Jewish History, Jewish Religion: The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Israel Shahak was a remarkable man. Born in the Warsaw ghetto and a survivor of Belsen, Shahak arrived in Israel in 1945. Brought up under Jewish Orthodoxy and Hebrew culture, he consistently opposed the expansion of the borders of Israel from 1967. In this extraordinary and highly acclaimed book, Shahak embarks on a provocative study of the extent to which the secular state of Israel has been shaped by religious orthodoxies of an invidious and potentially lethal nature. Drawing on the Talmud...
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A study of Jewish history and religion by retired Israeli professor of organic chemistry. Shahak, a Holocaust survivor who immigrated to Palestine in 1945, contends that the "racism, discrimination, and xenophobia" prevalent among Jews and directed against non-Jews comes from Judaism. He analyzes the Talmud, Jewish history, and Zionism to make his point. The Nation - Christopher Hitchens Subjects the whole history of Orthodoxy ... to a hilarious and scrupulous critique.
Foreword1A Closed Utopia?12Prejudice and Prevarication143Orthodoxy and Interpretation324The Weight of History505The Laws against Non-Jews756Political Consequences99Notes and References104Index119
\ Christopher HitchensSubjects the whole history of Orthodoxy ... to a hilarious and scrupulous critique.\ — The Nation\ \ \ \ \ Christopher HitchensSubjects the whole history of Orthodoxy ... to a hilarious and scrupulous critique. \ —The Nation\ \ \ Middle East Studies Association BulletinShahak and Mezvinsky's "Jewish History, Jewish Religion" is refreshing in its critique of Jewish fundamentalism and therefore serves as a welcome addition to the literature in the field.\ \ \ \ \ George CohenShahak, who came to Israel in 1945 after surviving the concentration camp in Belsen during the Holocaust, contends that the potential for Israel's right-wing Jewish religious movements to seize power represents a threat to the peace of Israel and to the Zionist movement. He posits that Israel as a Jewish state constitutes a danger not only to itself and its inhabitants, but to all Jews and to all other people and states in the Middle East. Shahak, who was raised as an Orthodox Jew, condemns what he sees as discrimination against non-Jewish citizens of Israel. The real test facing both Israeli and diaspora Jews is the test of their self-criticism, which must include the critique of the Jewish past. Most disturbing, Shahak insists that the religion, in its classical and talmudic form, is "poisoning minds and hearts." This controversial attack of Israel by a Jew is bound to alarm Jewry worldwide.\ \
