How can a nation that does not account for more than 1% of the world's population contribute the most breakthrough ideas and creativity to humanity?

A well-known Lithuanian cleric was annoyed when his students at the seminary spent their lunch break playing football instead of discussing the Torah. Students saw that, intending to convince the teacher of the beauty of football, invited him to watch a professional match. During recess, they ask what he thinks.

"I have solved your problems," said the rabbi. "How?", The student asked. "Give each team a ball and they will not fight anymore."

Bret Stephens, NYTimes writer and commentator was impressed with the anecdote in Norman Lebrecht's "Genius and Worry". The book he considered to be an interesting and erudite study of the intellectual achievement and the ruined life of Jewish thinkers, artists, entrepreneurs from 1847-1947.

These are Sarah Bernhardt and Franz Kafka, Albert Einstein and Rosalind Franklin, Benjamin Disraeli and Karl Marx. Stephens sought an explanation as to why the nation, which has never accounted for more than a third of the world's 1% of the world's population, has contributed the most breakthroughs to humanity?

The common answer is usually intelligent Jews. When it comes to Ashkenazi Jews, that's right. A 2005 study found that the Ashkenazi Jews had the highest average IQ of any nation.

In the 20th century, Jews constituted about 3% of the US population but won 27% of the US Nobel Prizes and 25% of the Turing Prize. They account for more than half of the world chess champions.

But Stephens argues that the "clever Jewish" interpretation does not fully explain their eminence. Aside from the eternal question of whether the high Ashkenazi Jews are born or educated, the more difficult question for him is why their intelligence often solves great and unique problems.

"They can use extraordinary intelligence to solve common problems, like planning a war or building a ship, but that intelligence can also make mistakes or commit crimes, like managing an economy. have a plan or rob a bank, "Stephens said.

According to him, the story of the Lithuanian clergy mentioned that Jewish genius had a different way of thinking. They tend to hypothesize and reassess concepts, ask why and how, to see the absurdity in the trivial and the beauty of the absurdity. Ashkenazi Jews may not have many significant advantages over other peoples, but their advantages lie in a different way of thinking.

So where do the habits of their thinking come from?

Jews have a religious tradition, requiring believers not only to observe and follow but also to debate and criticize. They often do not have a rich life when being a minority, understand the customs of the country they live in but still maintain a certain distance.

There is a faith embodied in the Jewish community, that one's life is only worthwhile in helping life to be more noble and beautiful, according to the genius Einstein.

There is a perception that being born in exile, the unity and Jewish values seem to be broken, while intangible things like knowledge have the ability to last forever.

"We used to be well-off, but that's all we know," said late financial expert Felix Rohatyn, a Jew. When he was young, he hid a few gold coins to escape Nazi Germany during World War II.

"Up to now, I have a feeling that enduring wealth is what comes to mind," he said. If the greatest Jewish minds had no barriers, Stephens thought that could be because those barriers were often broken.

Questions about Jewish prominence do not necessarily have definitive answers. Those qualities are also not exclusive to them.

In the best of circumstances, college in the US can remain a place of constant intellectual challenge rather than following cluttered social ideology and ideology. The United States is still a nation that respects and sometimes rewards distinct customs, though it can cause social hatred and conflict of beliefs.

The West still respects the principles of multiraciality, religion and belief, not the reluctant place for the exile, but the affirmation of its diversity.

In that sense, Stephens judged what made the Jews so special was that they were nothing special, but represented it. But the West is not the best place for them. It is not surprising that the trend of Jewish hatred has returned, under new cover.

Opponents of Zionism see anti-Semitism as a political program aimed at this people. Globalists see diversity as the cause of economic inequality.

Jews were murdered by superior whites and black Jews. Hateing Jews becomes a daily reality in life in New York City.

Jews in the late 19th century must be familiar with hatred. Jews in the early 21st century should recognize where they can go. One thing is no longer the secret of Jewish genius that they are too fragile flower buds, commentator NYTimes said.