From Hebrews to Israelis:

the memory imposed

Abstract

In the official narrative of the remote past of the Jewish people and the State of Israel, the different episodes of the Hebrew Bible are presented as detailed chronicles of verifiable socio-historical processes. The historical (re)construction made from religious traditions -read in a secular key- remarkably differs from the criteria shared by the academic community supported by modern western states. This singular way of narrating the past and teaching it in educational circuits acquires a special meaning when considered in the context of its creation, connected to the emergence of national states and nationalism. Taking the example of European nationalisms, political Zionism embarked itself in the task of building a unified sense of belonging to a people, and the articulation in its academic and religious discourses responded to that need. Currently, having overcome the challenges posed by the era of nationalisms, Zionism supports a kind of past which is considered as truly historical, even if, in practice, it avoids the academic method of reconstructing the past and strongly relies on the biblical narrative. An analysis of the relationship/distinction between history and memory and the specific need for legitimization of the State of Israel can provide some elements to re-read this particular version of the past.