Jews and debate

I have recently been in a discussion with one of my readers who claims that in his later life he has begun to see a Jewish conspiracy. This conspiracy is caused by tribalism in his opinion.

I am a Jew and I can assure you there is no tribalism, or very little, among Jews. I have never gotten a job, a discount or any favoritism for being a Jew from other Jews. In fact there is often an element of competitiveness and hierarchical arrogance in Jewish relationships.

I compare such presumptions of tribalism to actual tribalism that I see among Filipinos, Chinese, Rom people and Arabs.

And yet my reader cannot help but see the stunning success of Jews in a commercial society as having some explanation. The fact that Jews are not involved in Chinese or Japanese societies seems to be overlooked by him.

I have tried to think like he does and identify the element that makes Jews so successful in our modern commercial-technological society.

I think there is an important element that is essential. It is called the Talmud and consists of two parts the Mishnah and Gamarrah.

The Talmud is a 2000 year long debate about moral issues. All sides of the argument are presented and recorded for posterity from every region of the world. Over time certain forms of logic are recognized as dominant.

I know of no other human group that has written down and talked to their offspring about the logic of moral debate.

Since I believe that both commerce and technology are held up by the tent poles of debate and open examination of ideas, I believe this Talmudic tradition is the source of Jewish prosperity in a commercial-technological society.

I have written books with non-Jews over decades and been in business with many non-Jews. There is no tribal advantage among Jews that results in working together. However I also have a few close Jewish friends and we have beneficial relationships that come out of our unique form of debate and mutual interrogation.