You Can't Judge a Book by Its Cover pretend to be Jewish so that the mohel will perform the circumcision. The mohel tells her that they are entering a covenant and she vows to raise the baby as a Jew. Orson is angry when he finds out she went behind his back and she admits that since Benjamin is related to her by blood, she felt her wishes were more important. He wants to know if she considers him to be the baby’s father since he does not just want to be a glorified babysitter. Dylan uses a school assignment on genealogy to probe for more information on
What Is a Nation? Language, by contrast, "invites us but does not force us, to unite". Countries which share the Spanish or English language don't merge with one another, while the people of Switzerland speak several languages. Modern nationhood also cannot be based on religion, which Renan observes, is currently practiced according to individual belief. "You can be French, English, German, yet Catholic, Protestant, Jewish, or practicing no religion". Mutuality of interests is fine for corporations and their affiliates, but nationality is based on sentiment. Geography merely leads us astray, and often to violence: "Mountains don't know how to carve out countries". Renan concludes