André Neher (22 October 1914 – 23 October 1988) was a French

Jew Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, religion, and community are highly inte ...

ish

scholar A scholar is a person who is a researcher or has expertise in an academic discipline. A scholar can also be an academic, who works as a professor, teacher, or researcher at a university. An academic usually holds an advanced degree or a termina ...

and

philosopher Philosophy ('love of wisdom' in Ancient Greek) is a systematic study of general and fundamental questions concerning topics like existence, reason, knowledge, Value (ethics and social sciences), value, mind, and language. It is a rational an ...

Biography

Neher was born in

Obernai Obernai (Alsatian language, Alsatian: ''Owernah''; ) is Communes of France, commune in the Bas-Rhin Departments of France, department in Alsace in north-eastern France. It lies on the eastern slopes of the Vosges mountains. Obernai is a rapidly g ...

Bas-Rhin Bas-Rhin () is a department in Alsace which is a part of the Grand Est region of France. The name means 'Lower Rhine', referring to its lower altitude among the two French Rhine departments: it is downstream of the Haut-Rhin (Upper Rhine) de ...

. He was a student at the Collège Freppel in Obernai, then at the Lycée Fustel de Coulange in

Strasbourg Strasbourg ( , ; ; ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and largest city of the Grand Est Regions of France, region of Geography of France, eastern France, in the historic region of Alsace. It is the prefecture of the Bas-Rhin Departmen ...

. He became professor at the Collège Erckmann-Chatrian in

Phalsbourg Phalsbourg (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Phalsburch'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Moselle (department), Moselle Departments of France, department in Grand Est in north-eastern France, with a population of about 5,000. It lies high on ...

, then at the Lycée Kléber in Strasbourg. During World War II, he lived in

Brive-la-Gaillarde Brive-la-Gaillarde (; Limousin dialect of ), commonly known as simply Brive, is a commune of France. It is a sub-prefecture and the largest city of the Corrèze department. It has around 46,000 inhabitants, while the population of the aggl ...

, where he was a member of Rabbi

David Feuerwerker David Feuerwerker (October 2, 1912 – June 20, 1980) was a French Jewish rabbi and professor of Jewish history who was effective in the resistance to German occupation the Second World War. He was completely unsuspected until six months before ...

's community. After the War, he became a professor at the

University of Strasbourg The University of Strasbourg (, Unistra) is a public research university located in Strasbourg, France, with over 52,000 students and 3,300 researchers. Founded in the 16th century by Johannes Sturm, it was a center of intellectual life during ...

in 1948. In 1974, at age 60, Neher moved with his wife, Renée Neher-Bernheim to

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

L'Exil de la Parole

His masterpiece is ''The Exile of the Word'' (''L'Exil de la parole. Du silence biblique au silence d'Auschwitz'', Ed. Seuil, 1970), about the biblical silence, and God's silence after the

Shoah The Holocaust (), known in Hebrew language, Hebrew as the (), was the genocide of History of the Jews in Europe, European Jews during World War II. From 1941 to 1945, Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy ...

and the great world tragedies. Neher thinks that through the Bible's silence one can discover divine revelation; through the silence human freedom is possible. He draws on the image of a ''suspension bridge'' to describe human "ontological insecurity and pain" caused by this freedom, which is characterized by a "radical factor of uncertainty". For this reason it is necessary to concentrate our attention not on the ideas of redemption or salvation, but on "''being here in our life''".Sergio Quinzio, ''La Croce e il Nulla'', Adelphi ed., Milan 1984, p.33

Writings

* ' (1946; ''Transcendence and immanence'') * ' (1950; ''Amos, contribution to the study of the prophecy'') * ' (1955; ''Quality of Prophecy'') * ' (1951; ''Notes on Ecclesiastes'') * ' (1956; ''Moses and the Jewish vocation'') * ' (1958; ''The conflict of sacred and profane in the renaissance of Hebrew'') * ' (1960; ''Jeremiah'') * ' (1962; ''Biblical history of the people of Israel'') — with Renée Neher * ' (1962; ''The Jewish Existence'') * ' (1962; ''The Well of the Exile, dialectical theology of Maharal of Prague'') * ' (1969; ''From Hebrew to French'') — a manual for translating the Hebrew language into French * ' (1970; ''The Exile of the Word, from the silence of the Bible to the silence of Auschwitz'') * ' (1972; ''Within your gates, Jerusalem'') * ' (1979; ''They rebuilt their soul'') * ' (1984; ''Jerusalem, Lived Jerusalem And Message'') * ' (1974; ''David Gans, 1541-1613 : disciple of Maharal, assistant of Tycho Brahe and of Johannes Kepler'') ; English translation as ''Jewish thought and the scientific revolution of the sixteenth century : David Gans (1541-1613) and his times'' (1986) OUP. . * ' (1987; ''Faust and Maharal of Prague : myth and reality'') . * "At the methodological crossroad: The dispute with Eliezer Ashkenazi" in ''Rabbinic Theology and Jewish Intellectual History: The Great Rabbi Loew of Prague'' (2013)

Notes

External links

André Neher - Man is not Alone

"At the methodological crossroads: The dispute with Eliezer Ashkenazi"
{{DEFAULTSORT:Neher, Andre 1914 births 1988 deaths 20th-century French rabbis Academic staff of Tel Aviv University Alsatian Jews Jewish philosophers People from Obernai Philosophers of Judaism Academic staff of the University of Strasbourg French Orthodox Jews Burials at the Jewish cemetery on the Mount of Olives

Biography

L'Exil de la Parole

Writings

See also

Notes

External links