Albert Camus and Judaism

The famous novelist, who was born a Catholic and died, at just 46, an atheist, had deep ties to Judaism. Robert Zaretsky explores its influence on his writing and philosophy:

At the political and existential level, Camus felt a visceral connection with the absurd predicament of the young Jewish state. It was a political bond insofar as many on the French left, from whom Camus was estranged, had grown deeply anti-Zionist in the wake of the Suez War. In 1957, he publicly affirmed his sympathy and support for Israel. His reasons still echo today: Not only must Europe accept Israel’s existence as the only possible response to the continent’s complicity in the Final Solution, but Israel must also exist as a counter-example to the oppressive rule of Arab leaders. The Arab people, he declared, wished for deserts covered with olive trees, not canons. Let Israel show the way.

(Image: Albert Camus (Paris, 1944) by Henri Cartier-Bresson, source)