In 1621, England, Sir Henry Finch published The World's Great Restauration: or Calling of the Jews, and with them of all Nations and Kingdoms of the Earth to the Faith of Christ, a book encouraging the restoration of the Jewish state of Israel. This, in many ways, served as early inspiration and support for Zionism—the belief that the Jewish people should reclaim the “promised land” of Israel (Kobler 110). Zionism was a mindset that became increasingly popular in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. However, not all Jews subscribed to Zionism--a fact that is represented in the character of Mordecai, who talks about the division in the Jewish community between those who simply follow tradition, and those who actively do so with reverence and a desire to reunite Israel. Mordecai says:

There is a degradation deep down below the memory that has withered into superstition. In the multitudes of the ignorant on three continents who observe our rites and make the confession of the divine Unity, the soul of Judaism is not dead. Revive the organic centre: let the unity of Israel which has made the growth and form of its religion be an outward reality. Looking toward a land and a polity, our dispersed people in all the ends of the earth may share the dignity of a national life which has a voice among the peoples of the East and the West—which will plant the wisdom and skill of our race so that it may be, as of old, a medium of transmission and understanding. (p. 242)

(Image used is of St. Mary and All Saints church, where Finch is buried (The History of Parliament). I chose this image because I was unable to find an image of Finch, himself. The image of St. Mary and All Saints, Boxley, Kent, is in the common domain.)

Cutts, Robert. “St. Mary and All Saints, Boxley, Kent.” Commons.wikimedia.org/, Wikimedia Commons, 8 July 2009, commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:St._Mary_and_All_Saints,_Boxley,_Kent_(3781776139).jpg.

Eliot, George. Daniel Deronda. HarperPerennial Classics, p. 242. Kindle Edition.

“FINCH, Henry (1558-1625), of Whitefriars, Canterbury, later of Boxley, Kent.” The History of Parliament: British Political, Social & Local History, https://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1558-1603/member/finch-henry-1558-1625. Accessed 29 April 2021.

Kobler, Franz. “Sir Henry Finch (1558—1625): And the First English Advocates Of the Restoration of the Jews to Palestine.” Jewish Historical Society of England, vol. 16, pp. 101-120.