By
– September 28, 2012
The Footsteps of Israel is an unusual book. Scheil travels to uncharted territory as he explores the rich role of Jews in Anglo Saxon England, uncovering Jewish references from late antiquity to the early Middle Ages.
The author goes into great detail — in sources and in history, in Latin and in Old English— to show connections between the images of the Jews throughout history. Some of those images are positive while others are images of evil, ugliness and hate.
While Scheil is able to point out references of wonderful pride in what was Jewish, the reality is that the vast majority of this material points directly to what we know as anti-Semitism today.
Micah D. Halpern is a columnist and a social and political commentator. He is the author of What You Need To Know About: Terror, and maintains The Micah Report at www.micahhalpern.com.
