Esther Benbassa

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Esther Benbassa
Member of the French Senate for Paris
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 October 2011
Personal details
Born	(1950-03-27) 27 March 1950 (age 71) Istanbul, Turkey
Nationality	French
Political party	Europe Ecology - The Greens
Alma mater	Tel Aviv University (B.A) University Paris-VIII (PhD) University Paris-III (PhD) INALCO

Esther Benbassa (born 27 March 1950) is a French-Turkish-Israeli historian and politician. She is the author of many books of Jewish studies. She serves as a member of the French Senate, where she represents Paris.

Early life[]

Esther Benbassa was born on 27 March 1950 in Istanbul, Turkey.^[1][2] She immigrated to Israel at age 15 and graduated from Tel Aviv University in 1972.^[3][4] She moved to France in 1972 and became a French citizen in 1974. She earned two doctorates, a "doctorat de IIIe cycle" from the University Paris-VIII and a "doctorat d'État" from University Paris-III, and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.^[3] She holds Turkish, Israeli and French citizenships.^[2]

Benbassa is married to her colleague (and occasional coauthor) Jean-Christophe Attias.

Career[]

Benbassa is the author of many books about Jewish history.

She was a Research Professor at the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS) (1989-2000) and a Professor of Modern Jewish History at the École pratique des hautes études, Sorbonne (2000-2018).

In 2002, she founded the Centre Alberto-Benveniste for Sephardic Studies and the Socio-Cultural History of the Jews, and served as its director until 2018.^[3]

As an intellectual, Benbassa takes an active part in the French public debate and regularly publishes articles in French newspapers and on the Internet. Especially involved in the fight against racism and discriminations, she cofounded the "Pari(s) du Vivre-Ensemble", an annual culture festival.

Benbassa has served as a member of the French Senate since 2011, where she represented Val-de-Marne (2011-2017) and Paris (since 2017).^[1] In 2011, she supported a bill to let foreign residents in France vote in local French elections.^[2]

Benbassa is a Knight of the National Order of Merit and of the Légion d'honneur.^[3] She was awarded the Prix Seligmann against racism from the Fondation Seligmann in 2005 and the Prix Guizot from the Académie française for La Souffrance comme identité in 2008.^[5]

Works[]

IN ENGLISH

• Haim Nahum. A Sephardic Rabbi in Politics, 1892-1923, Tuscaloosa, The University of Alabama Press, 1995.
• A Sephardi Life in Southeastern Europe. The Autobiography and Journal of Gabriel Arié, 1863-1939, Seattle & London, University of Washington Press, 1998 (with Aron Rodrigue).
• History of Sephardic Jewry, XIVth-XXth Centuries, Berkeley, University of California Press, 2000 (with A. Rodrigue).
• The Jews of France. A History from Antiquity to the Present, Princeton, Princeton University Press, 1999, 2nd ed. (softcover), 2001.
• Israël, the Impossible Land, Stanford, Stanford University Press, 2003 (with Jean-Christophe Attias).
• The Jews and their Future. A Conversation on Jewish Identities, London, Zed Books, 2004 (with J.-C. Attias).
• The Jew and the Other, Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 2004 (with J.-C. Attias).
• Suffering as Identity, London – New-York, Verso, 2010.

IN FRENCH

• Un grand rabbin sépharade en politique, 1892-1923, Paris, Presses du CNRS, 1990.
• Une diaspora sépharade en transition (Istanbul, xix^e – xx^e siècles), Paris, Cerf, 1993.
• Histoire des Juifs de France, Paris, Seuil, coll. Points Histoire, 2nd revised edition, 2000.
• La République face à ses minorités. Les Juifs hier, les musulmans aujourd'hui, Paris, Mille et une nuits/Fayard, 2004.
• La Souffrance comme identité, Paris, Fayard, 2007. 2nd edition, Hachette, coll. Pluriel, 2010.
• Être juif après Gaza, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2009.
• De l'impossibilité de devenir français. Nos nouvelles mythologies nationales, Paris, Les Liens qui Libèrent, 2012.
• Égarements d'une cosmopolite, Paris, Bourin Éditeur, 2012.
• Istanbul la sépharade, Paris, CNRS éditions, 2015.
• Vendredi noir et nuits blanches, Paris, Lattès, 2016.

With Aron Rodrigue

• Une vie judéo-espagnole à l'Est : Gabriel Arié, Paris, Cerf, 1992.
• Histoire des Juifs sépharades. De Tolède à Salonique, Paris, Seuil, 2002.

With Jean-Christophe Attias

• Dictionnaire de civilisation juive, Paris, Larousse-Bordas, 1997. 2nd edition, 1998.
• Israël, la terre et le sacré, Paris, Flammarion, 1998. 2nd edition., 2001.
• Les Juifs ont-ils un avenir ?, 2nd edition., Paris, Hachette, 2002.
• Le Juif et l'Autre, Gordes, Le Relié, 2001.
• Petite Histoire du judaïsme, Paris, Librio, 2007.
• Dictionnaire des mondes juifs, Paris, Larousse, 2008.

Editor

• Mémoires juives d'Espagne et du Portugal, Paris, Publisud, 1996.
• Transmission et passages en monde juif, Paris, Publisud, 1997.
• La haine de soi. Difficiles identités, Bruxelles, Complexe, 2000 (with Jean-Christophe Attias).
• L'Europe et les Juifs, Genève, Labor et Fides, 2002 (with Pierre Gisel).
• Les Sépharades en littérature. Un parcours millénaire, Paris, Presses de l'Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2005.
• Itinéraires sépharades. Complexité et diversité des identités, Paris, Presses de l’Université Paris-Sorbonne, 2010.
• Dictionnaire des racismes, de l’exclusion et des discriminations, Paris, Larousse, 2010.
• Israël-Palestine. Les enjeux d’un conflit, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2010.
• La France en situation postcoloniale ?, Mouvements (septembre 2011).
• Minorités visibles en politique, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2011.
• Encyclopédie des religions, Paris, Fayard/Pluriel, 2012 (with Jean-Christophe Attias)
• Salonique, ville juive, ville ottomane, ville grecque, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2014.
• Dans les quartiers, l’égalité c’est maintenant ! Livre blanc, Paris, Le Pari(s) du Vivre-Ensemble, 2014 (with Jean-Christophe Attias).
• Juifs et musulmans. Retissons les liens!, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2015 (with Jean-Christophe Attias).
• Les Sépharades. Histoire et culture du Moyen Âge à nos jours, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2016.
• Nouvelles relégations territoriales, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2017 (with Jean-Christophe Attias).
• Violences sexistes et sexuelles en politique, Paris, CNRS Éditions, 2018.
• Nous et les animaux, Paris, Les Petits Matins, 2020.

References[]

External links[]

• Official website
• Official political website

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