The Jewish scholar Shlomo Sand has written a book ‘The invention of the Jewish people‘ in which he challenges, what he calls, the historical myth of the formation
of the Jewish people. He argues that there was no massive expulsion or migration of Jews from Palestine during the Roman Hellenistic period, contrary to the common held believes. He argues that the Jewish diaspora came into being through conversions throughout the years (and he gives a few examples). As a result he suggests that Jewishness is not a blood acquired identity. He even suggests that the Palestinian peasant population could well be more “Jewish” (in the sense of genetic identity) than the ‘returning Jews’.
His theory has a great political implication for the current situation in Israel. For more see his book and the video of a lecture he delivered at New York University.
What do people think?
The Jews excel in all the domain of life, science, justice, human rights, religion, ideology (communist or other), and yes……… even antisemitism.
Sand’s book has serious errors. In reality, the total amount of Khazar and Slavic ancestry in Ashkenazic Jews appears to be 20 percent or less – while the amount of Middle Eastern ancestry is about 60-70 percent. Take a look at my book “The Jews of Khazaria, Second Edition”, which has sections explaining how we know almost every Jewish population in the world is descended from the ancient Israelites. The genetic studies are valid science. The first edition of my book is cited in Sand’s book. http://www.khazaria.com/brook.html
Shlomo Sand’s book has serious errors. In reality, the total amount of Khazar and Slavic ancestry in Ashkenazic Jews appears to be 20 percent or less – while the amount of Middle Eastern ancestry is about 60-70 percent. Take a look at my book “The Jews of Khazaria, Second Edition”, which has sections explaining how we know almost every Jewish population in the world is descended from the ancient Israelites. The genetic studies are valid science. The first edition of my book is cited in Sand’s book. http://www.khazaria.com/brook.html
Kevin thanks for your contribution. Sand though seems to suggest that ‘genetic’ arguments are not really reliable. Not sure how one would be able to determine which DNA is the (original) ‘Jewish’ DNA, unless we find the bones of Abraham – but even those might be hard to determine if they were his or not. I have not read his book yet (neither yours), and I do not necessary support his idea (I don’t know enough yet to make up my mind), however he poses an interesting question, and very pertinent to today’s political situation in the Middle East.