The Jewish Phenomenon

7/27/2019 The Jewish Phenomenon

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Sunday, November 8, 2009

The Jewish Phenomenon, Economic Success and Fabulous Wealth

Two percent of the US population, about 6 million of Americas 300 million

people, are Jewish (in the world of 6 billion people, there are only 13 million

Jews, only one-fifth of 1%).

The banking Medici Dynasty was behind the Renaissance and they wereJewish. 400 hundred years later, the banking Rothschild Dynasty was

founded by a German Jew. The American Rockefeller Dynasty was founded by a German Jew. Chicago School of Economics was founded by Austrian Jews. The banking powerhouse JP Morgan founded by a Jew. Various sources of influential ideas around the world were started and

are run by Jews.

Cecil John Rhodes and his close friend Alfred Beit were Jews. Anglo American Corporation was founded by Ernest Oppenheimer, a

Jew.

The powerful media houses (Economist magazine, FinancialTimes newspaper, Forbes magazine, Fortune magazine, New York

Times newspaper, Washington Times newspaper, etc) around the world

are owned by Jews.

Facebook was started and is owned by a Jew, Mark Zuckerberg (analumni of "Alpha Epsilon Pi," a Jewish college fraternity and born to a

dentist father and psychiatric mother who later became a business

development manager of her husband);

Google was started and is owned by Jews Sergey Brin of Russian origin(born to a mathematician father and economist mother) and Larry Page
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(born to a professor of computer science father and computer

programming teacher);

Andre Citroen, a French entrepreneur and pioneering car manufacturer; Larry King, former anchorman of CNN.

Some more prominent are:

Roman Abramovich, a Russian Jew; George Soros, Wall Street investor and foreign currency speculator; Alan Greenspan, Chairman and president of Townsend-Greenspan,

economic consulting firm; former Federal Reserve Chairman;

Marcus Goldman, co-founder of Goldman Sachs investment bank; Samuel Sachs, co-founder of Goldman Sachs investment bank; Calvin Klein, Founder and CEO of Calvin Klein; Ralph Lauren, Founder of Polo Ralph Lauren; Bernard Marcus, co-founder of Home Depot, Inc; Howard Schultz, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Starbucks Coffee; Julius Rosenwald, President and Chairman of the Board of Sears; Herbert Allen, Jr., CEO of entertainment investment house Allen &

Company;

Edgar Bronfman Jr., CEO of Seagram, Viacom; Barry Diller, CEO of 20th Century Fox and QVC; Gerald Levin, Time Warner, CEO of HBO; Michael Eisner, CEO of Disney; David Geffen, co-founder of Dreamworks, CEO of Geffen Records; Jeffrey Katzenberg, co-founder of Dreamworks, Disney; Sumner Redstone, chairman of CBS and Viacom; Michael Ovitz, President of Disney, founder of CAA; Isaac Perlmutter, CEO of Marvel Entertainment;


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Steven Spielberg, co-founder of Dreamworks; Harry Cohn, founder of Columbia Pictures; William Fox, founder of Fox Film Corporation; Carl Laemmle, founder of Universal Pictures; Louis B. Mayer, founder of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer; Sidney Sheinberg, executive of MCA; Sam Warner, co-founder of Warner Brothers Studios; Lew Wasserman, founder of MCA; Harvey Weinstein, Co-founder of Miramax; Bob Weinstein, Co-founder of Miramax; Adolph Zukor, founder of Paramount Pictures; Leonard Goldenson, president of ABC; Les Moonves, CBS President; William S. Paley, Founder And CEO of CBS;

David Sarnoff, founder of NBC, general manager of RCA; Laurence Tisch, CEO of CBS; Jeff Zucker, NBC President; Adolph Ochs, executive of New York Times; Arthur Ochs Sulzberger, Jr., New York Times executive; Mortimer Zuckerman, publisher of U.S. News and World Report

and New York Daily News;

Katharine Graham of the Washington Post; Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft; Michael Dell, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Dell; Lawrence Ellison, Founder of Oracle Corporation.

Jews are no different from anyone else with regards to being human beings

and intelligence, yet:


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12.In the 1930s, 55% of doctors, 64% of dentists, and 65% of lawyers inNew York City were Jewish. This was in spite of quotas restricting the

admittance of Jews to institutions of higher learning.

13.They estimated the world population of Jews in 1938 at 18 million andthe world population of European non-Jewish whites at 718 million, and

calculated that Jews were over-represented by a factor of approximately

6.6.

14.Jews have been about half of the worlds top rated chess grandmastersbetween 1851 and 2000 (Rubinstein, 2004) and of the champion

American bridge players and theoreticians (Storfer, 1990).

15.In the 20th century, Jews have been greatly over-represented in anumber of countries among intellectual elites and in the higher socio-

economic status occupations. In Austria in the years between the two

World Wars Jews were approximately 3.5% of the population but were

27.3% of university professors (Fraenkel, 1967). In Germany between1918 and 1933, Jews were 0.78% of the population but were 16% of the

doctors, 15% of the dentists, 25% of the lawyers, 50% of the theatre

directors and occupied 80% of the leading positions in the Berlin stock

ex- change (Gordon, 1984; Slezkine, 2004). In Poland in 1931, Jews were

10.2% of the population but were 56% of the doctors in private practice,

33% of the lawyers, and 24% of the pharmacists (Slezkine, 2004). In

Russia during the period 19171939 Jews were approximately 1.8% of

the population, while Jews were 9% of the officers in military academies,

15% of the university graduates, 11% of the doctors and 14% of the

university professors (Slezkine, 2004).

16.In Britain, the numbers of Jews and non-Jewish whites possessing largewealth in the period from 1809 1939 have been examined from


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probate returns on death by Rubinstein (2000). He has found 199 such

individuals of whom 28 were Jews (14.1%). The average number of Jews

in the population during this period was approximately 0.4%, so Jews

were 28.4 times over-represented among the very wealthy. Prais and

Schmool (1975) calculated that 10% of Jews and 4% of non-Jewish

whites were in the higher professions in 1961, and hence Jews were

over-represented by a factor of 2.5. In a later study, Tropp (1991)

examined the numbers and proportions of Jews in eleven of the major

professions around 1985. He found that the percentage of Jews ranged

from 1.3% among chartered surveyors to 7.8 among opthalmic opticians.

At this time there were approximately 322,000 Jews in the United

Kingdom in the total population of 56,379,000 (the figure in the 1981

census). Thus, in 1985 Jews were approximately 0.6% of the population.

Even among chartered surveyors Jews were over-represented by a

factor of 2.2, while among opthalmic opticians Jews were over-represented by a factor of 13.0.

17.As early as 1908 Jews began to outperform non-Jewish whites in theentrance tests for universities that were first constructed by the College

Entrance Examination Board in 1899. Increasing numbers were gaining

admission to the Ivy League colleges (eight private institutions of higher

education often viewed by the public as some of the most prestigious

universities worldwide and are often ranked amongst the best

universities in the United States and worldwide comprising of Brown

University, Columbia University, Cornell University, Dartmouth College,

Harvard University, Princeton University, the University of Pennsylvania,

and Yale University). In 1908 the percentages of Jews in all colleges and

at Harvard were 7% and 6%, respectively, and by 1919 this had increased


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to 20% of the students at Harvard and about the same figure at Yale,

Brown and Pennsylvania, while at Columbia 40% of the students were

Jewish (Slezkine, 2004).

18.From 1957 through 1990 the average annual earnings of Jewish menwere about 130% of those of non-Jewish whites (in 1990 $36,700 for

Jews and $28,080 for non-Jewish whites) (Chiswick, 1985; Kosmin &

Lachman, 1993, p. 260).

19.It has been found that Jews are considerably over-represented amongthe eminent in the United States. Weyl (1966) calculated that Jews were

over-represented by a factor of 4.48 in seven reference books of the

eminent (e.g. Whos Who in America, American Men and Women of

Science, Whos Who in Finance and Industry, etc.). In an updated

analysis of Whos Who in America for the years 19945, McDermott

(2002) has calculated that Jews were over-represented by a factor of

16.62.20.According to a report by Will Maslow of the American Jewish Congress,

The percentage of Jews . . . who involve themselves in party affairs as

policymakers and fund-raisers, is probably higher than that of any other

racial, religious or ethnic group. The result is that Jews play a role in the

political life of the country whose significance far transcends their

proportion of the total population.

21.Jewish writer Lenni Brenner has noted the actual voting power ofAmerican Jews is nearly twice their numbers: They vote in greater

proportions than any other ethnic or religious grouping. Ninety-two

percent of all Jews vote in national elections compared to only 54

percent of the people as a whole. Jews may only be 10.6 percent of New


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York State, but they are between 16 percent and 20 percent of the

voters.

22.Up to 80% of eligible Jewish voters turned out to vote in the 2004presidential election, compared to 50% of the electorate as a whole. In

addition, registered Jews are twice as likely to vote. Combining the two

multiplies Jewish voting power by a factor of three. Furthermore, 81

percent of Jews live in only nine states [New York, New Jersey, Florida,

Massachusetts, Maryland, Connecticut, California, Pennsylvania and

Illinois] making them a significant political bloc, especially on the

national level. In presidential elections, those nine states cast 202 of the

535 votes in the Electoral College. Thus, the Jewish population could

provide a swing vote in any close presidential election.

What is the source of all this Jewish economic success and wealth?

The Jewish Perspective on Wealth

Steven Silbiger, The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth

of a People(2009)

Dr. Sowell discovered, "Even when neither education nor age is a factor, Jews

earn more." Among families headed by males with four or more years of

college and aged 35 to 45, Jews still earn 75% higher incomes than the national

average with the same demographics. If it were as simple as just getting an

education or developing verbal confidence, just two of the keys, Jewish success

would have been emulated years ago.

One of Steven Silbiger's more compelling theses holds that the outsider

mentality common to most Jews, as a minority, not only shapes independent

thinkers, it also motivates people to prove themselves and gain acceptance.


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Fundamentally, according to Silbiger, Jews are rebels with a cause - whether

it's Albert Einstein and the Theory of Relativity or Ruth Handler and her

groundbreaking Barbie doll.

To support his point, Steven Silbiger quotes Sigmund Freud, who, in his "Self

Portrait," wrote that the anti-Semitism he encountered in medical school

"produced one important result. At a rather early date, I became aware of my

destiny: to belong to the critical minority as opposed to the unquestioning

majority. A certain independence of judgment was therefore developed."

Steven Silbiger contrasts the religious Jewish upbringing with the Christian

religious upbringing, noting that in religious classes Jewish children are

encouraged to ask questions. Christian children are given answers and are

often discouraged from asking questions - often, to question is the near

occasion of sin, an indication of lack of faith. This sets a vastly differentfoundation for the Jewish child versus the Christian child. Steven Silbiger

theorizes that the Jewish child will carry this attitude of questioning on into the

rest of his life, and this leads to a willingness to look at situations in new ways,

to try new things, to be an entrepreneur. (Interestingly,Steven Silbiger claims

that Jewish people, in defiance of the usual trend, typically become more

liberal as their wealth increases.)

According to the New Testament, the Christian world has, at best, an

ambivalent attitude toward money and wealth: "Easier for a camel to pass

through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom

of God." (Matthew 19:24, Luke 18:25, Mark 10:25) "You cannot serve God and

wealth." (Luke 16:13) "If we have food and clothing, we will be content with


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these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by

many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and

destruction." (Timothy 6:8-9) "For the love of money is the root of all kinds of

evil." - (Timothy 6:10).

For Jews, on the other hand, wealth is a good thing, a worthy and respectable

goal to strive toward. What's more, once you earn it, it is tragic to lose it.

Judaism has never considered poverty a virtue. The first Jews were not poor.

The Jewish founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were blessed with

cattle and land in abundance. Asceticism and self-denial are not Jewish ideals.

With your financial house in order, it is easier to pursue your spiritual

life: "Where there is no flour, there is no Bible." The Mishna (a collection of

books that outline the detailed laws for daily Jewish living) "Poverty causes

transgression." (Hasidic folk saying) "Poverty in a man's house is worse than

fifty plagues." (The Talmud, a collection of books of rabbinical commentary onthe Old Testament).

A person with wealth, stands up. His wealth gives him a sense of confidence

that allows him to act, a sense of self-worth that fills him with enthusiasm. He

enjoys all that he is and all that he does. He feels important and this promotes

his success. Thus his wealth is a key to prosperity - a key that opens the doors

to his desires.

"The ground under their feet (Devarim 11.6). This verse, taught R Elazar,refers to a person's wealth - it stands him on his feet. (Pesachim 119a)

Rav Shmuel bar Nachman said: When a man is wealthy, he shows hisfriend a happy face. (Breishis Raba 91.5)


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Greater is the merit of ones own labors, than the merit of theforefathers.(Tanchuma, VaYeitzei 13)

Rebbi Chiya bar Abba said in the name of Ulla: Greater is one who enjoysthe labor of his own hands, than one who regards Hashem with

awe (Yiras Shamayim).

While he who regards Hashem with awe is fortunate in this world ... hewho toils, enjoys this world, and also delights in the goodness of the

world-to-come. (Brochos 8a)

Better is the person who lacks honor, but has a servant, than the refinedman who has no bread. (Mishle 12.9)

A beautiful home expands a person's thoughts. (Brochos 57b) Beautifulgarments enlarge a person's thoughts. (R Elazar)

The rich man's wealth is his fortress. (Mishle 10.15) The rich man has many who love him. (Mishle 14.20)

Wealth adds many friends. (Mishle 19.4) There is wealth to be had; there is money in the streets. However, a

person needs to want this money, to look carefully for it, and gather it

up. For the Heavens guide a person in the way he wishes to go (Makkos

10b).

True, there are hardships he must endure; he must learn to toil; he must train

himself to wait, patiently. Still, if he wants it, it is there. The question is though,

should he want wealth?

The very survival of a Torah life-style depends on a financial backing. To raise

whole families, a nation who lives with true values, all requires successful

economics. Thus every aspect of the Torah depends on wealth.


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R Elazar ben Azarya would say: If there is no flour, there can be noTorah. (Avos 3.21)

Food leads to laughter, wine adds joy to life, and money solves allproblems. (Koheles 10.19)

With the sweat of your brow you shall eat bread. (Breishis 3.19) Rebbi Avahu taught: While the upper ones, the angels and other

celestial beings, are nourished by the sheen of Hashem; lower beings,

those who live in this world, must toilif they dont, they dont

eat! (Breishis Raba 2.2)

To the man who says, I will eat, drink and enjoy all thats good withouttoiling, for I trust that Heaven will take mercy on me, the Rabbis say,

you are wrong! The verse expressly states that, You *Hashem+ bless

the deeds of his hands. (Iyov 1.10)

A person needs first to labor and work with his two hands, only then

does Hashem send His blessing. (Tanchuma, VeYeitzei 13) Wealth that comes without toil, diminishes; but he who gathers in

gradually, constantly, increases his wealth. (Mishle 13.11)

Rebbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: Today is for doing, tomorrow is not fordoing ... Today is for doing, tomorrow is for receiving reward. (Eiruvim

22a)

Rava said: Invest a hundred zuz in business, and you eat meat and wineeveryday; invest a hundred zuz in ground, and you eat salt and hay;

moreover you sleep on the ground. (Yevamos 63a)

Rav Yitzchak said: A person should always have ready cash, [that when abargain comes his way, he may buy it Rashi]. (Baba Metzia 42a)

Rebbi Yehuda taught: Anyone who doesnt teach his son a trade, teacheshim to be a robber. (Kidushin 29a).


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From the US survey known as the General Social Surveys (GSS) analysed for the

years 19722004, cultural values of the respondents were measured by their

responses to a question on the values parents would most like in their

children. The survey gave 13 values and asks respondents to identify the one

that they would most like their children to have, and also the three they would

most like their children to have. These values are as follows:

1. Success: that he tries hard to succeed;2. Studiousness: that he is a good student;3. Amicability: that he gets along well with other children;4. Cleanliness: that he is neat and clean;5. Considerateness: that he is considerate of others;6. Control: that he has self-control;7. Honesty: that he is honest;8. Interest: that he is interested in how and why things happen;9. Judgment: that he has good sense and sound judgment;10.Manners: that he has good manners;11.Obedience: that he obeys his parents well;12.Responsibility: that he is responsible13.Sex role: that he acts like a boy (she acts like a girl).

Jews obtained a mean of 7.48, while non-Jewish whites obtained a mean of

6.21 and is equivalent to 9.06 IQ points. There were eight values in which Jews

were significantly different from others. Jews attach less importance to

cleanliness, honesty, manners and obedience, but they attach more

importance to considerateness, interest in how and why things happen,

judgment and responsibility.


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Steven Silbiger claims that these principles can be learned by anyone, and thus

his argument is that these traits are cultural and not genetic.

Seven Keys to Jewish Economic Success and Fabulous Wealth

By Steven Silbiger, The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring

Wealth of a People (2009)

1. Understand That Real Wealth is Portable; Its Knowledge - there hasbeen research evidence showing that Jewish children have higher

educational aspirations, do more homework and watch less TV than

non-Jews. Jewish families will highly support intellectual pursuits andencourage their children to invest in schoolwork. Jews attach a lot of

importance to study and education and this socializes the children for

educational and academic success: Jewish youth used to spend long

years bent over their books in an attempt to break out of the narrow

circle of restrictions (Slezkine, 2004, p. 252). Jews were highly

motivated to create a new and more secure life for themselves which

gave them the willingness to work hard (Rutland, 1988, p. 259). The

idea is built on the paradigm that 'getting an education requires the

ability to defer gratification for a bigger payoff later'.

2. Take Care of Your Own and They Will Take Care of You - to safeguardand enhance the health of their community, Jews zealously deploy their

wealth for both charity and social actions. They make money so hard,


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and they give so generously. In spite of the stereotype that they are

miserly, Jews happen to be the most philanthropic ethnic group in the

country. Total Jewish philanthropic giving totaled about $4.5 billion in

1997. Jewish Free Loan Societies help immigrants and other Jews in

need. Apparently there are about 40 of these institutions around the

country, and they make about $40 million in loans each year, interest

free!

3. Successful People Are Professional and Entrepreneurs - specialisedpeople earn from their skills.

4. Develop Your Verbal Confidence - assertiveness, a willingness todemand what is due, defy tradition, just to be able to have the balls to

dare to be different. It is from the Hebrew word chutzpah ("gall, brazen

nerve, effrontery, incredible 'guts,' presumption plus arrogance"). Avoid

self-pity, let your language prop you and feed your ears with strength

from your mouths.5. Be Selectively Extravagant but Prudently Frugal - do not borrow not

more than half what you earn. Spend what you can make, make more

than you need to spend. To be rich, you need to save!

6. Celebrate Individuality: Encourage Creativity - Jews resemble someProtestants in possessing individualistic, competitive patterns of

thought and action linked with the middle class and historically

associated with the Protestant ethic or its secular counterpart, the spirit

of capitalism.

7. Have Something To Prove: A Drive To Succeed - the mind is the mostpotent of drivers. Feed your mind with the positive psychological drive

to succeed. Again define success in a global sense, to another is success

to a second person your success is failure. Look outwards, it helps to


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reach out to see other strengths and role models. Then 'tune' your mind

to conquer and deliberately design the success path!

THE MOTIVE FORCES TO JEWISH ECONOMIC SUCCESS AND FABULOUS

WEALTH

By Steven Silbiger, The Jewish Phenomenon: Seven Keys to the Enduring

Wealth of a People (2009)

KEY # 1 EDUCATIONAL

1. Build a childs self-esteem.

2. Build the ability to defer gratification.3. Choose the best education possible.

4. Develop and demonstrate informed and literate habits (Jews celebrate and

promote books and reading like no other segment of society, accounting for

between 50 and 75% non-institutional book sales in the USA).

5. Create the education expectation.

6. Keep skills up-to-date even as an adult.

7. Have an educational incentive.

8. Believe that real wealth is portable; its knowledge (The Jewish priorities

consists of education, money and then material things. Money is the source of

power and to acquire it without education will create a household with many

thing, but with little security to maintain and support itself).

9. Believe in being prudently frugal.


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KEY # 2 ECONOMIC

10.Have an economic incentive.

11. Wealth is a good thing and a worthy and respectable goal for which to

strive (Poverty causes transgression).

12. Wealth is a tool for survival.

KEY # 3 ENTREPRENEURIAL

13. Have a strong, burning entrepreneurial spirit.

14. Believe financially successful people are professional and entrepreneurs.

15. Encourage Creativity (Ignore killer phrases and senseless rules; challenge

widely held assumptions; be a good copycat; keep current: know the trends;

create an idea-friendly home)

KEY # 4 EMPOWERMENT16. Have the ability to create, organize and utilize economic strength.

17. Firmly believe in take care of your own and they will take care of you.

18. The idea of individual empowerment should be deeply rooted in society.

KEY # 5 ENDURANCE

19. Be psychologically driven to prove something: A Drive To Succeed (Make

long-range goals; work harder at tasks requiring mental manipulation; take

prudent risks; work for tangible and intangible rewards; take personal

responsibility for decisions and create results; accept other entrepreneurs as

role models; believe in own self-determination)

20. Develop Verbal Confidence and Boldness (Encourage children to ask

questions; proactively explain new ideas to children and encourage public


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speaking and confident conversation. As verbally confident people, Jews ask

questions, seek second opinions and do their own research)

KEY # 6 ENJOY LIFE

21. Celebrate Your Individuality (Be a member of a critical minority than a

questioning majority)

22. Be Selectively Extravagant

Documents

The Jewish Phenomenon