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Rabbi Gilles Bernheim stepped down Thursday as French chief rabbi after admitting that his books contained widespread plagiarism and his CV a wrongful claim to hold a philosophy diploma. Bernheim had initially denied the allegations and until earlier this week ruled out that he would resign as France's most senior rabbi.
The 60-year-old succeeded Chief Rabbi Joseph Sitruk in 2008. Last December, Pope Benedict XVI publicly praised Bernheim for his essay in which he argued strongly against the marriage of homosexual couples.
A modern Orthodox Jew, Bernheim appeared to be at the height of his career when his credibility was called into question last month after a blogger accused him of copying a 1996 text by the late French post-modernist philosopher Jean-François Lyotard to use in his 2011 book 'Forty Jewish Meditations'.
Bernheim countered the allegations by portraying himself as the victim instead. He claimed that Lyotard had plagerized notes from lectures he had delivered in the 1980s when he worked as Jewish student chaplain in Paris. Two weeks later, Bernheim admitted that Lyotard had in fact authored the disputed text, blaming the error on a student researcher he had hired to help write the book.
Last week, another blogger alleged Bernheim had committed plagiarism in a 2002 book. The weekly magazine 'L’Express' also revealed that the chief rabbi had not earned the prestigious rank of philosophy professor that was often attached to his name. Although his official biography did not mention him passing the “aggregation” France's highly selective examination needed to qualify as a professor - Bernheim never disputed the title when it appeared in newspaper articles and publicity for his books
