JEWS IN AMERICA II

JEWS IN AMERICA II: WHAT THEY HAVE IN COMMON

Part One of this series dealt with some notable Jews and with great Jewish contributions to America and posed the question, Since the Jewish people as a group have contributed so much to this country, why does such animosity toward them still exist?

That’s a difficult question to answer but Part Two offers one explanation, the nature of the Jew.

Attempting to categorize an entire people, a very ancient people, attempting to pigeonhole millions of individuals into a box, a category, is an effort fraught with land mines–and is even more a presumptuous undertaking when a non-Jew makes that attempt.

Is it even fair to try to do it? Does it reflect bias to suggest categorization? Is labelling tantamount to discriminating? Does anyone dare to suggest that the Irish, the Russians, the Poles, Hispanics, African Americans, Orientals are homogeneous groups open to being easily labelled?

I believe it is fair and it need not be a product of bias. And, actually and allowing for fine distinctions, those latter nationalities and races are often linked and categorized, based on tastes, behaviors, interests, activities, and even public records.

The Irish tend to celebrate life more than most, Russians tend to be dour, Poles are more often carefree, Hispanics are mostly industrious, Blacks are more likely to have issues with law enforcement, and Orientals tend to be studious and serious and to over-achieve.

All of those are generalized stereotypes, obviously, but generalizations founded on reasonable and fair observations and statistical proofs, although there are always exceptions.

Jews are unique in that almost to the person, male or female, younger or older, they are a driven people. The reasons for that I will leave to genetic experts. I can only speculate based on personal experiences while living in New York City, a town which includes as many Jews as Tel Aviv and Jerusalem combined.

Point is, I have met, known, and “experienced” many people of the Jewish persuasion and I know, at least to some extent, what Jews have in common.

I will admit that during my youth in the South Bronx,...

(Read the rest of this article at http://genelalor.com/.)