Ashkenazi Jews: A Unique Jewish Ethnic Group

What about Ashkenazi Jews? David Reid

Part 1: Ashkenazi Exceptionalism 2

The three major Jewish ethnic groups Ashkenazi Descendants of Jews who traveled north and settled in France, Germany, and Eastern Europe at the time of their exile, the roughly 10 million Ashkenazi are often classified as being of European descent. Most of the Jews in the United States are Ashkenazi, and there are many people of Ashkenazi descent who do not identify as Jewish, but for their ancestry. Mizrahi The 4.6 million Mizrahi are descended from Jews who settled not far from Israel in Southwest Asia and parts of Northern Africa. Approximately 3.2 million of the roughly 6.9 million Jews in Israel are Mizrahi. Sephardi The ancestors of today's 900,000 Sephardic Jews originally settled in Iberia (Spain and Portugal). During the 15th century, the Sephardic Jews were expelled from their new homeland and resettled in North Africa, Southern Europe, and Western Asia on the periphery of the Mediterranean Sea. https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/number-of-jews-in-the-world 3

OED definition of Ashkenazim Ashkenazim, n. Etymology: modern Hebrew, < Ashkenaz, the name of a son of Gomer (Gen. x. 3, 1 Chron. i. 6), son of Japheth, son of Noah, typifying a race of people identified with the Ascanians of Phrygia, and, in medieval times, with the Germans. With plural agreement. Jews of middle and northern Europe as distinguished from Sephardim or Jews of Spain and Portugal. https://www-oed-com 4

Britannica description of Ashkenazi Ashkenazi, plural Ashkenazim, from Hebrew Ashkenaz ( Germany ), member of the Jews who lived in the Rhineland valley and in neighbouring France before their migration eastward to Slavic lands (e.g., Poland, Lithuania, Russia) after the Crusades (11th 13th century) and their descendants. After the 17th-century persecutions in eastern Europe, large numbers of these Jews resettled in western Europe, where they assimilated, as they had done in eastern Europe, with other Jewish communities. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashkenazi 5

There are ~ 11 million Ashkenazi in the world today Today Ashkenazim constitute more than 80 percent of all the Jews in the world, vastly outnumbering Sephardic Jews. In the early 21st century, Ashkenazic Jews numbered about 11 million. In Israel the numbers of Ashkenazim and Sephardim are roughly equal, and the chief rabbinate has both an Ashkenazic and a Sephardic chief rabbi on equal footing. All Reform and Conservative Jewish congregations belong to the Ashkenazic tradition. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Ashkenazi 6

Ashkenazi are 0.14% of the worlds population The current population of the world is slightly over 8 billion Ashkenazi Jews are approximately 11 million Thus, Ashkenazi Jews are ~0.14% (less than 0.2% or less than 1 in 500) of the world s population https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/ 7

Ashkenazi are <0.2% of the worlds population but won ~30% of the Nobel Prizes in the 2nd half of 20th century Although Jews constitute only about two-tenths of one percent of the world s population, Jews won 29 percent of the Nobel Prizes in literature, medicine, physics and chemistry in the second half of the 20th century. So far this century, the figure is 32 percent. And these Jews of whom we speak were almost exclusively male Jews primarily of western European ancestry (less than one-tenth of one percent of the world s population), in spite of pervasive discrimination, numerous legal barriers, frequent persecution, and the Holocaust. Lewis Regenstein. Why Are Jews So Smart? The Jewish Magazine (April 2012). https://www.jewishmag.com/115mag/smartjews/smartjews.htm 8

Ashkenazi have won 32% of the Nobel Prizes in the 21st century Disproportionate Jewish accomplishment in the arts and sciences continues to this day. My inventories end with 1950, but many other measures are available, of which the best known is the Nobel Prize. In the first half of the 20th century, despite pervasive and continuing social discrimination against Jews throughout the Western world, despite the retraction of legal rights, and despite the Holocaust, Jews won 14 percent of Nobel Prizes in literature, chemistry, physics, and medicine/physiology. In the second half of the 20th century, when Nobel Prizes began to be awarded to people from all over the world, that figure rose to 29 percent. So far, in the 21st century, it has been 32 percent. Jews constitute about two-tenths of one percent of the world s population. Charles Murray, Jewish Genius Commentary (April 2007). https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/ 9

Ashkenazi are increasing their winning percentage of Nobel Prizes over time Nobel Prizes: Since 1950, 29% of the awards have gone to Ashkenazim, even though they represent only a small fraction of humanity. Ashkenazi achievement in this arena is 117 times greater than their population. This pace isn t slowing down; it is accelerating. In the 21st century, they ve received 32% of the total, and in 2011, five of the thirteen Nobel Prize winners were Jewish 38.5%. Hank Pellissier, Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (December 11, 2013). http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20131211 10

Ashkenazi are 6X as likely to have genius IQs as the rest of humanity The proportion of Jews with IQs of 140 or more is estimated to be about six times the proportion of any other ethnic group. Lewis Regenstein. Why Are Jews So Smart? The Jewish Magazine (April 2012). https://www.jewishmag.com/115mag/smartjews/smartjews.htm 11

86% of the most brilliant New York City public school students in the 1950s were Ashkenazi In 1954, 28 children in the New York City public school system were found to have IQs of 170 or higher 24 of these were Jewish. Lewis Regenstein. Why Are Jews So Smart? The Jewish Magazine (April 2012). https://www.jewishmag.com/115mag/smartjews/smartjews.htm 12

Ashkenazi are 4X to 14X more likely to be thought leaders in numerous fields From 1870 until 1950, Jewish leadership in such fields as literature, music, visual arts, biology, chemistry, physics, mathematics, and philosophy equaled somewhere from four to fourteen times the Jewish proportion of the population in Europe and North America. Lewis Regenstein. Why Are Jews So Smart? The Jewish Magazine (April 2012). https://www.jewishmag.com/115mag/smartjews/smartjews.htm 13

Ashkenazi are 4X to 14X more likely to be thought leaders in numerous fields From 1870 to 1950, Jewish representation in literature was four times the number one would expect. In music, five times. In the visual arts, five times. In biology, eight times. In chemistry, six times. In physics, nine times. In mathematics, twelve times. In philosophy, fourteen times. Charles Murray, Jewish Genius Commentary (April 2007). https://www.commentary.org/articles/charles-murray/jewish-genius/ 14

Ashkenazi are 10X more likely to attend the Ivy League In reality, Ashkenazim are enrolled in the Ivies by a proportion ten times greater than their numbers; for example they represent 30% of Yale students, 27% of Harvard, 23% of Brown, 32% of Columbia, and 31% of Pennsylvania. Hank Pellissier, Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (December 11, 2013). http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20131211 15

Ashkenazi are <0.2% of the worlds population but ~ 50% of chess grandmasters Almost 50% of Grandmasters are Ashkenazi. Hank Pellissier, Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (December 11, 2013). http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20131211 16

Ashkenazi dominate in numerous intellectual endeavors Ashkenazi Jews comprise 2.2% of the USA population, but they represent 30% of faculty at elite colleges, 21% of Ivy League students, and 25% of the Turing Award winners. Plus, Jews have made up 50% of the top two hundred intellectuals 40% of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington 59% of the directors, writers, and producers of the fifty top-grossing motion pictures Hank Pellissier, Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (December 11, 2013). http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20131211 17

Ashkenazim are the worlds intellectual aristocracy [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. Mark Twain Hank Pellissier, Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (December 11, 2013). http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20131211 18

Ashkenazi have 2.5 more years of education and earn 2X and have 2.5X assets than other Americans Surveys indicate that American Jews earn about twice the income of non- Jews, plus they have 2.5 times more capital assets. The result? The average American Jew receives 2.5 more years of education. Hank Pellissier, Why is the IQ of Ashkenazi Jews so High? Institute for Ethics and Emerging Technologies (December 11, 2013). http://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/pellissier20131211 19