A presentation of the book ‘The Origins of the Inquisition in Spain in the 15th Century’ was held in Moscow. Its author is the outstanding scientist and medievalist, and father of the current Prime Minister of Israel, Benzion Netanyahu.
The presentation was held at the Russian State Humanitarian University. As stated by its rector, Efim Pivovar, "On the one hand, it is a scientific work. On the other hand, it is present, and not only the present, not only the past, but also the future of relations between Russia and Israel, which are also very important. Undoubtedly, this phenomenon is very significant for us. And I want to emphasize that the Russian State University for the Humanities will continue this line as far as possible "
Efim Pivovar
The release of this book in the Russian language is also a significant event for the family of the author. The preface to the Russian edition was written by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his younger brother, the playwrighte Ido Netanyahu. He arrived in Moscow specially for the presentation of the book. For the first time, this monumental work amounting to one and a half thousand pages, was published in English, and sold 40,000 copies. This is a large figure for scientific literature. Daniel Fradkin has been working on the translation of the monograph into Russian.
Daniel Fradkin
"There was a national myth. A myth which is very flattering for us. It's nice to know that we, the Jews, were forced once, 500 years ago, to abandon our religion, our traditions, and keep them in secret. Unfortunately, it was not quite true, if not more. And in order to acknowledge it, to express it in ones book, a very large civil courage of the scientist is needed. The courage of a scientist, who, unlike the ideologist, seeks the truth. He does not reject, like ideologist, everything that is contrary to his hypothesis, but on the contrary, lists all the counter-arguments to refute them. A refution documentary, "Fradkin said.
Natalya Basovskaya
A specialist in the history of the Middle Ages, Natalya Basovskaya, highly acclaimed the scientific publication.: "The book was written by a passionate man. I really like scientific authors. He is certainly a great specialist, but he writes like a passionate, sensual man, that draws people who read it into his ideas. Like a tribune. And the theme – it is such a theme, on which you can and should write like a tribune. The fate of Spanish Jewry is a key one in the history of the Jews of Europe and the Jewish Diaspora as a phenomenon. That is what prompted the management of the Russian Jewish Congress to the initiative to translate Professor Netanyahu's book into Russian. "
The President of the Russian Jewish Congress, Yuri Kanner admitted that it turned out to be quite complex work to translate the book, which is both a serious scientific work and a bestseller, and also a book which is easy to read: "We did it by attracting a large group of professionals. And the very good work of the translator. It is easy to read it."
Yuri Kanner
The publication was produced in a small printrun, and initially it was assumed that it would be distributed to research libraries and specialized centers. However, the book has already managed to cause great public interest, which is why the management of the Russian Jewish Congress has decided to publish a new edition, which will also appear in stores soon.
