The Thirteenth Tribe
Sir: I read with interest Philip Mason's admirable review of Arthur Koestler's The Thirteenth Tribe (10 April). There is ample reliable historical evidence in support of Mr Koestler's suggestion that the Sephardic or Western Jews may be 'true Jews'— both in religious and racial terms.
The first flowering of Jewish genius in the West took place in Arab Spain. It did so because under the Arabs the Jews enjoyed unprecedented freedom in all walks of life: the Jews were accorded freedom not only because the Arabs treated them as the People of the Book, but also because the Arabs regarded the Jews as the children of Abraham. This belief in a joint patrimony was fully reciprocated in word and deed by the Jews throughout the Arab Empire.
A. Yasamee 49 Queen's Road, London SW19
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