John Stuart Mill writes: “In justice to the great Hebrew lawgiver, it should always be remembered that the precept to love thy neighbour as thyself already existed in the Pentateuch; and very surprising it is to find it there” (_Three Essays on Religion_, 2nd edition, p. 98). Had Mill understood the precept in its original sense, he would certainly not have been surprised to find it in the Mosaic Law. But even so logical a thinker could not free himself from the influences of his education and his environment, and he did not see that a meaning had been read into this verse which was opposed to its literal sense. Footnote 173: The Russian philosopher Vladimir Solovioff was the first, if I am not mistaken, to attempt to find a moral basis for international relations in the precept “Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself,” taken in the sense mentioned above. This philosopher was an untiring student of Judaism, for which he had an appreciation unusual among Christians—a fact not without its significance. Footnote 174: Mr. Montefiore, indeed, does not admit this. In his opinion the morality of Jewish family life is a fact not because of the laws, but in spite of them. If you ask how such a thing is possible, he replies somewhat as follows: It has already been remarked that Judaism does not obey the laws of cause and effect, and we sometimes see a certain tendency in Jewish life which ought logically to have certain effects, but has in practice just the opposite results (p. 335). Truly an easy and comfortable “philosophy of history”! Footnote 175: Even Matthew, who permits divorce on the ground of unfaithfulness, makes this exception (as some Christian commentators have pointed out) only because the sanctity of the marriage is profaned by the sin, and the divine union is annulled of _itself_. The point of view is essentially the same in both versions. Footnote 176: In England the question has become so acute that the Government has appointed a Commission to find means of making divorce easier. Men of knowledge and experience, in evidence before the Commission, have expressed the opinion that the restriction of the possibility of divorce has very evil results. Footnote 177: In England the law to-day is still in the spirit of Matthew; the wife’s unfaithfulness is sufficient ground of divorce for the husband, but the reverse does not hold good. Footnote 178: [Divine Presence. See p. 97.] INDEX _Abstract_ ideal—a characteristic of Jewish religious and moral outlook, 230 _sqq._, 235 _sq._ Achad Ha-Am, vii, viii, xii, xxii Agrarian Credit Bank, 138 _sq._, 144 Akiba, R., 237, 241. _Alliance Israélite Universelle_, 46 (footnote) Altruism = inverted egoism, 236, 240-3 Anti-Semitism, 42 _sq._, 61 sqq., 67 _sqq._, 81, 134 _sq._, 223 Arabs, xx, 144, 147 —— National characteristics of, 20