It is truly staggering to imagine that nearly four thousand years of Jewish history could ever be condensed into a single volume. Yet this is what Moshe Weiss has accomplished in A Brief History of the Jewish People, and he has done so with a breadth of narrative and a depth of learning that render this book remarkably accessible and informative to readers and students from all walks of life. From the journey of the patriarch Abraham as he spread the teaching of monotheism in Canaan, to the dazzling achievements of the American-Jewish community and the creation of the State of Israel in the latter half of the twentieth century, the entire spectrum of tumultuous history is traversed. In twenty-three concise, lucid and information-packed chapters, the reader moves from the formative years of the Jewish people to the kingdoms of Judea and Samaria, to the destruction of the First and Second Temples followed by two thousand years of exile peopled by brilliant, legendary figures as well as by adventurers and knaves. It is an inspiring and enlightening history of a unique people distinguished by suffering and survival, by scholarship and spirituality. Beginning with the growth of a small tribe on the sands of Israel, and concluding with the ongoing negotiations between the children of Abraham—Isaac and Ishmael—to secure a place in the land of their ancestors, it is a vibrant and heroic history, at times tragic, at times triumphant, all of it coming alive in these pages. Comprehensive in scope yet rich in detail, this book was created for students of all kinds—those in the classroom at every level of their education as well as those interested intelligent readers who want to advance their knowledge and learn on their own. Readers will find represented here every contemporary group of the Jewish faith—Ashkenazim and Sephardim, Orthodox, Conservative, and Reform—as well as almost every great empire and nation that had ever existed on the earth as Jewish history unfolded over four millennia. A Brief His

"The history of the Jewish people is anything but brief - so many centuries, so many countries, so many languages, so many movements, so many personalities and so much more material both primary and secondary. Squeezing all this into a slim volume that is readable, concise, accurate, and that balances comprehensive scope with rich details is quite challenging. For the most part Rabbi Dr. Weiss manages to do just that. One may quibble with what was omitted and how many paragraphs were allotted to certain topics, as one may differ on certain interpretations of events. However, this volume is a very good and efficient summary of many major element of Jewish history...This book is well suited as an introductory text of Jewish history, and the Glossary and Index are quite useful." - Jewish Book World

"I warmly recommend this book as an elementary textbook for the study of Jewish history." - AJL Newsletter