What are the lessons of the history of the Jews?
Why have the Jews been the most persecuted minority in human history? Why has Israel, of all the countries in the world, been singled out for a boycott by the American Studies Association? Why are there more Talmuds in South Korea than in Israel? Why are children in China taught to “be like the Jews”?
One of the greatest paradoxes of human history is that the ethnic minority that has contributed most to humanity is also the most persecuted. Remember first of all that both Christianity and Islam grew out of Judaism. They are in effect Jewish offshoots. You might even call them Jewish sects. And then there is the scientific contribution. Jews have won an absolutely astonishing 21% of Nobel Prizes while only representing .2% of the world’s population. The key to the paradox is simple: envy. The Jews are hated because they are so successful. But why are they have they been so ridiculously productive?
The South Koreans think the Talmud has something to do with it. That’s why Seoul has more Talmuds than Tel Aviv. After World War II, South Korea was a devastated impoverished land with pathetic prospects. But the South Koreans wanted to pull themselves up and looked around the world for models. They saw the success of the Jews and decided to emulate them. So they started buying Talmuds.
As a Catholic boy growing up in Washington DC in a parish made up of mostly Irish and Italian families, I had met all of one Jew before heading off to Harvard in 1971. There I was utterly astounded at the concentration of Jews in the student body and even more on the faculty. After forty years of puzzling over this enigma, I have come up with what I call the Jewish Triad theory.The three parts of the Jewish triad are the Talmud, the Bar Mitzvah, and Chavruta. Compare the Talmud page to the Catholic catechism that I had to memorize as a child. The catechism consists of a list of questions with one and only one answer for each. By contrast The Talmud page consists of one key passage of sacred text at the center with multiple different interpretations radiating out from the center. The student is to consider all the opinions and come up with his own. At the Bar Mitzvah the young man publicly presents his interpretation to an assembled congregation. This after a daily trial by Chavruta – the practice of being paired up with a peer (Chaver) whose job is to destroy your arguments as yours is to destroy his. By age 13 in this tradition every boy has the analytical equivalent of a Harvard Law degree. In stark contrast was my experience – memorizing the one official answer to every question and my coming of age ceremony consisting of standing silently in a cathedral with 700 other boys and girls and being blessed by a Cardinal 300 feet away and barely visible.
The Jewish triad is cultural gem. The most successful minorities should not be envied and hated but emulated and celebrated. The South Koreans and the Chinese have chosen the right path in this regard. And the results speak volumes.