The Talmudic Tradition
After the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE, Jewish culture replaced its emphasis on ritual with an emphasis on study and scholarship. Unlike the surrounding cultures, most Jews, even farmers, were taught to read and write in childhood. Talmudic scholarship became a leading key to social status.
The emphasis on scholarship came before the Jews turned from agriculture to urban occupations. This suggests that premise #3 of Cochran et al. might have the causal direction backward: mastery of written language due to the Talmudic tradition may have made the Jews well suited for financial and managerial occupations at the time when these occupations provided new opportunities. Similar cultural traditions continue to the present day, possibly providing a non-genetic explanation for contemporary Ashkenazi Jews' high IQs and prevalence in intellectual fields.
Read more about this topic: Ashkenazi Jewish Intelligence, Problems With The Genetic Explanation
Famous quotes containing the word tradition:
“Tradition means giving votes to the most obscure of all classes—our ancestors. It is the democracy of the dead. Tradition refuses to submit to the small and arrogant oligarchy of those who merely happen to be walking around.”
—Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874–1936)