This truism is so veritable it could almost be elevated to a Rule: Jews Who Read Hebrew Support Trump.
My guess is that this truism is nearly 95% accurate. As I tell anyone who will listen, anything in the human domain or found in nature that is 95%, or 1.96 standard deviations above the mean, should always be treated as 100%. I’ve spent my adult life doing survey research and when I see a 95% result, I know that is as close to 100% as a human measurement can get.
So how does it apply to Jews?
To start with, nearly all American Orthodox Jews can read and write Hebrew. They nearly all supported Trump and still do. Nearly all Jewish Israelis support Trump, and they can read and speak Hebrew. That leaves a few American Conservative Jews and even fewer American Reform Jews who can read Hebrew. My guess is that these few are Trump supporters.
The issue arises because the VA primary physician I have used for two decades asked me if I was happy with the election of Biden, as he is. My answer was “absolutely no.” I explained that I support Trump, even more so because it is a major issue for me as a Jew. Trump was the greatest friend of Jews since Cyrus the Great. Obama hates Jews and Biden is clearly an Obamian who seems content to follow the Jew hating State Department anti-Israel anti-Jew position. My physician’s response was “Aren’t most American Jews Democrats?” About 60% of American pseudo-Jewish voters are Democrats. (However I must acknowledge that according to a recent Pew survey, many of these Democrats claim to care about the well-being of other Jews. Their voting just doesn’t reflect it.)
That discussion with my doctor led me to the truism of this blog.
When the gene is finally found for reading, Jews will have the gene expressed by nearly 100%. Because Jews, for nearly 3000 years, that is 90 generations, enough for behavior to be infused in the DNA, have been readers. For 90 generations Jews have been reading Hebrew. Only recently, for about 3 generations has the reading gene not included Hebrew. Nearly all Jews have libraries and read constantly.
No other population on the planet have been readers for more than a few generations. Readers of any language. A good future survey that purports to measure the behavior of people who claim to be Jews should qualify the Jewish definition by asking ‘How many books do you own?’ ‘How many books have you read in the past month?’ Calling oneself a Jew is not a sufficient definition. Being a reader is a good qualifying measure. Reading Hebrew is even better.
Am I exaggerating? Probably, but not by much.