Page:George Eliot and Judaism.djvu/96

 in her descriptions of Jewish life and ritual may out to the blush even writers who belong to that race. What a loving insight into the spirit of Judaism is expressed by this rejection evoked by the confession of unity in the Shemah: "The divine unity embraced as its consequence the ultimate unity of mankind. The nation which has been scoffed at for its separateness, has given a binding theory to the human race."

There is no delusion on George Eliot's part that the ideas and characters which she has given to the world in this work will be received with unanimity in Christian circles, or with pleasure by all Jews. She knows as well as any one the objections which may be urged against her leading idea; and Mordecai has to endure some very hard hits at his holy enthusiasm in the Philosophers Club at the "Hand and Banner." Gideon, the Jewish optician,