Salomon Malka was a student at the Ecole Normale Israélite Orientale (ENIO) when Emmanuel Levinas was its director. The purpose of this small school was the formation of Jewish adolescents from countries around the Mediterranean Sea, who, after 4 years of study in Paris, would become teachers at Jewish schools in their home countries. In fact, most of the male and female students were Moroccan, but a few came from other countries, such as Lebanon or Iran. Levinas had to be the principal, manager, teacher, and religious supervisor, but he also had his own philosophical ambitions, expressed in writings that remained hidden from his students.