Ode To The Jews

by rabbifink on January 12, 2010 · 9 comments

Today’s NY Times has some glowing praise for the Jewish People. David Brooks holds nothing bakc in his effervescent article chronicling the great succeses of the Jewish People in the modern era and particularly in Israel.

It is something of note that such a small people makes up such a large number of success stories. Brooks notes accomplishments as chess champions and Nobel laureates, Ivy League School attendance, Academy Award Nominations, philanthropists and Pulitzer Prize winners, among others. For some reason he omits athletics. Have you not heard of Omri Casspi!? (I kid.)

I recommend reading the article on the NY Times website.

Brooks struggles to explain this phenomena. It is not sufficient.

How are we to explain the successes of this miniscule group of people who share common ancestral ties.

I don’t think it can be the Jewish religion because there are so many variants of its practice and the majority of Jewish people do not practice Judaism!

Is it a random deviation from the normative probability of a group of people this small?

Brooks can’t answer is. I can’t answer it.

So what is it?

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Tagged as: David Brooks, Jews, Judaism, Nobel Prize, NY Times

  • guest

    “I don’t think it can be the Jewish religion because there are so many variants of its practice and the majority of Jewish people do not practice Judaism!”

    The error is in believing that this matters. This is a very christian way of thinking and goes against the very role G-d tells us we have.

    If we don’t follow Judaism, we will lose nation and land, we will suffer and have bad times, and we get personal punishment. But it doesn’t say that if we don’t follow Judaism, G-d will not still use us to help push His agenda along. We are his Holy nation whether we like it or not. And isn’t that the main lesson of being Jewish? We were removed from Egypt for His purpose, and we are slaves/servants/workers for Hashem, and we follow mitzvot out of responsibility and gratitude.

    Bilam was not Jewish, but still did G-d’s work. Yonah tried to flee Hashem, but was still pushed to do what was needed despite his lack of faith/desire to follow.

    On the other hand, secularist like to site “self fulfilling prophecy” and natural selection, claiming that only the brightest of Jewish families could have survived the hardships we went through. But to me, that would mean that Native Americans and Armenians should also be disproportionately influential.

  • http://finkorswim.com rabbifink

    I agree. I don’t believe it.

    All I was saying is that if all Jews practiced Judaism we could (perhaps) “blame” success of Jews on religion. But that isn’t even an option.

    • guest

      Again, I don’t see what practice has to do with anything.
      There is nothing in Judaism which says “If you keep my commandments, you will be influential in society.”

      However the Torah does say, “Those who bless you will be blessed, and you will be a blessing to others.” There is no instruction or implication here that this is based on our merits, or our “practice.”

      • http://finkorswim.com rabbifink

        It has nothing to do with it.

        But imagine if all Jews were very religious, one could make a (false) argument that the observance of the Jews makes them more successful.

        If one would argue that I would counter with the valid points you have made in your comments.

  • Offwinger

    My Guess?

    Part of it is genetics, especially for Ashkenazic Jewry. f you look at the Ashkenazic genetic bottle-neck, it’s clear that the same source of weakness, e.g., higher incidence of recessive genetic disorders, could also have produced genetic advantages.

    Part of it was a socio-cultural adaptation in response to external forces, namely that Jews have been prohibited from land-owning for over one thousand years. Those who survived had to do so by virtue of being merchants, traders, or other forms of “skilled” labor. The lack of landedness meant that Jews carried their wealth in portable forms as well. Between the professions chosen and accumulation of portable wealth, Jews had better connections to move, as economic and political conditions changed.

    Part of it is that Jews had less opportunity to assimilate, while still maintaining fewer ethnic characteristics that would prevent “passing.” We don’t have comparison subgroups of small population, because how many other minority groups from 1500 years ago + still even exist? Either they died or became “everybody.” Jews never had the opportunity to do so, and when they did, they too assimilated. Nonethlesss, Jews could also “hide” sometimes, as needed for survival. Comparison to ‘modern’ minorities lacks the historical perspective or the same ability to hide to weather out storms.

    Oh. And God likes us. The end. :)

  • Offwinger

    My Guess?

    Part of it is genetics, especially for Ashkenazic Jewry. f you look at the Ashkenazic genetic bottle-neck, it’s clear that the same source of weakness, e.g., higher incidence of recessive genetic disorders, could also have produced genetic advantages.

    Part of it was a socio-cultural adaptation in response to external forces, namely that Jews have been prohibited from land-owning for over one thousand years. Those who survived had to do so by virtue of being merchants, traders, or other forms of “skilled” labor. The lack of landedness meant that Jews carried their wealth in portable forms as well. Between the professions chosen and accumulation of portable wealth, Jews had better connections to move, as economic and political conditions changed.

    Part of it is that Jews had less opportunity to assimilate, while still maintaining fewer ethnic characteristics that would prevent “passing.” We don’t have comparison subgroups of small population, because how many other minority groups from 1500 years ago + still even exist? Either they died or became “everybody.” Jews never had the opportunity to do so, and when they did, they too assimilated. Nonethlesss, Jews could also “hide” sometimes, as needed for survival. Comparison to ‘modern’ minorities lacks the historical perspective or the same ability to hide to weather out storms.

    Oh. And God likes us. The end. :)

  • guest

    “Part of it was a socio-cultural adaptation…”

    Where are the disproportionate numbers of gypsies, homosexuals, Armenians, African Europeans, Native Americans, Tibetans, Basque(spanish), Irish etc… There are LOTS of groups of people who have existed over 1500 years ago.

    The groups of people who were unable to hide should show even greater strengths as those who survived must of had traits that made their inability to hide still save them.

    Also the high-tech sector in Israel right now is largely non-ashkenazim.

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