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The Book of Abraham is a historical novel written by Marek Halter that documents the history (both factual and fictional) of his Jewish family. Although the early parts of the book are fictional, those parts taking place after the fifteenth century factually document the history of Marek Halter's family. [1]
The book begins in AD 70 in Jerusalem during the siege of the city by the Romans just prior to the destruction of the Second Temple. Abraham, a Jewish scribe, his wife and two sons live in Jerusalem and have survived the siege. On the day when the Romans breach the city walls and set fire to the Second Temple, Abraham and his family successfully escape Jerusalem only to be stopped by a Roman platoon. The Roman soldiers incapacitate Abraham and rape and murder his wife. Abraham and his sons are later freed, but he is forced to surrender his scrolls to a Roman commander.
At this point, Abraham begins a scroll that documents his family's journeys (the so-called "Book of Abraham", around which the story revolves) and lists his sons and their descendants. Each successive generation after Abraham dies adds on to the Book of Abraham, which continues to the point when the original scroll is lost and to the end of the book when Marek Halter's grandfather dies during the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising.
From Jerusalem, the family moves, over the course of nearly 2000 years, to cities such as Carthage, Hippo, Rome, Toledo, Cordoba, Narbonne, Troyes, Strasbourg, Constantinople, Amsterdam, Lublin, Odessa, and Warsaw.
In both the fictional and factual parts of the book, the story coincides with many notable historical events, including the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the Islamic conquests, the Inquisition, the Black Plague, the French Revolution, and World War II, as well as telling the story from the point of view of the Jews during the early to late Middle Ages, Renaissance, Industrial Revolution, and the early Twentieth century (i.e., showing the segregation and hardships faced by the Jews after their expulsion from Palestine).
La Mémoire d'Abraham won the Prix Maison de la Presse [2] [ non-primary source needed ] and the Prix du Livre Inter. [3] [ non-primary source needed ]
The book inspired the identically titled song written by Jean-Jacques Goldman and performed by Celine Dion, "La mémoire d'Abraham", in its original French version. No- it was about the Plains of Abraham in Quebec City and the fight between the French and English.
The Essenes or Essenians were a mystic Jewish sect during the Second Temple period that flourished from the 2nd century BCE to the 1st century CE.
Flavius Josephus or Yosef ben Mattityahu was a Roman–Jewish historian and military leader. Best known for writing The Jewish War, he was born in Jerusalem—then part of the Roman province of Judea—to a father of priestly descent and a mother who claimed royal ancestry.
Herod I or Herod the Great was a Roman Jewish client king of the Herodian Kingdom of Judea. He is known for his colossal building projects throughout Judea. Among these works are the rebuilding of the Second Temple in Jerusalem and the expansion of its base—the Western Wall being part of it. Vital details of his life are recorded in the works of the 1st century CE Roman–Jewish historian Josephus.
The Second Temple was the reconstructed Temple in Jerusalem, in use between c. 516 BCE and its destruction in 70 CE. In its last phase it was enhanced by Herod the Great, the result being later called Herod's Temple. Defining the Second Temple period, it stood as a pivotal symbol of Jewish identity and was central to Second Temple Judaism; it was the chief place of worship, ritual sacrifice (korban), and communal gathering for Jews. As such, it attracted Jewish pilgrims from distant lands during the Three Pilgrimage Festivals: Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot.
The Sadducees were a sect of Jews active in Judea during the Second Temple period, from the second century BCE to the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE. The Sadducees are described in contemporary literary sources in contrast to the two other major sects at the time, the Pharisees and the Essenes.
Judas Maccabaeus or Maccabeus, also known as Judah Maccabee, was a Jewish priest (kohen) and a son of the priest Mattathias. He led the Maccabean Revolt against the Seleucid Empire.
The First Jewish–Roman War, sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt, or the Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire fought in the province of Judaea, resulting in the destruction of Jewish towns, the displacement of its people and the appropriation of land for Roman military use, as well as the destruction of the Jewish Temple and polity.
Most scholars who study the historical Jesus and early Christianity believe that the canonical gospels and the life of Jesus must be viewed within their historical and cultural context, rather than purely in terms of Christian orthodoxy. They look at Second Temple Judaism, the tensions, trends, and changes in the region under the influence of Hellenism and the Roman occupation, and the Jewish factions of the time, seeing Jesus as a Jew in this environment; and the written New Testament as arising from a period of oral gospel traditions after his death.
The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by Jewish subjects against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. The term primarily applies to the First Jewish–Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt, nationalist rebellions striving to restore an independent Jewish state. Some sources also include the Diaspora revolt, an ethno-religious conflict fought across the Eastern Mediterranean and including the Kitos War in Judaea.
The siege of Jerusalem of 70 CE was the decisive event of the First Jewish–Roman War, in which the Roman army led by future emperor Titus besieged Jerusalem, the center of Jewish rebel resistance in the Roman province of Judaea. Following a five-month siege, the Romans destroyed the city, including the Second Jewish Temple.
Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 AD, which at its height incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Idumea Samaria, and Galilee, and parts of the costal plain including Philistia, extending over the territories of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms. The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah, that was centered predominantly in Judea.
Siege of Jerusalem is the title commonly given to an anonymous Middle English epic poem created in the second half of the 14th century. The poem is composed in the alliterative manner popular in medieval English poetry, especially during the period known as the "alliterative revival", and is known from nine surviving manuscripts, an uncommonly high number for works of this time.
Marek Halter is a Polish-born French writer, artist, and human rights activist, best for his historical novels, which have been translated into many languages. He also directed a film, The Righteous, released in 1994.
Megillat Antiochus recounts the story of Hanukkah and the history of the victory of the Maccabees over the hellenistic Seleucid Empire.
The Sasanian conquest of Jerusalem was a significant event in the Byzantine–Sasanian War of 602–628, having taken place in early 614. Amidst the conflict, Sasanian king Khosrow II had appointed Shahrbaraz, his spahbod, to lead an offensive into the Diocese of the East of the Byzantine Empire. Under Shahrbaraz, the Sasanian army had secured victories at Antioch as well as at Caesarea Maritima, the administrative capital of Palaestina Prima. By this time, the grand inner harbour had silted up and was useless, but the city continued to be an important maritime hub after Byzantine emperor Anastasius I Dicorus ordered the reconstruction of the outer harbour. Successfully capturing the city and the harbour had given the Sasanian Empire strategic access to the Mediterranean Sea. The Sasanians' advance was accompanied by the outbreak of a Jewish revolt against Heraclius; the Sasanian army was joined by Nehemiah ben Hushiel and Benjamin of Tiberias, who enlisted and armed Jews from across Galilee, including the cities of Tiberias and Nazareth. In total, between 20,000 and 26,000 Jewish rebels took part in the Sasanian assault on Jerusalem. By mid-614, the Jews and the Sasanians had captured the city, but sources vary on whether this occurred without resistance or after a siege and breaching of the wall with artillery.
Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls? The Search for the Secret Of Qumran is a book by Norman Golb which intensifies the debate over the origins of the Dead Sea Scrolls, furthering the opinion that the scrolls were not the work of the Essenes, as other scholars claim, but written in Jerusalem and moved to Qumran in anticipation of the Roman siege in 70 AD.
The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman siege of Jerusalem.
Judea or Judaea is a mountainous region of the Levant. Traditionally dominated by the city of Jerusalem, it is now part of Palestine and Israel. The name's usage is historic, having been used in antiquity and still into the present day; it originates from Yehudah, a Hebrew name. Yehudah was a son of Jacob, who was later given the name "Israel" and whose sons collectively headed the Twelve Tribes of Israel. Yehudah's progeny among the Israelites formed the Tribe of Judah, with whom the Kingdom of Judah is associated. Related nomenclature continued to be used under the rule of the Babylonians, the Persians, the Greeks, and the Romans. Under the Hasmoneans, the Herodians, and the Romans, the term was applied to an area larger than Judea of earlier periods. In 132 CE, the Roman province of Judaea was merged with Galilee to form the enlarged province of Syria Palaestina.
The siege of Jerusalem occurred during Pompey the Great's campaigns in the East, shortly after his successful conclusion of the Third Mithridatic War. Pompey had been asked to intervene in a dispute over inheritance to the throne of the Hasmonean Kingdom, which turned into a war between Hyrcanus II and Aristobulus II. His conquest of Jerusalem spelled the end of an independent Jewish state, and thus the incorporation of Judea as a client kingdom of the Roman Republic and later as a province of the Roman Empire.
The Hasmonean civil war was fought between two claimants to the Hasmonean Jewish crown. What began as an inter-Jewish conflict became a highly decisive conflict that included the Nabataean Kingdom and ended with Roman involvement. This conflict resulted in the loss of Jewish independence.
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