Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction

For millennia, Jews have defied odds by overcoming the travails of exile, persecution, and recurring plans for their annihilation. Jewish History: A Very Short Introduction points to two unlikely factors to explain the survival of the Jews: antisemitism and assimilation. Usually regarded as grave dangers, these two factors have continually interacted with one other to enable the persistence of the Jews. At every turn in their history, Jews have adapted to new environments, cultures, languages, and social norms through a process of assimilation, but full assimilation has been checked by the nearly constant presence of hatred toward the Jew. Antisemitism has affirmed the Jews’ sense of difference from the host society.