Who and how invented the Jewish people

Shlomo Sand - professor at Tel Aviv University , also teaches at the Paris Higher School of Social Sciences (France) . He specializes in the history of cinema, the intellectual history of France, the study of nationalism ^[1] .

The book is devoted mainly to two related topics: a critical analysis of the evolution of Jewish historiography , including modern Israel, and what the author calls the demythologization of Jewish history at its various stages. In addition, the author examines in detail the formation of the concept of the Jewish people - race and its connection with the country of Israel ( Eretz-Israel , Palestine ), as well as Jewish-Israeli ideologies of identity .

Zand begins with a statement about the mythological nature of the presentation of Jewish history in the main Jewish historiographical works and tries to analyze in detail the ideological background, in his opinion, of this.

Zand believes that the mythological interpretation of the past naturally gives rise to the “mythological present” ^[2] , in particular, what he considers the modern myth of the “eternal, unhistorical and united Jewish people-race” ^[2] , and it is most clearly manifested in the description of history Jews in the Middle Ages . More specifically, medieval Jewry was declared, according to Zand, an indivisible unique race, living outside of historical laws, at the same time - a "race of exiles", once expelled by the Romans from their land and wandering for many centuries, until finally it regained the "ancient mystical rights ” ^[2] . Zand argues ^[3] that any disagreement with this theory "is equated today with religious heresy", is declared anti-Israeli and anti-Semitic.

Zand considers it necessary to make the study of Jewish history methodologically independent of nationalist historical mythology. He cites numerous documentary evidence indicating, in his opinion, that "the concept of a single biological Jewish people that has gone unscathed through millennia of statehood and the diaspora is a recent invention" ^[4] . In his opinion, “the original idea to replace the Jewish religious community, consisting of diverse sub-ethnic groups , with the eternal nation- race, preserving biological unity, is not only practically new, but also is a typical political theory of the New Age ” ^[5] . It was, according to Zand, invented in the 19th century, when European culture gave rise to the modern concept of a nation.

Zand argues that “Jewish historiography played a huge role in this falsification, as if replacing the dying Jewish religion. Jewish historiographers did not simply rewrite history, taking the Bible in the right hand, and the racial myth in the left; step by step they erased in the collective memory the elements of reality, modern and historical, which were previously its natural part ” ^[4] .

The author expresses the opinion that the idea of ​​proclaiming oneself a “chosen people” arose among the heads of Jewish communities as a way to survive and preserve Judaism among other religions. According to Zandu, proclaiming himself to be a people that “God chose to fulfill a special mission” was a thoughtful and very successful step to convince the Jews to remain Jews ^[6] .

Sand describes the basic facts of Jewish history, which, he said, have become the generally accepted scientific consensus of recent decades. Here is how the editor of the Russian edition of the book summarizes the historical views of Zanda ^[7] :

The real political history of ancient Israel began in a somewhat centralized form only in the 9th century BC. e. (and not much earlier, as is still described in most historical books), Israel’s exodus from Egypt is a myth, the conquest of Canaan by Joshua is not even a myth, but an etiological fiction; The “great empire” of David and Solomon is a sloppy later invention. However, Zandu is much more important to explain to readers much simpler historical facts, generally known only 60-70 years ago, and now driven underground. Namely, starting from the II century BC. e. the Jews were actively engaged in proselytizing throughout the entire Mediterranean space, not disdaining the forced conversion to Judaism of the tribes conquered by the Hasmoneans ; the Romans did not expel the Jews from Judea even after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD e. (otherwise, who would rebel against them in the middle of the II century?), nor after the Bar Kochba rebellion in the II century (otherwise, where would the Jewish economic and cultural flourishing of the III century, the Mishna century come from), moreover, they did not expel them at all; the demographic and economic peaks of Palestinian Jewish history fall on the 5th-6th centuries A.D. e., that is, during the period of Byzantine rule. Thus, the “great expulsion” of Jews from Judea is invented from beginning to end.

It should be noted that, according to Zandu, the first inventors of fictional exile were not Jews, but Christians . Jewish scattering was interpreted by early Christian theologians as a punishment for the death of Christ . It was later adapted by post-Talmudic Jewish literature.

Zand has repeatedly emphasized that all of his basic historical points are not recent discoveries. On the contrary, they are well known to specialists, but almost unknown to the general public. His own are only a synthesis and systematic presentation of these data, as well as an attempt to summarize them historiographically.

Here is what Zand writes in his preface to the Russian translation of the book:

“In the course of working on this book, I did not make any actual discoveries. Almost all the materials that I encountered were known to Zionist and Israeli historiographers ... or even described by them. However, a considerable part of these materials was not given sufficient attention, and everything else was quickly covered up under the “historiographic carpet” or was willingly “forgotten” due to the inconsistency of the ideology of the emerging national memory. The most amazing thing: a significant part of the data contained in this book is still well known in a narrow professional circle; at the same time, “dangerous” information was always “lost” halfway to the collective memory and educational system. All I had to do was essentially organize and organize this historical information on a new basis, wipe off the dust from ancient historical evidence and re-address them with old questions. My findings directly generated a radical narrative that was significantly different from the one I studied in childhood and adolescence. ”

In particular, Zand argues that by denying the reality of the forced expulsion of Jews from Judea, he also makes no discovery. “Indeed, even in the textbook treatise“ Israel in Exile ”(published by the Minister of Education of Israel Bentsion Dinur !) Published in the 1950s, the history of the Jewish diaspora began only from the 7th century, that is, from the Arab conquest of Palestine” ^[5] . Dinur explained in detail why the classical idea of ​​the expulsion of Jews by the Romans is unscientific.

Analyzing the history of the Jewish diaspora, Zand sets forth theses that he considers to be well-known scientific data:

• some part of Spanish Jewry, partly converted to Christianity, partly expelled from the Iberian Peninsula in the 15th-16th centuries, came from the North African Berber tribes who converted to Judaism;
• the original nuclei of Eastern European Jewish communities were formed as a result of Jewish emigration from the south and east, and not from Western Europe ;
• The Yemeni Jewish community arose on the ruins of the southern Arabian Jewish state of Himyar , created by Arab proselytes and killed in pre-Islamic times. He recalls that many of the founders of political Zionism hesitated for a long time whether immigration of these “unclean” Jews to Palestine should be encouraged.

Zand retells the theory of Jewish roots in most modern Palestinian Arabs and recalls that it was upheld, among others, by the creator of the Jewish state, David Ben-Gurion, and his future president, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi , who wrote a joint classic work on this topic. Zand explains when and for what reasons this theory was abandoned by both Israeli historiography and the Israeli system of teaching history " ^[5] .

The final part of the book attempts to analyze contemporary Israeli political ideologies and the evolution of Jewish-Israeli identity. Zand calls for transforming Israel from an extremely specific ethnocracy into a democracy of one of the existing Western types, within which the state belongs to all its citizens and is based only on the principles of full civil equality.

Positive

Tom Segev, an Israeli journalist and intellectual from the group of “ new historians, ” called Zand’s book one of the most interesting and provocative books published here for a long time, noting that its historical part is very well written and contains numerous facts and discoveries that will amaze many Israelis reading about them for the first time. ^[8] .

Abraham Burgh , former chairman of the Jewish Agency of Israel, in an interview with Yedioth Ahronoth, said: “The stunning new ideas of the book“ When and How the Jewish People were Invented ”provide rich food for thought and debate - in a safer state (than Israel) this book would be included in the school curriculum ” ^{[9] [10] [11]}

The French historian Maurice Sartre , although he disagreed with some of Zand’s conclusions, confirmed that “the indisputable fact is that there was no expulsion of Jews either after the uprising of 66–70, or after the uprising of 132–135” ^[12]

Jewish historian, Marxist and member of the Communist Party, prof. Eric Hobsbaum , not only praised the book of Zanda, but also chose it (along with another book) as the “book of 2009” for the British Observer's Book ^[13] .

The book of Zanda was chosen as one of the “books of the year” and the newspaper “ Independent ” ^[14] .

The New York Times , in its review of Zanda’s book, writes that most experts agree that many popular ideas about Jewish history simply do not stand up to criticism. Among such beliefs is the story of the sudden expulsion of Jews from Palestine in 70 AD. e. Modern Jews, according to experts, are to the same extent the descendants of ancient Jews, as are the proselytes of the first millennium and the Middle Ages. The theory of the origin of Palestinians from the ancient Jews is also being seriously studied, although there is no clear answer to this question. However, the newspaper writes, although such ideas are absolutely common among historians, when published for the general public they cause controversy and fierce polemic. According to the newspaper, Zanda’s book contains both serious scientific work and dubious theories, and the exposition is constructed in the form of unexpected discoveries for the reader of hushed up historical facts ^[15] .

Critical

Scholars and publicists who hold traditional views on the history of the Jewish people have criticized the book. For example, Professor Israel Bartal of the University of Jerusalem called most of Zand’s allegations “baseless, marginal, and banal.” Tel Aviv historian professor Anita Shapira Declared Zand’s arguments “contradictory and esoteric” ^[16] . The American Jewish writer Hillel Halkin went further and stated that, using the example of Zand’s work, he was convinced that “no book can be so stupid as not to find supporters” ^[17] . Israeli journalist and TV host Ronen Shafrir called Zand’s book “a terrorist attack against Jewish history” ^[18] . Professor of St. Petersburg University Miron Amusya called for an end to the "zandirovanie" ^{[19] [20]} . Semyon Gold, a historian at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, assesses Sand’s criticism of academic science as classical postmodernism ^[21] , while Dr. Gold Akhiezer argues that Sand, in his book, is engaged in outright manipulation of facts, confusing fiction with reality for political purposes, thus insulting the profession of a historian. In particular, he attributes Isaac Jost and Heinrich Gretz to the Zionists of German historians, although they had nothing to do with Zionism ^[22]

Critics claim that Zand picks up facts to support his thesis and rejects facts that these theories refute. In addition, even from true facts, he draws unsubstantiated conclusions ^[21] .

The historical thesis that Jews are a group of proselytes was criticized by Professor Anita Shapira. In particular, Zand argued that Ashkenazi were Khazars who accepted Judaism, and Sephardi were Berbers who accepted Judaism. Shapira indicates that people from the Khazars make up no more than 20% of Ashkenazi, and the Berbers were a very small group. ^[sixteen]

In particular, the current results of genetic studies published in 2010, ^{[23] [24]} state that:

• The Jewish population everywhere forms groups that are genetically close to European and Middle Eastern groups;
• Jewish communities around the world discover a common origin;
• The specific genome regions of the Jews of different countries are common to the entire Jewish population;
• It is possible to establish a time scale for the spatial divergence of different groups of Jews;
• The discrepancy between European and Middle Eastern Jews took place 100-150 generations earlier, that is, about 2500 years ago, and refers to the time of the Babylonian exile ;
• The " Khazar hypothesis " closes completely, since the full contribution of the Khazars to East European Jewry is less than 12.5%;
• There is an opportunity to obtain information about the "founders" of the people - male and female, the number of which is extremely small;
• Available data indicate the importance of the “founders” effect. Genetic studies deny proselytism as any significant factor in the formation of the Jewish people.

The claim that historical information was hidden from the public was criticized by Professor Bartal as a conspiracy theory , since any history books were and are freely available in any library. Zand’s claims that Israeli historiography allegedly refused to study the history of the Khazars, Bartal refutes with references to a number of scientific and encyclopedic publications, some of which Zand himself quoted. Bartal also, noting that Zand pedals the thesis of injustice against national minorities in Israel, writes that mixing political position with historical research looks strange and meaningless. Bartal called the book a political work that did not contain any new historical facts. ^[25] Zand himself in an interview also names the political goals of writing the book ^[26] . Bartal cited facts refuting Zanda’s claim that Zionist historians allegedly hid from the general public episodes of Jewish history uncomfortable for Zionists, such as the conversion of the top Khazar state to Judaism ^[25] . Bartal points to a number of factual errors in the book of Zanda, including those that are completely unacceptable to a professional historian. In particular, he writes that Zand considers the satirical pamphlet Hebrew as an authentic historical document . " ספר בוחן צדיק" . “A sad combination of aggressive one-dimensional views and shameless disrespect for details ... will certainly captivate the hearts of the media. And we, skeptical scientists, littered with a pile of books and archives, will continue to read what has actually been written and write about what has really been read, ”Bartal said ^[25] .

English historian Simon Schama ( Simon Schama ) in a review of the book Zanda notes that this book is a combination of common truths and unfounded allegations. On the one hand, it is hardly possible to find a modern historian who would be convinced that all modern Jews are descendants of the Jews who lived in Palestine 2,000 years ago. Here Zand is breaking through the open door. A с другой стороны, гипотеза о хазарском происхождении ашкеназов, хотя и существует, — не имеет никаких серьезных подтверждений и не может считаться обоснованной. ^[27]

Доцент кафедры социологии семьи и демографии социологического факультета МГУ Александр Синельников пишет, что «Занд нередко противоречит сам себе, замалчивает известные исторические факты, проявляет демографическую некомпетентность» . В частности, претензию Занда к тому, что все древние книги по еврейской истории написаны евреями и не подтверждены другими авторами и археологическими находками, Синельников полагает антисемитской , поскольку никто не подвергает сомнению аналогичные ситуации с греками , римлянами и другими древними народами. Синельников указывает, что расселение евреев в Европе шло с Запада на Восток (из Германии в Польшу , затем в Белоруссию и на Украину ), а не с Востока на Запад, как было бы, будь ашкеназы потомками хазар. Один из важных тезисов Синельникова заключается в том, что в языке идиш Занд смог найти лишь одно слово тюркоязычного происхождения. При этом Занд игнорирует тот факт, что идиш возник как смесь средненемецких диалектов с ивритом и арамейским с последующим добавлением славянизмов . В то же время в русском языке тюркских заимствований на порядок больше из-за того, что славянские и тюркские народы веками жили рядом. Таким образом, по мнению Синельникова, очевидно, что хазары и другие тюркские народы не могли играть существенной роли в этногенезе ашкеназов. Также Синельников подвергает критике демографический тезис Занда о невозможности быстрых темпов естественного прироста еврейского населения и показывает на примерах такой прирост. Теория Занда «не подтверждается ни историческими, ни демографическими, ни лингвистическими данными» , заключает Синельников. ^[28]

Преподаватель иудаизма для русскоязычных студентов Университета Бар-Илан , религиозный публицист и социолог Пинхас Полонский утверждает что до публикации этой книги Занд никогда не проводил исследований на исторические темы, не относящиеся к кино или социологии марксизма, а выводы, сделанные в этой книге, не публиковались ни в одном научном журнале. Полонский делает вывод, что цель Занда состоит в уничтожении государства Израиль. Он также утверждает, что в книге имеется целый ряд археологических подтасовок, и разбирает их примеры ^{[29] [30]} .

Prizes

В 2009 году Шломо Занду за его книгу была присуждена французская премия « Aujourd'hui » — престижная журналистская награда за выдающееся политическое или историческое сочинение. Ранее этой премии удостоились философ Раймон Арон , литературный критик Джордж Стайнер , писатель Милан Кундера и историк Франсуа Фюре .

В апреле 2010 книга номинирована на британскую еврейскую премию «Вингейт» (JQ-Wingate Literary Prize Shortlist) ^[31]

Летом 2008 года в Париже вышел авторизованный перевод книги на французский язык ( Comment le peuple juif fut inventé — De la Bible au sionisme, Paris, Fayard , 2008). Английское издание книги вышло почти одновременно в Великобритании и в США в октябре 2009 года под названием The Invention of the Jewish People (издательство Verso Books ). Русский перевод книги вышел в Москве (под названием «Кто и как изобрел еврейский народ») в издательстве « Эксмо » в марте 2010 года. Книга была переведена на русский язык израильским социологом Михаилом Урицким. Объёмная редакция русского издания была произведена, по согласованию с автором, израильским публицистом Александром Этерманом. Перевод книги на японский язык вышел в свет в апреле 2010 года.

В апреле 2010 года в Берлине (в издательстве Propyläen Verlag ) вышел немецкий перевод книги. В мае 2010 года предполагается выход итальянского издания. На конец апреля 2010 года согласно договорам с издательствами, завершается работа над переводом книги на испанский, словенский, хорватский, арабский, турецкий, португальский, индонезийский и венгерский языки.

В марте 2010 года во Франции вышло новое издание книги (на этот раз, в карманном формате и в мягком переплете). В июне 2010 года должно выйти аналогичное английское издание. Предполагается, что оно включит новое послесловие автора, являющееся кратким ответом критикам книги.

В Израиле книга в течение 19 недель входила в список национальных бестселлеров. Во Франции, где книга Занда стала самой продаваемой в категории «История» за 2009 год, были выпущены три последовательных тиража (в жестком переплете). В США и в Великобритании книга с самого момента выхода в свет по апрель 2010 года входит в многочисленные списки бестселлеров, в том числе, публикуемые сайтом компании Amazon (www.amazon.com).

В одном из интервью автор заявил, что намеревается написать книгу под названием «Кто и как изобрел Эрец-Исраэль ». По его словам, эта тема восполнит недостаток его предыдущей работы ^[32] . Эта книга вышла на иврите в 2012 году. Издана на русском под названием «Кто и как изобрел страну Израиля» издательством «Эксмо», 2012, ISBN 978-5-699-57584-8 , переводчик Александр Этерман.

Артур Кёстлер

• The Invention of the Jewish People , English Edition (Verso Books, 2009) Website
• Anita Shapira , Review Essay: The Jewish-people deniers , The Journal of Israeli History, Vol. 28, No. 1, March 2009, 63-72 (in English)
• Yitzhak Laor , Between Valaam and his donkey , Ha-Arez newspaper, 04.24.2008 (Hebrew)
• Review by Simon Schama. The Invention of the Jewish People. Financial times. November 13, 2009
• Comment le peuple juif fut inventé (How the Jewish People was invented) by Shlomo Sand, Le Monde diplomatique , August 2008
• Zionist nationalist myth of enforced exile: Israel deliberately forgets its history by Shlomo Sand, Le Monde diplomatique , September 2008
• History in the (almost) making by Yonatan Gur, Ynetnews , November 2007
• Post-Zionism only rings once by Neri Livneh, Haaretz , September 2001
• “Are the Jews an invented people?” , Eric Rouleau, Le Monde diplomatique - English edition (May 2008).
• MARTIN GOODMAN, Secta and natio , The Times Literary Supplement, February 26, 2010
• Jewish newspaper
• “The Jewish people as a figment of the imagination” (Tom Segev, “Ha-Arez”, 02.28.2008)
• "Jews in the Looking Glass" a review of the book Booknik
• S. Zand: I signed the contract to write the truth (inaccessible link)
• Presentation of the Russian edition of the book “Who and How Invented the Jewish People”
• Interview with the author and video recording of his speech to students in Moscow
• On the origin of the Jewish people (broadcast of the Russian service of the BBC)
• "The Ashkenazic Jews: A Slavo-Turkic People in Search of a Jewish Identity" by Paul Wexler.
• P. Polonsky . “Shlomo Zand and an attempt to ethnoidentocide the Jewish people”