Edmond Fleg: “We of hope”

There are men of light, whose work continues to illuminate generations long after their disappearance. Edmond Fleg is one of them. Poet, essayist, playwright, he knew how to write with his soul as much as with his pen, offering a word of hope, transmission and dialogue. André Spire, his friend, said of him: “Edmond Fleg is the soft and firm voice of a Judaism which tells its story, asserts itself, and offers itself to others without imposing itself. »

On the occasion of the 150th anniversary of his birth, a conference entitled “We of hope: the luminous message of Edmond Fleg today” will be held at the Palais Universitaire de Strasbourg on November 25 and 26. that is to say tomorrow and the day after tomorrow, a conference which will explore the essential dimensions of his work. : the relationship with the Judaism of his time, his role in the rebirth of Franco-Zionism, his work of translating Jewish sources, and his attachment to the Yiddish language. Particular attention will be paid to his dialogue with non-Jews, in particular through his participation in the creation of Judeo-Christian friendships in France and through his link with Charles Péguy.

And to talk about it today I have the great pleasure of receiving Jacqueline Cuche, the initiator of this conference and Hector Sabo, composer and choir director whom we received two weeks ago and who will give with his ensemble the Polyphonies Hébraïques de Strasbourg a concert-reading as part of this conference. With them we will discover the legacy of Edmond Fleg and question the relevance of his message, between identity and dialogue. A luminous and deeply human heritage, which remains a compass in our troubled times.

The guests

Jacqueline Cuche

After studying literature and theology, she was very involved in the Judeo-Christian friendship of France, of which she was president. Today you are the delegate of the diocese of Strasbourg to the National Service for Relations with Judaism. You are also president of the Charles-Péguy Ecumenical Association and author of Testifying for the Jews published by Parole et Silence.

Hector Sabo

Musician pianist, organist, harpsichordist, musical director, choir and orchestra conductor, composer and musicologist born in 1960 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
University studies in Music and musicology, professor at the Strasbourg Conservatory, director of the choir Les Polyphonies Hébraïques de Strasbourg and the Jewish Choir of France. (See the program Talmudiques “Music and Hebrew”

Sound Archives

Conference program

ON THE OCCASION OF THE 150TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE BIRTH OF EDMOND FLEG
(NOVEMBER 26, 1874-OCTOBER 15, 1963)

The Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University of Strasbourg
The Charles-Péguy Ecumenical Association
The Judeo-Christian Friendship of Strasbourg

invite you to the conference

“WE OF HOPE”: THE BRIGHT MESSAGE OF EDMOND FLEG TODAY

(University Palace, Pasteur room)
Monday November 25 (10:15 a.m.-5 p.m.) and
Tuesday November 26, 2024 (9:30 a.m. – 5 p.m.)

and the concert reading that will accompany it
Monday November 25, 6:30 p.m.
(Munsterhof, 9 rue des Jews)

with the participation of the Hebrew Polyphonies
led by Hector Sabo

MONDAY NOVEMBER 25, 2024:

10h15 :
Welcome and opening of the conference

Michele TauberDirector of the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University of Strasbourg
Jacqueline Cuche, president of the Charles-Péguy ecumenical association and former president of the Judeo-Christian Friendship of France
Janine Elkouby president of the Judeo-Christian Friendship of Strasbourg

10h45 :
Exceptional conference :
Grand Rabbi of France Haïm Korsia :
“My life with Edmond Fleg”

PART 1: EDMOND FLEG, HIS LIFE AND WORK:
session chair Jacqueline Cuche

2:30 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.

Sylvie AltarDoctor in history, teacher and associated researcher at LARHRA (Université Lyon 2 and 3):
Edmond Fleg, his life and his hopes

3:15 p.m.-4 p.m.
Francine Kaufmannprofessor emeritus at the University of Bar Ilan (Israel)
Edmond Fleg and Jewish sources: translation, adaptation, recreation

Pause (reading extracts from Fleg)

16h30-17h
Michele TauberDirector of the Department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at the University of Strasbourg
Edmond Fleg and the Yiddish

CONCERT-LECTURE
Readers: teachers Michele Tauber et Jacob Rogozinski
Music: Ensemble of Hebrew Polyphonies conducted by Hector Sabo
(6:30 p.m. – Munsterhof, 9 rue des Jews)

TUESDAY NOVEMBER 26, 2024

PART 2: EDMOND FLEG AND THE JUDAISM OF HIS TIME
Session chair Michèle Tauber

9h30-10h15
Nadia MalinovichHDR lecturer, University of Picardie and École Pratique des Hautes Études
The role of Edmond Fleg in the renaissance of French Judaism

10h15-11h
Denis CharbitProfessor of political science at the Open University of Israel (Ra'anana)
Edmond Fleg and Franco-Zionism
Reading of extracts from Fleg's work.

Pause

PART 3: EDMOND FLEG, MAN OF DIALOGUE
Session chair Janine Elkouby

11h15-12h00
Olivier RotaHDR lecturer at the Catholic University of Lille
The role of Edmond Fleg in the AJCF and Jewish-Christian relations

Lunch break

14h15-15h :
Benjamin Bitaneformer national manager of the EEIF, Managing Director of Face Sud Provence:
Edmond Fleg, President of the Éclaireurs Israélites de France (1935-1949): a renewed word to the youth
Reading extracts from Fleg's work

15h-15h45 :
Jacqueline Cuchepresident of the Charles-Péguy ecumenical association:
Charles Péguy and Edmond Fleg, prophets of hope

16h30 :
Conclusions
By Michèle Tauber and Janine Elkouby

Guest books

Book by Jacqueline Cuche

Testifying for the Jews, “Word and Silence” edition

Presentation of the author

This book was born from a necessity: that of transmitting a little of what I received over so many years from my Jewish friends, in the hope that those who read it – Christians in particular – will find there some enlightenment allowing them to to look kindly on their “elder brothers” (as Pope John Paul II called the Jews during his famous visit to the synagogue in Rome).

Transmit… I will never forget the adage cited one day by Armand Abecassis: “As much as the calf wants to suckle, the cow wants to suckle”, and, as I often liked to say to the various audiences to whom he was given to address me, “since I met the Jews, I feel more and more “cow”! Born from multiple encounters, this book has a profound unity thanks to the common thread that connects its four parts and which quite simply follows my personal journey, born from my encounter with Judaism.

“It will not be said that a Christian has not testified for the Jews,” writes Péguy in Notre Jeunesse. May I, too, just a little, bear witness for them, through this book!

Free from Hector Sabo

Following on from his first book, “Hebrew Voices – Journey into Western Jewish Music”, released in 2020, the author offers a new approach, more synthetic and more accessible, to Hebrew music.
Hector SABO, eclectic and passionate musician, invites you to follow him on the first musical traces present in The Bible. He will then reveal to you the very rare scores dating from the Middle Ages, as well as the most recent creations. Discover with him Hebrew Gregorian Chant, Leonard Bernstein and film music, including Offenbach and Kurt Weill… A whole host of celebrities who have enriched the Hebrew musical repertoire awaits you!
Without going into technical considerations, the reader will be able to familiarize themselves with very diverse musical universes having close relationships with Judeo-Christian culture.