Page:You Gentiles (1924) by Maurice Samuel 1895-1972.djvu/95

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V

Loyalty

Whenever friendly tribute has been paid to the higher ethical nature of the Jew, it has always been made to appear that the Jew obeys the laws of a common morality more strictly than does the gentile. Jews and friends of Jews have wanted to make it appear that, if we differ from you ethically, it is in that we are more self-sacrificing, more generous, more loyal, more honest, etc. I do not desire to make it appear so, and in the foregoing pages I have tried to avoid any such implication. Within our system we need be neither better nor worse behaved than you within yours. We may transgress as frequently as you, perhaps more frequently—I cannot tell: it is on the nature of the systems that I base the distinction. We deny your very system, you ours.

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