Why are Jews disproportionately high achievers?

Question

Jewish people are significantly represented in intellectual, financial, media, and political achievements beyond what that their percentage population would suggest. Examples include Einstein, Salk, Eisner, Stein, Kissinger, Joel, Teller, Szillard, Greenspan, Seinfeld, Wachoski(s), Nimoy, Gershwin, Bernstein, and the list goes on. Is it because of strong family values, eugenics, strong networking, superior natural intelligence, organizational monopolies, collectivism, or truly being the chosen people?

Answer 1

A stereotype is a stereotype, no matter how flattering it may be. It's like saying all Brittish people have bad teeth and all Americans are  fat and lazy. The Irish are all drunks that fight a lot and Polish people are idiots. It's not true.  Strong work ethic runs in families of all races, religions and backgrounds. No one deserves any more credit than anyone else.

Answer 2

The answer is simple:

they have focused on education more so than other socieites. through their many years of discrimination and hardship they always fell back on education.

Answer 3

touchy touchy. Yes you are probably right, although according to the Millionaire Next Door, Russians have the highest % of wealthy families in the US.

Eugenics...No Way.

Work ethic...yes.

Family cohesiveness...yes

Am I Jewish?   No. Russian.

Answer 4

nope, no cultural profiling here!  You'd make a great n**i with powers of manipulated peception like that.  Pick another cultural group and see if you can make some claims that lump them all together, too.  Yikes!

Edit: If you ever read this kind of manipulated description about another culture, would you believe it?  Since the overriding comments here have been to condemn your cultural profiling, is it possible that you have done an injustice?

Answer 5

You're arrogant, and the question you asked is a logical fallasy.

Answer 6

I think it has to do with the fact that, while Jews do not have a "smart gene," education is an ethnic and religious domination for them. The same thing is true for the Japanese and the Chinese." Also, unlike most Anglo-Saxon Americans, Jews and Asians do not go into business for themselves, but for their families. With them, each member of the family, young and old, has a place in the business.

In summary, not eugenics, but knowledge and a strong work ethic.

PS: I know a few Jews who are, by definition, stupid and lazy failures.

Answer 7

This has to do with selective breeding. In Europe Jews could not marry outside of the small Jewish communities they lived in so the same genes kept pushing forward. This is why European Jews have bad healthy (autism is big) and high intellect, these are just some of the genetic things that were copied. Non-European Jews do not have the same traits, but most people have never met a non-European Jew in North America.

As for work ethic, the Jewish religion is all about learning and progressing. Education has always been very highly thought of in Judaism even in the middle ages where almost no one cared. This is why the Jewish religion employs the Talmud, a holy book that is not from God but Rabbis arguing about how God's law work, rarely coming to an exact solution. This abstract thinking helps in everything in life.

As for Jewish family life, Jewish families tend to push their kids towards more. In Asians it has been tested that an Asian child can do more with the same IQ as a white person because of this family connection. With Jews it can be the same but less than Asians.

Lastly, Jewish children always feel like they have something to prove because of the way they are often treated as children. David Draiman, lead singer of the metal band Disturbed, had commented various times on how he was bullied for his Jewish heritage. This can have the negative result of making Jews hate themselves and their culture or making them push harder to show that they are better.

Answer 8

einstein wasnt a jew hes austrian.