Shlomo Sand’s Invention of the Jewish People is mentioned in a Ha’aretz article by Matt Lerner on Jewish identity:
Traditional knowledge holds that there was once a distinct nation of people who all practiced the Jewish religion, a Hebrew people with a common geographic origin and, in all likelihood, relatively uniform physical appearance.
But there are those, like Tel Aviv University professor Shlomo Sand, who question both the relevance and validity of this notion in modern discourse.
Sand is the author of a book called “The Invention of the Jewish People”, and a proponent of the belief that today’s Jews are the descendants of different global populati
ons who converted to Judaism over the ages, rather than the offspring of an exiled Hebrew nation.
Sand rejects the traditional narrative of a Roman-instigated diaspora and views the notion of Jewish ethnicity as a racist one used to perpetuate a Zionist myth of ownership of the land of Israel.
Read the full article here.
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Schlomo Sand is a great Israeli! As so many others who I admire inside and outside Israel. As an African I am against the colonisation. But as a person who grew up in Africa with Jewish people, Sepharadic mostly, I will never allow anyone to go against the idea of Israel. As I will always fight -in the idea’s field- for a two states solution in Palestine. Israel should dissociate itself with the racist concept of a Jewish state, but better define itself as the state of the Jewish, and peace and democratic lover’s from all over the world. To understand it’s to transform what is. Salutations. And keep on doing the job!
As a Ph.D. scientist (Biochemistry, 1983, UC Davis) my question is: are you planning a revision or retraction now that DNA evidence refutes your central claim:
http://www.newsweek.com/2010/06/03/the-dna-of-abraham-s-children.html
The study does not refute Mr. Schlomo’s claim. Of course, I would like to hear his take on the question but I have some initial thoughts:
90% of the genes belonging to the ancient Judeans as of say 70 AD could remain in the Palestinian population and the findings of the above cited study would not be contradicted. The point of Mr. Schlomo’s thesis need not be that NO genes passed from ancient Israel to Medieval Jews only that mostly that is not what happened.
What this study says is that a proportion of the Jewish populations of Europe (maybe Middle East) have some common Middle Eastern root. The populations of the Jewish Diaspora would have included some Judeans even in 1 AD. So the Diaspora Judeans that gave rise to the Jews of the Medieval period include some converts and some migrants from some population in the Middle East. The population that was living among the Judeans of the ancient world could be the ancestors of the converts from a Jewish kingdom in Yemen, of course, but they also could be from Judea or there about. At some point, the Medieval community of Jews became closed enough (endogamous) to slow genetic drift.
So here are the main points:
1) The Palestinians also probably are largely descended from a population living in the Middle East, likely in the same place in the middle east where they still live (in part). What percent of the gene pool of ancient Israel is there among the Palestinians and what percent in watered down in among the Diaspora Jews of Europe? I would guess that to a large degree the genetic ancestors of ancient Israel are the Palestinians.
2) Why is it a problem for Mr. Schlomo’s argument that SOME of the genetic inheritance of European Jews comes from the Middle East? The study does not seem to indicate MOST.
3) Is this original population of Middle Easterners mixed into the European gene pool from Judea? It seems like the obvious source but there may be other explanations. The “obvious” answer can get you into trouble.
4) Take the general European population (gentile) in, say, Poland. Do they have no ancestors from somewhere in the Middle East? Say the average non-Jewish Pole has 2% Middle Eastern ancestry and the average Jew has 15%. That is a difference of 13%. The average Palestinian has 60%. Then you add up the number of people (gentile, Jew and Palestinian) and you find that Diaspora Jews contain the SMALLEST portion of ancient Judea. That would be data to look at.
5) Suppose the core of the Judean Diaspora (except in Babylon) dates from the time of Cyrus (Elphantine letters) in the 5th century BC. These cores were supplemented by migrants from Judea later, along with converts from neighboring populations plus regular genetic drift (i.e. fucking around). What would that do to the percentage of Middle Eastern ancestry?
Anyway, I think the conclusion that this study “proves” Mr. Schlomo wrong is a misreading of what Mr. Schomo is arguing and overplaying results from only one of the three populations that geneticist would have to consider.
Mr. Pflaum, in his defense of Sand’s theory of the “Invention of the Jewish People”, gives us no facts, only supposition -“probably”, “could have”, “it may be”, “say the average”, “suppose”. The bottom line is that Sand contends that today’s Jews are not descendants of an original nation of Judaic people in the Middle East. He claims instead that Jews are a collection of people in Europe and Central Asia who converted to Judaism at various times and that they have no common origins. The findings of the two new genetic studies, that: (1) the genetic similarity between totally diverse Jews is 10x greater than between random members of a population, (2) amongst both Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews there is 30% European ancestry with most of the rest from the Middle East, are in themselves enough to refute Sand. The bottom line is that Sand is self admittedly anti-Zionist. One way to delegitimize the concept of Israel as a homeland for the Jewish people is to claim there is no real Jewish people, and certainly not a Jewish people who came from the Middle East, which is what Sand has tried to do. And of course since there are many, many anti-Semites and anti-Zionists throughout the world, his claims are enthusiastically received. But try as he might to sustain his theory – there is now genetic proof that there was indeed a Judaic people in the Middle East and today’s Jews are descended from them.
This is a fascinating discussion that needs to continue. Sand is right about one thing, which is that throughout the centuries there are pockets of people from different cultures who chose to become Jews for a variety of reasons. For the research to be more accurate and to make complete sense of new genetic discoveries, there should be more digging into the Italian/Jewish connection — not simply from Northern areas, but deep into Southern Italy. Gladly, it’s finally started in Calabria though the study group needs to wade through the serpentine detours Jews took to hide themselves, as well as automatic denials from descendants of people strongly identified as non-Jews . It’s an area where a small population of Romaniote Jews settled, and where a group of over 1,000 Palestinian Jews were protectively transported by the Romans. Almost all writings say the latter invariably moved North, but that’s only an assumption (disregarding conversos & anusim), particularly since our family didn’t move — our large family complex was well known as “Little Hebron” for many generations. The manner of these 2 groups melding into Southern Italian culture, also folding in with the Byzantines in the 1500s should yield very interesting information if researchers keep an open mind. Unfortunately, too much popular writing on Jewish history becomes a discussion of Ashkenazis vs. Sephardis. If it’s possible to obtain an objective picture of who the Palestinian people have been from early days until today, a few more myths might be disspelled. As a result of over 35 years of complex family research, we are inclined more than ever to view our own Jewishness along racial lines.
Would this mean that Israel is sort of European Jewish Crusade enforced by the US and the United Nations upon Palestine?
One must keep in mind that Jewish women in the Middle Ages were often raped by Moslem and Christian men, who were often running about on Jihad and Crusade, or just doing their “thing”. This is likely why in Rabbinic terms that Jewish identity from birth is determined from the mother- or perhaps why this concept was embraced and perpetuated by Jewish diaspora communities. Certainly during the modern antisemetic events in Europe like the pogroms in Russia in the late 19th and early 20th centuries Jewish women were raped as part of an attempt by the Czar to terrorize Jewish communities. I am sure that the same took place all over Europe at most times during the Jewish diaspora. Problem is that those who are doing the raping- the Russian Orthodox and Catholic religions of those times- do not like to talk about their heritage of raping defenseless Jewish women, while these Jews who were from very conservative, religious societies also did not want to speak out about being raped.
gtu
Shlomo Sand is an out and out anti Semite! After 4000 years of history and 3000 yrs of Torah, he comes along like a “new prophet” and claims we Jews “Invented” ourselves. Intellectual crap! I even accuse him of anti-semitism because he gives ammuntion to our enemies. As a matter of fact most Jews (me included) dont care how we evolved as Jews. Our people have survived the most vicious attacks by Jew haters for centuries. It is a miracle that we Jews are still sipping tea in Jerusalem and New York. My Mom told me when I was a little kid..”Your Jewish”..I said “OK Mom!” Since then I have studied our people and nothing but pride stays with me as to how we have survived all the Pogroms against us. And along comes Sand with his baloney about how we Jews were not chased out of Jerusalem by the viscious Romans. Yeah..the wonderful Romans who killed and slaugthered and enslaved millions of people (not only Jews) threw a big party after destroying Jerusalem and forgave all Jews . What claptrap. Sand out to reread history! Sure we Jews integrated in the diaspora..those non Jewish girls were pretty! I got six million reasons to tell Sholmo to sew his foreskin back on! Who cares about that intellectual garbage about us Jews. We are here after 4000 yrs of ducking the Jew haters of history! Not always succesful..otherwise there would be 50 million of us Jews!
A post script…Sholmo ole boy…I am returning your fah cochta book today to the library. It really belongs next to Hitlers “Mein Kampf’” for the damage you do to our JEWISH heritage! Especially at this dire time in Israel’s survival as “JEWISH STATE”! Everyday Israel fights the pogromchik Jew haters and thats all it is >>Jew hatred. And after all there is a good reason to hate us Jews..we gave the world GOD, the ten commandments, Jesus, and even Allah! Now thats reason enough to hate us Jews…but no problem Sholmo..we just invented all that stuff.
I don’t give a darn about “who is a Jew” ..all I know is that being Jewish is also a matter of the heart. Only if a Jew loves his heritage and if he/she chooses to be religious or secular, I dont care as long as they love their Jewishness! Ashkenazi or sephardic or converts ..the Jew haters hates us all. They blame the Jews for everything bad! A Jew is somebody “who is born of a Jewish mother or converts to Judaism and does not belong to another religion.” This is the best definition of who is a Jew I know of. Sholmo I dont care if a Jew was engenderd by a Cossak rapist..if he/she is raised as a Jew..they are Jews. Even Israel has rasied the bar on “who is a Jew”! Ask the recent Russians there now!
Ben, You sound more of the aggressive redneck American diaspora than the Jewish one. What is with all the -our enemies- -damage to the Jewish heritage- drum banging/dying horse flogging? (like it could be damaged – Jewish people are the ones writing and their own history, Shlomo included, how many previously oppressed people can even say that) These foe-warrior, at-war shouts in the forest serve no point other than for Jews in the US to maintain some sort of polemic, however irrellevant to their environment, on which to scaffold a dubiously required identity… how many generations are you in the US? If you (or the person I am rather ungraciously assuming you to be) are Jewish then I am a Leprechaun, hand me that green hat. You are not at war with Palastine, you eat White Castle and drink latte in Starbucks – be what you do – be where you are. Do you need to be a “Jew” in America (or wherever) or would you be better served joining the party (bring beer) and being an American or even better just a human, with some Jewish history, leaving the torches at home? I’m not saying celebrating your heritage is bad, but fighting an abstracted polemic you don’t understand about something you are not really a part of by screaming racist is. If you want to debate the man fine, but get a real point. Shlomo Sand is not an anti semite just because he holds a contrary viewpoint to most mainstream Jews. I heard he had to wait until he had tenure at the university of Tel Aviv before releasing this book for fear of his personal safety and job security, which doesn’t really paint Israeli freedom of speech in a very flattering light. It seems to me fascism is rife in Israel. Very few people in the world dislike the Jews in 2010, some think they do but it is usually just a product of poor education, too much time on cattle ranches and simple base stupidity, and it is something that gets utterly anihilated in the face of any rational argument – these people aren’t anti Semites, just idiots who spout racist crap about everybody, many people on the other hand dislike Israeli with good reason, but neither of these things are true anti Semitism in my humble opinion and beating the drum just gives validity where there is none, creates polarism and therefore more idiots to fill out the numbers of the few real anti Semites out there. If the Jewish/Israeli people were seen to engage in a better standard of debate among themselves, and I believe this is what Shlomo is promoting, then the idiots would have a lot less ammunition… So Shlomo is doing you a favour. Debate the man, don’t just shout “Anti Semite!” – that is ridiculous.
1. World for me and jew says,”you eat White Castle and drink latte in Starbucks – be what you do – be where you are”. And asks, “Do you need to be a “Jew” in America (or wherever)”. Unfortunately the lesson of history is YES. And when Jews forget that they perish. Although during the 19th century there was a marginal anti Jewish movement in Germany, by the 20th century German Jews were an integral part of Germany – they fought in WW1, they were successful doctors, lawyers, businessmen, government officials. They considered themselves “German” first and foremost, and many of them in fact did not associate as Jews and looked down upon the “Jews” of other nations. How then was it possible that in the 20th century, in this most educated, cultured of nations where Jews were fully accepted, that a leader would arise, who with the help of a mostly enthusiastic German populace, would within 12 short years debase, degrade and ultimately annihilate 90% of the Jews in Germany, Poland and Austria and ultimately 1/3 of Jews worldwide? And why didn’t the German Jews leave while Hitler was still allowing Jews out prior to 1939? About 50% did, but the rest remained – no doubt unable in their wildest imaginations to conceive what their fellow Germans planned for them. You see, while they saw themselves as Germans, the Germans saw them as Jews. Had the German Jews banded together as Jews early in Hitler’s reign, had American Jews stood together as Jews to protest Hitler’s Nuremberg Laws, history might have been different. Unfortunately, German Jews were busy being “Germans” and American Jews were busy being “Americans”. But you say – that would never happen in America. I remind you that it was not that long ago – only 70 or 80 years ago that all the major universities and medical schools had “Jewish quotas”; that Jews were barred from many country clubs or other private clubs. And even today – according to the latest hate crime statistics available, 66% of the religious hate crimes in the US are against Jews, even though Jews make up only 2% of the population. And so again – the answer to your question is a resounding YES – Jews need to be aware of themselves as Jews wherever they are. They need to remember that no matter how they see themselves; the world sees them as Jews first.
2. World for me and jew goes on to say: “Very few people in the world dislike the Jews in 2010”. I would like to know in what alternative universe you are living. Have you not heard Ahmadinejad speak? Have you not heard Hassan Nazrallah, leader of Hezbollah, say “If they (Jews) all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them worldwide” (Daily Star, Oct. 23, 2002)? Have you not heard the preachers, newspapers and TV programs throughout the Muslim world call Jews “sons of apes and pigs”, claim that they steal body organs and drink the blood of little children? Did you not hear that Mahathir Mohamad, the former prime minister of Malaysia, a MODERATE Muslim nation, said Jews “had always been a problem in European countries. They had to be confined to ghettos and periodically massacred. But still they remained, they thrived and they held whole governments to ransom.” Moreover, he continued, “Even after their massacre by the Nazis of Germany, they survived to continue to be a source of even greater problems for the world.”? Do you not know that there are Jew hating Neo-Nazi groups throughout Europe and in the US? Have you not heard about the increase in anti-Semitic incidents and attacks throughout Europe? Google “anti-Semitism in ….”, check out what comes up and see if you still believe that “very few people in the world dislike Jews in 2010”.
3. World for me and jew also says “It seems to me fascism is rife in Israel”. Have you been to Israel? Do you know that Israel is the only true democracy in the Middle East? That Arabs who are Israeli citizens have more freedom and rights than Arabs throughout the rest of the Arab world? That Israeli Arabs and Palestinians have higher rates of secondary education, better longevity and lower infant mortality rates than their Arab brethren throughout the Middle East? That prior to the last Intifada against Israel, when Palestinians were still permitted to work in Israel, the West Bank and Gaza had the highest standard of living of any non-oil producing Arab nation? That Palestinians living in Lebanon for the last sixty years still cannot become Lebanese citizens, are not even allowed to work in Lebanon? And you believe Israel is “fascist”?
4. Finally, while in general I agree with your comment “debate – don’t just shout Anti-Semite”, it’s difficult to think of someone who, based on supposition,, and despite substantive evidence to the contrary, seeks to delegitimize the Jewish people as a whole, as anything but anti-Semitic. Ironically, going back to my statement in #1 above – even if Shlomo were to convince Jews that there is “no Jewish people” – the world would still consider them as “Jews”. And that is why Jews in the world need one place where they can be safe, where they know the government will not expel them, strip them of their rights, or subject them to pogroms or genocide. And the lesson of history is that it has to be a place controlled by fellow Jews, i.e. Israel.
Judaism is a religion that has universal appeal to people everywhere just like the other monotheistic religions. Its message is very simple and that has been its appeal down through the ages. Sand points out that it was very popular at the height of the Roman Empire as people sought to make sense of a world that was becoming increasingly interconnected. For many people its appeal was that a plethora of Gods and religious currents could be crystallized into a simple concept – that of an all-knowing, merciful God much like a cosmic parent who guides individuals and groups through life’s journey. The belief was modeled on the experiences of the Judahites and was taught accordingly. The concept of history in the Old Testament was always subservient to the teaching of the writers and, as the researchers are now uncovering, the history often contained liberal doses of heresay and even outright fabrication in order to make a point – just as people to today when calling on illustrations in a debate. While the original message was to returnees from Babylon, it used the illustration of ‘Old Israel’ now disbanded and broken as the prime example of how people should relater to a sovereign deity. It was a message that was carried all around the Roman Empire and beyond with its focus on an imageless concept. It was inoffensive to the ruling powers and could be widely adapted as Shand illustrates so well. The problems arose later, just as it did with Christianity, when people started to literalise the symbolic truths contained in the writings and the teachings.
I believe the current unfortunate situation that we have in the Middle East could be resolved if people could come to grips with the truths of history rather than accepting ancient writings as unalterable facts.
Interesting enough, the genetic study is inconclusive.
1. A large part of European Jewry were annihilated, removing them from the genetic record.
2. Jews inter-married with other Jews for well over 2000 years, producing a homogenous genetic record. This happens.
3. A recent study of England produced results that said English were the least genetically diversified people in Europe – despite numerous early invasions by Viking, Normans, etc. over the last 2000 years. And that with a population of 59M people versus a Jewish World population of 13M.