Catherine Chalier (born in Paris, 2 October 1947) is a French philosopher and translator who has authored several works on Jewish thought and philosophy. She is a specialist in the work of Emmanuel Levinas, as well as that of Franz Rosenzweig and Baruch Spinoza.Nadler, Steven. “The Jewish Spinoza.” Journal of the History of Ideas 70, no. 3 (2009): 491–510. http://www.jstor.org/stable/20621904. A convert from Catholicism to Judaism, she is a professor emeritus at Paris Nanterre University, also known as Paris X.

Background, education, and career During la classe terminale, the final year of French secondary school, she was a student of Élisabeth de Fontenay. She defended her doctoral thesis [Essai sur l'existence religieuse : judaïsme et altérité (Essay on Religious Existence: Judaism and Alterity)] at the University of Tours in 1981 under the supervision of in the field of philosophy of religion.

At the age of 22, and following her first voyage to Israel, Chalier began learning Hebrew and studying under Levinas himself at Paris X. It was the 1960s and, while his lectures emphasized the works of Hegel and Husserl above his own writings, she was deeply moved by the man himself, his story as a survivor of the Holocaust, and the astonishingly optimism that remained in his spirit. She associated this incredible light with the commitment to "choose life" in the Jewish Scriptures and to the very Levinasian philosophy of responsibility to others, in particular those who suffer. She began to attend his Torah classes at the synagogue of the , where he was passionate about teaching others the power of deriving "fresh insights" from the Torah rather than merely memorizing it.

Chalier has supervised many doctoral theses, including that of .

Chalier is a member of the jury for the awards at Les Rencontres Philosophiques de Monaco.

Reception Deborah Achtenberg reviewed What Ought I to Do?: Morality in Kant and Levinas for Review of Metaphysics (University of Nevada Reno, 2002). Achtenberg praised the "extensive knowledge" and the "scope and detail" of Chalier's account of the philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas, especially helpful in its reflection on the question of whether Levinas is a Kantian.Achtenberg, Deborah. "Chalier, Catherine. What Ought I to Do? Morality in Kant and Levinas." The Review of Metaphysics 57, no. 3 (2004): 612+. Gale Academic OneFile (accessed September 26, 2026).

Brigitt Sassen reviewed the same work for Philosophy in Review (McMaster University). Sassen considered that Chalier's reflection on the philosophies of Kant and Levinas is "illuminating for moral philosophy in general" but more precisely for Levinasian ethics.Sassen, Brigitte. 2003. “Catherine Chalier, ‘What Ought I to Do? Morality in Kant and Levinas.’”. Philosophy in Review 23 (4). British Columbia, Canada:238-40. https://journals.uvic.ca/index.php/pir/article/view/6573.

Awards and distinctions , , Paris, announced in December 1989, presented in 1990 Prize from the Association Zadoc Kahn, Paris, May 1995 Prix Colladon, Geneva, September 2003, with Marc Faessler, for L'écoute en partage; awarded for an outstanding work of theology Award from the Académie des sciences morales et politiques, 2006, for Spinoza lecteur de Maïmonide , 2010 2010, for La nuit, le jour : au diapason de la création 2017 French Voices Award for Reading the Torah: Beyond the Fundamentalist and Scientific Approaches (Duquesne University Press, 2017)

Works in French Books Judaïsme et altérité, Lagrasse: , "Les Dix paroles", 1982, 298 pp. Figures du féminin : lecture d'Emmanuel Levinas, La Nuit surveillée, "Questions", 1982. ; new expanded edition, including the previously unpublished essay L'Extase du temps, Éditions des Femmes, 2007, 171 pp. Les matriarches : Sarah, Rebecca, Rachel et Léa, Le Cerf, March 1985. ; 3rd revised and expanded edition, with a preface by Emmanuel Levinas, 1991, 224 pp. La persévérance du mal, Le Cerf, "La Nuit surveillée", October 1987, 226 pp. L'Alliance avec la nature, Le Cerf, "La Nuit surveillée", September 1989, 212 pp. L'Histoire promise, Le Cerf, April 1992, 330 pp. Lévinas : l'utopie de l'humain, Albin Michel, "Présences du judaïsme", 1993, 168 pp. Pensées de l'éternité : Spinoza, Rosenzweig, Le Cerf, "La Nuit surveillée", March 1993. Sagesse des sens : le regard et l'écoute dans la tradition hébraïque, Albin Michel, "L'Être et le corps", 1994. L'Inspiration du philosophe : « L'amour de la sagesse » et sa source prophétique, Albin Michel, "La Pensée et le sacré", August 1996, 211 pp. Pour une morale au-delà du savoir : Kant et Levinas, Albin Michel, "Bibliothèque Albin Michel des idées", February 1998, 225 pp. With Marc Faessler, Judaïsme et christianisme : l'écoute en partage, Le Cerf, "Patrimoines. Judaïsme", September 2001, 504 pp. La Trace de l'infini : Emmanuel Levinas et la source hébraïque, Le Cerf, "Philosophie et théologie", May 2002, 267 pp. La Fraternité : un espoir en clair-obscur, , "Au fait", 2003, 156 pp. Traité des larmes : fragilité de Dieu, fragilité de l'âme, Albin Michel, 2003, 219 pp. ; paperback edition, "Spiritualité vivante", 2007, 219 pp. With photographs by Didier Ben Loulou, Sincérité du visage, Éditions Filigranes, June 2004, 86 pp. La Patience : passion de la durée consentie, , "Morales", September 2004, 219 pp. De l'intranquillité de l'âme, Manuels Payot, 1998, 138 pp. ; paperback edition, "Petite bibliothèque", 2005, 134 pp. Les Lettres de la Création : l'alphabet hébraïque, Arfuyen, "Les carnets spirituels", September 2006, 155 pp. Spinoza lecteur de Maïmonide : la question théologico-politique, Le Cerf, "Philosophie et théologie", March 2006, 326 pp. Des Anges et des hommes, Albin Michel, January 2007, 279 pp. Transmettre de génération en génération : essai, Buchet-Chastel, 7 May 2008, 272 pp. La Nuit, le Jour : au diapason de la création, Le Seuil, 2009, 249 pp. . Prix des écrivains croyants, 2010. Le Désir de conversion, Le Seuil, 2011, 283 pp. Kalonymus Shapiro : rabbin au ghetto de Varsovie, 1889-1943, Éditions Arfuyen, "Les carnets spirituels", 6 October 2011. Présence de l'espoir, Le Seuil, "Les dieux, les hommes", 2013, 195 pp. Lire la Torah, Le Seuil, "Les dieux, les hommes", 2014, 190 pp. La gravité de l'amour : Philosophie et spiritualité juives, PUF, "Chaire Étienne Gilson", 2016. L’Appel des images, Actes Sud, "Le Souffle de l’esprit", 2017, 112 pp. Mémoire et pardon, François Bourin, January 2018, 250 pp. Le Rabbi de Kotzk (1787-1859) : Un hassidisme tragique, Arfuyen, "Les Carnets spirituels", no. 99, 2018, 136 pp. Pureté, impureté. Une mise à l'épreuve, Bayard Culture, 16 January 2019, 320 pp. Rabbi Chmuel Bornstein (1856-1926) L'espoir hassidique, Arfuyen, "Les carnets spirituels", no. 104, 7 February 2019, 120 pp. Découvrir la gratitude au risque de l’asymétrie, Bayard, 2020. R. Mordechai Joseph Lerner (1801-1854), La liberté hassidique, Arfuyen, 2020. Comme une clarté furtive. Naître, mourir, Bayard, 2021, 342 pp. R. Tsaddoq haCohen de Lublin (1823-1900), La clarté hassidique, Arfuyen, 2022, 188 pp. Il nous créa à son image. Un commentaire de la Genèse, Bayard, 2023, 524 pp. La voix de Moïse, Éditions du Cerf, 25 September 2025, 280 pp. L'exception du bien, Éditions Salvator, 9 April 2026, 190 pp.

Translations from Hebrew Amos Funkenstein, Maimonides : nature, histoire et messianisme, Le Cerf, "La Nuit surveillée", February 1988, 124 pp. Yoram Jacobson, La pensée hassidique, Le Cerf, "La Nuit surveillée", May 1989, 184 pp. Josef Ben Chlomo, Introduction à la pensée du Rav Kook, Le Cerf, "Patrimoines. Judaïsme", 1992, 177 pp. Moshe Idel, Messianisme et mystique, Le Cerf, "Patrimoines. Judaïsme", 1994, 118 pp. Rabbi Yehudah Aryeh Leib Alter, the Rebbe of Gur, La langue de la vérité, followed by Penser avec les versets, Albin Michel, 2004, 202 pp. Le Maggid de Mezeritch : aux sources du hassidisme, with an extended introduction, Arfuyen, "Les carnets spirituels", 2014, 176 pp. Rabbi Nahman de Bratzlav (1772–1810), La nostalgie hassidique, with an extended introduction, Arfuyen, "Les carnets spirituels", 2024, 178 pp.

Selected articles Chalier, Catherine. "Le désir de savoir a disparu pour lui, il est remplacé par des explications globales au service du pire." Madame Le Figaro, 27 June 2026.

Works in English translation "Emmanuel Levinas: responsibility and election." Royal Institute of Philosophy Supplements 35 (1993): 63-76. With Tina Chanter. "The exteriority of the feminine," translated by Bettina Bergo, Feminist interpretations of Emmanuel Levinas, University Park, Pennsylvania (2001): 171-179. What Ought I to Do? Morality in Kant and Levinas, translated by Jane Marie Todd, Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2002. . "Levinas and the Talmud." In The Cambridge Companion to Levinas (2002): 100-18. . Levinas and Education: At the Intersection of Faith and Reason. United Kingdom: Taylor & Francis, 2008. . With Ami Bouganim. "Emmanuel Levinas: School master and pedagogue." In Levinas and Education, pp. 25-37. Routledge, 2008. "The philosophy of Emmanuel Levinas and the Hebraic tradition." In Ethics as first philosophy, pp. 3-12. Routledge, 2013. "Blessing Precedes Cursing: Philosophical Reading of Genesis 3:16" Religions 15, no. 9: 1028, 2024.

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External links Podcasts featuring Chalier on Radio France * Articles in Revue Esprit