Ethnicity and culture are categories of kinship and identity, not biological indices. Just because the majority of members of a particular nationality or ethnicity are not genetic descendants of the original propagators of said group does not therefore invalidate their identity. To assert that it does is similar to saying that an individual adopted into a family is not “really” part of that family… absurd. It may well be that many Jews from a wide variety of genetic populations nonetheless felt throughout history a kinship beyond mere religious affiliation. That is my main criticism of Sand.

Incidentally, the autonomy of ethnicity/culture/nationality from biology can be said of not just the Jews, but virtually all peoples. The population of Britain, including simply the Anglo-Saxon portions, shows great genetic diversity. Likewise Germany, etc.

However, my greater criticism is towards Sand’s critics, who are apparently blind to the tremendous contributions – if only conceptual, rather than in terms of scholarly accurate detail – of Sand’s work. Whether or not the notion of Am Yisra’el has had the currency throughout history that Zionist narratives accord it, it certainly cannot be denied that a vast diversity of Judaic peoples has always existed. Moreover it continues to do so. This multiplicity has indeed also been marginalized by proponents of the “One Jewish People” perspective associated with Zionism. In opposition to such simplistic notions, Sand’s readers ought to maintain criticism that is sympathetic.

First off if the Khazars are the ethnic majority of Ashkenazi Jews why did a HUGE majority if not all of them speak Yiddish, a language based off the Germanic language? How come they did not speak Khazarish? Did a great majority of these Jews learn and speak a the language a small minority of Jews in the new lands of Eastern Europe? If Yiddish was based off a Slavic language maybe it would make sense since they would need to able to speak also the language of the local people. But no Yiddish was the dominate language of the Jews of Eastern Europe because it was this Germanic (not Slavic or Turkish)language that the ancestry of these people originated from.
Second, Mr. Sands books states that it was not until the onset of Zionism and European nationalism that the “myth” of the exile take full force amongst the Jewish People. How then do you explain the whole culture of Exile amongst the Sephardic Jewish Community? It was Yehuda Ha-Levi from Muslim Spain that wrote the famous words “I am in the West, but my heart is in the n the East” He does not go into detail about this community because he has no academic background there he prefers to avoid this conversation because it does not mesh well with his Eurocentric World View.

Also his childish comeback about Simcha’s comment on the nation-state makes me wonder about his academic ability to be objective, but of course a Jew writing about the denial of the Jewish people can hardly be objective (see I can do it too).

Second, Mr. Sands books states that it was not until the the onset of Zionism and European nationalsim that the “myth” of the exile take full force amgonst the Jewish People. How then do you explain the whole culture of Exile amongst the Sephardic Jewish Community? It was Yehuda Ha-Levi from Muslim Spain that wrote the famous words “I am in the East, but I am in the West” He does not go into detail about this communty becuase he has no academic backgrounf there he prefers to avoid this conversation because it does not mesh well with his Eurocentric World View.