Charting our history, texts — and disputes
IN THE first century BCE, the Hasmonean King of Judea, Alexander Jannaeus was conducting sacrifices in the Temple of Jerusalem during Succot.
But some of his subjects were less than convinced about his High Priestly credentials and they conveyed disapamount proval in a novel form of protest: they pelted him with etrogs.
Judaism has “a rich history of rifts,” observes Professor Martin Goodman in A History of Judaism, published this week. But while there may have been controversy and confrontation down the ages, that is not the central theme of his 650page book.
“It is easy to write a story of conflicts,” says the 64-year-old president of the Oxford Centre for Hebrew and Jewish Studies, “but that would be terribly misleading”.
Rather he is at pains to point out that different types of Judaism have co-existed since Temple times and while they may have disagreed, they often have found ways to rub along with one another. “It seemed to me much more interesting to write about the extraordinary Alexander Jannaeus of variety within Judaism at all times and the way in which they relate,” he explains. Sometimes there could be conflict, but sometimes an “extraordinary acceptance”.
Over the past couple of millennia, competing groups of Jews have chosen to leave it to heaven to decide who was right rather than literally fight to resolve their differences. “If you compare it to a history of Islam or Christianity, where indeed you end up with physical warfare, these things don’t happen among Jews — they just shout at each other.”
While there have been many histories of Jews — the second part of Simon Schama’s trilogy being the latest — there have been far fewer on the history of Judaism itself, where the primary emphasis is on religious change and development.
It was his own experience of teaching for 40 years that prompted him to write it. He found it hard to recommend to his students a book that offered a broad introduction to Judaism.
Many introductions to Judaism “jump too fast” from the Bible to the modern era, which is confusing