11 581 his shoulders the whole of God’s responsibilities . The protagonist of the story proclaims that God “had handed men over to their savage instinct… And since these instincts rule the world, it is natural that those who preserve Those a sense of divinity and purity should be the first victims of this rule . ” 38 who live by the laws of morality and ethics are destined to suffer, therefore, for only they are able to find meaning in their suffering by restoring some good to the world . To live in a “disordered world” where “good does not triumph” means to suffer, and to encounter a God who “appeals to the full This absent God, maturity of the responsible man” through this suffering . 39 continues Levinas, “comes from within,” and this “intimacy coincides in one’s conscience with…belonging clearly, simply and historically to the Jewish people . ” This intimate relationship is achieved and intensified through a “terrible ordeal,” through the “filthy, criminal tide of man” that stands ...
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