Sorry I haven’t posted in a while but I’ve been busier than I thought.

Although I am a Christian, I am a Judeophile. Words cannot express the love I have for the Jewish people and their heritage. I stand in awe of their history, how they have overcome so much pain and suffering – from Haman to Hitler to Ahmadinejad – but yet have been a shining beacon of hope unto all of humanity.

As a young man, I dreamt of going to Israel. I had a yearning to see the ancestral homeland of the Jewish people, to walk in the footsteps of the Jewish prophets, and to experience the Holy Land for myself. I finally had that chance after I graduated from college. I went to Israel and stayed there for a few months, working on a kibbutz. I even considered at one point joining the IDF.

Anyhow, I digress. The Jewish people make up only a small portion – a fraction of 1% – of the human race yet they are unique. They stand out as being the greatest contributors to civilization that the world has ever known. From the Jewish mind came forth the greatest innovations in mathematics and philosophy. From the Jewish hand came great advances in medicine and literature. While other people have certainly contributed to modernity, for their numbers the Jewish people are by far over-represented in terms of achievement.

I believe that besides the genetic drive to achieve, the Jewish culture promotes discovery and intellectual progress through the concept of Tikkun Olam. This goes far beyond just science and extends to every instance of our being. In the modern world for instance, the Jewish people have been instrumental in shaping our democracy and making it as vibrant as it is today.

For instance, in the 1960’s, many Jewish people participated alongside African-Americans in the civil rights movement. Although people of the Jewish faith can pass as white, they rejected their white privilege in favor of equality for all. A the same time, Jewish scientists such as Dr. Ashley Montagu worked to abolish many myths about race. Dr. Montagu was a prominent intellectual in academic circles and wrote several books. A very popular work of his was titled, “Race: Man’s most Dangerous Myth.” This book was a landmark work in the history of anthropology and was the first to prove that race is simply a social construct – an idea that racists use to divide and conquer, so as to oppress minorities and exercise hateful ideas about white supremacy.

Unfortunately, Jewish genius and hard work has not always meant that things have been smooth sailing. Because the Jewish people are an exceptional people, other races have always been jealous of the achievements of the Jews, and as a result they have been subject to persecution. Even today, many hateful, anti-semitic myths abound such as the United States or the United Kingdom being run by a shadow government of nefarious Jews with dual loyalties. These are nothing but anti-semitic myths.

Perhaps an extreme case is that of the Nazis. Ironically, it was the Jewish people in Germany who were instrumental in helping Germany rebuild its economy. After WWI, Germany, like most of the world, was plunged into depression. But it was through Jewish investments, sent back by American Jews who had emigrated, as well as Jewish inventions who essentially helped Germany bounce back in a matter of years. Nevertheless, the Nazis actually used this against the Jewish people to instigate the worst genocide the world has ever known! Who knows how many Einsteins, Oppenheimers, or Salks perished in the gagging gas chambers of death or fiery ovens of hate? Perhaps, had there not been a Holocaust, had there not been a loss of millions upon millions of inventors, doctors, mathematicians, writers and intellectuals we would have been colonizing the stars by now.

Mark Twain once said:

If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but one quarter of one percent of the human race. It suggests a nebulous puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the Milky Way. Properly, the Jew ought hardly to be heard of, but he is heard of, has always been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world’s list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine and abstruse learning are also very out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be vain of himself and be excused for it. The Egyptians, the Babylonians and the Persians rose, filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greeks and Romans followed and made a vast noise, and they were gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time but it burned out, and they sit in twilight now, and have vanished. The Jew saw them all, survived them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmaties, of age, no weakening of his parts, no slowing of his energies, no dulling of his alert but aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jews; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret of his immortality?

The Jewish people are truly an amazing people. What else needs to be said?