Letture di storia ebraica. Riflessioni su alcuni testi recenti

Readings of Jewish history. Reflections on some recent texts
The article offers a discussion of different publications on Jewish history through the lenses of Yosef Hayim Yerushalmi’s famous lecture, Servants of Kings and Not Servants of Servants: Some Aspects of the Political History of the Jews, which has been recently translated and published in Italian (Florence, Giuntina 2013). That lecture delved into the relationship between Jewish history and political power. According to Yerushalmi, Jews often entertained a privileged relationship with royal power or established a «royal alliance» with kings and princes (at times with the Church as well). This article reviews this vision of Jewish history, which somehow challenged Arendt’s notion of the Jewish people as powerless, and situates it alongside recent publications on Jewish history that focus on the complex historical relationship between Jews and Gentile.

Parole chiave: Y.H. Yerushalmi; Alleanza verticale; H. Arendt; Storia ebraica
Keywords: Y.H. Yerushalmi; Royal alliance; H. Arendt; Jewish history