Abstract

The paper focuses on two „faces“ of Levinas’ Judaism. First, the author mentions Levinas’ significant biographic moments to suggest how rich and deep were the sources that influenced him from his early childhood: Latvian Judaism represented especially by the gaon of Vilno and the so called Musar movement, Russian secondary school, university education in France and Germany, tragedy of shoa and importance of Alliance Israelite Universelle. Next, the author analyses „traditional“ and „extra-traditional“ aspects of Levinas’ thought. She concludes that Levinas’ Judaism conserves the traditional reading of Bible as well as Talmud, while adopting the Greek methods of approaching philosophical texts. Theses multiple aspects of Levinas’ Judaism do not simply stand in juxtaposition, but make an original synthesis