The Invention of the Jewish PeopleAll modern nation states have a story of their origins, passed down through both official and popular culture, and yet few of these accounts have proved as divisive and influential as the Israeli national myth. The well-known tale of Jewish exile at the hands of the Romans during the first century CE, and the assertion of both cultural and racial continuity through to the Jewish people of the present day, resonates far beyond Israel's borders. Despite its use as a justification for Jewish settlement in Palestine and the project of a Greater Israel, there have been few scholarly investigations into the historical accuracy of the story as a whole. Here, Shlomo Sand shows that the Israeli national myth has its origins in the nineteenth century, rather than in biblical times--when Jewish historians, like scholars in many other cultures, reconstituted an imagined people in order to model a future nation.--From publisher description. |
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Abraham ancient anti-Semitism Arab Aviv Baron became began Berbers Bible biblical Canaan century bce Christian citizens concept conquest conversion to Judaism converted cultural democracy democratic descendants Dinur Dubnow early Eastern Europe Egypt elites Empire Eretz Israel ethnic ethnocentric ethnos existence faith genetic gentiles German Graetz Greek Hasmonean Hasmonean kingdom Hebrew Heinrich Graetz Himyar historiography holy homeland Ibid ideological immigrants inhabitants intellectual Islam Israeli Israelite Jerusalem Jewish believers Jewish communities Jewish history Jewish nation Jews Josephus Judah Judaization Judea Kahina Khazar kingdom Khazaria king land language later Law of Return liberal linguistic lived mass migration modern monotheism Muslim myth narrative nationalist North Africa Old Testament origin Palestine Palestinian past Polak political population proselytes Rabbi race racial religious rise Roman Russian scholars Second Temple secular social society sources story Talmud territory tradition tribes twentieth century University Press writing wrote Yiddish Yitzhak Yitzhak Baer Zionist