""Insofar as these confessional writings continue to a certain extent Levinas's meditations on the face, they are considered essential to a serious appraisal of his work as a whole. But there are additional reasons why these writings are of substantial interest. First, they make explicit a dimension in Levinas's work'its inspiration in or reference to Judaism'that is only implicit in the philosophical work... Secondly, these confessional writings in themselves constitute a remarkable access to and 'translation' of Judaism.""