Be More like Einstein than Weinstein
There has been growing concern in the Jewish community about antisemitism. What’s not clear is if there has been a rise in antisemitism itself.
On a recent appearance on “Saturday Night Live,” Larry David said he hoped Jews would be associated with (Albert) Einstein, not (Harvey) Weinstein. In every branch of Judaism, from ultra-Orthodox to so-called “bagel and lox,” we need to ask ourselves if this increase in hate of us is reality or perception. The internet has added to the spread of hate in general, but for many reasons, we are keenly aware of hate directed toward us. Regardless of whether hate is real or imagined, it’s imperative that we find ways to stop it.
Several years ago, a local Jewish graveyard was vandalized. Our community was in an uproar even though an objective observer guessed that the damage was caused by a garden-variety vandal and not a forerunner of the fourth Reich. Sure enough, months later the perpetrator was arrested and there was no indication that he even knew the cemetery was Jewish.
Obviously, we are targeted more than other groups. From my perspective it’s because as a whole, we are “pretty smart” at being good. It’s not just anecdotal that Jews have populated the medical, technical and scientific professions, and won more Nobel prizes than our small number would portend. While that fact may cause some resentment among the gentile population, I doubt it is much of a cause for hate.
Conversely, whether we like it or not, a disproportionate number of us are “pretty smart” at being bad. I haven’t done a thorough study, but it’s clear to me that Jews are disproportionately involved in fraud and other questionable activities. Bernie Madoff is an obvious example and, in recent news, so is Sam Bankman-Fried of FTX. Of course, not all Jews are financial crooks or have a monopoly on fraud. It’s simply my observation that just as there’s a disproportionate number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners whose brilliant contributions have helped millions around the globe, there’s also a disproportionate number of Jewish criminals whose corrupt financial deeds, typically on a colossal scale, have hurt many.
Many people who have little or no contact with our community assume that we are all alike. Dave Chapelle alluded to this on “Saturday Night Live,” when he said he learned that the two words you couldn’t say together were “The” and “Jews.”
Humans are tribal. We tend to live in the same neighborhoods and have similar friends, and our leaders encourage us to marry members of the same tribe. When one in our tribe does something bad, other tribes generalize and blame the whole group. It’s so much easier to blame “The Jews,” “The Blacks,” “The Irish” or “The Mexicans.”
We, though, are put in the same box because of the way segments of our community treat certain groups of gentiles.
The bottom line is that more than any other group, especially in the United States, we Jews need to think about how our actions reflect upon our tribe. This is advice I haven’t always followed, but I hope to do so more in the future. It’s time that we “pretty smart” Jews try to emulate Einstein (and other notable Jewish contributors), not Weinstein.