Reclaiming Jewish History

Did the Jewish people begin with Abraham? Did Moses write the Torah? Did the rabbis hate the Maccabees? Did the Greeks make a positive contribution to Hebrew culture? How did the rabbis become the religious establishment? What is the real connection between the Jews, trade and money? Were the Enlightenment and emancipation good for the Jews? What is the nature of modern anti-Semitism? Has Zionism met the expectation of its creators?

In short, what is the real story of the Jewish people and their experience? Can we connect with our ancestors as they really were, rather than as we imagined them to be? Through stimulating surveys of their field and serious, even heated, discussions of the implications of their ideas, the panel and participants in the International Institute for Secular Humanistic Judaism's Colloquium '97 discovered much about the truth and legends of Jewish history.