It will be objected that the patriarchal system as conceived by orthodox Jews could by no means include the religion of Reason as advocated by Weishaupt. It must not, however, be forgotten that to the Jewish mind the human race presents a dual aspect, being divided into two distinct categories--the privileged race to whom the promises of God were made, and the great mass of humanity which remains outside the pale. Whilst strict adherence to the commands of the Talmud and the laws of Moses is expected of the former, the most indefinite of religious creeds suffices for the nations excluded from the privileges that Jewish birth confers. It was thus that Moses Mendelssohn wrote to the pastor Lavater, who had sought to win him over to Christianity: Pursuant to the principles of my religion, I am not to seek to convert anyone who is not born according to our laws. This proneness to conversion, the origin of which some would fain tack on to the Jewish religion, is, nevertheless, diametrically opposed to it. Our rabbis unanimously teach that the written and oral laws which form conjointly our revealed religion are obligatory on our nation only. "Moses commanded us a law, even the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob." We believe that all other nations of the earth have been directed by God to adhere to the laws of nature, and to the religion of the patriarchs. Those who regulate their lives according to the precepts of this _religion of nature and of reason_[598] are called virtuous men of other nations and are the children of eternal salvation.[599] Our rabbis are so remote from Proselytomania, that they enjoin us to dissuade, by forcible remonstrances, everyone who comes forward to be converted. (The Talmud says ... "proselytes are annoying to Israel like a scab.")[600] But was not this "religion of nature and of reason" the precise conception of Weishaupt? Whether, then, Weishaupt was directly inspired by Mendelssohn or any other Jew must remain for the present an open question. But the Jewish connexions of certain other Illuminati cannot be disputed. The most important of these was Mirabeau, who arrived in Berlin just after the death of Mendelssohn and was welcomed by his disciples in the Jewish salon of Henrietta Herz. It was these Jews, "ardent supporters of the French Revolution"[601] at its outset, who prevailed on Mirabeau to write his great apology for their race under the form of a panegyric of Mendelssohn.