André Neher


André Neher was a French Jewish scholar and philosopher.

Biography

Neher was born in Obernai, Bas-Rhin. He was a student at the Collège Freppel in Obernai, then at the Lycée Fustel de Coulange in Strasbourg. He became professor at the Collège Erckmann-Chatrian in Phalsbourg, then at the Lycée Kléber in Strasbourg. During World War II, he lived in Brive-la-Gaillarde, where he was a member of Rabbi David Feuerwerker's community. After the War, he became a professor at the University of Strasbourg in 1948. In 1974, at age 60, Neher moved with his wife, Renée Neher-Bernheim to Jerusalem, Israel.

L'Exil de la Parole

His masterpiece is The Exile of the Word, about the biblical silence, and God's silence after the Shoah 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".

Writings

Transcendance et immanence Amos, contribution à l'étude du prophétisme L'Essence du prophétisme Notes sur Qohélét Moïse et la vocation juive Le Conflit du sacré et du profane dans la renaissance de l'hébreu Jérémie Histoire biblique du peuple d'Israël — with Renée NeherL'Existence juive Le Puits de l'Exil, la théologie dialectique du Maharal de Prague De l'hébreu au français. Manuel de l'hébraïsant : la traduction — a manual for translating the Hebrew language into FrenchL'Exil de la Parole. Du silence biblique au silence d'Auschwitz Dans tes portes, Jérusalem Ils ont refait leur âme Jérusalem, vécu juif et message David Gans, 1541-1613 : disciple du Maharal, assistant de Tycho Brahe et de Jean Kepler ; English translation as Jewish thought and the scientific revolution of the sixteenth century : David Gans and his times OUP..Faust et le Maharal de Prague : le mythe et le réel .
  • They made their souls anew. Albany, N.Y : State University of New York Press, 1990.
  • "At the methodological crossroad: The dispute with Eliezer Ashkenazi" in ''Rabbinic Theology and Jewish Intellectual History: The Great Rabbi Loew of Prague''