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(SG7)Jews and Judaism
HISTORY • PHILOSOPHY • PROPHESY • THEOLOGY
The Importance of this subject matter, Is not simply the word 'JEW ' as implicated, but the meaning, in terms of Religion, and it Monotheistic ideals & history. What is Important is that the Jews were the 1st. to embrace the One true GOD! As we know HIM as YHWH and HIS
Son JESUS: Yeshua / Yehoshuah.
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The Sadducees
The Sadducees (Hebrew: צְדוּקִים Ṣĕdûqîm) were a sect or group of Jews that were active in Judea during the Second Temple period, starting from the second century BCE through the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. The sect was identified by Josephus with the upper social and economic echelon of Judean society.[1] As a whole, the sect fulfilled various political, social, and religious roles, including maintaining the Temple. The Sadducees are often compared to other contemporaneous sects, including the Pharisees and the Essenes. Their sect is believed to have become extinct sometime after the destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem in 70 CE, but it has been speculated that the later Karaites may have had some roots or connections with old Sadducee views.
Jewish sectarianism
The Jewish community of the Second Temple period is often defined by its sectarian and fragmented attributes. Josephus, in Antiquities, contextualizes the Sadducees as opposed to the Pharisees and the Essenes. The Sadducees are also notably distinguishable from the growing Jesus movement, which later evolved into Christianity. These groups differed in their beliefs, social statuses, and sacred texts. Though the Sadducees produced no primary works themselves, their attributes can be derived from other contemporaneous texts, namely, the New Testament, the Dead Sea Scrolls, and later, the Mishnah and Talmud. Overall, within the hierarchy, the Sadducees represented an aristocratic, wealthy, and traditional elite.
As opposed to the Essenes
The Dead Sea Scrolls, which are often attributed to the Essenes, suggest clashing ideologies and social positions between the Essenes and the Sadducees. In fact, some scholars suggest that the Essenes began as a group of renegade Zadokites, which would suggest that the group itself had priestly, and thus Sadducean origins. Within the Dead Sea Scrolls, the Sadducees are often referred to as Manasseh. The Scrolls suggest that the Sadducees (Manasseh) and the Pharisees (Ephraim) became religious communities that were distinct from the Essenes, the true Judah. Clashes between the Essenes and the Sadducees are depicted in the Pesher on Nahum, which states “They [Manasseh] are the wicked ones...whose reign over Israel will be brought down...his wives, his children, and his infant will go into captivity. His warriors and his honored ones [will perish] by the sword.”[16] The reference to the Sadducees as those who reign over Israel corroborates their aristocratic status as opposed to the more fringe group of Essenes. Furthermore, it suggests that the Essenes challenged the authenticity of the rule of the Sadducees, blaming the downfall of ancient Israel and the siege of Jerusalem on their impiety. The Dead Sea Scrolls brand the Sadduceean elite as those who broke the covenant with God in their rule of the Judean state, and thus became targets of divine revenge.
As opposed to the Early Christian Church
The New Testament, specifically the books of Mark and Matthew, describe anecdotes that hint at hostility between the growing Jesus movement and the Sadduceean establishment. These disputes manifest themselves on both theological and social levels. Primarily, Mark describes how the Sadducees challenged the Jesus’ groups belief in divine resurrection. Jesus subsequently defends his belief in resurrection against Sadduceean resistance, stating “and as for the dead being raised, have you not read in the book of Moses, in the story about the bush, how God said to him ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob?’ He is God not of the dead, but of the living; you are quite wrong.”[17] The tone and content of the passage are indicative of theological and sociopolitical dispute. Jesus challenges the reliability of the Sadducees’ interpretation of Biblical doctrine, the authority of which enforces the power of the Sadduceean priesthood. In addition, the Sadducees address the issue of resurrection through the lens of marriage, which “hinted at their real agenda: the protection of property rights through patriarchal marriage that perpetuated the male lineage."[18] Furthermore, Matthew depicts the Sadducees as “brood of Vipers,” and a perversion of the true Israel. The New Testament thus constructs the identity of the Jesus movement in opposition to the Sadducees.[19]
As opposed to the Pharisees
The Pharisees and the Sadducees are historically seen as antitheses of one another. Josephus, the author of the most extensive historical account of the Second Temple Period, gives an extensive account of Jewish sectarianism in both Jewish War and Antiquities. In Antiquities, he describes “the Pharisees have delivered to the people a great many observances by succession from their father, which are not written in the law of Moses, and for that reason it is that the Sadducees reject them and say that we are to esteem those observance to be obligatory which are in the written word, but are not to observe what are derived from the tradition of our forefathers.”[20] The Sadducees rejected the Pharisaic use of the Oral Law to enforce their claims to power, citing the Written Torah as the sole manifestation of divinity.
The Rabbis, who are traditionally seen as the descendants of the Pharisees, describe the similarities and differences between the two sects in Mishnah Yadaim. The Mishnah explains that the Sadducees state, “So too, regarding the Holy Scriptures, their impurity is according to (our) love for them. But the books of Homer, which are not beloved, do not defile the hands.”[21] The Sadducees thus accuse the Pharisees as the opponents of traditional Judaism because of their susceptibility and assimilation into the Hellenistic world. When synthesized, one can discern that the Pharisees represented mainstream Judaism in the Hellenistic world, while the Sadducees represented a more aristocratic elite. Despite this, a passage from the book of Acts suggests that both Pharisees and Sadducees collaborated in the Sanhedrin, the high Jewish court.[22]
True or False Claims of Khazarian History (2/9)
Argument for and against Ashkenazi Jews!
Whatever you may think about the Ashkenazi Jews, for their Zionist beliefs. Many are against zionism, and believe that the agenda is evil.
The word "ASHKENAZ", is infact from the Bible and it states that Ashkenaz himself was the grandson of Japheth, whose father was Noah!
So it is clear that Ashkenaz was a Japhetic descendant of Noah.
Therefore name ASHKENAZ holds a strong indication of any legitamate connection with the present Zionist Ashkenazi Jew race.
Although this does not mean that this particular group of Jews which claims
that title "Ashkenazi" is infact of true origin. It was told that these groups of Jews were actually Kazarians, and later adopted Judaism and its culture, later calling themselves jews, Ashkenazi Jews!
To prove this evidence false we must pray and study the hard facts, before making any judgement!
The Ashkenaz
ASHKENAZ
Ashkenaz - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
In the Hebrew Bible, Ashkenaz (אַשְׁכְּנָז) was the first son of Gomer and brother of Riphath and Togarmah (Genesis 10:3, 1 Chronicles 1:6). Gomer was the grandson of Noah through Japheth. Accordingly, Ashkenaz was a Japhetic descendant of Noah.
According to Jeremiah 51:27, a kingdom of Ashkenaz was called together with Ararat and Minni against Babylon. The location of this kingdom, however, is not clear and is not mentioned again, nor is there any clear non-biblical reference to the kingdom. Ashkenaz is often identified with the Scythians and Sarmatians, due in part to the use of the name "Ashkuz" (Saka) for the Scythians in Assyrian Akkadian inscriptions. It may also refer to the Phrygians, who according to Homer's Iliad settled around Lake Ascania. The Gimirri or Gomer had previously been associated the Cimmerians.
Isaac Asimov has proposed that biblical Ashkenaz (אשכנז) arose from Ashkūz (אשכוז) (= the Scythians) by an old misreading of נ (nun) for ו (vav).
According to the Encyclopaedia Biblica, "Ashkenaz must have been one of the migratory peoples which in the time of Esar-haddon, burst upon the northern provinces of Asia Minor, and upon Armenia. One branch of this great migration appears to have reached Lake Urumiyeh; for in the revolt which Esar-haddon chastised (i R 45, col. 2, 27 jf.), the Mannai, who lived to the SW of that lake, sought the help of Ispakai 'of the land of Asguza,' a name (originally perhaps Asgunza) which the scepticism of Dillmann need not hinder us from identifying with Ashkenaz, and from considering as that of a horde from the north, of Indo-Germanic origin, which settled on the south of Lake Urumiyeh. (See Schr. COT'I^gs; \Vi. GBA 269; ^7^6488491; similarly Friedr. Del., Sayce, Knudlzon.)"
In the rabbinic literature, the kingdom of Ashkenaz was first associated with the Scythian region, then later with the Slavic territories,[1] and, from the 11th century onwards, with northern Europe and Germany.[2] The region of Ashkenaz was centred on the Rhineland and the Palatinate (notably Worms and Speyer), in what is now the westernmost part of Germany. Its geographic extent did not coincide with the German Christian principalities of the time and included northern France. How the name of Ashkenaz came to be associated in the rabbinic literature with the Rhineland is a subject of speculation.[2]
In the 10th century, a distinctive Jewish culture formed in Central Europe which came to be called Ashkenazi, deriving its name from Ashkenaz. Though the region is no longer referred to by that name, the Jews who follow the traditions that originated in that culture are referred to as Ashkenazi Jews. Ashkenazi culture later spread into Eastern Europe and migrated to all parts of the world with the movement of Jews.
In rabbinic literature from the 11th century, Ashkenaz is believed to be the ruler of a kingdom in the North and of the Northern and Germanic people.
In the Armenian tradition, Ashkenaz, along with Togarmah, was considered also the ancestor of the Armenians. Koriun, the earliest Armenian historian (V c.), calls the Armenians "Askanazian (=Ashkenazi) nation". He starts the "Life of Mashtots" with these words:
"I had been thinking of the God-given alphabet of the Azkanazian* nation and of the land of Armenia - when, in what time, and through what kind of man that new divine gift had been bestowed..."[3]
Later Armenian authors too, confirmed this. Hovhannes Draskhanakerttsi (X c.) writes:
"...The sixth son was Tiras from whom were born our very own Ashkenaz [Ask'anaz] and Togarmah [T'orgom] who named the country that he possessed Thrace after himself, as well as Chittim [K'itiim] who brought under his sway the Macedonians. 7. The sons of Tiras were Ashkenaz, from whom descended the Sarmatians, Riphath, whence the Sauromatians [Soramatk'], and Togarmah, who according to Jeremiah subjugated the Ashkenazian army and called it the House of Togarmah; for at first Ashkenaz had named our people after himself in accord with the law of seniority, as we shall explain in its proper place."[4]
Because of this tradition, Askanaz (the Armenian variant of Ashkenaz) is a male name used by the Armenians nowadays too.
ASHKENAZ IN ROYAL GENEALOGIES (1732)
The 1732 tome Royal genealogies by James Anderson reports a significant number of antiquarian or mythographic traditions regarding Askenaz as the first king of ancient Germany, in the following entry:
Askenaz, or Askanes, called by Aventinus Tuisco the Giant, and by others Tuisto or Tuizo (whom Aventinus makes the 4th son of Noah, and that he was born after the flood, but without authority) was sent by Noah into Europe, after the flood 131 years, with 20 Captains, and made a settlement near the Tanais, on the West coast of the Euxin sea (by some called Asken from him) and there founded the kingdom of the Germans and the Sarmatians... when Askenaz himself was 24 years old, for he lived above 200 years, and reigned 176.
In the vocables of Saxony and Hessia, there are some villages of the name Askenaz, and from him the Jews call the Germans Askenaz, but in the Saxonic and Italian, they are called Tuiscones, from Tuisco his other name. In the 25th year of his reign, he partitioned the kingdom into Toparchies, Tetrarchies, and Governments, and brought colonies from diverse parts to increase it. He built the city Duisburg, made a body of laws in verse, and invented letters, which Kadmos later imitated, for the Greek and High Dutch are alike in many words.
The 20 captains or dukes that came with Askenaz are: Sarmata, from whom Sarmatia; Dacus or Danus – Dania or Denmark; Geta from whom the Getae; Gotha from whom the Goths; Tibiscus, people on the river Tibiscus; Mocia - Mysia; Phrygus or Brigus - Phrygia; Thynus - Bithynia; Dalmata - Dalmatia; Jader – Jadera Colonia; Albanus from whom Albania; Zavus – the river Save; Pannus – Pannonia; Salon - the town Sale, Azalus – the Azali; Hister – Istria; Adulas, Dietas, Ibalus – people that of old dwelt between the rivers Oenus and Rhenus; Epirus, from whom Epirus.
Askenaz had a brother called Scytha (say the Germans) the father of the Scythians, for which the Germans have of old been called Scythians too (very justly, for they came mostly from old Scythia) and Germany had several ancient names; for that part next to the Euxin was called Scythia, and the country of the Getes, but the parts east of the Vistule or Weyssel were called Sarmatia Europaea, and westward it was called Gallia, Celtica, Allemania, Francia and Teutonia; for old Germany comprehended the greater part of Europe; and those called Gauls were all old Germans; who by ancient authors were called Celts, Gauls and Galatians, which is confirmed by the historians Strabo and Aventinus, and by Alstedius in his Chronology, p. 201 etc. Askenaz, or Tuisco, after his death, was worshipped as the ambassador and interpreter of the gods, and from thence called the first German Mercury, from Tuitseben to interpret.[5]
True or False Claims of Khazarian History (1/9)
True or False Claims of Kazarian History - Judaism
Arguement for Ashkenazi Jews - Are they the biblical Jews of Palestine? that came from the land of jerusalem? or are they euro caucasian jew from Karazaria in Europe.
if so then why do they persist that PALESTINE / ISRAEL is their homeland?
if they never came from there? and is it true that these peoples: kazarians
became jews, by adopting the jewish religion. Then what were thy before? pagans?
Comments
Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so high?
Daniel Gene • here, there, everywhere • Jul 19, 2011
iPan:
From an ex-communist and currently democratic (since 1989) Eastern European country where I grew up things appear differently. Imagine laws similar to this one and even worse involving major cuts in child care, health services, pensions and so on are passed almost monthly and the civil society (as in “the people”) and the politicians are not doing anything about it, even though this has been going on since ages, even before the communists came to power.
Although the average salary in the capital city is now no more than 250E, gas, food and property prices are similar to our Western neighbors. Do you think this is fair? Now imagine how deeply blinded these people are and compare their situation with the Israeli protesters and maybe how loud their voices can be heard so the right-winged politicians could have thought that it is getting out of control. But they were still heard, otherwise, what’s the point of the “counter law”? I find this as the states complete acknowledgement of the problems raised by the protesters which will only make the people stronger and stronger. Put this in balance with what is happening in the US for some time, where the socio-political ground is broken into pieces practically by the state’s bankruptcy and people are more or less pressured to comply and accept the situation and even willingly so, having total faith in their government.
A lot of people never even heard of wikileaks and even the ones that heard about it didn’t have the curiosity to look at the whole phenomena a bit deeper. Do you think democracy is well applied there? Than you start thinking about what democracy really stands for or rather how good this concept is understood, starting from it’s foundation of political philosophy to the laws passed and “executed” by the state. Take a better look at what I wrote, Israel is definitely not perfect. Every political vision is flawed and so is everyone one of us. There is never a perfect system, it could only be perfect through it’s imperfections and only than the really good things come to surface.
To end this in an optimist tone I do think that the Israeli civil society, the opposition and the current law will stop this attempt to gag the people. We should be striving to get the best out of this experience called life or so we should, so let’s see if this one passes or not and than maybe talk more:)
Hank Pellissier • San Francisco • Jul 19, 2011
Hi Kim—nice try with bringing up the money factor. You might have a tiny point, because wealth does have a correlation with high IQ, but it is not as significant as you imagine.
If your hypothesis was right, for example, the wealthiest nation in the world per capita - Qatar ($76,108) - would also have the highest IQ, which it doesn’t - it is a mere 78.
Meanwhile, CHina (100 IQ) has a tiny per capita income of only $4,382. Your argument thus collapses.
Furthermore, your contention insinuates that the Ashkenazim always had high wealth, and thus had high IQ. But in reality, the Ashkenazim, as you surely know, have been dispossessed of their capital innumerable times. Most recently, after World War II, boatloads of destitute Ashkenazim concentration camp survivors were unloaded in Israel, the United States, and elsewhere, to economically start all over again. Which they did. Successfully. So the equation really is this:
High IQ—-> Wealth
not the inverse, that you have conjectured
Ronaldo • • Jul 19, 2011
There are some very questionable assertions above, and I’d like to address them. This, despite the fact that I agreed with most of Hank’s article:
1. Any genetic explanation should not rely on the (mostly) discredited theory of “inheritance of acquired characteristics”. For instance, is the “build up the precuneus in the superior parietal lobe, and the caudate nucleus, a part of the basal ganglia in the subcortical region” truly inheritable?
2. “In 64 A.D., the high priest Joshua ben Gamla insisted that Jewish fathers educate their sons in the Torah. This demanding edict reduced the Jewish population from 4.5 to 1.2 million, by pushing out the lower IQs.” —-> I can’t figure out why you blamed the population decline on this edict as opposed to the Roman oppression/conquering of Israel not long afterwards.
3. “If we promoted high IQ behavior to humans everywhere, globally, would we all become… enhanced? Better humans? ”—-> I’m definitely not saying “no”, but it’s probably true that the people with the highest overall IQ in the world in the 1930s were the Germans. (They were really into classical music, too, by the way.)
4. Jason Berg writes: “While the smartest Catholics were being locked up in seminaries where they couldn’t reproduce, Jews were marrying their daughters to the brightest boychiks in the hood. ”—-> I would expect that both the smart and the dumb men were marrying, with rates just like in every other (non-Catholic, that is) culture.
5. Daniel Gene writes: “What I find amazingly positive though is that the world is more and more freeing it’s mind and starting questioning things”—-> I agree totally. Speaking of this, and speaking of Nobel prizes, check out this quote:
A friend once asked Isidor I. Rabi, a Nobel prize winner in physics, “Why did you become a scientist, rather than a doctor or lawyer or businessman, like the other immigrant kids in your neighborhood?” Rabi responded:
My mother made me a scientist without ever intending it. Every other Jewish mother in Brooklyn would ask her child after school: “So? Did you learn anything today?” But not my mother. She always asked me a different question. “Izzy,” she would say, “did you ask a good question today?” That difference—asking good questions—made me become a scientist!
6. Daniel wrote: “Israel is one of the most democratic countries in the world” and iPan retorted to that statement. However, the retort did nothing to dent the truth of that statement.
7. Karl wrote: “I would like to put forth an alternate explanation for the disproportionate number of Ashkenazi emmy winners, nobel holders, professors, and ivy leaguers… the Ashkenazim are biased to accept and professionally promote other Ashkenazim. ”—-> This answer might be partially true, but it ignores the fact that for many years, Jews couldn’t even get into ivy league schools.
8a. xexon writes: “They’re not smart because they’re Jews. They’re smart because of the lineage they came from before becoming Jews.”—-> Are you saying the answer is mostly genetic? It sure sounds like it. That seems to be a very unpopular opinion here.
8b. He further writes: “When this group embraced the religion of Judaism, they dominated it. ”—-> I can’t even figure out what this means.
8c. He further writes: “Zionists are atheistic.”—-> No over-generalization there!
8d. He further writes: “But they are smart. They got the UN to give them a country. ” —-> Unless he’s being facetious, he should really check out the history of how the UN voted to make Israel a country. Also, if they were so smart, they would’ve figured out how to prevent Syria from being on the UN human rights council and North Korea on the Disarmament Conference.
Hank Pellissier • San Francisco • Jul 20, 2011
@ Ronaldo - thank you for your well-organized contribution to this discussion.
regarding your third point, i.e., Germany perhaps having the world’s highest IQ in the 1930’s, you might be correct. I didn’t find info from that era, but a recent report claims Germany had the highest IQ in Europe in 2006. Germany’s 107 IQ was well ahead of Britain’s 100 and France’s 94.
This detail is interesting because Ashkenazim descended from Germany’s Alsace and Rhineland regions, and an Emory University study estimates “that between 35 and 55 percent of the modern Ashkenazi genome comes from European descent”
that link is: http://www.physorg.com/news202047256.html
My essay isn’t really about high “Jewish” IQ because Sephardic IQ is quite moderate. Ashkenazim are, it appears, a mixture of Jewish and German descent.
——-
regarding your second point, about the decline in Jewish population - your point here is also quite valid. The Diaspora began in 70 AD, just six years after the edict. My suggestion that the population decline was due to the stringency of learning to read the Torah isn’t my own, I am passing it on from Dr. Richard Nisbett, who advances it in his book, “Intelligence and How to Get It.”
Comments
Daniel Gene • here, there, everywhere • Jul 19, 2011
Moe, as an Ashkenazi Jew I can tell you that I believe that over the centuries culture, environment and education lead to good genetics. So, it could be just a 2 side lucky coin type of situation:)
This article is very good as I think it touches a few points which are very dear to me so I could relate quite easily to almost all the points raised.
I think fear is imprinted in the Jewish consciousness though and we cannot stop it. We continued surviving throughout time because we kept vigilant to what people in
general “think about things” and if you consider how influenced we are by what people are saying and doing these days you notice it takes just a fine use of subtle ideas in order to attract the masses on false roads. See the likes of Hitler, Stalin or Kim Jong-Il hanging around the corner or the Neo-Nazi wave happening through Europe now and you
also start being aware of how easy extreme ideologies sustain themselves through their followers through time.
With Jews, while there are also extremist (who doesn’t have them? And I am talking about Israel a democratic state here as well) there is also an arab party, a green party, technocrats and new age freaks. There is also an old saying that jews are the biggest anti-semites themselves, so in order for someone to really understand what it means to be a jew take the famous cases of Woody
Allen, Chomsky and other so called anti-semite jews and compare their work to the work of a Rabi and you will find more philosophical similarities than between Germans and a nation and Hitler for sure. Israel is one of the most democratic countries in the world and this by itself is a clear example of release from the shackles of
oppression and the love for the freedom of people and the mind. Most of the jewish children, the young and the old feel they belong in Israel. This sense of belonging
is a trait well kept in time, it’s hard to describe the sensation of being in Israel, it just feels right. I am not saying it’s perfect, not at all,
as in any society there isn’t a clear finish line, things are not designed that way but instead try thinking about society as life itself, a constant progress with a
lot of crossroads and doubts.
What I find amazingly positive though is that the world is more and more freeing it’s mind and starting questioning things, a sort of “Search for the Truth”
quest (this is in our case why jews didn’t believe Jesus is Mesiah by the way and look at Christianity now, falling apart in the face of facts). Not sure Mesiah is the
answer either, but let’s leave religion aside for a moment and think that this constant questioning is what makes all people human, a jew or any person in general
which indeed wants to understand something about life. (here I am in total agreement with Hank saying that these values are accessible to anyone on this planet and there is nothing hidden or mystical going on in the back).
We should never forget what kind of society we want for our children and try to mirror everything around this idea and good things will emerge. When human beings will
stop being haters and start believing in their logic, sense and in their dreams maybe the world will change. Through spread of information and ideas we will finally get to understand each other
better, it takes some time but it’s coming. Take a look at the Arab Revolutions and the way the collective perception of the new arab youth wave is changing an area of
the world where religious fundamentalism is higher than everywhere else combined.
So it’s not even about being Jewish or not…we need to understand that no matter what genes you have, we as a species need to be constantly reminded what it means to
be a human part of a collective society. Greed, hate, friendship or love are all human emotions capable of starting world horrors (Shoah) or create good
things such as liberty of expression, cures for diseases, technological progress and so on. By the way isn’t all this the basics of what it means to be human?
Maybe the answer is balance although each of us has his own perception on what balance should be, we need to understand that we are designed to learn from our mistakes
and try to relate more to the similarities between us no matter what race or religion and we will eventually learn to tolerate each other, think for ourselves, create - not destroy and ultimately evolve.
(This is an extract copied word by word from some of the thoughts I laid down one night a few months ago - except for a few comments on Hank’s article, this is why I find it amazingly similar and I decided to post it)
Peace!
xexon • • Jul 20, 2011
Yes, I am saying the answer is genetic. It’s unpopular because humans like to think they are above the animal world and somehow exempt from any comparison with them. That’s why I used dogs as an example. We know it’s true, but ego says it must be something else.
Judaism, is a religion, not a people, per se. Not a race. Ancient Jews were a fairly isolated group for reasons I’ve already explained. But now there are Japanese Jews and many other ethnic groups that have converted to this religion. Of all these new world Jews, the face and power of Judaism today is based on the white Euro-Jew model. The same lineage that has these stratospheric IQ’s.
Before Judaism arrived in Russia and northern Europe, the face of Judaism were the true semites from the Middle East. A people closely related to the Arabs. Modern Palestinians have many links to these original “biblical” Jews. So do the black Jews from places like Ethiopia. So there’s been a huge shift the past thousand years as to who is a Jew. IQ is indeed responsible, because smart people tend to dominate.
As for the UN, it’s an international body, and it also has it’s share of smart people. Call it competition. Israel can’t dominate because everybody is on to the zionists now and they’re under watch. Operation Cast Lead made them show a cloven hoof to the world and it’s gone downhill for them ever since.
But these zionists only represent a small percentage of the family, and will eventually be overthrown. Then maybe Israel can become a regular country instead of this meth baby from hell.
Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so high?
Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so high?
Hank PellissierTranshumanity.net
Posted: Jul 19, 2011
Ashkenazi Jews are smart. Shockingly brilliant, in general. Impressively greater in brain power than the bulk of the human population. How did they get that way?
Ashkenazi Jews, aka Ashkenazim, are the descendants of Jews originally from medieval Germany, and later, from throughout Eastern Europe. Approximately 80% of the Jews in the world today are Ashkenazim; the remainder are primarilySephardic.
I’m not asserting Ashkenazi cognitive specialness because I’m philo-semitic, or a Zionist, or pro-Israeli. I’m pointing it out because it is irrefutably true.
Researchers who study the Ashkenazim agree that the children of Abraham are on top of the IQ chart. Steven Pinker – who lectured on “Jews, Genes, and Intelligence” in 2007 - says “their average IQ has been measured at 108-115.” Richard Lynn, author of “The Intelligence of American Jews” in 2004, says it is “only” a half-standard higher: 107.5. Henry Harpending, Jason Hardy, and Gregory Cochran, University of Utah authors of the 2005 research report, “Natural History of Ashkenazi Intelligence,” state that their subjects, “score .75 to 1.0 standard deviations above the general European average, corresponding to an IQ of 112-115.” Charles Murray, in his 2007 essay “Jewish Genius,” says “their mean is somewhere in the range of 107-115, with 110 being a plausible compromise.”
A Jewish average IQ of 115 is 8 points higher than the generally accepted IQ of their closest rivals—Northeast Asians—and approximately 40% higher than the global average IQ of 79.1 calculated by Richard Lynn and Tatu Vanhanen in IQ and Global Inequity.
Plus, contemplate this astounding tidbit: Ashkenazi “visual-spatial” IQ scores are only mediocre; in one study their median in this category was a below-average 98. They surmount this liability by logging astronomic figures in “verbal IQ”, which includes verbal reasoning, comprehension, working memory and mathematical skill; a 1958 survey of yeshiva students discovered a median verbal IQ of 125.6.
I’m not asserting Ashkenazi cognitive specialness because I’m philo-semitic, or a Zionist, or pro-Israeli. I’m pointing it out because it is irrefutably true. People who can’t comprehend the easily understood data verifying high Ashkenazi IQ may not simply be anti-semitic; they must also be crippled in the math/logic zone of their inferior parietal cortex, with subsequent IQ in the ~85 range.
In the 19th century, Mark Twain noted that:
[The Jews] are peculiarly and conspicuously the world’s intellectual aristocracy… [Jewish] contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are.. way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world… and has done it with his hands tied behind him.
Twain’s observation is not dated. Ashkenazi Jews have continued to mentally out-compete other demographics since his statement, often suffering horrendous consequences for their toil. Here is a brief list of Ashkenazi accomplishments in the last 90 years.
Nobel Prizes: Since 1950, 29% of the awards have gone to Ashkenazim, even though they represent only 0.25% of humanity. Ashkenazi achievement in this arena is 117 times greater than their population.
Hungary in the 1930s: Ashkenazim were 6% of the population, but they comprised 55.7% of physicians, 49.2% of attorneys, 30.4% of engineers, and 59.4% of bank officers; plus, they owned 49.4% of the metallurgy industry, 41.6% of machine manufacturing, 72.8% of clothing manufacturing, and, as housing owners, they received 45.1% of Budapest rental income. Jews were similarly successful in nearby nations, like Poland and Germany.
USA (today): Ashkenazi Jews comprise 2.2% of the USA population, but they represent 30% of faculty at elite colleges, 21% of Ivy League students, 25% of the Turing Award winners, 23% of the wealthiest Americans, and 38% of the Oscar-winning film directors.
Israel: In 1922, this swamp and desert land was inhabited by a impoverished population of 752,000. Today there are 7,746,000 residents, with an Ashkenazi majority that have elevated it into a high-tech entrepreneurial nation with the highest per capita income in the region.
Personally, I find the Nobel Prize statistic the most amazing. Consider this: if everybody on the planet was an Ashkenazi Jew, would the result be 117 times more Nobel Prize-winning caliber individuals, with 117 times as many spectacular achievements, per annum? INSTANT SINGULARITY! Without any help from AI…
Let’s proceed. With the facts I’ve laid out, only the most obtuse reader can resist the pronouncement that Ashkenazi Jews are, on average, exceptionally intelligent. I emphasize the word exceptional because I am frequently chided as an “exceptionalist” and I want to make it clear that, yes, I do, in fact, believe specific cultures have evidenced greater ability to produce exceptional individuals and exceptional societies.
That said, the important question is… Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so high? Is the reason genetic, environmental, cultural, educational? A unique combination of several?
Here are eight theories:
Squeezed Into Brilliance: Jews in Europe were officially excluded from “common” occupations such as agriculture from 800-1700 A.D. This restriction forced the Ashkenazim for 900 years into intellectually more demanding vocations, such as trade and finance. Ashkenazim who weren’t mathematically and verbally adept enough to succeed in these jobs drifted away from Judaism—low IQs were pushed out. Conversely, the most successful merchants and number-crunchers raised larger families, passing on an increasing percentage of algebraic brains.
Escape Plan: The most intelligent and/or wealthy Ashkenazim were better equipped to escape, alive, the Inquisitions, pogroms, persecutions, holocausts, and other genocidal threats because they: 1) could afford to emigrate; 2) could predict the need to do so; and 3) had social and economic opportunities in the nations they fled to. Poorer, less connected, and less astute Ashkenazi ranks thus were inexorably depleted.
Sick Genius: Ashkenazim are prey to a host of debilitating diseases that might, counter-intuitively, enhance their collective intelligence. Tay-Sachs, Gaucher’s disease, Niemann-Pick disease, and Mucolipidosis type IV are all sphingolipid disorders that kill or severely weaken those who have two copies, but if you inherit just one, you get neuron growth promotion and accelerated interconnection of brain cells. A second cluster of Ashkenazi lipid storage disorders might stimulate neuron proliferation in the DNA repair genes.
People of the Book: In 64 A.D., the high priest Joshua ben Gamla insisted that Jewish fathers educate their sons in the Torah. This demanding edict reduced the Jewish population from 4.5 to 1.2 million, by pushing out the lower IQs. The remaining Jews became the first male literate ethnicity in history, with subsequent ability to move into highly-skilled professions. Judaic culture prized scholarship, abstract thought, and analytic argument, with the best Torah students marrying into the wealthiest families and having larger numbers of children.
Trading Tongues: Ashkenazi merchants plied their wares globally, from rubber in Brazil to silk in China. To prosper in the exchange, they memorized multiple languages. The stateless tribe needed diverse fluency anyway, to communicate with neighbors in their adopted lands. A “fusion” tongue was also created: Yiddish (German, Hebrew, Aramaic, plus other Slavics and a touch of Romance). Neurologists today recognize that language learning enhances memory, mental flexibility, problem solving, abstract thinking, and creative hypothesis formulation.
Check Mate: Chess historically has been a highly-favored activity among Ashkenazim; a 1905 magazine described it as the “Jewish National Game.” Almost 50% of Grandmasters have been Ashkenazi. The visual, organizational, and strategic skills required for chess build up the precuneus in the superior parietal lobe, and the caudate nucleus, a part of the basal ganglia in the subcortical region.
Melodic Minds: Music has been revered in Jewish religious traditions for 3,000 years. Klezmer “reached a very high level of sophistication and ornamentation,” according to the Jewish Music Institute, and Ashkenazi composers and instrumentalists contribute hugely to Western classical music (one history site declares, “The Jews ‘Own’ the Violin”). Have centuries of practice paid off? Researchers today believe music training optimizes neuron development and improves brain function in math, analysis, memory, creativity, stress management, concentration, motivation, and science.
Great Expectations: Success breeds success, on the neurological level. Victory provides a rush of dopamine, a neurotransmitter that activates motivation for further accomplishments. Ashkenazi children understand they are capable of high achievement, and they’re obliged to develop their skills for contribution to humanity. Is stern discipline necessary to produce these results? Ashkenazim have long discouraged spanking of their children; strong familial ties, incessant encouragement, and hard focused work at excellent institutions, seems to be sufficient.
That’s the range of explanations. My opinion is they’re all possibly correct, but what most intrigues me are the “environmental” factors—factors that are accessible to all humanity.
I wonder, if the rest of the world really wants Ashkenazi-level achievement, why don’t we play chess with our children at night, instead of tossing them a violent video game? Why can’t we listen to their classical compositions on the weekend, instead of urging them to get concussions on the football field? Why can’t we provide them with excellent schools, entice them to learn oodles of foreign grammar, and convince them to believe in and expand their abilities, instead of forcing them to endure years of educational mediocrity and expecting nothing back but the same?
If all humanity adopted the best available characteristics of Ashkenazi culture, would we, as a whole, immensely benefit? Would we learn more quickly, more deeply, and produce greater wonders? Would we become over- instead of under-achievers?
If we promoted high IQ behavior to humans everywhere, globally, would we all become… enhanced? Better humans?
This article has been expanded into a considerably longer essay, with additional references and a total of 20 explanations, instead of this article’s mere eight. That extended version is available HERE
