Hillel Halkin on The Invention of the Jewish People
From Hillel Halkin’s review of Shlomo Sand’s book The Invention of the Jewish People in the New Republic.
By the books an age reads and respects ye shall know it. What, then, shall we say of an age in which a book so intellectually shoddy that once, not very long ago, it would have been flunked as an undergraduate thesis by any self-respecting professor of history becomes a best-seller upon first appearing in Hebrew in Israel in 2008; goes on to win the prestigious Aujourd’hui Award of the association of French journalists; and now, in English translation, is taken seriously by reviewers and reporters, and nets its author an honored place on talk shows and in “advanced” opinion? Perhaps one might charitably say that such an age is forgetful and poorly educated and credulous. And to be fair, The Invention of the Jewish People does make one valid point. But let’s begin with the shoddiness.
January 11th, 2010 at 11:49 am
Wow. I didn’t have to read very far into Halkin’s review of Sand before I had to start laughing.
” … there was never any such thing as a “Jewish people,” just as there was never any such thing as a Catholic people or a Protestant people …” — Because the German Reform Jews perfectly exemplify Jewish tradition, right? I suppose Dona Nasia, Rabbi Yaakov Beirav, Rabbi Haim Abulafia, and Rabbi Haim Benattar never lived. Either that, or they merely wanted to bring Jewish sovereignty over Israel only for the Sephardim and not for the Jewish people, since Sand has shown us that the Jewish people never existed.
” … The religion of history struck them as an appropriate substitute for religious faith …” — Thus, says Sand, the “religion of history” had to be invented to replace the religion of faith. I suppose the Kuzari is a 19th century Haskalah forgery?
Thanks Sand! Thus we learn that the attempt to reinstitute Mosaic semikhah, and the most famous book of Jewish philosophy ever written, were both invented by Herzl. Where would we be without Sand?
January 11th, 2010 at 11:52 am
Oh, I forgot Lurianic Qabala. That was also an attempt to bring geula to the Jewish people, but given that the Jewish people didn’t exist, I suppose that the Arizal is a figment of Herzl’s imagination as well?