Why Are Jews Successful (Color Illustrations Edition)

Author: (Japanese) Yutaro Tejima, translated by Jiang Naipeng, He Liqun, Cai Zhihua
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-10-01
Features: Let God question, and question oneself—Jewish proverb Jewish people have endured at least two thousand years of suffering in history. Although they are scattered across the world, they remain united as a nation and strive to maintain this sense of identity. So, what kind of people are the Jewish? In fact, even among Jewish people, it is a difficult question to ask what defines a Jewish group. A simple definition is: if both parents are Jewish, their descendants are Jewish. In Hebrew, Jews are called Yebudi, and in English, they are called Jews, but you cannot determine from this whether there is a religious connotation. This definition gives the impression of saying "the child of a Japanese is Japanese." However, if Japanese people live and multiply in a foreign land for three or four generations, will they still maintain the consciousness of identifying as Japanese? I have serious doubts about this. Japanese Americans in the U.S., if they reach the second or third generation, may still be aware of their Japanese ancestry, but in their cultural and social lives, they often tend to identify as Americans. Moreover, even if a third-generation Japanese American consciously identifies as Japanese, they may not necessarily be accepted as true Japanese by the majority of Japanese people, because their cultural and lifestyle habits, formed in the U.S., may not be recognized by most Japanese. This situation exists. Jewish people are different; they transcend environmental differences. First, the consciousness of "being Jewish" becomes a bond that connects them. With this consciousness, even a Japanese Jew can be seamlessly accepted into Jewish society. Take the late Dr. Kojima Setsuzan and the active Rabbi Okamoto family still in Florida today as good examples. However, to become a Jew, one must support the Jewish people as a whole. There is no denying that this is a fundamental requirement that needs to be followed. That is to say, one must verify whether a person regards the four thousand years of Jewish tradition as the guiding principle of their life. In this sense, a Jew is a Jew. Groups like the Chinese overseas Chinese, who are scattered overseas yet maintain their ethnic characteristics and possess this consciousness, are similar. They do not integrate into the local customs and culture but instead adhere to their traditions and original way of life. Overseas Chinese avoid intermarriage with locals and choose spouses only within their own community to preserve the purity of their bloodline. In their daily social lives and when doing business, they follow local customs and use the local language. Once they return home, they speak Chinese, eat Chinese food, obey their parents' authority, and live completely within Chinese traditions and values. The lives of Jewish people overseas are very similar to this. The only difference is that Jewish people do not necessarily speak their mother tongue at home. For example, Spanish Jews speak Ladino (a mix of medieval Spanish and Hebrew) at home. However, most still speak local languages, such as Arabic, Italian, English, and French.