The Invention of the Jewish People

Author: Shlomo Sand

"The Invention of the Jewish People" is one of Shlomo Sand's most famous works, translated into Hebrew as "When and How the Jewish People Was Invented." Israeli journalist Ofri Ilani wrote that the book's basic idea revolves around proving that Jews did not exist as a national people of common ethnic origin. Rather, they are a mixture of different groups who adopted Judaism.
Author's Biography:
Shlomo was born in Linz, Austria, to Polish Jewish parents who survived the Holocaust. His parents held anti-imperialist communist views and positions, and they refused to accept compensation from Germany for their suffering during World War II. He spent his early years in a displaced persons camp and moved with his family to Jaffa in 1948.
He was expelled from high school and did not complete his university entrance exam until after completing his military service. He eventually left the Israeli Communist Youth Union and joined the anti-Zionist Matzpen movement until 1968. He refused an offer from the Israeli Communist Party to send him to Poland to study cinema and graduated from Tel Aviv University in 1975. Between 1975 and 1985, Shlomo studied and taught in Paris, earning a Master's in French history and then a Ph.D. for his research on Georges Sorel and Marxism.