Legacy

Legacy PDF

Author: Harry Ostrer MD

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-08-10

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 0199702055

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Who are the Jews--a race, a people, a religious group? For over a century, non-Jews and Jews alike have tried to identify who they were--first applying the methods of physical anthropology and more recently of population genetics. In Legacy, Harry Ostrer, a medical geneticist and authority on the genetics of the Jewish people, explores not only the history of these efforts, but also the insights that genetics has provided about the histories of contemporary Jewish people. Much of the book is told through the lives of scientific pioneers. We meet Russian immigrant Maurice Fishberg; Australian Joseph Jacobs, the leading Jewish anthropologist in fin-de-siècle Europe; Chaim Sheba, a colorful Israeli geneticist and surgeon general of the Israeli Army; and Arthur Mourant, one of the foremost cataloguers of blood groups in the 20th century. As Ostrer describes their work and the work of others, he shows that to look over the genetics of Jewish groups, and to see the history of the Diaspora woven there, is truly a marvel. Here is what happened as the Jews migrated to new places and saw their numbers wax and wane, as they gained and lost adherents and thrived or were buffeted by famine, disease, wars, and persecution. Many of these groups--from North Africa, the Middle East, India--are little-known, and by telling their stories, Ostrer brings them to the forefront at a time when assimilation is literally changing the face of world Jewry. A fascinating blend of history, science, and biography, Legacy offers readers an entirely fresh perspective on the Jewish people and their history. It is as well a cutting-edge portrait of population genetics, a field which may soon take its place as a pillar of group identity alongside shared spirituality, shared social values, and a shared cultural legacy.

The Invention of the Jewish People

The Invention of the Jewish People PDF

Author: Shlomo Sand

Publisher: Verso Books

Published: 2020-08-04

Total Pages: 369

ISBN-13: 1788736613

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A historical tour de force that demolishes the myths and taboos that have surrounded Jewish and Israeli history, The Invention of the Jewish People offers a new account of both that demands to be read and reckoned with. Was there really a forced exile in the first century, at the hands of the Romans? Should we regard the Jewish people, throughout two millennia, as both a distinct ethnic group and a putative nation—returned at last to its Biblical homeland? Shlomo Sand argues that most Jews actually descend from converts, whose native lands were scattered far across the Middle East and Eastern Europe. The formation of a Jewish people and then a Jewish nation out of these disparate groups could only take place under the sway of a new historiography, developing in response to the rise of nationalism throughout Europe. Beneath the biblical back fill of the nineteenth-century historians, and the twentieth-century intellectuals who replaced rabbis as the architects of Jewish identity, The Invention of the Jewish People uncovers a new narrative of Israel’s formation, and proposes a bold analysis of nationalism that accounts for the old myths. After a long stay on Israel’s bestseller list, and winning the coveted Aujourd’hui Award in France, The Invention of the Jewish People is finally available in English. The central importance of the conflict in the Middle East ensures that Sand’s arguments will reverberate well beyond the historians and politicians that he takes to task. Without an adequate understanding of Israel’s past, capable of superseding today’s opposing views, diplomatic solutions are likely to remain elusive. In this iconoclastic work of history, Shlomo Sand provides the intellectual foundations for a new vision of Israel’s future.

The Jewish People, a Biological History

The Jewish People, a Biological History PDF

Author: Harry Lionel 1902- Shapiro

Publisher: Hassell Street Press

Published: 2021-09-10

Total Pages: 92

ISBN-13: 9781014925589

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This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. To ensure a quality reading experience, this work has been proofread and republished using a format that seamlessly blends the original graphical elements with text in an easy-to-read typeface. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

Zionism and the Biology of Jews

Zionism and the Biology of Jews PDF

Author: Raphael Falk

Publisher: Springer

Published: 2017-07-18

Total Pages: 234

ISBN-13: 3319573454

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This book offers a unique perspective on Zionism. The author, a geneticist by training, focuses on science, rather than history. He looks at the claims that Jews constitute a people with common biological roots. An argument that helps provide justification for the aspirations of this political movement dedicated to the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. His study explores two issues. The first considers the assertion that there is a biology of the Jews. The second deals with attempts to integrate this idea into a consistent history. Both issues unfolded against the background of a romantic national culture of Western Europe in the 19th century: Jews, primarily from Eastern Europe, began to believe these notions and soon they took the lead in the re-formulation of Jewish and Zionist existence. The author does not intend to present a comprehensive picture of the biological literature of the origins of a people and the blood relations between them. He also recognizes that the subject is emotionally-loaded. The book does, however, present a profound mediation on three overlapping questions: What is special or unique to the Jews? Who were the genuine Jews? And how can one identify Jews? This volume is a revised and edited English version of Tzionut Vehabiologia shel Hayehudim, published in 2006.

A Short History of the Jewish People

A Short History of the Jewish People PDF

Author: Raymond P. Scheindlin

Publisher: Oxford University Press, USA

Published: 2000

Total Pages: 292

ISBN-13: 9780195139419

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From the original legends of the Bible to the peace accords of today's newspapers, this engaging, one-volume history of the Jews will fascinate and inform. 30 illustrations.

A Brief History of the Jewish People

A Brief History of the Jewish People PDF

Author: Mosheh Weiss

Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield

Published: 2004

Total Pages: 298

ISBN-13: 9780742544024

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It is truly staggering to imagine that nearly four thousand years of Jewish history could ever be condensed into a single volume. Yet this is what Moshe Weiss has accomplished in A Brief History of the Jewish People, and he has done so with a breadth of narrative and a depth of learning that render this book remarkably accessible and informative to readers and students from all walks of life. From the journey of the patriarch Abraham as he spread the teaching of monotheism in Canaan, to the dazzling achievements of the American-Jewish community and the creation of the State of Israel in the latter half of the twentieth century, the entire spectrum of tumultuous history is traversed. In twenty-three concise, lucid and information-packed chapters, the reader moves from the formative years of the Jewish people to the kingdoms of Judea and Samaria, to the destruction of the First and Second Temples followed by two thousand years of exile peopled by brilliant, legendary figures as well as by adventurers and knaves. It is an inspiring and enlightening history of a unique people distinguished by suffering and survival, by scholarship and spirituality. Beginning with the growth of a small tribe on the sands of Israel, and concluding with the ongoing negotiations between the children of Abraham--Isaac and Ishmael--to secure a place in the land of their ancestors, it is a vibrant and heroic history, at times tragic, at times triumphant, all of it coming alive in these pages. Comprehensive in scope yet rich in detail, this book was created for students of all kinds--those in the classroom at every level of their education as well as those interested intelligent readers who want to advance their knowledge and learn on their own. Readers will find represented here every contemporary group of the Jewish faith--Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform--as well as almost every great empire and nation that had ever existed on the earth as Jewish history unfolded over four millennia. A Brief His

Legacy

Legacy PDF

Author: Harry Ostrer

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2012-05-17

Total Pages: 300

ISBN-13: 0195379616

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Who are the Jews-- a race, a people, a religious group? Osterer offers readers an entirely fresh perspective on the Jewish people and their history, with a cutting-edge portrait of population genetics, a field which may soon take its place as a pillar of group identity alongside shared spirituality, shared social values, and a shared cultural legacy.