Excerpt from A History of the Jews The Jews are one of the very rare races with a definite mission in the development of mankind - a mission Of which the actors are conscious, if, at times, unwilling agents, destined to play the part of historic advocates for the freedom of the human conscience, in contravention of their own jealous and uncompromising adherence to ethical Monotheism and to the moral purpose of human life the imperishable Jewish contributions to the foundations Of civiliza tion. The Jews have, however, not only given birth to prophets Of the mission of Israel, but, strangest Of all, they have also produced the greatest adversaries Of their own claims and corporate existence. Paul, the apostle Of the Gentiles, who boasted of being a Hebrew of the Hebrews, was the dogmatic founder Of the world-conquering religion Of which Jesus the Messiah (christ) was the spiritual and ethical inspiration; Spinoza, the most dissolving philosopher Of the modern age, broke the trammels of supernaturalism; Karl Marx, the scientific creator of the Socialist movement, became the cosmopolitan prophet of the disinherited of the whole human race. In spite of the extraordinary kaleidoscopic changes in Jewish history - from the conquest Of the now extinct and forgotten Canaanites to the combat with the widespread and powerful forces of modern anti-semitism - an extensive survey of it presents a cycle Of manifestations and problems that continually repeats itself, In substance, Jewish history is concentrated on the never-ending struggle between the universalistic and particularistic tendencies of Jewish thought and life, and, from the conflicts between Prophecy and Priesthood to those of Nationalism and Assimilation, we discern the same heroic effort to save the Jewish life by losing it. Never has such solidarity been exhibited between the scattered atoms of a race that frequently even lack molecular attraction, yet never has a people risen to such sublime heights, with entire Oblivion of itself. It is because throughout this Jewish struggle for life there appears one underlying, fundamental purpose - the fulfilment Of law and prophecy in their workings in History. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.