Levinas's earlier work seemed to have nothing to do with religion, whereas after the Holocaust his writings often touched on religious and specifically Jewish themes. These latter works are often described as his translations of Judaism into Greek, his explanations of the universal significance of the Torah and all that goes with it in the living experience of the Jewish people. The central problem here is that philosophy is a universal and theoretical enterprise, whereas religion is often practical and its obligations are limited to a particular group of people.

It might be thought even harder to identify Judaism with philosophy because most Jews are Jews because of birth, not through a choice to accept particular doctrines or practices. As human beings we all share certain characteristics, and as members of smaller and more limited groups we share features with others in the same...