Is their some truth in the stereotype that Jews are clever when it comes to making money?
I agree with the answers quoting the fact that Jews could not own land, while Christans could not charge interest, pushing the Jews into finance. However, I think it might be more basic. For almost 2,000 years the Jews have been kicked around, often persecuted to death. It took brains to survive. A stupid Jew was frequently an ex-Jew, perhaps before he had a chance to hand on his low-intelligence genes. Now, I have no statistics about this, but it is my impression that Jews are, as a result, a pretty bright bunch. This helps them, not only to make money, but to make music (Barenboim, Menuhin……a long list), to make discoveries (you there, Einstein?) and generally to succeed. Add to this inherited intelligence the willingness to do what it takes to survive, including working at low-status, low-pay jobs (tailoring in Leeds and the East End, for instance), as well as their strong family bonds which work to focus, maintain and build on anything they can gain, and it’s not hard to see th
