebrew), Tel-Aviv: Resling, 2006. (=revised and extended version of nr.5).

10. Jij zeggen met Martin Buber. Dialogische Opmerkingen bij Bubers 'Ik en jij', (Dutch), Amsterdam: Amphora Books, 2006.

11. Levinas’s Jewish Thought Between Jerusalem and Athens, Jerusalem: Magnes, 2008.

12. Joods denken en danken (Dutch), Amsterdam: Amphora Books, 2008.

13. Identity Dialogically Constructed, Nordhausen: Verlag Traugott Bautz, 2011.

14. Differenz und Dialog, Muenster: Waxmann Verlag, 2011.

15. Between Heschel and Buber. A Comparative Study, with Alexander Even- Chen, Boston: Academic Studies Press, 2012.

16. Dialogical Thought and Identity. Trans-Different Religiosity in Present Day Societies, Berlin and Jerusalem: De Gruyter and Magnes, 2013.

17. Interreligious Theology. Its Value and Mooring in Modern Jewish Philosophy, Berlin and Jerusalem: De Gruyter and Magnes, 2015.

Edited books

18.  Haviva Pedaya and Ephraim Meir (eds.), Judaism, Topics, Fragments, Faces, Identities. Jubilee Volume in Honor of Rivka Horwitz, Beer-Sheva: Ben-Gurion University, 2007.