Thomas Mann an Cyrus H. Gordon, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton

Dankt für die Übersendung seines Artikels ›Biblical Customs and the Nuzi Tablets‹, den er mit besonderem Interesse las. Ist erstaunt über den Abschnitt, worin G. erklärt, dass die Hebräer und Horiter keine Nation, Religion oder Sprache kennzeichneten, sondern eine soziale Stellung. Fragt sich dabei, welche Position G. sich dabei vorstelle. »I had always regarded the Hebrews as a race, believing them to be a group of persons who were connected by common descent, but whose limits of race were set by the religious tenets they upheld. The fact that many people joined the Hebrews on account of their religion would seem to me to put a religious rather than a social connotation on the word Hebrew.«