Derrida Žydiškumas: Savo Ir Kitos Tapatybės Dekonstruktorius Derrida’S Jewishness: Deconstructor of Own and Other Identity

https://doi.org/10.24101/logos.2020.68 Gauta 2020 10 14

BASIA NIKIFOROVA Lietuvos kultūros tyrimų institutas, Lietuva Lithuanian Culture Research Institute, Lithuania

Derrida žydiškumas: savo ir kitos tapatybės dekonstruktorius Derrida’s Jewishness: Deconstructor of Own and Other Identity

SUMMARY

Derrida’s main source of creativity was “misreading” the philosophical and religious canon. Derrida, who is famous as a deconstructor of binary oppositions, feels himself beyond almost any binary opposition that he analyzed. Derridean researchers found an analogy between his types of liminality: the geographic or cultural outside space of the Marrano Jew and a philosophical position outside of both Athens and Jeru- salem (Jewish and Greek traditions). He partly represents Marranos, who were expelled from the accultur- ated country but did not take a position in Jewish religion and existed at the margins of the host culture. Derrida was alienated from the place of his birth, native tongue and Jewish heritage. The aim of this arti- cle is to show how Derridean deconstruction destroys a hierarchy of identity and all subordinations between European and non-European identities.

SANTRAUKA

Vienas pagrindinių Derrida kūrybiškumo šaltinių buvo „neteisinga” filosofinių ir religinių kanonų interpre- tacija. Derrida, kuris garsėjo binarinių opozicijų dekonstrukcija, jautėsi esąs anapus bet kurios analizuoja- mos binarinės opozicijos. Derrida kūrybos tyrinėtojai randa panašumų su jo paties tarpine (liminalia) bū- sena: maranų žydo geografiniu ar kultūriniu užribiu ir filosofine pozicija, esančia Jeruzalės ir Atėnų (žydų ir graikų tradicijų) užribyje. Iš dalies jis atstovauja maranams, išvarytiems iš akultūruotos šalies, tačiau neįsipareigojusiems žydų religijai ir gyvavusiems priėmusios kultūros paribyje. Derrida nutolo nuo gimtinės, gimtosios kalbos ir žydų paveldo. Šiame straipsnyje siekiama atskleisti, kaip Derrida dekonstrukcija suardo tapatybės hierarchiją bei visas europinės ir neeuropinių tapatybių subordinacijas.

Raktažodžiai: dekonstrukcija, Derrida, tremtis, tapatumas, ribiškumas, vienkalbystė. KEY WORDS: deconstruction, Derrida, exile, identity, liminality, monolingualism. 14 LOGOS 105 2020 SPALIS • GRUODIS MokslinĖ mintis

The lesson of the Jew Greek remains: the mongrels shall inherit the earth. (Steven Kahhen 2013)

INTRODUCTION

About 70 years ago Spanish philoso- this extra feature… ontological supple- pher Jose Ferrater-Mora in the essay “In ment…, which opens the way for a phi- times like these: Wittgenstein, a Symbol losopher to be the object of a biography. of Troubled Times” wrote: “But my con- Only a philosopher who really is a phi- tention that Wittgenstein was a genius losopher will qualify for a biography”. has a wider scope. It means that he was Such meanings or demands as “live hid- more than a philosophical genius. He den”, “will to remain secret” were very was, in fact, a genius of our age, a symbol important in Jacques Derrida’s life and of troubled times. What it means to be mostly were linked with his religious genius “in time like this”? First, “those identity. The word secret means for him who know what the words “troubled interiority that remains eternal incom- times” mean does not know Wittgen- mensurable with exteriority. Oskar Baum, stein; those who know Wittgenstein do who directly corresponded with Kafka, not know what the words “troubled analyzing his Jewish identity, underlined times” mean”. Second, he was a “mystery that Kafka is not a “Jewish writer” for the man.” Consequently, he was afraid of the reason that his parents were Jews but pri- world and all his life follows the motto: marily because of his alienation, hope- Live hidden! His most popular maxima: lessness and fear, spiritual form of world “Where of one cannot speak, thereof one tragic fixation. Partly these words are must be silent” has continuation in the possible to say about Derrida but only words “Will to remain secret.” partly. For him, “the secret as such sepa- “Writing a biography means living rates and already institutes a negativity; through an intimate and sometimes in- it is a negation that denies itself. It de- timidating adventure,” writes Benoît negates itself”. During life, Derrida has Peeters, the author of Jacques Derrida’s many secrets; nevertheless, the important biography (Peeters 2013). The sheer dif- part of his personal secrets was connected ficulty of Derrida’s writing contributed to with Jewish origin and later identity. Der- its aura, but the main source of its creativ- rida’s galut (exile) is his Jewishness as a ity was “misreading” of the philosophical private place outside of all discourse, and religious canon. Same as Wittgen- which is inevitably ethnocentric. Derrida stein, Derrida was a famous system-de- is alienated from the place of his birth, stroyer, who used his texts to change the acculturation, including his only native traditional philosophy by its own philo- tongue and Jewish heritage. sophical method and ideas. For him, “be- The methods of research include anal- ing a philosopher obviously involves yses of Derrida’s philosophical works, more than merely doing philosophy, and some interviews and the works of re-

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searchers that examine the case of Der- Jews” (Arendt H., Aschheim S. E., Bielik- rida’s complicated identity, phenomenon Robson, A., Caputo, J. D., Kutash, Cix- of Other’s liminality, the Marrano case ous, H., Thompson, A., Topolski, A. and and the phenomenon of “psychological Yerushalmi, Y. H.).

LIMINALITY AND THE MARRANO CASE

The term ‘liminality’ comes from the includes ambivalence, because it does Latin word limen, threshold, and in our not fit into the framework of any clas- case, it means the disorientation be- sifications in a cultural space. Their am- tween a previous way of understanding bivalent properties are expressed by a of an own identity and assumption of a wide variety of symbols. In the state of new one. For Derrida as a postmodern psychological liminality, the feeling of philosopher, this term can be applied the individual’s identity turns out to be between two types of liminality: the geo- diffused. Their feelings to be fixed on graphic or cultural exteriority of the certain mental images and contents: Marrano Jew and at the same time, his own and others. The person mostly is philosophical position that is outside involved in an area that he/she cannot both Jewish and Greek traditions. In control and the cognitive and behav- fact, Derrida is outside of any binary ioral cases, which he/she does not rec- opposition. Derrida is alienated both ognize as “his/her own”. from the place of his birth and native Hannah Arendt compared the fa- culture, including his mother tongue, mous European Jewish origin thinkers ethnic and religious Jewish heritage. to the Marranos who were permitted to Derrida’s galut (exile) is neither Hebrew enter to the European intellectual circle nor Greek; it is a secret place outside the under condition that they publicly refuse margins of all discourses that are inevi- their Jewry. She wrote: “When it comes tably ethnocentric. Between liminality to claiming its own in the field of Euro- and the Marrano Jew there always was pean arts and letters, the attitude of the a common space and a close relation- Jewish people may best be described as ship, which concentrated on both psy- one of reckless magnanimity. With a chological statuses. First, the disorienta- grand gesture and without a murmur of tion between a previous identity and a protest it has calmly allowed the credit new one, second, the historic, geograph- for its great writers and artists to go to ic cultural or linguistic exteriority of the other peoples” (Arendt 1944: 90). The Marrano Jew are a special case of lim- meaning of liminality and the Marrano inality as such. In the liminal personal- for Derrida will be taken up here in three ity it is possible to find all symptoms of different contexts: language, archives spiritual and social discomfort, which and philosophical activity.

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GREEKJEW – JEWGREEK

During his life Derrida was trying to above, Derrida also is alienated from the answer the question: “Who am I?” This place of his birth, the native language, question had for him different levels of the Western (Greek) philosophical tradi- sense: personal, philosophical and po- tion and his Jewish heritage. This situa- litical. In “Violence and Metaphysics,” tion gives him possibility to feel free to Derrida wrote that before philosophical analyze and criticize the Western host deconstruction he should formulate the culture, Algerian colonial and post-colo- following important questions: Are we nial situation and the Hebraic tradition- Greeks? Are we Jews? However, who, al archive. For philosophical research, we? Are we… first Jews or first Greeks? Derrida chooses a place of exteriority, “To what horizon of peace does the lan- alterity or marginality. Derrida names guage, which asks this question, belong? himself, a man who has understood and Can it account for the historical coupling own a “radical lack of culture from of Judaism and Hellenism? Moreover, which I undoubtedly never completely what is the legitimacy, what is the mean- emerged” (Derrida 1998: 53). ing of the copula in this proposition? John D. Caputo in the introduction ‘‘A “Jewsgreek is Greekjew. Extremes meet?” Passion for the Impossible’’ to the book (Derrida 1978). As Elizabeth J. Bellamy “The Prayers and Tears of Jacques Der- notices, Derrida’s “jewsgreek” knows rida…” in this way shortly described Der- neither temporality nor logic: the “jew- rida’s Jewishness. He cited his notebooks sgreek” is not “chronological” but “pre- of 1976, in which Derrida described his logical” (Bellamy 1997: 74). broken covenant with Judaism that From Derrida’s view, the “Jewish” would “leave nothing, if possible, in the cannot be conceived without the “Greek,” dark of what related me to Judaism, the and vice versa. Nevertheless, Western alliance broken in every respect” (Caputo European Jewry is a special kind of Jew- 1997: xvi), (Derrida 1993: 155–156). ish existence, which includes the “frag- For Derrida, his circumcision was the mentariness”, “tragic duality” and eter- subject of preoccupation. He devotes to nal attempt to struggle with that. Der- him not only his work “Circumfession”, rida highlights such features, which which consists of 59 paragraphs, every of were inherited to “Greekjew-Jewgreek” which correlated with his age at the time mentality: universal form of Jewishness, of writing and with many other texts.1 which, in distinction to the “terminable Agata Bielik-Robson looks at Derrida and Judaism” rabbinic tradition, not only a other “philosophical Marranos” as a per- hope for the future”, but “the anticipa- son (philosopher, theologian, psycholo- tion of a specific hope for the future” gist, artist and writer) who turned “the (Derrida 1996: 72). As noted above, Der- Jew Greek: Greek Jew” binary to his ad- rida was expelled from his original spir- vantage” (Bielik-Robson 2004: 4). itual life and started to be alien at the Jewishness as something, which country that accepted him. As mentioned should not be confused with Judaism.

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Thinking in Yerushalmi context, Derrida scendental meaning of history. Yerush- approves that contemporary Jewishness almi explains the Jewish impact on his- does not wait for the messianic future; tory: “If Herodotus was the father of it has “the opening relation to the future history, the fathers of meaning in history and the anticipation of a specific hope were the Jews” (Yerushalmi 2011: 201). for the future” (Yerushalmi: 1991: 95). Greek descriptive vision of history Yerushalmi described special type of was different from the biblical one, Jewishness as the “psychological Jews” which includes a more transcendental who emanated in pure subjectivity. In dimension, but a biblical time with his opinion, this kind of Jewishness has ‘‘meaning’’ in historical events, accord- following characters: the alienation from ing to Yerushalmi, was stopped in the classical Jewish texts, the emphasis on next major form of Judaism, the rab- inalienable Jewish traits such as intellec- binic (Yerushalmi 2011: 204). For Derrida tuality and independence of mind, the it means new possibilities to make the highest ethical and moral standards, con- first step to deconstruct religion through cern for social justice, tenacity in the face meaning of history. of persecution. From the first view, Emilie Kutash found complicity of words “psychological Jews” is close to arguments, which explain Derrida’s the meaning “the fallen Jews”. Neverthe- gradual awareness of Jewishness as a less, the Marrano Jew was only partially part of his identity: and forcefully separated from the Juda- His discovery of his Jewish roots in texts ism, which he secretly continued practic- such as Circumfession his exploration of ing. From the Emilie Kutash view, the the Akedah in The Gift of Death, his enco- case of Derrida was another, it was a mium to his father’s tallith, and his soul “converso case” in which he is “doubly searching in Abraham, the Other all accrue meanings to his Judaism that go beyond liminal” according to the both archives Levinas. Derrida’s concern with forgive- important for him. The Derrida’s philo- ness, friendship, and hospitality, his sen- sophical archive, which he obtained from sibility concerning Jewish particularity his philosophical community, was not and universal justice, nationhood and reconcilable with the ancestral heritage: violence catapult past doctrinal dogma, he spoke different languages. whether religious or philosophical. (Ku- Yerushalmi was interesting for Der- tash 2014). rida since he “explored the limits and The traces of Jewishness are “his Jew- possibilities in the tension between the ish mother, the inscription upon him of biblical injunction to remember and the his circumcision, and the anti-Semitism historiographical imperative to recon- that came upon him from the outside are struct profane human history” (As- events that ‘write’ his Judaism on him” chheim 2014). Moreover, the Jewish (Ibid). Next is his Jewish name, which it modern historians and Yerushalmi first was given to him Elijah. These both gifts: mostly try to find and explain not only circumcision and the naming, predate a new Jewish identity but also the tran- the signature with which he signs off on

18 LOGOS 105 2020 SPALIS • GRUODIS MokslinĖ mintis his written corpus. Father tallith is an- 170). He articulates this type of thinker, other reliquary that connects Derrida who “will never break through the Joy- with Jewishness. “The secret of the shawl cean ‘jew-greek, greek-jew’ confusion” envelopes one single body and ‘my (Ibid). For him it was a chance to get out shawl’ only by obeying Yahweh’s order. from the circle of a self-enclosed iden- And by beginning to wonder: who am I, tity. Leaving the ghetto with rigid cul- I who have already said ‘here I am’? tural and religious identity, in which he What is the self?” (Derrida 2001: 337). actually never spiritually was, he got a The Derrida’s presence in the process modern philosophy offering him an op- of bordering Jewish identity opens the portunity of “free thinking”. The decon- door to be a deconstructor, reconceptu- structed binary GreekJews open for Der- alizator and avant-guarder in every rida a great possibility to touch a tradi- sphere of their activity. Derrida openly tion in which Europe never figures as a declared that he is “a sort of Marrano of geographic or political body but always French Catholic culture” (Derrida 1993: is interpreted as something other.

DECONSTRUCTING EUROPEAN PARADIGM

Neither world fame nor high intellec- not to be Jewish or not to be Islamic. tualism remove for him the problem of According to Anya Topolski, there AlgerianFrenchJewish origin. In “Circum- are some different ways in which the fession” Derrida describes himself as term ‘Judeo-Christian’ is being used in “little black and very Arab Jew” (Derrida the European discourse today: as a syn- 1993: 58). He found out that in this sense onym for secularism, an exclusionary of one more important problem in Europe Islam, a form of Christian supersession is a question of non-Europeans. For Der- by Jews, in terms of shared morals, a rida, Europe’s origin is not identical to post-Holocaust apology rooted in guilt itself; it has the multiple sources of its and as a synonym for faith. “By taking identity, which include not only solely responsibility for the exclusionary vio- Greek heritage, but also Christian, Jew- lence which has its origins in endeavors ish, and Islamic elements too. Adding, to define European identity, there may that “the Greek never gathered himself be hope to create an inclusive commu- or identified with himself” he includes nity, a Europe ‘to come’, that is free from such meanings as “secondary attributes” the specter of identity currently haunting that are not something simply additional Europe” (Topolski 2016: 268). In Derri- but are the organic part of special iden- da’s opinion, it is impossible to construct tity (the Christian, the Jew, the Arab, and European identity without rejection of so on) (Derrida 2010: 31). Starting from exclusion. He combines the messianism Derrida, the researchers of this problem of three Abrahamic religions with the connect meaning of European identity Greek figure epekeina tes ousias/then es- with understanding by what we are not. sentials and creates an own partition in- Traditionally to be “European” means side ‘Judeo-Christianity’. Derrida avoids

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direct separation between Judaism and not easy to be a Jew, a new Christian and Christianity and shows that the heritage a new Jew, a European and an Africans of the Judeo-Christian traditions is close during one life; this is not a light task to him. Nevertheless, he underlines that for a Philosopher. this process is more organic and dynam- Hybrid identity, one of the meanings ic for contemporary Christian theology that is partly associated with the Mar- than for Jewish. But at the same time, rano case, voices a possibility to belong Judeo-Christianity has for Derrida a per- to both Greeks and Jews in the contem- sonal dimension, which is associated porary Europe. In this line stay such with the Marrano status as of a person European values as solidarity, justice and who during his life had “pariah con- hospitality. His words “I do not seek to sciousness”, stayed in a guest-commu- establish any kind of authenticity” was nity formally, ritually, linguistically and his motto that he followed all his life religiously Other. For this reason, it is (Derrida 1988: 55).

CONCLUSION

In conclusion we can affirm that Der- to something external and excludes from ridean deconstruction destroys a hierarchy its own nature, which turns to be an inte- of identity and all subordinations between gral part of what it is excluded from. Marrano and Litvak, Algerian and French, Derrida many times emphasized that European and non-European identities. any cultural identity does not present it- Derridean researchers identified an anal- self as the opaque body, but is always ogy between two types of liminality: the universal in the singular and the unique geographic or cultural outside space of testimony to the human essence. Derrid- the Marrano Jew who alienated from his/ ean critique of the identity notion has her original religion and who adopted a been commonly interpreted as the rejec- philosophical position outside bothAthens tion of the West’s homogenizing rational- and Jerusalem. He shows how identity is ity. He applies deconstruction to the iden- similarly established through acts of exclu- tity as such, not just to the particular sion and marginalization but also that the identity of the West. Derrida’s words that marginalized characters are often central he is “a sort of Marrano of French Catho- to the constituted identity. Introducing the lic culture” help us better understand his concept of supplementarity, which often deconstructed identity and own relations takes the form of an insignificant addition with both Jewish and Christian identities.

References

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Endnotes

1 Derrida, J. 1980. The Post Card: From Socrates to 2007. Abraham, the Other. In Judeities: Ques- Freud and beyond. Chicago: Chicago: University tions for Jacques Derrida, edited by Bettina of Chicago Press; Derrida, J. 1993. Circumfession. Bergo, Joseph D. Cohen, and Raphael Zagury- Derrida, J. Chicago: University of Chicago Press; Orly. New York: Fordham University Press; 1995a. Derrida, J. 1995. On the Name. Edited by Derrida, J, and Maurizio F. 2001. A Taste for the Thomas Dutoit. Translated by David Wood, Secret. Translated by Giacomo Donis. Cam- John P Leaver, and Ian McLeod. Stanford, Cal- bridge: Polity Press. ifornia: Stanford University Press; Derrida, J.

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