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| Status | Library | Shelf Location | Call# | Barcode | Material Type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Available on shelf | Burnside Library | Adult Non Fiction | 305.8924 SAN | C0466509600 | Book |
The Invention of the Jewish People 1st Edition
by Shlomo Sand (Author), Yael Lotan (Translator)
4.5 out of 5 stars 567 ratings
A historical tour de force that demolishes the myths and taboos that have surrounded Jewish and Israeli history, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a new account of both that demands to be read and reckoned with. Was there really a forced exile in the first century, at the hands of the Romans? Should we regard the Jewish people, throughout two millennia, as both a distinct ethnic group and a putative nation—returned at last to its Biblical homeland?
Shlomo Sand argues that most Jews actually descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered far across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The formation of a Jewish people and then a Jewish nation out of these disparate groups could only take place under the sway of a new historiography, developing in response to the rise of nationalism throughout Europe. Beneath the biblical back fill of the nineteenth-century historians, and the twentieth-century intellectuals who replaced rabbis as the architects of Jewish identity, The Invention of the Jewish People uncovers a new narrative of Israel’s formation, and proposes a bold analysis of nationalism that accounts for the old myths.
After a long stay on Israel’s bestseller list, and winning the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, The Invention of the Jewish People is finally available in English. The central importance of the conflict in the Middle East ensures that Sand’s arguments will reverberate well beyond the historians and politicians that he takes to task. Without an adequate understanding of Israel’s past, capable of superseding today’s opposing views, diplomatic solutions are likely to remain elusive. In this iconoclastic work of history, Shlomo Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel’s future.
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Summary
A historical tour de force that demolishes the myths and taboos that have surrounded Jewish and Israeli history, "The Invention of the Jewish People" offers a new account of both that demands to be read and reckoned with. Was there really a forced exile in the first century, at the hands of the Romans? Should we regard the Jewish people, throughout two millennia, as both a distinct ethnic group and a putative nation--returned at last to its Biblical homeland?
Shlomo Sand argues that most Jews actually descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered far across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The formation of a Jewish people and then a Jewish nation out of these disparate groups could only take place under the sway of a new historiography, developing in response to the rise of nationalism throughout Europe. Beneath the biblical back fill of the nineteenth-century historians, and the twentieth-century intellectuals who replaced rabbis as the architects of Jewish identity, "The Invention of the Jewish People" uncovers a new narrative of Israel's formation, and proposes a bold analysis of nationalism that accounts for the old myths.
After a long stay on Israel's bestseller list, and winning the coveted Aujourd'hui Award in France, "The Invention of the Jewish People" is finally available in English. The central importance of the conflict in the Middle East ensures that Sand's arguments will reverberate well beyond the historians and politicians that he takes to task. Without an adequate understanding of Israel's past, capable of superseding today's opposing views, diplomatic solutions are likely to remain elusive. In this iconoclastic work of history, Shlomo Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel's future.
About The Author
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Table of Contents Cover
Preface to the English-Language Editionp. ix
Introduction: Burdens of Memoryp. 1
Identity in Movementp. 1
Constructed Memoriesp. 14
1 Making Nations: Sovereignty and Equalityp. 23
Lexicon: ôPeopleö and Ethnosp. 24
The Nation: Boundaries and Definitionsp. 31
From Ideology to Identityp. 39
From Ethnic Myth to Civil Imaginaryp. 45
The Intellectual as the Nation's ôPrinceöp. 54
2 Mythistory: In the Beginning, God created the Peoplep. 64
The Early Shaping of Jewish Historyp. 65
The Old Testament as Mythistoryp. 71
Race and Nationp. 78
A Historians' Disputep. 81
A Protonationalist View from the Eastp. 87
An Ethnicist Stage in the Westp. 95
The First Steps of Historiography in Zionp. 100
Politics and Archaeologyp. 107
The Earth Rebels against Mythistoryp. 115
The Bible as Metaphorp. 123
3 The Invention of the Exile: Proselytism and Conversionp. 129
The ôPeopleö Exiled in 70 CEp. 130
Exile without Expulsion-History in the Twilight Zonep. 136
Against Its Will, the People Emigrate from the Homelandp. 143
ôAll Nations Shall Flow Unto Itöp. 150
The Hasmoneans Impose Judaism on Their Neighborsp. 154
From The Hellenistic Sphere to Mesopotamian Territoryp. 161
Judaizing in the Shadow of Romep. 166
How Rabbinical Judaism Viewed Proselytizingp. 173
The Sad Fate of the Judeansp. 178
Remembering and Forgetting the ôPeople of the Landöp. 182
4 Realms Of Silence: In Search of Lost (Jewish) Timep. 190
Arabia Felix: The Proselytized Kingdom of Himyarp. 192
Phoenicians and Berbers: The Mysterious Queen Kahinap. 199
Jewish Kagans? A Strange Empire Rises in the Eastp. 210
Khazars and Judaism: A Long Love Affair?p. 218
Modern Research Explores the Khazar Pastp. 230
The Enigma: The Origin of Eastern Europe's Jewsp. 238
5 The Distinction: Identity Politics in Israelp. 250
Zionism and Heredityp. 256
The Scientific Puppet and the Racist Hunchbackp. 272
Founding an Ethnos Statep. 280
ôJewish and Democraticö-An Oxymoron?p. 292
Ethnocracy in the Age of Globalizationp. 307
Acknowledgementsp. 314
Indexp. 315
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“Israel’s Declaration of Independence states that the Jewish people arose in the Land of Israel and was exiled from its homeland. Every Israeli schoolchild is taught that this happened during the period of the Roman rile, in 70 CE. The nation remained loyal to its land, to which it began to return after two millennia of exile. Wrong, says the historian Shlomo Sand, in one of the most fascinating and challenging books published here in a long time. There was never a Jewish people, only a Jewish religion, and the exile also never happened—hence there was no return.”—Tom Segev, Haaretz
“The reader will have understood the message: what this well-documented and fearless book explodes is the myth of a unique Jewish people, miraculously preserved, in contrast to all the other peoples, from external contamination ... [Sand’s] conclusions, which are prudently formulated, nonetheless lead one towards a sole solution: the construction of a secular and democratic Israel.”—Jacques Julliard, Le Nouvel Observateur
“Shlomo Sand has written a remarkable book ... Anyone interested in understanding the contemporary Middle East should read it.”—Tony Judt, author of Postwar: A History of Europe Since 1945
“The Invention of the Jewish People is an indispensable challenge and a very complex intellectual exercise ... a more secure society [than Israel] would include the book in the core curriculum of its school system.”—Avraham Burg, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth
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About the Author
Shlomo Sand studied history at the University of Tel Aviv and at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, in Paris. He currently teaches contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. His books include The Invention of the Jewish People, On the Nation and the Jewish People, L’Illusion du politique: Georges Sorel et le débat intellectuel 1900, Georges Sorel en son temps, Le XXe siècle à l’écran and Les Mots et la terre: les intellectuels en Israël.
Product details
Publisher : Verso; 1st Edition (October 19, 2009)
Language : English
Hardcover : 332 pages
ISBN-10 : 1844674223
ISBN-13 : 978-1844674220
Item Weight : 1.4 pounds
Dimensions : 6.66 x 1.24 x 9.47 inches
Best Sellers Rank: #272,364 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
#44 in Judaism (Books)
#112 in Middle Eastern History (Books)
#354 in History of Judaism
Customer Reviews: 4.5 out of 5 stars 567 ratings
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Biography
Shlomo Sand studied history at the University of Tel Aviv and at the École des hautes études en sciences sociales, in Paris. He currently teaches contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. His books include The Invention of the Jewish People, L’Illusion du politique: Georges Sorel et le débat intellectuel 1900, Georges Sorel en son temps, Le XXe siècle à l'écran and Les Mots et la terre: les intellectuels en Israël.
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ibnsubhi
5.0 out of 5 stars Challenges Zionist versions of Jewish History
Reviewed in the United States on June 12, 2019
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Thinking back about this great book, the first thing that comes to mind is the unfortunate title, which many people who haven't read this book miscontrue as meaning there is no Jewish history. Far from it, Sand attempts to show that indeed there is a history, but not the one told by the Zionist ashkenazi version it is usually narrated through. In its place, he illustrates a more nuanced version that places the diverse history of Jews within their localized Afro-Arab context, which refuses to fall under the dominance of an ashkenazi version. Under his masterful guidance, Arab, Ethiopian, Iraqi, Russian, Iranian, and Palestinian Jewish history are allowed to emerge outside of the Zionist narrative that silences these Arab-African-Iranian-Yemenite experiences and refuses to fall in line with a colonizing racial project. The latter version tends to discipline these experiences into a flattened and condescending version. In this sense, this important book recreates a political identity that has the narrative power to reconstitute Jewish identity and make it re-emerge in a manner that permits a One-State solution. In this sense it is a tour de force in offering a new vision for the future of this state now called Israel.
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Matthew W. Quinn
3.0 out of 5 stars The Most Controversial and Interesting Part Gets The Least Page-Time.
Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2017
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I bought it because I was interested in the most controversial parts of his thesis--that modern Jews are largely descended from converts and the Jews of the Bible remained in the Middle East and eventually became the modern Palestinians--but the majority of the book is focused on the transformation of the Jewish people from a primarily religious group to an ethnic one.
The most interesting parts were the couple of chapters dedicated to Jewish proselytism and whether or not there was a mass expulsion of Jews from Judea. The parts of the book about Jewish ethno-nationalism in the 19th Century were far less interesting.
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William F. Donovan
5.0 out of 5 stars Reads like a medical book but if your interested in who ...
Reviewed in the United States on May 27, 2018
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Reads like a medical book but if your interested in who is making believe they are jewish than this is for you.
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Morley Evans
5.0 out of 5 stars FEARLESS
Reviewed in the United States on June 26, 2018
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Professor Sand is a true radical. He digs out the truth.
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Olivia Hazin
5.0 out of 5 stars Free Palestine End The Occupation 🇵🇸
Reviewed in the United States on October 11, 2019
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Such an informative and detailed history lesson. Shlomo is also a great author. He makes it easy to learn and keep focus on a topic that is so broadly disputed. Thank you.
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Geoffrey Elliott
4.0 out of 5 stars Not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination
Reviewed in the United States on August 10, 2017
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This is a VERY scholarly and minutely detailed tome. Not an easy read by any stretch of the imagination. Wonderful insights of course, and DEEPLY sourced materials! I would highly recommend!
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Gracie Tracie
5.0 out of 5 stars Five Stars
Reviewed in the United States on July 9, 2018
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A must read if you are seeking and wanting the truth!
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Thoughtworks
5.0 out of 5 stars Everyone Should Understand the Truths Within This Book
Reviewed in the United States on April 5, 2017
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I am not "anti-Semitic." Half the books I read are written by wonderful "Jewish" minds. But there is this horrible confusion in the world today that the people running Israel (and have been stealing from and murdering Arab people for decades) are "Jewish" by blood. They aren't. Almost all people in the Western, modern world today who are regarded as Jews are, for the most part, Russian/Khazarian. That's not a crime. That's fine. But we don't call Irish people "Catholic," simply because many practice the Catholic religion. Worse yet, the original inhabitants of the Old Testament lands were Semitic...Arab/Phoenician, etc. They are brown or black-skinned (a fact mentioned in the Bible). This very well-written book, written by a Khazarian "Jew," addresses this confusion. Israel, and America's support of it, is the fault-line of the world. These misconceptions, and the Israeli lobby in America, are going to get us all killed. But not if we understood the details of Shlomo Sand's book. I am very grateful for having read it.
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Mark Brown
5.0 out of 5 stars Bitter ironies
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 25, 2018
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Imagine if Germany’s leading Universities embarked upon a project to find the “German Gene”. Imagine how obscene that would seem. The International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s “working definition” of anti-Semitism includes “comparing contemporary Israeli policies to those of the Nazis”. In 2018 one of Britain’s leading Political Parties rejected this definition in order to grant their members the right to criticise Israel. Jew-splaining is politically toxic, not just amongst Gentiles but in Israel itself. Schlomo Sand has bought us a controversial and brave book that may well have fallen foul of the same toxic environment if it was not for the fact that he is a Jewish Israeli academic who wrote this in Hebrew. This is dynamite. This is pertinent.
“The Invention of the Jewish People” is littered with references that may baffle a non-Jewish-reader yet it is worth sticking with, because it builds and builds and builds. Sand starts by establishing his own impeccable Jewish-ethnic credentials (very important!) before exploring the European origins of ethno-nationalism. After this slow start Sand builds his case refuting the concept that there is a Jewish Race. He argues that the Jewish belief in the wandering Tribes of Israel (expelled from their homeland) has no foundation in archaeology. This mythical “exile” was more a religious state of mind than a physical movement of peoples. Sand offers a simple explanation for the spread of Judaism – conversion.
Few of us Gentiles can properly understand the power of this national myth. Other than in Bible class we learn of no such thing in school. The idea that there is a Christian “race”, a Muslim “race” or a Buddhist “race” simply never arises. Judeo-history is unique since the 1940’s as being an area where such myths persist. And they persist for good reason – they retain modern political expediency. Sand explains how Zionism embraced the concept of ethno-nationalism in Europe in the 1880s at the exact same time that other European nationalities did the same. Yet even then, the concept of a “Jewish race” remain hotly contested amongst Jews and Gentiles alike. Many scholars scoffed at the idea and even rabbinical law forbade the Jews from returning to Israel until the return of the Messiah. Yet the idea of such a “race” was taken every bit as seriously as the idea of the Aryan race. Alarmingly so.
Sand is quick to disown his own conclusions. “This bizarre association with the National Socialists must not be misunderstood.” he writes before going on to suggest that the Zionists didn’t seek racial purity like the Nazis did. He devotes just one paragraph in the book to this yet in numerous other sections he marks the war of 1967 as a point at which the ethnic myth of a Jewish Race was re-invigorated to justify the occupation of a Greater Israeli territory. It would seem to the reader that if ethno-nationalism cannot be used to promote a ‘destiny’ of the German people in the lands of the Slavs then it cannot justify the presence of Israelis in the lands of Palestine. Yet here we are.
Sand expertly skirts around such taboo thoughts in his original book. Yet in the English language paperback edition there is an Afterword where he addresses his many critics. Sand is justifiably outraged at the use of science to pursue the hunt for a “Jewish gene” writing “It is a bitter irony to see descendants of Holocaust survivors set out to find a biological Jewish identity: Hitler would certainly have been very pleased!” Yes, he really wrote that. It is hard to fault his logic. This is frightening.
Without doubt this is one of the most interesting books you might ever pick up. Absolutely fascinating. Absolutely essential if we are to understand anything about the world today. History as a firework lighting up all before it.
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Chris Morriss
4.0 out of 5 stars The Ashkenazi Khazar hypothesis is not dead.
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on August 3, 2017
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A thorough and interesting update on 'The Khazar Hypothesis'. In this book Shlomo Sand goes into considerable detail about the origins of the Ashkenazi Jews, providing considerable support for the view that they are of Khazar origin, and are a Slavic, not a Semitic people.
Arthur Koestler's pioneering book, 'The Thirteenth Tribe' from 1976 was subjected to all the ire that the powerful Israeli propaganda machine could throw at it. Sand's book is much better researched, and written in a less provocative manner. Well worth reading, though the opening chapters do drag a bit.
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B. S. Bahi
5.0 out of 5 stars Fantastic book, incredibly detailed so if you want to ...
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on May 20, 2018
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Fantastic book, incredibly detailed so if you want to refute anything you better know more than the author! Unfortunately confirms many people's worst fears: The Palestinians are the descendants of the original Judeans, and the modern Israelis are the descendants of Eastern European converts to Judaism. This makes the current situation in Israel even more heartbreaking. Shlomo not only increased my awareness of thei history, but made me feel evern more for both and all sides involved. Anyway, buy and read the book, make up your own minds. And then stand up for the truth. Thank you Mr Shlomo Sand.
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Tony LeMesma
5.0 out of 5 stars An alternative explanation of Israel!
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on April 28, 2020
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The premis of this book is that the Jewish people were not exiled from lands in the Middle East 2000 years ago and, so, there is no proper claim or right to re-occupy those lands in contemporary times. Jews never exiled after the fall of Jerusalem and they never harboured a desire to ‘return’; this was a fiction invented by Zionism in the 20th century. The presence of Jews around the world is not due to descendants of those exiled (so there is no modern-day DNA link with 2000 years ago) but due simply to the conversion of local peoples as the religion spread. The Jewish religion always having been an evangelical movement spreading the word first around the Mediterranean and then further afield.
A controversial and entertaining idea and fascinating reading for anyone interested in modern history and the ME. An academic work, heavily footnoted, referenced and with a huge index. 5 Stars for the chutzpah.
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jolly green giant
5.0 out of 5 stars INTERESTING BOOK
Reviewed in the United Kingdom on January 6, 2019
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ZIONISTS HATE THIS BOOK !
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The invention of the land of Israel : from Holy Land to homeland / Shlomo Sand ; translated by Geremy Forman.
Author: Sand, Shlomo author.
Table of Contents Cover
Introduction: Banal Murder and Toponymyp. 1
Memories from an Ancestral Landp. 1
Rights to an Ancestral Landp. 10
Names of an Ancestral Landp. 22
1 Making Homelands: Biological Imperative or National Property?p. 31
The Homeland-A Natural Living Space?p. 33
Place of Birth or Civil Community?p. 39
Territorialization of the National Entityp. 53
Borders as Boundaries of Spatial Propertyp. 60
2 Mytherritory: in the Beginning, God Promised the Landp. 67
Gifted Theologians Bestow a Land upon Themselvesp. 68
From the Land of Canaan to the Land of Judeap. 86
The Land of Israel in Jewish Religious Legal Literaturep. 102
"Diaspora" and Yearning for the Holy Landp. 107
3 Toward a Christian Zionism: And Balfour Promised The Landp. 119
Pilgrimage after the Destruction: A Jewish Ritual?p. 121
Sacred Geography and Journeys in the Land of Jesusp. 132
From Puritan Reformation to Evangelicalismp. 141
Protestants and the Colonization of the Middle Eastp. 156
4 Zionism Versus Judaism: The Conquest of "Ethnic" Spacep. 177
Judaism's Response to the Invention of the Homelandp. 179
Historical Right and the Ownership of Territoryp. 196
Zionist Geopolitics and the Redemption of the Landp. 214
From Internal Settlement to External Colonizationp. 230
5 Conclusion: The Sad Tale of the Frog and the Scorpionp. 255
Afterword: In Memory of a Villagep. 259
Forgetting the Landp. 260
A Land of Forgettingp. 271
Acknowledgmentsp. 283
Indexp. 285
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