I’ve always wondered what makes Jews so successful. Always a minority in each country they’ve inhabited (with the recent exception of Israel), Jews are disproportionately represented among the most wealthy, powerful and accomplished citizens in the world today. They’ve done this despite a millennia’s long history of persecution and oppression. Why have they achieved so much, while other groups facing similar conditions have failed to raise themselves out of poverty?
Many American blacks point to the election of Barak Obama to the highest political office in the land as a triumph of the civil rights movement. And in many respect it is. The eradication of de jure discrimination has opened unprecedented opportunities for middle class blacks to achieve their highest aspirations. On the other hand, the majority of blacks in America have succumbed to the worst social pathologies: high poverty, unemployment, crime, broken families, and incarceration rates that greatly exceed other races – even controlling for education and income. When these statistics are pointed out, black intellectuals and activists usually blame the persistent effects of racism for the plight of the masses.
But is this really true? Both Asians and Jews – who have achieved disproportionate success in this country – also share a history of racial discrimination. Many of them came to this country with nothing, and have managed to dig themselves out of poverty. The difference really comes down to values.
One episode that brought this home was when I was lounging on my couch late one night and flipping through the cable channels. It’s remarkable that with so many channels these days – there’s never really anything worth watching. But I happened to turn to a program documenting Jewish mobsters in America. Some of these guys were ruthless killers and degenerate thieves. But the thing that stood out about them is that they never raised their children to grow up to be mobsters. Some of their families had absolutely idea what they did for a living, and assumed that they were just legitimate businessmen. Others helped out the more legitimate members of their family by paying for their education and investing in real estate and other legal businesses.
Right after the show on Jewish mobsters ended, another program began. It was about a black family from Arkansas that took over the drug trade in Detroit. Like the Jewish mobsters, the black criminals displayed a similar level of violence and cunning. Like the Jews, they started out dirt poor; they also preyed upon their own kind. However, there was one striking difference. The black mobsters stayed in the ghetto where they peddled drugs. They never invested in the education of their other family members. In fact, when it became obvious to them that the law was closing in, they didn’t leave. They stayed and ultimately got arrested, even though they had amassed millions and could have gone anywhere in the world.
I was astounded by the lack of common sense these guys displayed. Despite their obvious intelligence, something was missing. Or rather present. They actually identified with their criminal culture and strove to maintain it. There did not seem to be any yearning to move beyond the ghetto into legitimate wealth in America. They raised their children amid the poverty and failed to help them get better opportunities. This is dangerous. It’s almost as if achieving anything in a legal manner made them less legitimately black. Their identity was deeply ingrained with pathology. There was no hope for the future. They had no inkling that their children could one day be President of the United States.
It was perhaps the pictures on the screen that said it all. The Jewish mobsters were dressed in conservative, expensive suits. They looked the model of mainstream success. You wouldn’t have known they were gangsters unless you’d been told. The black gangsters, on the other hand, were dressed in sleeveless t-shirts and festooned with gold chains and bracelets. They were carrying submachine guns with rounds of ammunition hanging around their necks. If any law enforcement office had happened by, they would have been arrested on sight. I realized in watching the contrast between Jewish and African-American gangsters was that the black gangsters had embraced gangster culture. The Jews had turned to crime out of necessity, and did not glorify it. It was merely a means to an end – a legitimate place in the society.
Jews share a deeply ingrained culture of achievement. Whether they are religious or not, they are raised with values: work hard, be just, be studious, and make something of yourself. This doesn’t mean that Jewish people are above some of the social ills that plague the rest of society. But it means that as a culture they consciously aspire to a higher standard.
During a recent conversation with a close Jewish friend I asked him what he thought separated Jews from most other ethnic groups. I was expecting him to talk about how a shared history of oppression had strengthened Jews and brought them closer together. But his answer was both surprising and controversial. “Unlike gentiles, especially Christians,” he said, “Jews do not believe in an after life as such. There is no God up there dictating your lot in life. We don’t believe the meek shall inherit the earth. We truly believe in the power of an individual’s free will, guided of course by right principles.”
As someone who ascribes to a strong Christian faith, I do not share my friends’ beliefs. I do believe in the afterlife, and that we will ultimately be judged for our actions by a higher power. But we do share the same principles when it comes to ethical behavior. Jews believe in the Ten Commandments, and so do Christians. These rules for behavior are not just a ticket to a blessed afterlife, but a prescription for success here on earth. These basic moral principles have had a profound effect upon how Jews view life.
In America, Christianity has been used by various groups to justify the enslavement of others. Blacks were told they were the Sons of Ham, and therefore cursed by God to be hewers of wood and drawers of water. Jews, on the other hand, have firmly held that they were specifically chosen by God to rule the earth. On the other hand, the slaves’ deep spiritual well enabled them to endure some of the harshest conditions known to modern man – intergenerational slavery in a foreign land. The so-called Negro spirituals and the importance of the black church bear witness to this. Still, despite the passage of time and expansion of opportunity, blacks as a race still bear the spiritual wounds of their captivity.
Barak Obama alluded to as much in his autobiography, Dreams of My father. As he surveyed the landscape of inner-city Chicago for a language of unity and strength to support the building of “families, communities [and] economies” he found the stories of hope and triumph on that ground tainted with hatred and feelings of inferiority. He found it difficult if not impossible to “separate that strength from the hurt and distortions that lingered around [him].” What Obama did not realize is the very policies of liberalism he espouses have massively contributed to such a culture. Liberalism betrays blacks by keeping them in a place of victimhood. After all, you can’t qualify for most social programs unless you profess to be disadvantaged.
It’s one thing to be bound together by a shared struggle. That lends people strength in times of crisis. But when the crisis is over, reveling in shared oppression only tends to frustrate future progress. Perhaps blacks should take a cue from the Jewish culture, and embrace a shared history of achievement and success.
I do not profess to have all of the answers to why there is such a disparity in achievement between ethnic groups in America. But I know from my own experience that achievement starts with an aspiration to be more than you are now. And to do that, you have to let go of the past.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.