more on this theme | more from this thinker | more from this text
Full Idea
In exile the Jews, deprived of a state, became a nomocracy - voluntarily submitting to rule by a Law which could only be enforced by consent. Nothing like this had occurred before in history.
Clarification
'Nomos' is the Greek word for law
Gist of Idea
In exile the Jews became a nomocracy
Source
Paul Johnson (The History of the Jews [1987], Pt II)
Book Ref
Johnson,Paul: 'A History of the Jews' [Phoenix 1993], p.83
A Reaction
It is the most remarkable case in history of a people united and strengthened by adversity, and it became an important experiment in the building of human cultures. But what is the point of preserving a culture, with no land? Why not just integrate?