Are Jews Rich? | Unpacked

- Antisemitic tropes about Jewish wealth have been around for centuries. While there are some truly wild conspiracy theories out there it does beg the question…are Jews rich?

While not ALL Jews are rich, Jewish people are still statistically overrepresented among the wealthy. This may be due to the overall Jewish value of education and a gravitation towards more urban environments where there are greater opportunities for economic advancement.

Historically, Jews have experienced periods of great economic instability, yet the challenges they have faced have created a culture of resilience and entrepreneurial perseverance still evident today.

Chapters
00:00 Intro
00:59 American Jews are richer than average
01:54 Education
02:43 Urbanization
04:45 Entrepreneurship
07:37 Jewish immigrants were well-positioned for success
08:25 Who is truly rich?
09:21 Outro

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Recommended video— The Origins of Antisemitic Stereotypes

Let’s connect:

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Image and footage credits:
– Andrey Kirievskiy/Pexels
– Cityxcape/Pexels
– Cottonbro/Pexel
– Image of Miamonadies from the collection of the National Library of Israel, courtesy of אוסף אברהם שבדרון
– Lampus Production/Pexels
– Library of Congress
– Médiathèque de l'architecture et du patrimoine
– Mikhail Nilov/Pexel
– Nationaal Archief-Spaarnestad Photo
– National Archives of Norway
– Photo of the mikvah in Besalú, Spain by Marilyn Armstrong and Serendipity – Seeking Intelligent Life on Earth, user under fair use
– Pressmaste/Pexels
– Reb mendel/Wikimedia Commons
– The British Library
– The Meitar Collection, The Pritzker Family National Photography Collection, The National Library of Israel
– U.S. Embassy Jerusalem
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About Explainers: From ancient Jewish traditions to the modern State of Israel, we explain it all. Diving into anything and everything related to Jewish culture, history, and even religion.
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#richjews #antisemitism #jewhatred

[UncleDank]

The most shocking thing about this video is that comments are not disabled

[mattuiop]

Imagine someone claiming to be so powerless that if you merely suggested they did have power they'll shut down your bank account...

[VitalityMassage]

The Jews that I personally have known have been overly FOCUSED ON MONEY. This has lessened my opinion of them considerably.

[bobmcbob]

Everyone in the comments is talking about education and tight communities, but Jewish trade networks were a HUGE deal, perhaps the biggest factor in establishing the disproportionate wealth of the Jews early on and making it much easier to find a new home and re eastablish wealth after an expulsion (after all, a craftsman is decently wealthy, but a merchant with such a wide network would have been massively rich).

[AetherXIV]

This could be a series! why Jews are over represented in Hollywood, owners of media conglomerates, the private owners of the Federal reserve, the Senate, etc. Would be a great series!

[Eiramilah]

I recommend the book City of Lights- It is a collection of journal entries from a Jew that traded in the 1200's. It is an interesting glimpse of the world of trade, accounting and business, along with his personal insights on life. He gives detailed descriptions of each city where he stops, and also the city laws pertaining to Jews.
I also recommend a PBS documentary on the history of Jews in the US entertainment industry (forgot the name).

[MrPickledede]

As a Jew yemeni descent I can speak for the fact that the wealth exist almost entirely within the Ashkenazi or european Jewish community with some few exceptions like the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn but the vast majority of Jews who live below the poverty line in Israel are Jews a middle eastern North African and East African descent there is a tremendous difference between American Jews and Jews living in Israel

[vasiliantonov]

Because of unethical banking practices in medieval Europe

[dextersbeard]

I grew up with a Jewish family, they lived in a 2 bedroom apartment over auto parts store and struggled to get by. It really upsets me how people are so quick to buy into antisemitism.

[euphoriam]

I never knew Jews were so intelligent, they should open Israeli borders and share that knowledge so they can be more multicultural and diverse.

[WastedBananas]

the average income for jewish people in the united states is 158k lmfao, stop lying to us

[gilyashar]

One factor you missed, though you touched upon in, is that while often gentiles in Europe were illiterate and only nobles and clergy were literate, Jewish law basically required Jewish males to be literate and to frequently study Torah, not just clergy.

[aroccoification]

How the hell is "why are jews rich" a ligitamte advertisment on my feed?

[coleposton]

I was wondering why my YouTube ad was asking me the "jewish question"

[annevogle]

I am a Jewish woman..I live in poverty..always have been..a Jew is a Person..surprise!

[matiastolmo]

In education that's the same point makes Protestant people more wealthy than other Christians (Catholic, Orthodox) especially before 100years ago

[thenoblehorse]

As a jew who lives in Israel, I can say that the Jews who are below the poverty line are mostly very religious ones who study religion instead of education, marry at a fairly young age, and have more children than they can provide for comfortably.

[qrowanthony]

This crazy ass ad I had to check out god damn

[LelandBWorking]

Curiosity brought me here. Thanks for the breakdown.

[johnolmos]

Jews value education over most other things. They are strongly family oriented and dedicated to their beliefs. Not the case for all of them of course but every Jewish family I’ve encountered were well off and it starts with valuing education