d not observe the
impression he had created. He had warmed up to his subject and pursued
it mercilessly.

"The Israelites in America," he continued, "are free and respected. They
enjoy equal rights with the citizens of other religious beliefs. They
are at liberty to go wherever they please and to live as they desire,
and are often chosen to positions of honor and responsibility. Such
distinctions are only obtained, however, after one has become a citizen,
and citizenship means adherence to the laws of the land and assimilation
with its inhabitants. It was not long before I discovered, through
constant friction with intelligent people about me, the absurdity of
many of my ideas and prejudices. The more I associated with my
fellow-men the more difficult I found it to retain the superstitions of
by-gone days."

"But in giving up what you call superstition," said the Rabbi, "are you
not giving up a portion of your religion as well?"

"By no means," said Philip, eagerly. "If Rabbi Jeiteles will pardon my
speaking upon a subject concerning which he is better instructed and
which he is better qualified to expound than myself, I will endeavor to
tell why. You well know that until after the destruction of the second
Temple the Jews had no Talmud. They then obeyed the laws of God in all
their simplicity and as they understood them, and not one of you will
assert that they were not good and pious Jews. Then came the writers of
the Talmud with their explanations and commentaries, and the laws of
Moses acquired a new meaning. Stress was laid upon words instead of upon
ideas, upon conventionalities instead of upon the true spirit of God's
word. After five centuries of Talmudists had exhausted all possible
explanations of the Scriptures, the study of the Law eventually paved
the way for the invention of the _Cabala_. A new bible was constructed.
The pious were no longer content with a rational observance of the
Mosaic command, but a hidden meaning must be found for every word and in
many cases for the individual letters of the Pentateuch. The six hundred
and thirteen precepts of Moses were so altered, so tortured to fit new
constructions, that the great prophet would experience difficulty in
recognizing any one of his beautiful laws from the rubbish under which
it now lies buried. New laws and ceremonies, new beliefs and, worse than
all, new superstitions were thrust upon the people already weakened by
mental fatigue caused by thei