The success of the Jewish race

Jewish people loom large in science, medicine, finance and technology. The Israelis have underlined this leading edge status by covid inoculating their population faster than any other nation.

Why is this small nation of people spread all over the planet so successful ? In part emerging from centuries of persecution they have something to prove. And they have a long history with education. But I think the role of religion may be under estimated.

I know nothing about atheism among Jews, although  I suspect it’s high. But the Jewish people cling to their cultural heritage which is deeply rooted in religion.....the Passover, Hanukkah,  Yom Kippur, Bar mitzvahs etc. These are the roots of their unique status.

Remove these things and being a small group, in no time they would be absorbed. Religion is core to their success. So we have to ask the question, if the most successful people on the planet benefit with religious association.....are the Western countries which turn from religion losing something vital to their success. 

Not all Jews are religious...not sure which race-box to put them in, but they are definitely a genetically unique group of people...

Perhaps there are some messages, as Moz says, contained in the Torah that, once taken to heart by a population, help to strengthen and clarify their world view beyond what many/most other learning, religious or otherwise, could.

The Book of Job being one of the best examples that I can think of. 

Even if you replace the word God with the word  chance/randomness/universe...it still makes perfect sense and teaches a strong lesson about human ability and expectation in light of our very limited understanding. Philosophically, it naturally leads to one thinking about altruism and understanding that doing good because you will be rewarded is basically an investment and not Devine.

As a kid I went to church with my family and there was always a heavy focus on act in x way and you will receive y reward. 

Perhaps that's the difference between Christians and Jews. The New Testament calls on you to simply accept Jesus as your saviour while the Jews draw a harsher distinction between what places you on the right or wrong side of God...there are no medals for competing in the Torah.

This will astound most...Jews are now accepting Christ as the genuine Messiah.

Here is a Rabbi that preaches the true gospel.

https://youtu.be/4Oz-lMXvUj0

Some Jews have accepted Jesus as King. Most have not. 

They are a people who carry God's favour. It is the sole reason they're so successful.

Sharkbok, I think you have the bible-bashers scratching their heads wondering how to answer your question .

It's a valid question, if god's chosen race don't believe in this Jesus chap, why should anyone else?

No doubt we'll get the usual drivel about god working in mysterious ways and we mere mortals can't possibly understand him . . . but we all know that's a cop-out.  

Emm God's favor?, haven't the Jews suffered like thousands of years of persecution?

So if it’s not god, and it’s not religious practice....what is it? Genetics? Are we suggesting this small tribe, that interbred with other tribes, many of whom are now called Arabs and then interbred within Europe,  has developed a uniquely successful genetic pool?  

And by contrast the genetic pool that produced Newton and Gauss has suddenly become stupider?

All just coincidence...

Jacob was the founding father of the Israelites...

Funny how SB believe all the junk theories as long it is anti-religion.    He has no respect for fellow humans who are religious and must be suffering from something delusion-related.       .    

It's called insecurity, Mike.

Go on, Moz give us your take.

All I can think of that perhaps the Hebrew language plays a part. 

However, I wonder if more than half of second generation Jews outside of Israel actually speak Hebrew?

"Occam's razor is the principle that, of two explanations that account for all the facts, the simpler one is more likely to be correct. It is applied to a wide range of disciplines, including religion, physics, and medicine."

Maybe they're simply good at transferring their knowledge to their children. Success breeds success.

Draad,

Your simplistic interpretation of Occams razor is a misinterpretation. 
It is not about being simple, it is having fewer unproven assumptions...
A simpleton will not accept many proven facts, so they are not in the same reality anyway. 

Occam's razor (or Ockham's razor) is a principle from philosophy. Suppose there exist two explanations for an occurrence. In this case the one that requires the smallest number of assumptions is usually correct. Another way of saying it is that the more assumptions you have to make, the more unlikely an explanation.

Snarkhole...it's not my simplistic interpretation...I just Googled  and copied and pasted it.

"Maybe they're simply good at transferring their knowledge to their children. Success breeds success"

Indeed Pakie...but they surely are a unique people on this Earth and their recorded history spans thousands of years.

It's obviously not proof of anything  supernatural...it just goes to show that, although all people are equal, all people are not the same.

In the case of the screamers on site - there is a huge difference between the Jewish Community and what is going on in the western countries where the cancel culture against anything historic is under attack, the Jewish people in general have strong cultural links based on their history as a people.   

However, the Jews are not a homogenous community.   About 30% of the community in the USA can be classed as Orthodox Jews - who are very conservative and support the State of Israel,   Then you get  about 15% of the Jews who have tendencies to be Orthodox bit without some of the believes and objectives and not particularly supporting the state of Israel.

As to the remainder they often are really the core of the Democratic Party support, with many being ultra liberal and  can be extreme socialists  nd the core of Communism within the Democratic Party in many cases they hate anything Jewish  like for instance examples of Soros and Senator  Sanders.                      

Plum my guess is somewhat along the lines of Pakie’s theory....knowledge is passed along the generations, and learning is encouraged. But there is a cultural structure which enables all this and I think the ongoing link to religious practice plays a big role.

We have lost a unifying, inspiring force with religion’s demise in the West. And nothing that speaks to the human spirit has been put in it’s place. So the West is gradually fading.

"But there is a cultural structure which enables all this and I think the ongoing link to religious practice plays a big role."

Their culture is followed religiously...and being persecuted as a group for centuries added some perseverance to the culture...the Holocaust wasn't the first case of antisemitism in western history...only the worst...envy of their wealth and success, as well as their custom of sticking to their own have resulted in them being hated and distrusted as a group for centuries. 

Funny thing is, I was surprised when I discovered this, because it's not the same in South Africa...here they almost always are respected members of the community, without the negative sentiment. 

Enter, Islam.

I recall a post of yours some years back where you mentioned the amount of Nobel Prizes winners over population size, between Jews and Muslims.

That would suggest that a common religious practice isn't enough. Far as I know, Islam is quite demanding in terms of how much work a follower is to put in. Praying numerous times a day, diet and lifestyle restriction, etc. Generally, also quite a strong sense of community.

Well, with Islam the aggressor shoe is on the other foot...I've yet to hear of a Jewish suicide bomber.

PS...there are some odd parallels between the Jewish state and the  Apartheid state of old ...

The Voortrekkers rebranded the Great Trek as the promised land, which predates Apartheid by hundreds of years. Exodus...

There is more similarity between the Jews and White South Africans losing their promised land, with many now dispersed across the world. 

Seems God also lied to South Africans...or at least white South Africans...
Maybe one day the UN will give white South Africans their own land in South Africa where they can govern themselves. (Or at least not have the ANC running their land).  Zionism...

Aag, p!ssoff simpleton...tell me again, why did you do the chicken-run to Pommerania? 

Now what have we here - a person who left  SA because the Blacks were taking over the Government like so many other so-called neo-liberals did  and then they claim they did not benefit from apartheid and did bit support the Nats?       

Chickenrunner lecturing the ones who stayed behind and are still contributing...go figure...obnoxious surfer dopehead always know better, even when they know fckall.

"Realiststs" lol...

Draad,

Bombs didn't exist when the Arabs found Islam and immediately ceased contribution, previously sizeable, to human advancement. 

Bad memes. If you take together or break down all the ideas within the Koran Vs the Torah, and look at that information as genes. Certain ideas are more likely to be propagated and play out within society. 

EG Buddhism + Virtue signalling = predominantly the reason for some whities latching onto certain of its principles. Or, more simply..."I'm such a humble guy, you should totally let me in your pants, miss!" Data emanating from the informational primordial soup, forming chains that may benefit the host.

Factors creating the selection criteria may be geographical, social, political or a host of other circumstances and one probably has to look at the entirety of the timeline, in order to assess whether it constitutes a net benefit or the opposite.

But that isn't the interesting part. This is...

Look at the Old Testament, it operates similarly to how the Simpsons t.v. show does. It entertains thought processes on multiple levels while telling only one story and never having to deviate to do so. Noah's Arc is a good example. A child understands that people were bad and got punished. Someone a bit older is made familiar with such concepts as retribution, preparation, suffering, peace and divine treaty. And then someone more mentally capable is catered for when they have to consider their relationship with the force that manifests all of these things and the reasoning involved.

From a data perspective, this is most akin to encryption. Where processes are required to unpack full meaning. I'm gonna bet that, in terms of a hierarchy of meme complexity, at the time, the Torah was either close to or totally unmatched. And that's before you factor in the Hebrew alphabet's numbering system. 

I can see a handful of stories being lucky enough for one to discern tiered meaning but in the Old Testament, it is quite abundant and very deliberate.

Neither the New Testament nor the Koran do the above as often or as well as the Torah. 

The writers of the Torah were way smarter than we think and that they understood how to create chains of information that would naturally decrypt inside the host over time...while never deviating from the narrative. 

Very clever and it would not surprise me one bit if the answer to Jewish success could be that simple. Starting out, by luck, smarts or divine intervention with a good set of ideas, well suited to create the best outcome for those following it.

Interesting  observations Plum....looked at from the perspective of creating success, the New Testament  is much more passive, than the Old. Said another way it is more aligned with modern morality. Odd then that the Lefties seem happier to support Islam than Christianity. Shark is a classic case of a guy who has a view of Christianity as it was during early colonial times. And which ironically had almost nothing to do with the New Testament.