The Narrow Paths of Knowledge
For centuries the Jewish people have given rise to a profusion of myths which were the basis of anti-Semitism.
 
-The myth of the deistical people and the "wandering Jew", foundations of Christian anti-Semitism.
The "wandering Jew" or nomad of "no fixed abode" provoked cataclysms and epidemics. That hairy man, different in appearance, traditions, and language from the indigenous people could be deported or killed quite legally.
 
The racial myth, the foundation of Nazi anti-Semitism.
This myth reached its peak in the first half of the twentieth century with the work of H.S. Chamberlain for whom there existed only two pure races, the Ayrians and the Jews; and Jesus was Aryan.
 
-The latest myth: the non-existence of the Jewish people.
This myth was created in the imagination of an authentic historian, Shlomo Sand: "The diaspora was not born from exile."
In his opinion, most Jewish people were pagans who converted to Judaism:
-Sephardic Jews are descendants of the Cabilas who adopted the Mosaic religion in the 7th century.
-Ashkenazi Jews are descendants of the Khazars who converted to Judaism in the 8th century.
-The Palestinians are the true Jews, descendants of Jews who converted to Islam or Christianity.
 
Paul Benaim finds objections to this thesis:
-For a conversion there have to be at least two sides. 
How could the Khazares and Cabilas have converted to Judaism without the presence of the Jews?
 
-Transmitted memories of the converts
If we are to believe our historian, the Khazars and the Cabilas, the majority illiterate, were capable after their conversion of reading the Torah in Hebrew, assimilating the Talmud and its subtleties, of reciting the ancient prayers and of transmitting Jewish culture to their children.
 
-The foundations of belonging to a people.
It is true that there were many mixed unions, but those mixes do not alter the feeling of belonging to a people whose religion, traditions and Hebrew language have lasted in spite of others and their persecutions.