this intellectual revival, this wonderful
activity of various thinkers among medieval Jewry, required a soil
susceptible to such seeds, an atmosphere favorable to this intense search
for truth. This existed only in the Jewish people, since the universal
study of the Torah brought it about that "all the children of Israel had
light in their dwellings" even while dense darkness covered the nations of
the medieval world.

9. We must not underrate the cultural mission of the Jewish people, with
its striking contrast to the New Testament point of view, which created
monasteries and the celibate ideal, and thus discouraged industry,
commerce, and scientific inquiry. Dispersed as they were, the Jewish
people cultivated both commerce and science, and thus for centuries were
the real bearers of culture, the intermediaries between East and West.
While the Church divided mankind into heirs of heaven and hell, thus
sowing discord and hatred, the little group of Jews maintained their ideal
of an undivided humanity. But even their industrial and commercial
activity had more than a mere economic significance. Forced upon the Jew
by external pressure, it was favored by Jewish teaching as a means of
promoting spiritual life. Not poverty and beggary, but wealth begotten by
honest toil has the sanction of Judaism in accordance with the saying
"Where there is no flour for bread, there can be no support for the study
of the Torah."(1164) Moreover, the rabbis interpreted the verse, "Rejoice,
O Zebulun, in thy going out, and thou, Issachar, in thy tents,"(1165) as
meaning that Zebulun, the seafarer, shared the profit of his commerce with
Issachar, who taught the law in the tents of the Torah, that he, in turn,
might share his brother's spiritual reward. Indeed, the Jew used his gains
won by trade in the service of the promotion of learning, and thus his
entire industry assumed a higher character. Our modern civilization, with
its higher values of life, owes much to the cultural activity of the
medieval Jew, which many leaders of the ruling Church still ignore
completely. It is true that the hard struggle for their very existence
kept the people unconscious of their cultural mission, and only now that
they have attained the higher historical point of view can they exclaim
with Joseph their ancestor: "As for you, ye meant evil against me; but God
meant it for good, to bring it to pass, as it is this day, to save much
people alive."(1166) The fac