This book offers a unique perspective on Zionism. The author a geneticist by training focuses
on science rather than history. He looks at the claims that Jews constitute a people with
common biological roots. An argument that helps provide justification for the aspirations of
this political movement dedicated to the return of the Jewish people to their homeland. His
study explores two issues. The first considers the assertion that there is a biology of the
Jews. The second deals with attempts to integrate this idea into a consistent history. Both
issues unfolded against the background of a romantic national culture of Western Europe in the
19th century: Jews primarily from Eastern Europe began to believe these notions and soon they
took the lead in the re-formulation of Jewish and Zionist existence. The author does not intend
to present a comprehensive picture of the biological literature of the origins of a people and
the blood relations between them. He also recognizes that the subject is emotionally-loaded.
The book does however present a profound mediation on three overlapping questions: What is
special or unique to the Jews? Who were the genuine Jews? And how can one identify Jews? This
volume is a revised and edited English version of Tzionut Vehabiologia shel Hayehudim
published in 2006.
