" The Jews had been created to leaven the dough of humanity, to enlighten the gentiles. They did not have state power, or military force, or wide territories. But they had brains. The intellect, and the reasoning process, were their weapons. The scholar thus had outstanding status in their society, and so peculiar responsibilities; the leading scholar had the most exacting duties it was possible to imagine–he must take the lead in turning a savage and irrational world into a reasonable one, conforming to the divine and perfect intellect. "

― Paul Johnson , A History of the Jews