Jewish Perennial Philosophy

Rabbi Yéhouda Léon Askénazi seems like my kind of guy. From the Traditionalists blog:

A new article on Rabbi Yéhouda Léon Askénazi (“Manitou,” 1922-96), almost the only significant Jewish figure to have taken a deep interest in Traditionalism (this is my first even blog post to use the index "Judaism").

I don't understand the disconnect between Traditionalism and Judaism, when they are so eminently compatible in their stance: universalism from the perspective of the particular. God has many names, but truth is one.

Born in Algeria, Manitou was deeply read in French thought, as well as in Orthodox Judaism and the kabbalah. He agreed with Guénon that what mattered was the original philosophia perennis, in esoteric as well as exoteric form, but disagreed with Guénon about what this was. For Manitou, the original revelation was, simply, Judaism–and the esoterism that mattered was the kabbalah.

Judaism certainly has greater claim to original revelation than Islam, the favourite of many Traditionalists. I disagree with the Rabbi's exclusivism, however. Judaism possibly owes its existence to Egyptian reformism (Akhenaten), and kabbalah was influenced by Platonism. (Although Nietzsche calls Plato a spiritual Semite, so perhaps we can retroactively claim him like the Christians.)

In “From Monologues to Possible Dialogue: Judaism’s Attitude towards Christianity According to the Philosophy of R. Yéhouda Léon Askénazi (Manitou)” (In Interaction Between Judaism and Christianity in History, Religion, Art, and Literature, Marcel Poorthuis, Joshua Schwartz, and Joseph Turner, eds., Leiden: Brill, 2009, pp. 319-336), Yossef Charvit examines Manitou’s views on Christianity and Islam, the background to a participation in inter-faith dialogue which included writing a special prayer for the opening of what Charvit calls the “Temple de l’Universel,” presumably the Sanctuaire de l’Universel, a Parisian multi-faith venture of the very un-Traditionalist Sufi Pir Vilayat Inayat Khan.

Christianity, Manitou thought, “purported to be the New Israel,” (p. 332) and in beginning to abandon this claim by recognizing that Israel was actually Israel, was approaching the day when all humanity might realize its “Abrahamic features.” Islam, in contrast, had never claimed to be the New Israel. When it came to Christianity, “Our theologies are highly polarized, but there are points of interface regarding ethics.” However, “The opposite is true of Islam, with which we possess theological interfaces but stand in diametric opposition regarding ethics” (p. 325). Unfortunately, Yossef Charvit does not examine Manitou’s views on Islam in much detail in this article; perhaps he will do so in another.

People of all nations worshipped at the Temple in Jerusalem. A whole class of non-Jewish people called God-fearers worshipped in the synagogues of the Greco-Roman world. Interfaith dialogue doesn't just have to be a gooey, liberal love-in. I order a theological compromise. All Abrahamic faiths must agree that: Jews are the real Jews, the "new Israel" is a metaphor; Jesus was a prophet and a good guy; Mohammed meant well. I'm not sure about the last one, but hey, compromise.

I learned some more fascinating facts about Askénazi from his Wikipedia entry:

Rav Ashkenazi studied simultaneously in Yeshivah and in French secular high school in Oran, studied Kabbalah for a short while in Marrakech, Morocco, and attended philosophy and psychology studies in the University of Algiers, and later on philosophy, ethnology and anthropology in the Sorbonne in Paris.

In 1943 he was recruited to the French Foreign Legion, served in the infantry and was wounded in the battle of Strasbourg. After the Second World War he immigrated to France and joined the Jewish Scouts of France, where he received his name 'Manitou' which in Indian Mythology means 'Great Spirit'.

A scholar, a rabbi and a soldier - with an Indian nickname!

He contributed to the field of inter-religion discourse, traveling yearly to Cameroon, to the request of Cameroon's President Paul Biya, who was interested in being acquainted with the Bible and the history of the Jewish people. He met with the Dalai Lama, Tibet's exiled leader, and held close contacts with many Christian priests, among which was Prof. Marcel-Jacques Dubois.

If more orthodox rabbis were as cool as this guy, I might be slightly less heterodox. His teaching:

Manitou's main effort was focused on understanding history, in Hebrew 'Toladot' - 'Engenderment', through the Torah, especially through the Book of Genesis, which relates the beginning of human history. The principles of this study were that the Bible is the centre and source of the faith, inspiration and power of the people of Israel, and that, since the Bible was transmitted by the Creator in a moment of historical epiphany, it constitutes the only valid overview of history and its purpose. In other words, history can be read and understood retrospectively only when reading the Torah, in the notion of the verse "This is the book of the generations of Man" (Genesis 5:1).

Indeed the first twenty generations of humanity present Human genealogy on to Hebrew genealogy; however, each generation in its turn also symbolizes a unique human identity which has meaning and relevance to modern life. According to this view, biblical figures are the origins of nowadays identities and situations and reappear throughout history on an individual, social and national basis. The same is true when understanding the existential connections between father and son, teacher and pupil, and the conflict between rivals.

Thus, history is not simply a series of historic events, wars and cultural shifts, but of the metamorphosis and stages of the human identity. Each civilization in its turn brings into human history the drama of the progression and development of human identity, until humanity is able at last to produce a 'whole' and moral human consciousness, which is the purpose of history.

Universal history is the passage from exile to return. Jewish history symbolizes universal history. The individual (Gnostic) quest is for the fulfilment of history in the soul.