"Do Jews Think Differently?" (Israel, believe, Catholics, Christians)

[Rachel NewYork]

Originally Posted by Chava61

I think the tradition that all boys from a young age learned to read/write Hebrew in order to study the Torah, etc. instilled the value of education in Jewish tradition vs. other cultures that only the wealthy became literate until the last century.

Originally Posted by Pruzhany

Not totally correct. To be in line with this thread then it would've needed to be stated as: "I think the tradition is that all boys brought up in a religious home from a young age learn to read Hebrew in order to study the Torah, etc. instilled the value of education in Jewish tradition vs. other cultures that started in the year ~70AD."

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy...as-the-road-to

I think that it can be understood without saying that all Jewish boys back then were being brought up in religious homes. Chava does state that these children were required by their elders to read/write Hebrew in order to study the Torah. As for the year that all this began -- historians Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein make a good case for the year 70 CE, and I doubt that anyone would dispute that.

While the authors of The Chosen Few posit that it was not Jewish literacy alone that transformed the Jewish people, literacy was certainly a contributing factor. In fact, the case made by Botticini and Eckstein confirms the theory put forth by Norman Lebrecht -- that it was the study of the Talmud which led to a different way of thinking.

Botticini and Eckstein state: "Literacy (which the Jews became endowed with because of the profound transformation of their religion after 70) is not enough to explain the specialization of the Jews in urban skilled occupations. There is much more than just literacy that can explain their peculiar occupational structure (e.g., the ability to think in an analytical way because of the study of the Talmud, networking abilities, mutual trust, etc.)."

The networking abilities mentioned by the authors tie in with what I wrote earlier about the Jewish use of a universal language (Hebrew) that easily crossed national boundaries. By contrast, the medieval Christian population of Europe had Latin as their universal language, but (unlike the Jews with Hebrew) Latin was understood only by the clergy and, to a lesser degree, the upper classes. In fact, I believe that medieval Christians were even discouraged by the clergy from reading their Bible.

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by Rachel NewYork

Agreed. In the days before universal mandatory education, literacy was already universal among Jews, regardless of their economic status.

There is another thing that was universal among Jews: A language that crossed national boundaries. Hebrew was a language used and understood by Jews wherever they went and met other Jews practically anywhere in the world. To a lesser extent, Yiddish was universal among Central and Eastern European Jews. Perhaps this is another factor that contributed to the way that we think?

To a lesser extent Ladino in Spain and other Sephardic communities.

Originally Posted by Pruzhany

Not totally correct. To be in line with this thread then it would've needed to be stated as: "I think the tradition is that all boys brought up in a religious home from a young age learn to read Hebrew in order to study the Torah, etc. instilled the value of education in Jewish tradition vs. other cultures that started in the year ~70AD."

Originally Posted by Rachel NewYork

I think that it can be understood without saying that all Jewish boys back then were being brought up in religious homes. Chava does state that these children were required by their elders to read/write Hebrew in order to study the Torah. As for the year that all this began -- historians Maristella Botticini and Zvi Eckstein make a good case for the year 70 CE, and I doubt that anyone would dispute that.

To clarify at some point in the past traditionally all Jews were religious (with very few exceptions) and at that time all Jewish boys were literate in Hebrew due to religious studies and praying.

[jessxwrites89]

Since I wasn't raised Jewish and my grandma was a welcoming Catholic woman, who accepted all thoughts and religions as valid, would say, "we all think differently and that is what makes us interesting people." I adapted that philsophy.

The article was interesting and it reminds me of many of the articles that are in the Jewish Exponent that I receive weekly. I'm beginning to think that yes, Jews think differently and I think we are more aware. Maybe because of Talmudic study, but I also think because of history and experience.

[Rachel NewYork]

Originally Posted by jessxwrites89

Since I wasn't raised Jewish and my grandma was a welcoming Catholic woman, who accepted all thoughts and religions as valid, would say, "we all think differently and that is what makes us interesting people." I adapted that philsophy.

The article was interesting and it reminds me of many of the articles that are in the Jewish Exponent that I receive weekly. I'm beginning to think that yes, Jews think differently and I think we are more aware. Maybe because of Talmudic study, but I also think because of history and experience.

I agree, Jess, that we all do think in our own ways, and much of that has been influenced by our individual upbringings. I think that the author, Norman Lebrecht, is trying to explain what it is specifically that makes how Jews as a group think differently from the way that other groups think.

I think that American Catholics have something in common with Jews in this way: For a long time in the United States, Catholics were marginalized by society at large. The revived, anti-immigration KKK of the 1920s, in fact, focused their attention not only on Jews, but on Catholics, too. Later, when John F. Kennedy was elected the first Catholic U.S. President, he was required to prove his loyalty to the U.S.

Times now have changed quite a bit for America's Catholics. Not so much for America's Jews, I'm afraid. Perhaps knowledge of this shared experience in America's past was one among many factors that drew you to Judaism (in addition to your Jewish heritage, of course)?

[jessxwrites89]

I think you're right. I'm an amateur historian and I remember learning about this. Although Nan wasn't my biological grandma, I know as a daughter of Italian immigrant parents, she faced a lot of prejudices as an Italian and a Catholic. Her father died when she was 12, he had mouth cancer, and she remembers her mom struggling to raise the 6 young children she had. Nan was born in 1923, so he died around 1935, right when times were difficult.

I am drawn to struggle and justice and I think you're right on that account too. 23 & Me is being weird; my 10% Ashkenazi disappeared, and now it's showing my strongly Eastern European (Polish, Slovak, and Russian) roots. I looked at the family tree through 23 & Me and I have a handful of 2nd and 3rd cousins who are related by strands of my DNA that are very Jewish. Many of them live in Canada and I eventually want to move to Canada; I've thought about connecting.

I love hearing stories and learning about others. Apparently, for my generation, it's perceived as odd. Shrug. I'm sad about how Jews and Muslims in the US are treated. I'm hoping that once we come out of isolation, people continue being kind.

[Teacher Terry]

I have 2 Jewish friends. They said that it’s passed down to the generations that small families, saving money and making their children’s lives financially better than their own are important because of what’s happened in the past. I am not Jewish however I find the religion interesting.

[jessxwrites89]

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

I have 2 Jewish friends. They said that it’s passed down to the generations that small families, saving money and making their children’s lives financially better than their own are important because of what’s happened in the past. I am not Jewish however I find the religion interesting.

That makes sense! That's how I was raised too. It's nice.

[Rachel NewYork]

Originally Posted by Teacher Terry

I have 2 Jewish friends. They said that it’s passed down to the generations that small families, saving money and making their children’s lives financially better than their own are important because of what’s happened in the past. I am not Jewish however I find the religion interesting.

I think that a lot of modern families are taking that path. The traditional Jewish families are still having lots of children -- perhaps with the additional desire to restore, through the birth of new lives, those lives that were lost in the Holocaust.

[Teacher Terry]

Whenever I read about the Holocaust I just can't imagine the horror of it and what people experienced. I do hope it's never forgotten. We went to Auschwitz in Poland and being able to tour the camps as well as museums will hopefully prevent people from forgetting. That's interesting about the more traditional Jewish families.

[Coney]

I do not believe that Jews think differently because of some biological reason. However, due to past history, many non-Hasidim are cynics and follow the philosophy, "hope for the best, but expect the worst."