Welcome to our premiere issue. We hope, twice a year, to publish an international e-journal that brings to the attention of scholars and thinkers the most recent trends in francophone Jewish thought, philosophy, and theology, particularly those that trace relations among the worlds of traditional rabbinic religion and contemporary Western ethics and philosophy. Each issue will focus on a single topic, collecting together francophone writings by contemporary thinkers who addresses differences, overlaps, and tensions in these worlds of religion and philosophy. We hope it will also serve as a means of introducing English- speaking thinkers, scholars and students to the profoundly important writings on Jewish thought that are currently appearing in the French language.

Each issue will begin with an Introduction for English speakers (a brief overview of the contents of the issue); two to four essays on a related theme or text or issue in Jewish thought; a brief Afterward announcing the topic of our next issue or issues; and a place for reader responses and comments. With the appearance of this issue, readers are invited to send comments and responses to the editors (these can be sent to ). Responses appropriate for publication will be placed directly online, so that the "reader response" section of each issue should be updated regularly.

Our journal is published by the University of Virginia Electronic Text Center, listed in the United States Library of Congress Catalogue and is accessible, free of charge, to all readers who can access its web address. Its publication is made possible by the generosity of the Director of the Electronic Book Center and of the University of Virginia Program of Jewish Studies. La Pensée Juive de Langue Française belongs to a family of interrelated e-journals that are published by the University of Virginia and address issues of Abrahamic religion, philosophy, theology, and ethics after modernity (the other three journals are: The Journal of Textual Reasoning, The Journal of Scriptural Reasoning, and TR Deutsch).

In this premiere issue, we feature writings by three significant figures in contemporary francophone Jewish thought: "Création et éternité du monde selon Maïmonide," George Hansel (Professeur émérite à l'Université de Rouen); "Marges de la tora, le presque- parfait," Betty Rojtman, (Chaire Katherine Cornell de littérature comparée, Universite de Jerusalem); "La difference sans hierarchie: le principe de la differenciation sexuelle dans la principe biblique — une lecture juive subversive," Shmuel Trigano (Professeur, Universite Paris X et Directeur, College des Etudes Juives). We call the theme of this issue "Création et Différence." The issue's three essays display three overlapping themes: time, cosmos, and Torah. Professor Hansel explores Maimonides' understanding of the relation between the created world as understood by the Torah and Aristotle's eternal cosmos. Professor Rojtman examines the temporality of Jewish life within the two cosmic and ritual cycles of the lunar week, culminating in the Sabbath and the solar year (the cycle of Jewish festivals). And Professor Trigano challenges us to reconsider the distinctions of gender that mark the Bible's understanding of the cosmos as well as of the economy of religious rituals. In this issue, gender, temporality, and creativity therefore appear as loci of dynamic energies in both the socio-religious and cosmic worlds of the Jewish people. The three essays may lead readers to consider, as well, a fourth locus of dynamic energy: the transformational creativity that resides within Jewish religious tradition.