我们对犹太人到底知多少

对于犹太人，中国人有种非常特殊的好感，有时候对于很多人，似乎还是一直特别的崇拜。有些人，好像恨不得立马将自己变成犹太人才好，只有那样，才能让自己的日子过出滋味来。

说实在的，犹太民族真的有不少的优点，在很多地方和中国人有着颇为相似的习惯和优良传统。但是，他们毕竟也是人，是人就有不同和“层次”，这些不同，很多是由于先天性的遗传基因带来的，也有一些是由于后天努力的结果差异造成的。

我认识不少的犹太人，最让我佩服的，还不是他们之中比较高比例的杰出人物的产生，而是作为一个群体所带来的“社区效应”，犹太人社区可以阻挡任何来自城市化“外扩”造成的萧条“外展”。

很多曾经位于“郊区”的好社区和好的商业区，在城市化“外扩”之后，变成了“死城”！但是，唯独犹太人社区，却可以阻挡这种变化被同化。相反，他们却能够同化“外来者”，能够确保社区房价的价值，甚至是升值，他们还能够让自己喜爱的商业区一直保持繁荣，而不受如何“外扩”带来的影响。

你说这是凝聚力发挥作用的结果也好，是管理有效的原因也好，反正，他们呆的地方，就是能够做到长治久安，和繁荣持久。

这，一直到现在还是一个没有让我完全解开的迷。

当然，犹太人对于自己孩子小时候的苛刻，我倒是见识了不少。那样的严格，是不是一件好事，到目前还是争论不休的问题。即使是在犹太人之中，恐怕也有很多的不同声音。在严格的管束之下，孩子的逆反心，也会时不时的表现出来。

例如，一个犹太人朋友，他在高中之前，被当律师的父亲长久的“虐待”，到了大学之后，干脆就做个“撞钟的和尚”，经常的醉酒。

不过，今天的他，还是一个颇为争气的成年人。但是，如果他的父亲能够宽容一点，多一点鼓励和鞭策，少一点打击和讥讽，或许，他还能够成就更大一点事业。

犹太人有不少值得我们学习的地方，也有不少需要我们注意，应该放弃的地方。下面这篇文章，对于我们深刻了解犹太人，有不少的帮助。

作为中国人，我们不应该在犹太人眼里成为一个个的“势利鬼”、“小人”，和没有见过世面的“乡巴佬”。大家得注意自己的言行了！

连接：专业选择带来的薪水差异

 中国股民到底傻不傻？

Oh, to be Jewish in China

By CLARISSA SEBAG-MONTEFIORE October 2, 2012

BEIJING — When I tell people in China that I am Jewish, I often get the same response. ‘‘Ah, so clever!’’ the Chinese person will say with a nudge. ‘‘So good with money! The Chinese and the Jews — we have so much in common!’’

Aside from visits to the Chabad community center for the High Holy Days and Passover meals shared in Jewish friends’ courtyard homes, little differentiates me from the thousands of other Europeans living in China’s capital.

On the outside I am a laowai, a faceless foreigner from a world whose history and people the vast bulk of the Chinese population knows very little about. Yet when I reveal my ethnicity I am always surprised by the expressions of affection that the Chinese show for the Jews. Both cultures, the Chinese emphasize, share respect for family, learning and, yes, money.

But this warmth comes with an uncomfortable catch and bizarre inconsistencies. The same stereotypes that draw declarations of admiration are just a hairline away from the images that fueled anti-Semitism and its horrific results over the last century. During World War II, tens of thousands of Jews fleeing Nazi Germany were welcomed in China. Yet, oddly enough, Hitler is widely respected in China today — not for perpetrating the Holocaust but for being a strong leader who could rally the German nation.

This racial stereotyping is commonplace in China. Many Chinese view their own 55 ethnic minorities through a checklist of supposedly inherent talents and skills. And though it can work in the Jews’ favor here, such stereotypes can also work against other foreigners, notably Africans visiting China who regularly battle racism.

Today, foreign Jews — China’s own Jewish community, the Kaifeng Jews, dwindled away after centuries of assimilation — are free to quietly practice their faith. This is partly due to Judaism’s non-evangelical nature: while the state is nervous about Christian missionaries (and any religions that can inspire mass gatherings and challenge the authority of the Communist Party), Judaism is tolerated because it does not try to convert people.

Beyond this, there is a general feel-good attitude — bordering on fascination — toward Jews. One friend who stayed at a large Beijing hotel near the Chabad community center told me with amazement how eager the Chinese staff were to help their Jewish guests. Seeing him sport a kippa they would rush to open doors, switch on lights or turn up the air-conditioning — knowing that Orthodox Jews are not allowed to perform these activities themselves on the Sabbath.

“Most Chinese will think Jews are smart, clever or good at making money, and that they have achieved a great deal,” Professor Xu Xin, director of theInstitute of Jewish Studies at Nanjing University (one of over half a dozen centers in China dedicated to studying Judaism) told me last  week.

“Revelations of Jewish People’s Wisdom,” an account on China’s largest microblog Sina Weibo, has nearly one-and-a-half million fans. Its revelations include: “Make a fortune under adverse circumstances.”

This logic — that the Jews are admired for their success despite their small numbers and historical oppression — has also led to a burgeoning industry of self-help books that use Jewish culture and the Talmud to preach business tips.

 “Judaism is a smart nation with a turbulent history. They accumulated their experiences and wisdom from generation to generation, possessing qualities such as excellent earning power and wealth-building means,” Zhu Xinyue, author of “101 Money Earning Secrets From Jews’ Notebooks” (2011) and “Learn to Make Money With the Jews” (2010), explained last week.

But such ready-made ethnic and racial formulas tread on dangerous territory. Some Chinese believe ‘‘Jews rule the world or play a bigger role than they actually have done,” Professor Xu explains. “Sometimes they over-exaggerate the power of the Jews.”

Last week was Yom Kippur, the day of atonement that marks the beginning of the Jewish new year. Usually, when people in China tell me I am smart or good with money, I smile and nod along politely. This year I’ll resolve to tell the truth: that I might be Jewish but my finances are a mess and nobody would ever, in a million years, confuse me for Einstein.

 连接：专业选择带来的薪水差异

 中国股民到底傻不傻？