Why were jews superior?

[Thorgalaeg]

Sorry, I don't know much about the Czech Jewish community, but I can answer your other two.

Medieval Spain was ruled by Muslims & Jews there faced MUCH less persecution than they did under Christian rulers elsewhere. This allowed the Spanish Jewish community to thrive. When the Muslims were finally unseated, Jews were immediately expelled from the country or forced to convert to Christianity which brought that golden age to a screeching halt.

That is a common misconception. Medieval Spain was ruled by Muslims AND Christians along 700 years, first, after the muslim conquest, most of the territory was ruled by Muslims then the Christians were slowly re-conquering and most of the land was ruled by Christians. In that long period Jews were equally tolerated in Christian and muslim ruled Spain. It were the Catholic Kings who after conquering Granada thought that converting/expelling the remaining muslims and the jews would be useful to stabilize the kingdom through religious unity.

 

[REDY]

Also, it's standard to capitalize ethnic names like "English" & "Jew."

Yup, In Czech we dont capitalize language or adjective, while we capitalize ethnic names exactly like English language, but "jew" is by religion and "Jew" by ethnicity. Anyways I often use small letters in internet, I dont know why, its somewhat automatic

 

[Arwon]

That is a common misconception. Medieval Spain was ruled by Muslims AND Christians along 700 years, first, after the muslim conquest, most of the territory was ruled by Muslims then the Christians were slowly re-conquering and most of the land was ruled by Christians. In that long period Jews were equally tolerated in Christian and muslim ruled Spain. It were the Catholic Kings who after conquering Granada thought that converting/expelling the remaining muslims and the jews would be useful to stabilize the kingdom through religious unity.

Yeah, I think the perception exists because (at least in the first half of the Islamic period) the Muslim part of Spain was wealthier, more urban and more cultured and so forth.

Actually, also, the expulsion of the Jews from Spain and elsewhere was roughly contemporary with the wave of ghettoisation laws that happened throughout European cities in the 14th and 15th centuries. I'm not sure how good things were in the medieval period for Jews but they seem to have gotten worse in the early modern.

 

[really]

Going back to the banking bit a biologist has suggested that (among the upper classes at least) to be considered successful in medieval Europe involved among other things being successful in war, whereas in the Jewish upper classes they were excluded from such things and being successful involved banking/trading/urban type jobs.

As being successful meant you could afford more and better food, more of the children of the upper classes lived till adulthood, inheriting intelligence while their Christian peers inherited physical strength.

Economist article

he is publishing, in a forthcoming edition of the Journal of Biosocial Science, a paper which not only suggests that one group of humanity is more intelligent than the others, but explains the process that has brought this about. The group in question are Ashkenazi Jews. The process is natural selection. …

Unfortunately the rest of the article is premium content.

 

[Sofista]

It wasn't Jews, it was specifically Ashkenazi Yiddish-speaking German Jews. You don't hear about tooo many noble prizes going to the Ladino speaking Sephardi Jews in Istanbul for example.

How many are there? I think you underestimate the numeric factor here.

I can't speak for them, but Italy hosts less than 50 000 Jews, who won four Nobel prizes (Rita Levi-Montalcini, Salvador Luria, Franco Modigliani, Emilio Segré).

 

[Yeekim]

Se below. were you really not aware of this?

No, I was not.
Well, a titular autonomy in the furthest corner of USSR (where Jews still make up a tiny minority) is not as impressive as it sounded - but that was really completely news for me.

 

[Fifty]

they didnt have no land to work on so they sat around and became geniuses (living off interest from loans)

 

[Lone Wolf]

Leon Trotsky is the most well-known Jewish revolutionary

He wasn't a Jew, he was a Bolshevik. (By his own words).

 

[Elta]

Going back to the banking bit a biologist has suggested that (among the upper classes at least) to be considered successful in medieval Europe involved among other things being successful in war, whereas in the Jewish upper classes they were excluded from such things and being successful involved banking/trading/urban type jobs.

As being successful meant you could afford more and better food, more of the children of the upper classes lived till adulthood, inheriting intelligence while their Christian peers inherited physical strength.

Economist article

Unfortunately the rest of the article is premium content.

Jewish people are pretty fit too, in the early 1900s when most of them were poor immigrants they had lots of great athletes: Sandy Koufax was is the greatest pitcher of all time!

 

[jessiecat]

He wasn't a Jew, he was a Bolshevik. (By his own words).

Leon Trotsky's real name was Lev Bronstein. He was Jewish. He became a Bolshevik. But he was still Jewish.
End of story.

 

[Lone Wolf]

Bolsheviks don't have nationalities!

 

[jessiecat]

Bolsheviks don't have nationalities!

So if you had become a Bolshevik you wouldn't be Russian anymore?

(Sometimes I wish that people who attempt irony would use smilies.)

 

[temp-request]

Why were jews superior?

Because they advertise their superiority more than others ?

 

[warpus]

There´s no doubt that jews in history produced number of great persons. I wonder why? I somewhat should understand how they should get wealthy easier than christian in medieval times (interests on loans were forbidden by Church), but the number of great advisors and scientists (check nobel prizes) is unbelievable. I cant mock from fear abused by populists during various times. So were they realy superior race, or it was something with religion/culture?

They think they're God's chosen people - that sorta thinking gives you confidence.

 

[RalofTyr]

Being circumcised helped them to move faster.

I don't see Jews as being superior. They can't seem to make peace and they stand a good chance of being whipped off the map in a nuclear strike.

 

[Sharwood]

The OP meant "successful." His grasp of English simply wasn't enough for him to say it.

 

[Arwon]

Being circumcised helped them to move faster.

I don't see Jews as being superior. They can't seem to make peace and they stand a good chance of being whipped off the map in a nuclear strike.

Say what now? Who's gonna nuke New York and Moscow?

 

[Sharwood]

Say what now? Who's gonna nuke New York and Moscow?

Teh Muslims!!! AL_QUAEDA!!! Iran will nuke them all, they have WMDS!!!

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[frekk]

the number of great advisors and scientists (check nobel prizes) is unbelievable.

Keep in mind that nobel prize awards are often very political, and there are tons of extremely important scientists who never got one. Prizes in things like economics, literature, peace, etc are also highly subjective, with no real way to gauge the actual importance of a contribution.

Similarly, the definition of who is Jewish and who isn't is rather elastic. This is used to effect both by antisemites and judeophiles, who claim various individuals to be Jewish based on sometimes obscure genealogical connections. Infamous figures are often transformed into Jews this way by antisemites, just as famous figures are often claimed to be Jewish by judeophiles using the same technique.

As far as I know, the Templars were the only Christian group permitted by the Church to practice usary back

No, Jews could practice usury but not with other Jews, just as Christians could practice usury but not with other Christians. Templars (along with others) got around the prohibition on a technicality, they were not technically practicing usury. I forget how it worked exactly, but it was something like charging a service fee or rental or some such. The Medici, who controlled the most powerful banks in medieval Europe, got around restrictions in a similar fashion. Jewish involvement in medieval banking is often overstated: most Jews were "Lombard bankers" who were small moneychangers and pawn-brokers. This made them highly active in the diamonds and goldsmithing trades, but high level finance was generally dominated by Jesuits, Templars, Medici, etc.

 

[alcal]

There´s no doubt that jews in history produced number of great persons. I wonder why? I somewhat should understand how they should get wealthy easier than christian in medieval times (interests on loans were forbidden by Church), but the number of great advisors and scientists (check nobel prizes) is unbelievable. I cant mock from fear abused by populists during various times. So were they realy superior race, or it was something with religion/culture?

Natural Selection. Only most intelligent jews could survive to racism, the rest have been eliminated.