Emmanuel Levinas, a towering figure in twentieth-century philosophy, remains paradoxically unknown within Jewish intellectual circles despite his profound engagement with Jewish tradition and philosophical discourse. Why has this critical thinker, who masterfully bridged Jewish wisdom and Western thought, been overlooked by the very community whose texts deeply informed his work? Through textual analysis and comparative methodology, three compelling rationales emerge for bringing Levinas into greater prominence: his place in the lineage of Jewish philosophers who shaped both Western culture and Jewish self-understanding in modernity; his sophisticated framework for engaging classical Jewish texts, particularly Talmud, beyond conventional halakhic approaches; and his unique theological contribution that addresses fundamental questions of meaning, ethics, and God for educated Western audiences while drawing from Jewish sources. Textual examples reveal how Levinas translates Jewish concepts into philosophical discourse and applies philosophical rigor to Talmudic interpretation, ultimately mounting a fundamental critique of Western philosophy from Parmenides to Heidegger by proposing ethics, rather than ontology, as the foundation of rational discourse. While Levinas's work presents interpretive challenges, his integration of Jewish wisdom with contemporary philosophical concerns makes him essential for understanding both modern Jewish thought and the broader philosophical tradition.