The Invention of the Jewish People

Common card · No. 281237

The Invention of the Jewish People (Hebrew: מתי ואיך הומצא העם היהודי?, romanized: Matai ve’ech humtza ha’am hayehudi?, lit. 'When and How Was the Jewish People Invented?') is a 2008 book by Shlomo Sand, Professor of History at Tel Aviv University, in which he challenges ideas of Jewish peoplehood developed in Jewish historiography since the 19th century. In the book, Sand disputes the historical veracity of the narrative of forced exile of Jews from Palestine under the Romans, arguing instead that most modern Jews descend from converts to Judaism whose native lands were in locations across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The book was on the best-seller list in Israel for nineteen weeks and has generated heated controversy. An English edition of the book, translated by Yael Lotan, was published by Verso Books in October 2009. The book has also been translated into German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Arabic, French and Russian, and as of late 2009 further translations were underway.

Read on Wikipedia