Jewish History, Jewish Religion The Weight of Three Thousand Years
Produktdetaljer
Biografisk notat
Israel Shahak (1933-2001) was a resident of the Warsaw Ghetto and a survivor of Bergen-Belsen. He arrived in Palestine in 1945 and lived there for the rest of his life. He was an outspoken critic of the state of Israel and a human rights activist. He was also the author of the highly acclaimed Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel (Pluto, 2004) and Jewish History, Jewish Religion (Pluto, 2008).'Subjects the whole history of Orthodoxy to a hilarious and scrupulous critique'
- Christopher Hitchens, The Nation,
'The voice of reason is alive and well, and in Israel, of all places. Shahak is the latest - if not the last - of the great prophets'
- Gore Vidal,
'The future of the Palestinian people would have looked much brighter if there had been more Israelis like Shahak ... An outstanding personality'
- The Jerusalem Times,
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 and rabbinical laws, Shahak argues that the roots of Jewish chauvinism and religious fanaticism must be understood before it is too late.
Written from a humanitarian viewpoint by a Jewish scholar, this is a rare and highly controversial criticism of Israel that will both excite and disturb readers worldwide.
Foreword to the first edition by Gore Vidal
Foreword to the 1997 edition by Edward Said
Foreword to the 2002 edition by Norton Mezvinsky
Foreword to the new edition by Ilan Pappe
1. A Closed Utopia?
2. Prejudice and Prevarication
3. Orthodoxy and Interpretation
4. The Weight of History
5. The Laws against Non-Jews
6. Political Consequences
Notes and References
Index