I'm not a Jew. I don't even know many Jews, yet every Jew I've ever known, or known about, had one thing in common. They were always on the job.
The job could be work, play, basket-weaving, or Pilates. It wouldn't matter which.
Anything a Jew sets out to do will be given very earnest attention. Jews have heard about goofing-off, they just can't get the hang of it.
Jews work harder just at going on vacation, staying in style, and getting the best deal possible, than most people do. Jews are driven by an inherent imperative to strive.
Few others work that hard at things they should be working hard at.
Maybe it begin when Jacob wrestled the angel: Genesis 32:24-32. The bout lasted all night. It ended in a draw. Jacobs hip was crippled, but he survived.
The angel - who turned out to be God - blessed Jacob, and proclaimed Jacob's name will forevermore be changed to Israel - which means: "One who strives with God and lives".
The Jews have been striving ever since.
They don't seem to have a choice.
I don't think any people, with the possible exception of the Gypsy's, has ever been reviled, abused, and driven away with such perfect consistency. If Jews didn't strive, they'd probably have been wiped off most of the earth long ago.
The Nazi Holocaust is widely described as an unthinkable atrocity. That's exaggerated. Much the same thought has been thought throughout history. It just wasn't possible before.
Autocratic power and technological advances had more to do with the Nazi Holocaust than a single freakish aberration of moral probity. Centuries of persecution say
as much.
All the persecutors had their reasons for hating Jews. None of their reasons were reasonable. Many of their reasons were outright lies. Many more were misunderstandings.
Medieval Europeans looking for a loan were outraged that Jews would charge money for the loan of money. "It's not like that Jew was doing anything to get paid for. Whoever heard of such a thing"!
Now, everybody knows the value of interest.
The modern world is powered by interest. The only credit Medieval Jews got for introducing the idea of interest to Medieval Europe was a reputation for grasping greed - which has lingered falsely ever since.
A lot of calumny's have lingered - as has the abuse.
I've heard it suggested that Jews are like the canary in the coalmine; an early warning system. Once, it was common practice for miners to take a caged canary with them down into the mine. The canary, because it was much smaller than the humans, would be first to die in the event some deadly gas seeped invisibly out.
Wherever Jews are persecuted, other groups are usually next. It's a canary-in-the-coalmine sort of social warning.
Never a day off.
Jews are only 2% of the world's population, despite that, the "Damned Jews" are often blamed for almost anything gone wrong. Perhaps such unreasonableness is believed because Jews truly do accomplish more than their modest numbers would suggest.
From pop-stars to physicists, Jews seem to be all over the place; there must be a lot of them.
Wrong, but understandable.
Maybe it's because they try harder.
A lot of people strive to be the best they can be; for Jews, it's a reflex.
My notion that Jews are people that never get a day off comes almost entirely from my years at Wyse Advertising. Outside of myself, and my small staff, the whole place was Jewish.
The Jews I worked with at Wyse Advertising were just like everyone else I'd ever worked with except, none of them was ever off the job. Even the hardest working people I've ever known would occasionally kick back, loosen their tie, and say," Oh, to hell with it. Let's get a beer. Say, Did I ever tell you about . . ."
No one I knew at Wyse Advertising ever got that relaxed.
I have the impression that no Jew ever gets that relaxed. Jews have ancestral mandates that can't be relaxed about family, career, and personal respect. All Jews are anxious about failure to perform. They don't say so, it’s obvious in their whole way of being.
I can't do that. I can't be on the job all the time.
I admire those who can.
Even if they've no choice in the matter.
Jacob Wrestles with the Angel - an Icon from
the Prosopon School, by Vladislav Andrejev.