48 HEREDITY AND SOCIETY 



which preserves in a series of ordinances the best results 

 of racial experiences on matters of health and morality, 

 and can endow them with the force of superhuman 

 counsel. No one who is acquainted with Eastern life 

 can read the passages dealing with the social organisa- 

 tion of the Israelites without being struck by the sanity 

 of outlook, the minute attention to detail, the empirical 

 knowledge of obscure facts, and above all, the insight 

 into character certainly into Jewish character shown 

 by the successive legislators who codified the customary 

 observances of the nation. 



A modern lawgiver too often rests content if his 

 enactments are sound and plausible in themselves and 

 have a super ficial air of justice and beneficence. It 

 would be fortunate for the nation he serves if he would 

 take a lesson from his illustrious predecessors, study 

 first the customs and characters of the persons for 

 whom he is legislating, and note the after effect of his 

 ordinances on the composition and destinies of the 

 people before he sits down and writes that all is well. 



There is another point in connection with the Jewish 

 nation that at once strikes an outside observer. In 

 their sacred books as in their national tradition, there 

 is no reference to education apart from the implanting 

 in successive generations of a sound knowledge of 

 religious ideals and racial experiences. To the Jews as 

 to the mediaeval churchman, that alone was education. 

 The technical training, be it in craftsmanship or in the 

 literary arts, that merely enables a man to earn a living 

 and exercise a trade, they were ready to receive from 

 any race with whom they came in contact. It was 

 not education in the sense that it would directly help 



