German philosopher Jürgen Habermas recently celebrated his ninety-fourth birthday. Bruno Karsenti takes advantage of the occasion, in an article that is also a tribute, to examine a work that is, as he writes, “the most solid foundation of European construction as a carrier of the universal”. A work that is both German and European, or German and then European. Indeed, Jürgen Habermas was the first to understand that it was only by facing up to German crime and guilt that we could, as he did, relaunch a European political project. But Jürgen Habermas did not confine himself to this task. Focusing on some of his lesser-known texts, Bruno Karsenti also shows that Jürgen Habermas not only never turned his eyes away from the uniqueness of the crime – even when some of his colleagues began to defend its necessity – but also recalled the specifically Jewish contribution to German philosophy. A contribution that Bruno Karsenti details here, restoring its importance, certainly for today’s Europeans, but also for Jews who have moved away from Europe.
The second article in this issue also deals with Jewish traces in Europe. Material traces this time, which an attentive eye can uncover by strolling through certain streets on the island of Rhodes, one of the southernmost extremities of the continent. Few eyes are sharper than those of Dario Miccoli, a specialist in the history of Jews in Mediterranean countries, including those from Rhodes – the Rhodeslis – who were almost entirely exterminated by the Nazis. And yet, despite their disappearance, Dario Miccoli examines in this text the relevance of their history, and its power to evoke and inspire in an island today torn between mass tourism and refugee hosting.
Finally, we republish the text by journalist Anshel Pfeffer, which reveals some of the major underground movements in the little-known world of Orthodoxy. For some years now, young Orthodox families have been leaving London for the small island of Canvey Island, where property prices make it possible for them to settle. This has given rise to the Kehile Kedoshe community, which seems to be integrating perfectly alongside an aging Tory and pro-Brexit native population: “You’ve finally brought diversity to Canvey,” said Mr. Friedman, one of the group’s directors. Originally published in the American magazine Sapir, this British postcard is as exotic as it is touching.
