From the “Preface”
Notably, the Hebrew language, which serves as the medium through which the Jewish people articulate their understanding of the world and life, does not possess a specific term for ‘history.’
Hebrew thought has long acknowledged that what we refer to as ‘history’ is fundamentally a nonexistent, abstract concept. There is no history without someone who remembers something from the past.
Consequently, when the TaNaKh addresses the Jewish past, it frequently utilizes the term ‘Zakhor,’ signaling the action of a person that “remembers something.’
To clarify their Jewish identity, Jews must recall the memories of a past that is integral to their Jewishness..
This work is not a history book but rather a book about some of the memories that make up Jewish identity. One could say that this book is about the stuff of which Judaism is made. That “stuff” is more than just ritual or law; it is the experiences that Jews remember and incorporate into their identities.
What we Jews seek in what others refer to as history—and what we call memories—is knowledge about ourselves, our roots, and the experiences that have shaped us. Memories encompass our understanding of what has made us who we are, how we think, and how we perceive ourselves and the world around us.
This book highlights the realization that being part of a community also means being part of the destiny of that community. There is, undoubtedly, no Judaism possible without a connection to five thousand years of memories, nor without understanding the role we play in the unfolding of the next five thousand years.
From the “Introduction”
For hundreds of years, the Jews of antiquity lived under the rule of various empires, including the Babylonians, the Persians, the Hellenistic kingdoms of Egypt and Syria, the Romans, and their Christian successors. Throughout this long period, they seldom rebelled, even when provoked. In this context of Yehud’s subservience to great powers, the Maccabean revolt and the subsequent Hasmonean emerge as exceptional events.
The Maccabean period lasted a century, from the victory of 164 B.C.E. to the entrance of the Romans into Jerusalem in 63 B.C.E.
This new kingdom would remain the last independent Jewish political and religious state until the establishment of the third commonwealth, more than two thousand years later. The memories it left behind profoundly impacted later Jewish history, shaping aspects of the political ideology that underpinned the creation of the modern state of Israel.
The reestablishment of full sovereignty under the Hasmoneans—an event often compared to the success of Zionism—had unexpectedly negative consequences. Rather than uniting the nation, the Hasmoneans fostered sectarianism.
The historical record illustrates that the Maccabean revolt was not merely inspired by ideological resistance to Hellenism; it was primarily a civil war and a religious struggle between factions within the Jewish people.
Though the successes achieved by Judah’s force were extremely important for the course of Jewish history. The leadership of the Maccabean resistance by no means embodied the aspirations of the nation as a whole. Divisions within Judea plagued the Maccabean movement as much as any opposition from Antiochus IV Epiphanes.
From the Afterword
The Jewish past, as well as the present, witnesses an enduring division within the Jewish people. In fact, every Jew is an expert in what divides us. The significant question, however, is not what divides but rather: What unites us?
Judaism is, overall, a goal-oriented civilization charged with a task formulated some three thousand years ago.
The Torah’s last book, Devarim (Deuteronomy), advised:
“You must choose life so that you and your descendants will survive.” [1]
Biology does not determine what is good or bad for human life, nor does it dictate what should be pursued, how to achieve those goals, what values are essential for existence, or what actions one should take. While it is true that all living beings possess an innate drive to survive, humans are not designed for survival like other creatures are. Ultimately, it is the person—that complex of will and thought—the one who chooses to live.
As Elie Wiesel once said, “The mission of the Jewish people has never been to make the world more Jewish, but to make it more human.”
[1] Deut. 30: 19