Under these circumstances the conservatism of the Jews in matters of religion can no longer astonish us. Rejected by the world, they lived in a world of their own. They had inherited from their ancestors an extended code of ceremonial observances, dietary laws, and minute and manifold directions for the conduct of life. In these they beheld the bulwark of their religion, the common bond that united the scattered members of their race. The Jew of Persia or Palestine could come among his German brethren, and hear the same prayers expressed in the same language, and recognize the same customs as were current among his co-religionists in the East. The passwords of the faith were everywhere understood. To preserve complete unanimity with respect to religious usage was a measure dictated by the commanding instinct of self-preservation. The Jews of all countries were furthermore united by the common yearnings with which they looked back to the past, and their common hope of ultimate restoration to the heritage of the promised land.** * A general tax paid in recognition of the Emperor's protection; the Temple tax claimed by the Holy Roman Emperor in his capacity as the successor of Vespasian; the so-called _aurum coronarium_, or coronation tax, by virtue of which every new emperor, upon his accession to the throne, could confiscate the third part of the property of the Jews. Besides these, extraordinary levies were frequent. ** On the eve of the 9th of the fifth month it was customary at Jerusalem to announce the number of years that had elapsed since the fall of the Temple. Zunz, Die Ritus, p. 84.