The Secrets of Jewish Genius: It’s not about having higher I.Q.s.

NYT ^ | 12 27 2019 | Bret Stephens

[yesthatjallen]

SNIP

Sarah Bernhardt and Franz Kafka; Albert Einstein and Rosalind Franklin; Benjamin Disraeli and (sigh) Karl Marx — how is it that a people who never amounted even to one-third of 1 percent of the world’s population contributed so seminally to so many of its most pathbreaking ideas and innovations?

The common answer is that Jews are, or tend to be, smart. When it comes to Ashkenazi Jews, it’s true. “Ashkenazi Jews have the highest average I.Q. of any ethnic group for which there are reliable data,” noted one 2005 paper. “During the 20th century, they made up about 3 percent of the U.S. population but won 27 percent of the U.S. Nobel science prizes and 25 percent of the ACM Turing awards. They account for more than half of world chess champions.”

But the “Jews are smart” explanation obscures more than it illuminates. Aside from the perennial nature-or-nurture question of why so many Ashkenazi Jews have higher I.Q.s, there is the more difficult question of why that intelligence was so often matched by such bracing originality and high-minded purpose.

SNIP

But as the story of the Lithuanian rabbi suggests, Jewish genius operates differently. It is prone to question the premise and rethink the concept; to ask why (or why not?) as often as how; to see the absurd in the mundane and the sublime in the absurd. Ashkenazi Jews might have a marginal advantage over their gentile peers when it comes to thinking better. Where their advantage more often lies is in thinking different.

SNIP

[justa-hairyape]

Think it’s the size of the brain and the dna. Larger brains means larger souls. And of course, the dna had to be as close as possible for an emaculate conception.

[gandalftb]

Intelligence is over-rated.
...........
Nothing offers more pain or benefit than having or not having quality relationships.
............
Relationship skills come from parenting. Good parenting skills come from watching good parents struggle and overcome, and sharing unconditional love with there family.
............
Genetics won’t give you that.
...........
As far as success goes, the greatest asset is boldness.

[gandalftb]

there = their

[GOPJ]

A side benefit (Blessing) to being God’s chosen people.

Yes, - and it's possible a high IQ allows a clearer view of reality which might be seen as 'different'... or in truth is more accurate.

[MadMax, the Grinning Reaper]

Re “They appreciate books and learning”. Yes, this is one of the cornerstones of our believe systems and drive to succeed, to be a good person, to do good deeds (sedalka), and to live a life based on a belief in a God who guides us with tolerance and moral guidelines for life.

We were usually referred to as “The People of the Book” but if you go to any normal Jewish home, you will find a library that is significant, if only of Jewish affairs related books and prayer books.

My mother had 3,500 books in our house. I have about 2,000. My friends have thousands each. Books are one of our eyes into the world, the past, the present, the future and the universal.

Also it is an entry into the guidance of God, the Jewish Prophets, and Scholars, as well as Jewish thought, from Miamonides to Herzl to Jacobtinsky, Ben Gurion, and Eli Wiesel.

This is why the Nazis and the Communists burn books. They don’t want people to think for themselves. They only want to “supply” the “books” that they need to read in order to be controlled by the totalitarians, much like the Left today is doing in academia, the public libraries, and in the newspapers.

Books are for the curious, the thinkers, the dreamers, and the builders of tomorrow. No wonder the Left, the Islamic extremists, and other enemies of “free thought” hate the Jews, then the Christians, Hindus, etc.

Books make us “free” from the totalitarians of the world, and those totalitarians fear a free mind and the very books that set them free.

Anyone can become a “person/people of the books”. When you go to a library, you become a “person of the books”. When you read a prayer book or theology book, you become a “person of the book”.

When you read the U.S. Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights/Amendments, and the Federalist papers, you become a “person of the books AND FREEDOM”.

We Jews recognized this “strength” many millennia ago when we started to write psalms, prayers, observations, and commentaries on God, prayer, freedom, humanity.

That is one major reason why we can do so well in this world. We take its gifts and use them for the embetterment of mankind. God told us to do this and we have.

[ifinnegan]

“Genetically proven false.”

Not so.

I looked in to it and genetics supports it.

Not that there is zero middle eastern DNA.

[trebb]

Yeah - the Slimes doesn’t want it out that certain ethnic groups actually have higher IQs because then they have to admit some also have lower IQs...

[rmlew]

1, Karl Marx ceased being Jewish, when he and his parents converted to Lutheranism, when Karl was 5. He would be a Lutheran for two decades. And he was an antisemite, who called hucksterism the essenence of Judaism and called for the end of Judaism and JEwishness.

2. The Average Ashkenazi IQ is over 110. That is almost one full standard deviation. That makes a big difference. 0.2% of Americans have an IQ of 145 or higher. Of these, 1/5th are Jewish, even though under 1.8% of Americans are Jewish.

Culture, nutrition, parental care, stability in the home, and early education all raise IQ. But not to this degree.

[rmlew]

Ashkenazi were European converts to Judaism.
Yes, no, and it doesn't really matter. Ashkenazi Jews are mostly descended from men with Y-Chromosome haplogroups showing LEvantine descent. Our mitochondrial DNA shows descent from European women, in fact about 1/2 fo Ashkenazi Jews are descended from a handful of Italian women. We are descended from Jewish men and European women, who presumably converted. Ad the child of a Jew and convert to Judaism is a Jew

[Albion Wilde]

It’s not genius. It’s bigger egos.

How crass of you. Disappointing.

[Albion Wilde]

“Do you love me?”

"Do I what?"

[jjotto]

Orthodox Jews traditionally are expected to be somewhat literate in Hebrew and also Aramaic, which is quite a bit different than Hebrew. Those would be in addition to local languages and Jewish hybrid languages like Yiddish and Ladino.

[Albion Wilde]

The fact that they were/are persecuted for their unique advantages created outside pressure which drove them further into tribal insularity, including coining such self serving phrases like 'chosen people'.

You've got it all wrong. It didn't "just happen", certainly not by cultural adaptation, as you imply, nor did the Jewish people coin their own by-word, "Chosen." The Israelites were chosen by God, led by Him out of slavery and instructed by Him to found a holy nation and to live exemplary lives. While as a people they may have failed and incurred God's wrath on many occasions, they always return as guardians of Israel and priests of the Temple. The third Temple will be rebuilt so that Jesus can return to it on the site where He preached in His first incarnation.

[tired&retired]

That is the way an injured ego would respond.

[Albion Wilde]

The phrase "people of the book" is of Arabic origin and refers generally to Jews, Christians and muslims as all deriving their monotheism from the ancient Hebrew scriptures (that were adapted by Muhammed into the Q'ran). It can also refer to polytheistic people who fall under muslim domination. Here's a resource:

MyJewishLearning.com: People of the Book

[Albion Wilde]

You’re just crass all over the place today, aren’t ya?

[BTerclinger]

“If you accept the authority of the Source, you understand it as a mission statement, not as a badge of superiority. If you don’t accept Its authority, than the phrase should be meaningless to you”

BOOM!

[BTerclinger]

” To take another example, throughout the 2000s, about 20 percent of incoming freshmen at Yale University identified as Jewish, according to data collected by the Yale University Chaplain’s Office. In the 2010s, that number was closer to 16 percent. For the past three years, The Harvard Crimson has reported that about 10 percent of incoming first-year students identified as Jewish, according to their own survey. For the incoming Harvard class of 2020, that number has dropped to 6 percent.”

link/sources inside above paragraph at

https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/272350/the-vanishing-ivy-league-jew

[Ezekiel]

But as the story of the Lithuanian rabbi suggests, Jewish genius operates differently. It is prone to question the premise and rethink the concept...

According to the Talmud, the answer is that “both the whole tablets and the fragments of the tablets were placed together in the Ark.” Remember when Moses returned to the children of Israel, carrying the first tablets with the Ten Commandments? He was so outraged by the idolatry of the Golden Calf, that he shattered the tablets on the ground. After the people had repented of their sin, Moses returned to the peak of the Mountain, where God presented a second pair of tablets.

Typically American

So far, the story is typically American–the outmoded commandments were trashed and a new, sleeker model was substituted in its place. But the Talmud tells us that something very un-American had actually transpired, that the love the Jews felt for that first pair of tablets was not simply because of their function, but something unconditional–bestowed not for what their use could be, but for what they would always represent.

https://www.myjewishlearning.com/article/if-its-broken-why-keep-it/

Question the premise, because those Can-Do American People are world-renowned for knowing how to pick up the pieces:

Very American:

MOSAIC LAW

Even though the laws concerning the Mishkan were given after the episode of the Golden Calf, these laws are nevertheless mentioned before that event to show us that Hashem has in Mind the cure before the disease.  Our growth and development are what Hashem truly desires.  Our involvement with the Golden Calf can teach us what would seem to be a “Golden” Rule – that the combination of our collective Emunah and memory can help us to look back and recognize the presence and mastery of Hashem.

https://www.koltorah.org/articles/rememberthe-golden-rule-by-rabbi-darren-blackstein

Golden Rule:

One people one heart. All Israel are brothers.

Am echad lev echad. Kol Israel achim.

Can a nation be born in a day? America turned 243 this year. Jewish tradition says that Jacob wrestled with the mystery man angel on the 15th of Nisan in the year 2205. That *was* the day Israel was born. 243 years later: 2448, the year of the Exodus and the giving of the... Mosaic Law.

It's time to pick up the pieces [of the jaws that will fall to the floor]. Art therapy is at-the-ready for all who will recognize the presence and mastery of Hashem.

America is the nation where Jews and Gentiles are one people called Americans.

Birthday: 17 b'Tammuz, 5536. That's an easy year to remember because the 5000 is written as the numeral 5.

5 + 536 = 541 = Israel

The 4th of July [ה-ד' ביולי] = a Jewish heart (same letters) [לב יהודי], 67 like the month of Elul [אלול], famous for being the acronym of "Ani l'dodi v'dodi li."

The Jewish Heart - The Secret of Elul

DAVID Seeds: "An American Original"

Buy American flags before the big rush because...

"Your surprise is waiting."