Shlomo Sand Ph D Videotaped 10 19 09

Shlomo Sand Ph.D The Leading Israeli historian evaluates the national myth of the Jewish exile from the promised land

All modern nation states have a story of their origins, passed down through both official and popular culture, and yet few of these accounts have proved as divisive and influential as the Israeli national myth. The well-known tale of Jewish exile at the hands of the Romans during the first century AD, and the assertion of both cultural and racial continuity through to the Jewish people of the present day, resonates far beyond Israels borders. Despite its use as a justification for Jewish settlement in Palestine and the project of a Greater Israel, there have been few scholarly investigations into the historical accuracy of the story as a whole.

In this bold and ambitious new book, Shlomo Sand shows that the Israeli national myth has its origins in the nineteenth century, rather than in biblical times — when Jewish historians, like scholars in many other cultures, reconstituted an imagined people in order to model a future nation. Sand forensically dissects the official story — and demonstrates the construction of a nationalist myth and the collective mystification that this requires.

A bestseller in Israel and France, Shlomo Sands book has sparked a widespread and lively debate. Should the Jewish people regard themselves as genetically distinct and identifiable across the millennia — or should that doctrine now be left behind and if the myth of the Jewish state is dismantled, could this open a path toward a more inclusive Israeli state, content within its borders?

Praise for The Invention of the Jewish People

The Invention of the Jewish People is an indispensible challenge and a very complex intellectual exercise a more secure society [than Israel] would include the book in the core curriculum of its school system — Avraham Burg, former Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Yedioth Ahronoth

The reader will have understood the message: what this well-documented and fearless book explodes is the myth of a unique Jewish people, miraculously preserved, in contrast to all the other peoples, from external contamination [Sands] conclusions, which are prudently formulated, nonetheless lead one towards a sole solution: the construction of a secular and democratic Israel. — Jacques Julliard, Le Nouvel Observateur

Shlomo Sand studied history at the University of Tel Aviv and at the École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales, in Paris. He currently teaches contemporary history at the University of Tel Aviv. His other books include LIllusion du politique: Georges Sorel et le débat intellectuel 1900, Georges Sorel en son temps, Le XXe siècle à l'écran and Les Mots et la Terre: Les Intellectuels en Israël.

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[whereisthejustice1]

Lol @ the good, the bad and the ugly ring tone. I wonder who's phone it was??

anyway... good interview, a good summary of a complex thesis, especially the dna aspect.

[Amocee]

Harold you are one of the most annoying people I've ever heard...why did you interview Shlomo when you constantly answered your own questions...I was waiting for him to tell you to shut the hell up! You ruined an otherwise informative video.

[Amocee]

Harold you still use a video camera? By the way the first rule in Journalism is let the interviewee answer the question free of interruption.

[menodimi1]

@greenmagoos Lol ...you should be a comedian..."Judaism practising rabbis suck the blood "- Lol Lol are there Rabbis who dont practice Judaism? Lol you crack me up..gee ..let me guess you just finished reading about the Blood Libels...Lol hey giuess what I am eating? Matzo- Yeah I made it fresh from the blood of Arab children..Lol deeeeelicious..... excpet I have to spit out the STONES! lol GET IT STONES! LOL

[greenmagoos]

@menodimi1

lol- they were judaism practising jew comedians you mean. Thats not the same as pharisees, sadducees, and essenes which were the 3 main types of philosophy practised by tribe of Benjamin and Judah Judeans 2,000 years ago.

You may as well claim roman catholics, Lutherians and mormons all worship Christ the exact same way.

lol- why do judaism practising rabbis suck the blood out of circumsised babies. I'm fairly sure that practise came from the talmud. Hail Satan.

[menodimi1]

@greenmagoos Lol you are a real joker..lol well as far as sense of humour it is no coincidence that the great comedians of the world happen to be Jewish...lol...Charlie Chaplin to Jerry Sienfeld..well yawnn got to go...satan is waiting for me ....she is hot..and no virgin for sure. Any way who the hell wants 72 virgins!

[greenmagoos]

@menodimi1

No actually practisors of judaism and the kabbala seem to have a great sense of humour offering up prayers to satan and switching between hebrew and aramaic because angelic gate keepers are too stupid to understand both-lol what a load of blaspheming evil garbage.

I like bananas but its never been my staple diet unlike you zionist tree swinging hun.

[menodimi1]

@greenmagoos Lol - you have such a great sense of humour...lol...I bet if you put your mind to it you could peel a bannana with your feet! Lol ....yawnnn blah blah blah blah...he btw Israel just inbented the Re Walk...it helps crippled people to walk... maybe one day Israel will invent something that will help morons like you to think! Until than keep practicing peeling bannanas with your feet..lol

[greenmagoos]

@menodimi1

Away and join a cabbala cult and offer prayers up to Satan you judaism colluding little monkey zionist moron.

[menodimi1]

@greenmagoos Lol you really crack me up- Yawnn too easy to debate- but its fun to play with you. "Idiotic comments about Islam? By Shlomo Sands belief Islam is a "religion" and not a people- So how did 57 countries non Islamic coutries become Islamic? Islam is not a government? Lol explain why it is that people who live in the 57 Islamic countries have to live by the rule of religion and not by the rule of "people"! That is Shlomo Sands argument not mine. "Religion" and "people" are separate