Simone Weil: Awaiting God (Freshwind Press: 2013), Intro. by
Sylvie Weil, Trans. by
Bradley Jersak
There are many
thoughtful thinkers who hold Simone Weil as high as the Holy Eucharist. There
are others who think Weil lost her way in a distorted notion of inner and outer
asceticism. Then there are those who truly take the time to heed and hear Weil,
to welcome her probes into the depths of the soul, who weigh, in a judicious
manner Weil’s insights and aberrations. Simone
Weil: Awaiting God brings together some classical essays and letters by
Weil, and a thoughtful and probing essay by Weil’s niece, Sylvie Weil. Brad
Jersak’s Preface is more than worth the read as is his creative translations.
Most who read
Simone Weil know little about her living niece, Sylvie Weil, but Sylvie Weil’s
evocative and probing missive, At Home
with Andre and Simone Weil (2010), brings into thoughtful dialogue fruitful
and engaging reflections (with some surprising speculations) by Sylvie about
her controversial aunt. Sylvie neither idealizes nor demonizes Simone Weil, but
she does question some of her aunt’s dubious conclusions on a variety of
topics. The article in Awaiting God
by Sylvie Weil, “Simone Weil and the Rabbis: Compassion and Tzedakah”, is pure
gold—–Sylvie certainly held her own against her demanding aunt in her many
probes into the depths of the Jewish Tradition.
I mentioned
above that Brad Jersak had done some innovative translations of Weil in the
best tradition of dynamic equivalence. The essays Brad chose are quintessential
Weil, and Weil’s Waiting for God was
the well the essays were drawn from. The letters Brad has used reflect the
unrelenting nature of Weil’s quest and the tough questions she insists on
asking and pushing to their limits. The letters were from 1942 (when Weil was
nearing the end of her life) and the final letter, “Letter to a Priest” is a
must read keeper.
Simone Weil: Awaiting for God is a plough to soil book. Weil did have her
limitations, but the good she offered should be gratefully received by one and
all. T.S. Eliot wrote a fine Preface to Simone Weil’s The Need for Roots, and, in many ways, Eliot was a broader, deeper
and subtler thinker than Weil, but he knew the makings of saint when he saw
one, hence his generous Preface.
There can be no
doubt Brad has been deeply impacted by Simone Weil, and his interactions with
Sylvie Weil have enriched his understanding of Simone Weil. Simone Weil: Awaiting God is a book
about what it means to be still, to await, to be receptive at a level few dare
go. It is to such awaiting places that Weil points and the curious cannot help
but travel.
Ron Dart