Culture
A people without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.
-Marcus Garvey
Differences in culture have always made intuitive sense to me.
There are beautiful parts of every culture, and downsides of every culture. Of course, when talking about culture, nothing is ever 100%, but there are clear, obvious differences in cultures. These differences lead to distinct outcomes in life.
My childhood was unique. I grew up with parents from two cultures (Irish Catholic and Jewish). It was apparent how different each side of my family perceived the world and prioritized their lives. Beyond family being a top priority, what they cared about had little overlap.
I was also one of the few white people in most of my classes. My K-12 education had a predominantly east Asian and south Asian student body. I was usually the only white person in my honors and AP classes. Cultural differences were shoved in my face from an early age.
Growing up, I liked how my Jewish friends thought. But I remembered thinking my Jewish friends weren’t as smart and wouldn’t be as successful as my Asian friends. This was unique to the community I grew up in. Later, I learned how successful Jews are in the world, and I was shocked.
There are things in Jewish culture that lead to success and prestige.
As a child, grades in school were most important. Jewish parents constantly talk about school performance. Getting into a high status university is of utmost importance. Almost nothing else matters as long as you get good grades that lead to getting into a high status university. Then, one should get good grades in university to get into a high status graduate school where additional merit badges can be earned. This is the path 99% of my Jewish friends and family were pushed towards.
After education, Jewish culture pushes towards high status jobs. They should be the most difficult to get jobs that are looked up to. Jobs at top firms that are respected in their field.
Jews are divergent thinkers. From an early age, Jews are taught to ask “why”. God created the world in seven days. A teacher in Hebrew school will tell this Biblical story then ask the children if they think it’s true. Everything is questioned and debated. Nothing is set in stone. A Rabbi is a scholar who has opinions, but their opinions don’t mean much more than anyone else's. They’re no closer to God or holier than anyone else. A Rabbi is just someone who has dedicated their life to studying the Old Testament. Do with their knowledge as you wish.
This upbringing leads Jews to question how the world works. To strive to be in top positions in society. It’s not surprising that over a quarter of Nobel Prize winners are Jews even though Jews make up less than 2% of the population. Jews are disproportionately represented in the top of every field from film, finance, technology, accounting, legal to medical professions. Jews have and are disproportionately the biggest political activists and seek representation in the political arena.
The only “white” people protesting racist Jim Crow laws doing sit ins in the south were Jewish. The founders of the NAACP were Jewish. During the Vietnam War, the US government would track the amount of Jewry at universities to predict where protests were going to happen. Jews have strong moral codes and are infamously disagreeable. You need to know how to argue with them.
That said, many things in Jewish culture lead to high stress and high anxiety. It’s oriented around doing high status things and getting high status titles and pedigrees. There’s no chill. You can never relax nor be content. Dancing, singing, and joy are not as high priority. It’s optimized around being optimal. Solving problems, fixing the world. When Jews try to have fun, they try to force optimal fun. Ruining the point of fun in the first place.
Spending quality time with family isn’t as valued. It’s valued to observe holidays to see each other, but it’s not as prioritized as in some other cultures. Being content with what you have and appreciating life isn’t as prioritized.
My Irish side values wit. They love humor, poetry, and making light of anything and everything. Irish culture can be extremely silly yet emotionally deep. It's thoughtful in a more emotional way.
One of my cousins and closest friends is half Mexican and half Jewish. We talked about the differences between his Mexican and our Jewish family. We never felt like we fully belonged in any one culture. This is common when growing up with parents from two different cultures. This led me to be a floater in high school. Moving between groups, trying them out and seeing what I liked and what I didn’t like. None of them ever felt right.
The recipe for economic success in modern life is to be disciplined, competent, efficient, and ruthlessly prioritizing. This isn’t necessarily the recipe for happiness or fulfillment.
Every person has their optimal personal culture. The same way we have our preferred climate and room temperature. It’s slightly different for everyone.
As adults, we have the freedom to choose what’s important to us. We can choose what aspects of culture we want to lean into and what aspects of culture we want to avoid. It’s possible to shape our own world, to create new culture.