Indestructible Jews [Paperback]

Max I. Dimont (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1, 1973

A compelling and readable account of the four thousand year history of a people that spans the globe and transcends the ages. From the ancient and simple faith of a small tribe to a global religion with adherents in every nation, the path of the Jews is traced through countless expulsions and migrations, the great tragedy of the Holocaust, and the joy of founding a homeland in Israel. Putting the struggle of a persecuted people into perspective, Max Dimont asks whether the tragic sufferings of the Jews have actually been the key to their survival, as other nations and races vanished into obscurity. Here is a book for Jews and non-Jews to enjoy, evoking a proud heritage while offering a hopeful vision of the future.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From the Publisher

Max I. Dimont's Jews, God and History, with more than a million and half copies in print, has been acclaimed the "best popular history of the Jews written in the English language." It answers the questions of the layman searching for an interpretation and understanding of events and facts covering Jewish and world history. The author's unique approach to his subject is continued in The Jews in America and The Amazing Adventures of the Jewish People. His last book, Appointment in Jerusalem, was published, after 20 years of research, shortly before his death in 1992. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Signet (April 1, 1973)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0451075943
• ISBN-13: 978-0451075949
• Product Dimensions: 6.8 x 4.1 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.8 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (5 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,309,837 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Dimont shows the Jews preserved by God's Word., November 19, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Indestructible Jews (Paperback)

Max Dimont shows how the Jews have been preserved through their tumultuous history by the Bible scriptures. The 10 commandments given by Moses, and the moral remonstrances of lessor prophets became the resource which preserved the Jews as a a separate, and very influential people for thousands of years. He shows how those biblical laws and precepts shaped the legal codes of Western Civilisation as the Jews migrated throughout the world during their Diaspora. Therefore, Western Civilisation owes much to the Bible scriptures through the idestructible Jewsih people. The book is authoritative and interesting throughout. The very readable work of a frequent lecturer on the history of the Jewish nation.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Intellectual & metaphysical odyssey through Jewish history, March 20, 2009

By 

Pieter "Toypom" (Johannesburg) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 500 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Indestructible Jews (Paperback)

This extraordinary book approaches Jewish history from a unique historical and metaphysical angle. It adds another dimension to e.g. Paul Johnson's book History of the Jews. Dimont provides a frame of reference based on the ebb & flow of history as it is shaped by ideas; civilizations come and go but the Jewish people always emerge on the crest of the new as the old recedes. He employs the scheme of the great mystic Isaac Luria on the 3 stages of matter, consciousness & human experience: the contraction, the breaking of the vessels (Diaspora) to the restoration, the promise of a greater totality.

The author calls each era of 2000 years an Act, of which the third is still to come. The first covers the period from Abraham to Jesus when the Hebrews were psychologically equipped and prepared for survival in dispersion. The second, the exile with a mission, stretches to Ben-Gurion and the rebirth of Israel in its land. The third waits on the threshold.

Act I: The Manifest Destiny, considers the patriarchs, prophets & the concept of predestination. The cosmic project started with Abraham in whom the idea was conceived, moved through ancient Egypt, the Magna Carta at Sinai & the history of ancient Israel & Judah. The canonization of Scripture took place in the first millennium BC (Richard Friedman's The Hidden Book in the Bible provides food for thought in this regard) and the prophets made their mark. Later, Hellenism entered the stage. Humanistic nationalism & ideological universalism emerged, two poles first encountered in the prophets of whom Abraham Heschel's work is without equal.

Act II: The Existentialist Dilemma, explores the Diaspora in which ideas of ethics, justice and human dignity were spread throughout the world. In this phase, the Talmud was born. The first challenge was the Roman Empire, the second the Parthian-Sassanid World and the third the Islamic civilization. In an interlude, the author examines the crucifixion account. The challenges of the feudal world of Europe followed, first a flowering then a regression during the ghetto era. The scientific age culminated in the Zionist movement. The return was not to the letter of Talmudic Judaism but according to the spirit of biblical prophecy. Specific sections are devoted to the fate of the Jews in Russia, Germany & America.

Act II also explores the Oral Law and Torah interpretations down the ages that served as a protective force in the Diaspora. First was the Midrash, starting the science of exposition through allegory & homiletics. Around 200 BC the Mishna was born, based on reason & logic. Some great names here are Hillel, the master of logic and Gamaliel, father of Rabbinical Judaism. The Mishna was codified by Judah Hanashi. The School of Gemara developed under the Sassanid Persians; together with the Mishna it was compiled into the Talmud, completed by the end of the 5th century AD. The Talmud became Jewish common law in the Islamic Empire. In Islamic Spain, Moses Maimonides was a sage of reason whilst devotional poetry flourished with the likes of Solomon ibn Gabirol.

As the Islamic East declined, an influx followed into feudal Europe where the immigrants became a business and professional hierarchy. Rashi adapted the Babylonian Talmud to European conditions. During the ghetto phase Jewish thought stagnated. Moses Mendelssohn began the mental emancipation with non-Talmudic Judaism. The Enlightenment ultimately led to physical emancipation under Napoleon but later also spawned lethal modern strains of antisemitism. This in turn led to the rebirth of the Jewish State under the leadership of Ussishkin, Weissmann, Jabotinsky & Ben-Gurion.

Jewish mysticism or Kabalah (from 'kabeil' - to receive) had its roots in the 2nd century; its influence increased markedly from the 10th century onwards. I recommend On the Kabbalah and its Symbolism by Gershom Scholem for an introduction.

Dimont identifies the following 4 characteristics the Jewish people: (1) Iconoclasm - challenging the status quo (2) Skepticism regarding received ideas (3) Upholding the moral law through individual rights, the rule of law, justice & fairness (4) Scholarship & philanthropy, including a strong presence in the healing and protective professions like medicine & law. History shows that those societies that accepted the aforementioned ideas tended to flourish, whilst those that rejected them became totalitarian. History also reveals that the Jewish spirit represents all that is best in humanity whilst the antisemite represents all that is base and perverse.

In Act III: The Paradox of the Diaspora, Dimont speculates about the possible destinies of the world and the Jews, addressing the question of a divine mission and the function of Israel. He measures the history of the Jews against the theories of Spengler, Toynbee and Isaac Luria, and adds his own view of the future, one of the most thought-provoking passages of metaphysical speculation that I have ever encountered. The author's theory has the ring of truth and he conveys his well-organized thoughts in flowing prose.

The extensive bibliography is organized by the following subjects: general Jewish history, religion & psychology, the times of Jesus & the Dead Sea Scrolls, Antisemitism & Holocaust literature, Zionism & the State of Israel, general world history, perspectives of history, from Isaiah to Hitler - ideas & counter-ideas, miscellanea and encyclopedias. Works of interest covering related territory include WorldPerfect: The Jewish Impact on Civilization by Ken Spiro and Cracking the Bible Code by Jeffrey Satinover.

6 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Eye-Opening and, At Times, Shocking, December 27, 2005

By 

seekerotruth "seekerotruth" (Southern California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Indestructible Jews (Paperback)

There is much good the Jews have done in history: they gave us Christianity, for example, which, to give a small example, brought an end to some incredibly barbaric pracitices like gladitorial combat in the Roman Coliseum. There is also the darker side, of course. Dimont goes into both, but unfortunately seems unable to distinguish between the two.

Dimont, for example, shows a perverse and sadistic pleasure in describing the tables turned against the Romanovs. He, also, claims, contrary to the evidence, that the average German knew and approved of the Holocaust.

At the end of the book, Dimont states that Western Civilization is doomed and in its terminal stage. Where might the Jews go, he asks. China, he says, is a possiblity, after all it is in many ways a Jewish state, with its Marxist foundation.

One hopes that enlightened Jews will ultimately expose the pathologies evidenced in Dimont's type of world-view, and seek to push their co-religionists into a more positive direction, to embrace the goodness in Judaism and reject its opposite.