against him by refusing to countenance their hopes of freedom from the Romans by acquiescing in the payment of tribute to them.
The preceding pages, therefore, may be regarded as a sort of Apologia of the Jewish people for their so-called "rejection" of Jesus. As a matter of fact, he mainly expressed movements which were already in existence among the Jewish people, as I have also endeavored to show in my description of him, and was chiefly opposed in principle to the sacerdotal party, who therefore, as a natural consequence, brought about his death after a hurried and, from a Jewish standpoint, illegal trial. By displaying the essential Jewishness of most of Jesus' doctrines I was hoping to attract the interest of Jews themselves towards the most influential figure that has appeared among them. Owing to the legends and metaphysical conceptions that have gathered round him, and the crimes that have been committed in his name, many Jews even to this day refuse to consider Jesus as a member of their race.
Another object I had in view in present-
