a simple, common life, which I should ennoble from
within. Then I think of you and look higher." The tender inquisitress
was not satisfied, declares the biographer of Renan,[U] until all was
pure, exact, discreet and true. She said to her brother: Be thou
perfect. Most of all she sought to cultivate in him the habit of
veracity, a habit the seminary had not inculcated it appears. So great
was the influence of Henriette that for years afterward not only did
her brother act as she would bid him act, but, far rarer triumph of
her love, he thought as she would have bid him think, in all
seriousness, in all tenderness, with a remote and noble elevation,
checking as they rose those impulses toward irony, frivolity,
scepticism, which she had not loved.

CHAPTER XIII

WHAT OF THE JEWISH HOME?

Before answering the question, what of the Jewish home, before
discussing the problem to what extent does the irrepressible conflict
take place therein, it is needful to place the Jewish home in its
proper setting. In truth, the historical glory of the Jewish home, let
Jews remember and non-Jews learn, is the most beautiful and honorable
chapter in Jewish history. Nothing can dim the brightness of its
one-time splendor. If nothing else of Israel were to survive, the
memory of the home would honor and glorify Israel for all time. Truly
there is nothing in world history quite comparable thereto.

Somehow the world without has been touched to awe at the beauty and
radiance of the home in Israel. It has felt that the reverent love
within the Jewish home was more than love and reverence, that these
were touched by that beauty of holiness which gave to them their
exalted quality. The Jewish home blended two ideals, patriarchal and
matriarchal. It was never patriarchate alone, nor yet solely
matriarchate. It was a home governed by a joint sovereignty. It rested
no more truly upon tender love for the mother than upon real reverence
for the father. In a sense, it might be thought that herein the Jewish
home was not unique, for Plato had said: "After the gods and
demi-gods, parents ought to have the most honor." And Aristotle had
added: "It is proper to give them honor such as is given to the gods."
But the God whom Israel honored stood infinitely higher than the gods
whom the Greeks honored before parents. Canon Driver points out in the
Cambridge Bible that duty to parents stands next to duties toward God:
the penalty for cursing the