Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People PDF

Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People Revised Edition Steven Silbiger  Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 I Understand That Real Wealth Is Portable; It's Knowledge 21 2 Take Care of Your Own and They Will Take Care of You 35 3 Successful People Are P...

Seven Keys to the Enduring Wealth of a People Revised Edition Steven Silbiger  Acknowledgments ix Introduction 1 I Understand That Real Wealth Is Portable; It's Knowledge 21 2 Take Care of Your Own and They Will Take Care of You 35 3 Successful People Are Professionals and Entrepreneurs 53 4 Develop Your Verbal Confidence 87 5 Be Selectively Extravagant but Prudently Frugal 107 6 Celebrate Individuality: Encourage Creativity 127 7 Have Something to Prove: A Drive to Succeed 157 Appendix 1: Yiddish: "Can't Spell It, Can't Pronounce It, and Don't Get it" 175 Appendix 2: Hebrew: Fifty Helpful Vocabulary Words 191 Appendix 3: Ten Yiddish Proverbs 195 Appendix 4: The Jewish Calendar and Jewish Holidays 197 Notes 201 Humor Sources 209 Index 211 Ywould like to thank John Yow, my editor at Longstreet Press, who immediately saw the potential of the project and made invaluable contributions to the book. I would also like to thank my editors who provided me a greater sensitivity and perspective: John Braun, Helen Gioulis and Rachel Silbiger, my mom. Comments, questions? E-mail the author at [email protected]. JJteven Spielberg. Ralph Lauren. Sergey Brin. Michael Dell. They're all successful, at the top of their fields. They're all fabulously wealthy. And they're all Jewish. Those three characteristics-successful, wealthy and Jewish-are linked repeatedly in America today. And it is no accident. Jewish Americans are, as a group, the wealthiest ethnic group in America. But the factors that work together to create Jewish wealth, which I identify in this book, can be applied to individuals and groups from any background. When this book was originally written both The Millionaire Next Door and The Gifts of the Jews shared the Neu, York Times best-seller lists. But despite this obvious interest in wealth, on one hand, and the Jewish people, on the other, the two subjects have not been dealt with together. The Gifts of the Jews confines its discussion to the contributions that Judaism has made to American culture, including monotheism, the Ten Commandments and the Sabbath. But what largely defines Jews in the popular imagination is their economic success and the accomplishments that made it possible. Perhaps Jews and their wealth have not become a focus for discussion because whenever Americans discuss ethnicity and money, the conversation tends to become heated. It does not have to be that way. The extraordinary story of Jewish-American success contains lessons for all of us. Many authors have written books about business success, trying to find a pattern that we can apply to all business organizations. What makes a company successful? Disney, Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble, Google... how have they overcome challenges and become so successful? In examining the phenomenon of Jewish-American success, this book reveals the principles that can be applied to your life. And it is important to note that the wealth created by Jews is much more than just money; it includes advances in the arts, sciences and humanities that made the money possible. A recent Los Angeles Times article describes the gap that The Jewish Phenomenon bridges. "The easy temptation is just to offer a laundry list of Jews and their achievements-a Hall of Fame of Nobel Prize winners, musicians and artists, a parade of business leaders, movie moguls, educators, journalists and entertainers who have influenced the American scene. Yet in searching for a deeper answer to the question-a theory that might explain the contributions of people as diverse as Howard Stern and Albert Einstein-there's a silence in the literature about Judaism and American life." The seven "keys" described in this book bring the silence to an end. About half of American Jews marry gentiles, prompting experts to project that the Jewish- American community will shrink to half its size by 2050. This statistic lends urgency to the investigation of Jewish success today. As Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple, the oldest Conservative Jewish congregation in Los Angeles, explained to the writer for the Los Angeles Times, "The farther away you get from the source of your tradition, the less of a contribution you might be expected to make in a place like America. We could lose something precious." The Bell Curve, published with a storm of controversy in 1994, went down a slippery slope by examining the genetic IQ component of the success ofJews and other groups-an approach that alienated Jews and Gentiles alike. During the debate over The Bell Curve, the Union of American Hebrew Congregations rightly stated, "As Jews, we know too well how these theories have been used against us... to justify hatred, discrimination, even murder and genocide."' The Bell Curve's sharp rhetoric and dense statistics serve no useful purpose for two reasons: the science does not pass critical review, and there would be nothing to be learned if success lay in our genetic code at birth. The Jewish Phenomenon takes a positive position, that the Jewish people have been successful because of a combination of factors related to the Jewish religion and culture, and a collective historical experience. These are things that everyone and any group can examine and learn from. Anti-Semitism has a long history, and it is by no means dead. Throughout that long history, the Jews' success has been decried as the reason for other people's problems. Even President Richard Nixon, in his Watergate paranoia, saw the Jews as his enemies. In the famed "Nixon Basement Tapes," Nixon told chief of staff H. R. Haldeman, "What about the rich Jews? The IRS is full of Jews, Bob. Go after 'em like a son-of-a-bitch! "While institutional antiSemitism has been virtually eliminated in America, on a personal level antiSemitism is very much alive. Today an isolated anti-Semitic act such as the painting of a Nazi swastika on a synagogue makes front-page news and clergy from all denominations condemn it. The random shooting of three children by a madman at a Jewish community center in Los Angeles in 1999 brought worldwide outrage. But just seventy-five years ago Henry Ford, "Mr. Model T," conducted a propaganda campaign against the "International Jew." Ford believed that the Jews were involved in an international conspiracy to undermine the world economy. He spent millions of dollars investigating and publicizing his suspicions, but he could never uncover any evidence of the twisted plot. Indeed, even today many Jewish people and the press would rather reserve the subject of their success for private conversations rather than fuel the fires of anti-Semitism.The Bernie Madoff fraud in 2008 showed this when an open discussion of Jewish wealth in America was avoided. Older Jewish Americans, in particular, have downplayed their success and their Judaism in an effort to avoid unwanted attention and possible trouble. But in recent years the Jewish community has become less reluctant to trumpet its accomplishments. In Schmoozing: The Private Conversations of American Jews, younger American Jews expressed the opinion that "we debase ourselves when we hide our achievements out of fear of what the gentiles will think"' In December 1996, the Jewish magazine Moment published a cover story about the Jewish billionaires of the Forbes 400.; Such an article would have been unthinkable a few years before, and even today such reporting draws criticism. In any case, Jews remain much more defensive than the facts warrant. In fact this book's first edition was met with great hostility in the Jewish community and the politically correct press. A recent study by Daniel Yankelovich and his staff revealed that 25 percent of Americans believe Jews have too much power in American business. But 75 percent of Jews think that others think Jews have too much power.' The wildly successful The Millionaire Next Door concentrated on the factors common to American millionaires. That fascinating book actually inspired me to write this one because it began a discussion of wealth in America, but did not finish it. Conspicuously absent was any mention of religion or ethnicity. However, The Millionaire did list "The Top 15 Economically Productive Small Groups." Ranked No. I were Israeli Americans with a productivity index of 6.8.' Those Jewish immigrants from Israel were seven times more likely to have the highest concentration of higher incomes and the lowest rate of dependency on public assistance than any other group studied. But that was all the book said. As I continued to thumb through the book, I thought that someone should take a closer look. That closer look revealed a picture of a very small group with a great deal of economic and social success. Of course, that was no surprise to me. My parents raised me as a Jew with expectations of economic achievement, education and success. In addition, I had no shortage of role models from my family, my community, the media and the world. Economic success was the norm in my Jewish community. Did I buy into a stereotype perpetuated out of ethnic pride, or was there a truth to it? Being critical by nature, I quickly uncovered some compelling facts that prove Jewish success is indeed a fact in America: The percentage of Jewish households with income greater than $50,000 is double that of On the other hand, the percentage of Jewish households with income less than $20,000 is half that of non-Jews. 7 "The Jewish advantage in economic status persists to the present day; it remains higher than that of white Protestants and Catholics, even among households of similar age, composition and location." Forty percent of the top 40 of the Forbes 400 richest Americans are Jewish. "One-third of American multimillionaires are tallied as Jewish."' Twenty percent of professors at leading universities are Jewish. Forty percent of partners in the leading law firms in New York and Washington are Jewish. "' Thirty percent of American Nobel Prize winners in science and 25 percent of all American Nobel winners are Jewish." It didn't end there. In his book Ethnic America, Dr. Thomas Sowell, an African-American economist and senior fellow at the Hoover Institute, created a point-scale index that graphed Jewish economic success compared with that of other ethnic groups.12 THE JEWISH POPULATION IS SURPRISINGLY SMALL The facts are extraordinary considering that Jewish Americans make up just 2 percent of the U.S. population, about 6 million of America's 300 million people. The high media visibility of successful Jews in the sciences, arts, media and business gives the false impression that the Jewish population is far larger than it is. Only in New York and New Jersey do Jews make up more than 5 percent of the state's population, and five states contain 65 percent of the Jewish-American population. At the bottom, there are only five hundred Jews in Idaho and five hundred in Wyoming, not enough to support a decent delicatessen. Table I.1 Ethnic Household Income (U.S. Average = 100) Table 1.2 Jewish Population of the United States Source: American Jewish Year Book, 2007. Table 1.3 Jewish Population of the World (countries over 50,000 listed) Source: World Jewish Congress, 2008 In the world of 6 billion people, there are only 13 million Jews, only onefifth of 1 percent. Except for Israel, Jews are a tiny minority in every country. Jews live all over the world, but 91 percent of them live in just two countries.The former Soviet Union once contained more than a million Jews, who now live in many newly independent nations. Tahiti and Iraq have only 120 Jews each. Even when it comes to the Jewish presence in any individual city, Jews are small in percentage of the population. Only a handful of cities outside Israel have a Jewish population of any significant size. New York and Miami have the largest percentage of Jews. Beyond being a small part of the American melting pot, Jewish Americans are relatively new arrivals. In many cases, Jews earned their American success in only one or two generations in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. For more than forty years the Jewish-American population's growth has been slightly declining, and Jews have become an ever-decreasing percentage of the total U.S. population.t3 The Natural Jewish Population Survey is done every ten years and each time the count is hotly debated by statisticians as the definition of being Jewish is not universally agreed upon. DISCOVERING THE KEYS No doubt about it, the statistics of Jewish success-especially given the relatively small Jewish population-are remarkable. Of course, there are always individual exceptions to a general rule, just as individuals will vary within any group. However, when we view the complete picture, we see a big Jewish difference, and there must be some reasons for it. That is what The Jewish Phenomenon is all about. What secrets to success have the Jews learned that can apply to any life, any family and any community? Table 1.4 Metropolitan Areas with the Largest Jewish Populations outside Israel (cities over 100,000 listed) Source: World Jewish Congress, 2007 Table 1.5 American Jewish Population, 1790-2000 Source. A History of the Jews in America, A. Karp, 1997 (NIPS 1990, 2000) The research held the answer. A wealth of literature and data that chronicles the lives of Jewish people throughout the ages provides the clues. Countless individual Jewish success stories led me to the discovery of seven core values or beliefs that lay at the heart of Jewish achievement. In various combinations, these secrets have contributed significantly to the economic success of the Jewish people. The Seven Keys to Jewish Success 1. Understand that real wealth is portable; it's knowledge 2. Take care of your own and they will take care of you 3. Successful people are professionals and entrepreneurs 4. Develop your verbal confidence 5. Be selectively extravagant but prudently frugal 6. Take pride in individuality: encourage creativity 7. Be psychologically driven to prove something Appreciating the Keys Listing them is not enough. Each has its roots in the history of the Jewish people. None of these secrets is independent of the others.They work together. Of course, education is very important, but a good education alone does not fully explain such success. As Dr. Sowell discovered, "Even when neither education nor age is a factor, Jews earn more." Among families headed by males with four or more years of college and aged 35 to 45, Jews still earn 75 percent higher incomes than the national average with the same demographics. Other qualitative and cultural differences not captured in the statistics contribute to their success.14 If it were as simple as just getting an education or developing verbal confidence, just two of the keys, Jewish success would have been emulated years ago. But nothing is to prevent from learning about all seven principles and integrating them into their own lives, just as they already enjoy 75 percent of the $50 billion worth of kosher foods sold in the United States each year. Jews can also take a closer look and understand more about themselves. American society is rapidly assimilating its Jewish people, and a selfexamination could be productive. This time the assimilation is not a matter of forced conversions, as had been the case in the Spanish Inquisition; it's a product of the openness of American society. TheJeuish Phenomenon is not a dry academic adventure. Flying in the face of political correctness, there will be a good Jewish joke where appropriate to provide insight into the Jewish way of thinking. I agree with Rabbi Joseph Telushkin that "people who oppose telling ethnic jokes would have us believe that the whole genre is nonsense, that alcoholics, neurotics, oversensitive people and shady characters are evenly distributed among all groups. However, tolerant as it sounds, this assumption makes no sense, for it implies that history and culture have no impact on human beings. But of course, they do. What makes Jews Jewish is a specific religious culture and historical experience that have shaped their values and strongly influenced how they view the world."" That's where the keys come from. In addition, all those Yiddish words that many Jews and use and misuse in their day-to-day slang will be defined as well. Above all, the book is intended to be accessible so that when you finish, you'll have learned something. First you will learn about how a man turned $75 into a million dollars. Friedman learned about a tiny piece of worthless land, not more than a few feet square, that was for sale. It adjoined the city dump, and he could buy it for only $75. So he went to his brother-in- law and borrowed that amount, promising to repay the loan in a year. With the land now his, Friedman scouted the dump, and he found various items and was soon selling them to junk dealers. He bought a larger property and sold it at a profit. With the proceeds he built a couple of duplex houses and immediately sold them, too. Now only six months after he had borrowed the initial $75, he was worth $100,000. Then Friedman got an option on a large suburban tract, and tripled his money. On the very last day of the eleventh month since he started his junk business, he invested every penny he had, nearly $12 million, in a fifty-story building with an appraised value of $100 million. But just two hours after all the papers were signed and he took possession, an earthquake erupted and the building came tumbling down in ruins. His year was up. Sadly he went to his brother-in-law. "I am sorry, Max," he apologized, "but I guess I'm not much of a businessman. I just lost your whole seventy-five dollars!"  DEFINING WHAT A JEW IS Race, Religion or Tribe? Despite the commonplace references to the Jewish race and the Jewish religion, Jews can best be understood as members of a tribe: "a cohesive ancestral group with particular customs, traditions and values. Those values can be religious and the customs linguistic." Bingo. Unlike many religions, Judaism is more than simply a belief system that anyone can adopt. To become Jewish means enlisting in the tribe. The relationship or covenant is between God and the Jewish people, rather than between God and individual Jews. Judaism is a religion with a strong ancestral component. Furthermore, there is no evangelical aspect to the religion. Jews have had enough to worry about without inviting more people. Those who wish to convert have to study and pass through a local rabbi's approval process. Only children of Jewish mothers are automatically considered Jewish, although in some Reform and Reconstructionist congregations, the father's progeny is considered Jewish as well. Otherwise a formal conversion is required. The State of Israel, in applying the "law of return" that makes any Jew an Israeli citizen if he or she returns to the Holy Land, defines Jews broadly, but it only recognizes conversions to Judaism performed by Orthodox rabbis. There are approximately 150,000 converts to Judaism living in the United States. Some notable converts past and present include Kate Capshaw, when she married Steven Spielberg; Sammy Davis Jr., after a serious car accident; Marilyn Monroe, when she married playwright Arthur Miller; Elizabeth Taylor, when she married producer Mike Todd. And let's not forget Ruth from the Bible, who said, "Your people shall be my people, and your God my God." In the United States, the Jewish population has become much more liberal in its practices than its original Orthodox immigrant roots. Furthermore, those Jews who are Orthodox are almost exclusively from Orthodox households.16 The other denominations draw new members from outside their congregants and are growing. WHY SO MANY COHENS? An interesting inconsistency in Judaism's maternal lineage can be found in the determination of the class system within Judaism for prayer ceremonies. In particular, some special prayers are reserved for a group called Kohanim. Traced all the way back 3,300 years to the first temple in Jerusalem, a man with male ancestors who were once the temple priests is called a Kohen or Cohen. God chose Aaron from the tribe of Levi and all his descendants to serve as dedicated priests. The "father to son" connection in this case counts the Y chromosome. A Kohen is authorized to bestow the priestly blessing while extending his hands outward, with the fingers forming a V shape. Leonard Nimoy, Jew, not Vulcan, adopted it as the Vulcan greeting in Star Trek. Nimoy said, "I can call that salute my Vulcan shalom, my greeting of peace, my yearning for the blessed peace-the age-old quest of the Jewish people, my people."" (William Shatner, Captain Kirk, is Jewish as well.) Table 1.6 Percentage of Denominational Preferences of Jewish Households About 5 percent of modern Jewish men are actually Kohens. A Kohensounding name is not proof of the relationship. Many Jews outside of the authentic 5 percent have taken the names Cohen, Kahn, Kagan or Katz and are not entitled to perform priestly blessings. (Katz has its roots in the Hebrew word KohenTzedek, meaning "righteous priest.") On the other hand, many true Kohanim have totally different names, such as the Silbiger family. The people who worked as the staff at the ancient temple in Jerusalem were called the Levites. Descendants often use names such as Levy, Levine or Segal. Again, the name is not proof of the heritage. The rest of the Jewish followers were named Israelites, and that is how most of Jews today are classified. THE JEWISH RACE? But aren't the Jewish people a race? No. The religion started more than four thousand years ago with Abraham, who was already a member of the Caucasian race at the time and who married a non- Jewish woman, Sarah. For more than forty centuries, generations of marriages and intermarriages have precluded a pure bloodline or race. There is no specific genetic code for the Jewish "race" like the genetic code for skin color. There may be a stereotypical look ascribed to Jews, including darker hair and eyes and larger noses, but these traits are common to all Semitic peoples, including Arabs, and the people from the Mediterranean area. Let's talk about a big stereotype. How about the "Jewish nose"? Sociologists have shown that the "Jewish nose" is no more common to Jews than to Mediterranean people. In 1914 Maurice Fishberg examined four thousand Jewish noses in New York and found that only 14 percent were aquiline or hooked. The other 86 percent were either flat, straight or something other than the classic Jewish nose." With the small total human population that existed in ancient times, it is no surprise that so many people today share similar genetic traits. HOW DO JEWS CLASSIFY THEMSELVES? When asked about what a Jew is, American Jews themselves are mixed on the subject. In the Council of Jewish Federations' National Jewish Population Survey of 1990 Jews were asked: When you think of what it means to be a Jew in America, would you say that it means being a member of (a) a religious group (b) an ethnic group (c) a cultural group (d) a nationality. Given the opportunity to agree with one or more definitions, Jewish opinion reflected the multifaceted nature of Judaism.'" Indeed, many simultaneously agreed with several definitions: (a) a religious group 49% (b) an ethnic group 57% (c) a cultural group 70% (d) a nationality 42% What is interesting is that tribe, as defined at the beginning of this section, encompasses all four categories, including the nebulous "cultural group." Somehow Jewishness is something more than just a religious choice. But however they define it, 87 percent of Jews polled considered being Jewish an important aspect of their The 1990 attitude survey asked: In the context of exploring the success factors of The Jewish Phenomenon, the Jewish identity is clearly an important one to Jews, although it is not always clearly defined and is sometimes taken for granted. Being Jewish brings with it a cultural, religious, ethnic and nationalist background that has enabled Jews to become successful in the United States. THE JEWISH PERSPECTIVE ON MONEY "Wealth Is Good" According to the New Testament, the Christian world has, at best, an ambivalent attitude toward money and wealth:  Easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God. -Matthew 19:24, Luke 18:25, Mark 10:25 You cannot serve God and wealth. -Luke 16:13 If we have food and clothing, we will be content with these. But those who want to be rich fall into temptation and are trapped by many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. -Timothy 6:8-9 For the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil. -Timothy 6:10 For Jews, on the other hand, wealth is a good thing, a worthy and respectable goal to strive toward. What's more, once you earn it, it is tragic to lose it. Judaism has never considered poverty a virtue. The first Jews were not poor, and that was good. The Jewish founding fathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, were blessed with cattle and land in abundance. Asceticism and self-denial are not Jewish ideals. With your financial house in order, it is easier to pursue your spiritual life: Where there is no flour, there is no Bible. -The Mishna (a collection of books that outline the detailed laws for daily Jewish living) Poverty causes transgression. -Hasidic folk saying Poverty in a man's house is worse than fifty plagues. -The Talmud (a collection of books of rabbinical commentary on the Old Testament) ANCIENT JEWISH HISTORY As it has throughout the ages, their history of struggle and persecution continues to shape the Jewish identity today. The following is an extremely brief history of the Jewish people from biblical times to the present. According to Rabbi Donin's To Be a Jew, The terms Hebrew, Israelite and Jew have been used interchangeably. Israel was the alternate name for Abraham's grandson, Jacob. Hence his twelve sons and their descendants became  known as the children of Israel or Israelite Nation. "Jew" is derived from Judah, the son of Israel (Jacob), and one of the most prominent of the Twelve Tribes of Israel. "Jew" became the popular name used for the entire people when the Judeans, from the Kingdom of Judea, survived the downfall of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 722 B.c. At that time ten of the Twelve Tribes were led into captivity. Thus today, the people are called Jewish, their faith Judaism, their language Hebrew, and their land Israel.21 The Jewish homeland of Israel has been in Jewish control on and off for about three thousand years. The Bible documents three episodes of peril and how Jews survived. In each case, Jewish holidays commemorate these trials and their happy resolution with the help of God. These three major Jewish holidays-Passover, Purim and Hanukah-annually remind Jews that they need to be on their guard and self-sufficient. Passover In about 1300 B.C., the Egyptian pharaoh had enslaved the Jewish people and forced them to build the pyramids, the classic story in the Book of Exodus. God chose Moses to lead a revolt and take them back to Israel. When Moses asked the pharaoh to let his people go and the pharaoh refused, God sent the ten plagues to persuade him to change his mind. When the final plague, killing of the firstborn sons of Egyptians, took the pharaoh's son, he finally agreed to release the Jews. This terrible plague "passed over" the Jewish households, hence the origin of the holiday's name. However, as the Jews began the trip to Israel, the pharaoh reneged on his promise and sent an army to catch them. With the help of God, Moses parted the Red Sea, and the Jews escaped to safety. When the Egyptians attempted to cross, God drowned them. The Jews, in their hurry to escape, made flat bread that didn't have time to rise, called matzoh. On their trip home, Moses climbed Mount Sinai and God gave him the Ten Commandments. Unfortunately, while Moses was on the mountaintop, many Jews were rebellious and worshipped a golden calf. As punishment God kept the Jews wandering in the desert for forty years until the wicked generation died and a new generation was born. Finally the Jews eventually made it back to the Promised Land, but they never forgot those times of suffering. Two Jews are sitting opposite each other in a train. Each recognizes a fellow Jew in the other but they sit quietly for several minutes. Finally, one leans toward the other with a deep sigh. "Oy!" comes out in one breath. The second leans forward and observes, "That's just what I was thinking!" Today, the Passover story is read from a book called the Hagadah at the seder meal held in Jewish households each year. It's interesting to note that two millennia ago Jesus as a Jew led his disciples in a seder meal, the "Last Supper," the night before his crucifixion.The bread they ate was matzoh, the forerunner of the modern communion wafer. Purim In about 48() a.c., the mighty Persian Empire was ruled by King Ahasuerus. When his wife Queen Vashti disobeyed him by not entertaining the guests at his party, he took away her crown and led a kingdomwide search for a new queen. His chose Esther, the orphan niece of Mordechai, a wealthy Jewish leader. However, Esther's religion and her relationship with Mordechai were a secret. At about the same time, Mordechai gained favor in the king's court by exposing a plot to assassinate Ahasuerus. The king's chief of staff, Haman, a would-be Hitler of his day, was intent on consolidating his power in the king's court. It was his command that everyone bow down to him and obey him, but Mordechai refused, threatening Haman's leadership. To do away with Mordechai and all the Jews who threatened his power, Haman convinced the king that the Jewish people were dangerous because they followed a different set of laws that subverted his royal authority. Haman asked for permission to kill all the Jews, and the king agreed. Mordechai told Queen Esther of Hamans plot against the Jews and asked her to help her people. She agreed to reveal her religion and risk her crown and a sentence of death. Queen Esther planned a grand feast to ask the king to change his mind and even invited Hainan. Meanwhile, Haman was moving ahead with his plan by building a gallows especially for the execution of Mordechai. At the same time, the king had honored Mordechai for foiling the assassination plot and had given him royal robes, not realizing that his other order would bring about Mordechai's death. At the feast Esther dropped the bombshell. She revealed her Jewish heritage and asked the king to spare all the Jews because they posed no danger to him. She told her husband that Haman's accusations were all lies and advised that Haman should be killed instead. The king's love of his queen was such that he believed her and did her bidding. As a twist of fate he ordered that Haman be hanged on the same gallows Haman had prepared for Mordechai. In addition the king ordered a death sentence for all of Haman's conspirators, including his ten sons. Today's Purim holiday festival commemorates Esther's feast for the king and her courage. The story of Esther is written on a scroll, called the Megillah, and is read at the synagogue. (Jews often refer to any long story as "the whole megillah.") Whenever Haman's name is read aloud, the congregation, especially the children, drown out the sound of Haman's name with noisemakers called graggers. In addition, as part of the tradition Jews eat a three-cornered fruit pastry called a hamantashen that symbolizes Haman's hat or, morbidly, his head. Hanukah When Antiochus, King of Syria, conquered Israel in 165 B.C., he refused to allow the Jews to practice their religion.The Syrians closed down the temple injerusalem and put out the "Eternal Light," a ceremonial lamp that had always remained burning.To protest this injustice,Judah Maccabee led a revolt with a small group of farmers. The Jews were outnumbered and poorly armed, but with the help of God they chased the army back to Syria. When the Jews returned to the temple, there was only one day's oil for the ceremonial lamp, yet it lasted for eight days. The Hanukah menorah (candelabra) celebrates this miracle.  These three historical events inscribe in the collective memories of the Jews a sense that the Jewish people must always be prepared for an attack. MODERN JEWISH HISTORY The modern history of the Jews began in 70 A.D. when the Romans completed their conquest of Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and forced a great migration of Jews out of the Holy Land, the so- called Diaspora. The Romans renamed their new conquest Palestine. By the time the State of Israel was reestablished nearly two thousand years later in 1948, the descendants of the exiled Jews had spread throughout the world. During the rise of the Roman Empire, Christians and Jews were two of many religious and ethnic groups living within the empire's boundaries. But Emperor Constantine converted to Christianity and decreed in about 300 A.D. that Christianity would be the official religion of the Holy Roman Empire, which covered most of the Western world. Romans compelled all non-Christian groups to convert or die. The Jews resisted and stubbornly maintained their religion, clothing, diet, customs and language, wherever they settled in the world. Consequently, Jews naturally lived in their own distinct communities, and their isolation bred mistrust and suspicion. In times of strife, it was easy for the general population, incited by those in power, to blame Jews for problems ranging from poisoned wells to diseases to economic disasters. Throughout the Middle Ages and on into the fifteenth century, large Jewish communities emerged in Spain, Italy, Germany, France and Eastern Europe, especially Poland and Russia. Governments throughout Europe barred Jews from owning land, so few were farmers.They gravitated to commercial and industrial occupations with trade skills. At the fringe of society and business, Jews were storekeepers, peddlers, artisans, bakers, tailors, small-factory owners and middleman merchants. I)r. Sowell's research found that the historical prejudice against Jewish businessmen has also been experienced by other successful trading groups: "Where middlemen are an ethnically distinct group-the Chinese in Southeast Asia, the east Indians in Uganda, and the Ibos in Nigeria-that ethnic group is hated by the masses who deal with Jews often lived in officially mandated areas that were protected by nobility, kings or Popes for their own gain. Government officials benefited from these communities by levying upon Jews a barrage of special taxes that Jews paid not as citizens, but as Jews: a tax on the right to travel, to pray with others, to marry, to have children, to bury a corpse in the cemetery. In addition, the nobility benefited from the Jews' wealth, commercial skills, international contacts and other technical knowledge.The Biblical injunction against money lending pushed the Jews further away from the mainstream, when they filled the vacuum for this essential service for commerce. Further stigmatizing the Jewish people, in 1215 the Fourth Lateran Council, convened by Pope Innocent III, decreed that Jews living in Christian lands were always required to wear a distinctive badge on their clothing. Governments periodically reimposed this requirement on European Jews for hundreds of years. The gruesome myth of the "blood libel" was perpetuated during these dark days. It was said that Jews required the blood of a Christian baby to bake matzohs on the eve of Passover in a ritual reenactment of the crucifixion. When the body of a child was found in a well in England in the 1200s, the authorities tortured ajew and forced a confession that he committed the crime as part of a ritual murder. This incident led to the expulsion of the Jews from England in 1290. On two counts the charge is preposterous. Kosher dietary laws prohibit eating of even a drop of blood, and baking on the eve of Passover would violate prohibitions against working during the holiday. At about this period, two forms ofJudaism formed. The Jews of Spain and Portugal were known as Sephardic Jews-from Sefarad, meaning "Spain" in Hebrew Today 20 percent of Jews are Sephardic. The Ashkenazic Jews evolved in Northern and Eastern Europe, and they account for 80 percent of Jews today.23 Ashkenaz means "German" in Hebrew. They differed slightly in their pronunciation of Hebrew as well as in some prayers and ritual practices. In 1492 the Spanish Inquisition compelled the Sephardic Jews to either convert, move or die. In this Sephardic diaspora a few made it to America. Some Jews, called Marranos or Conversos, acted as if they had converted, but lived as "secret Jews" in Spain and eventually emigrated or assimilated. Records indicate that Christopher Columbus himself may have been a Marrano. What is known for sure is many of his crew were Marranos, including Rodrigo Sanchez de Segovia, the voyage comptroller, and interpreter Luis de Torres. De Torres wrote in his diary, "[Columbus] thought that when he would reach China and the Far East, he would locate the exiled Jews from the Ten Lost Tribes, and he wanted me to be able to communicate with them." De Torres was not greeted by Jews in the New World, but his diary entry was still joyful. "And I,Yosef Ben Ha Levy Haivri-Joseph the son of Levy the Hebrew-sang with my friends a different song, a song of thanksgiving to God for leading us to a place where we might publicly acknowledge our Judaism." Furthermore, the voyage was not financed by Queen Isabella as commonly believed; Abraham Senior was the primary financier of the historic voyage. In Columbus and His Discovery ofAmerica, Herbert Adams writes, "Not jewels, but Jews, were the real financial basis of the first expedition of Columbus."24 JEWS IN AMERICA The first twenty-three Jews arrived in New Amsterdam on the Hudson River in 1654. These Jews had been living in Brazil when the Portuguese captured it from the Dutch. Instead of returning to Europe, they made their way to New Amsterdam. Until the end of the eighteenth century, the Jewish community in America remained small, and concentrated in a few of the larger cities on the Eastern Seaboard. In this new world Judaism was accepted as just one more religious denomination, a liberalism that was inconceivable in the anti-Semitic climate of Europe. Perhaps because there were too few Jews to create a visible Jewish presence, they were allowed to live in peace with equal rights. In 1791, just after their revolution, France became the first European country to grant Jews equal rights. Ashkenazic German Jews in larger numbers followed these Jews to America in the early 1800s. Instead of remaining concentrated in small communities, they ventured into the frontier as peddlers, tradesmen and professionals among the Many of these transient peddlers opened shops and businesses in the West, planting the seeds of department store empires. Levi Strauss began making jeans. The German Jews prospered but still amounted to only 250,000 of the 50 million Americans in 1880. A massive wave of Eastern Europeans to the United States began in the 1880s. Unlike the limited early immigrations, 2 million or one-third of all Eastern European Jews moved to the United States by World War I. With the Russian invasions of Poland and neighboring Eastern European territories, the majority of Eastern European Jews came under Russian rule, and the Russians did not want them. The Russians conducted massive campaigns, called pogroms, to either convert the Jews or brutally persecute and kill them. The size of the immigration swamped the existing Jewish-American communities, especially in New York City. These Jews came with less education and less money than the prior wave, and with highly distinctive Orthodox Jewish cultural traditions: the long beards, dark clothing, skullcaps, and hairstyles that the more cosmopolitan German Jews had given up in favor of a Reform lifestyle. Despite their differences, the organizations made a great effort to aid their "poor cousins" transition. There were caste-like divisions among the Jews, but they worked together when it came to their relationship with the non-Jewish world around them. At the turn of the century, the Jews developed the ready-to-wear clothing industry and employed most of the new Jewish immigrants in New York. The last large wave of about I million Jewish immigrants came from Eastern and Western Europe as a result of the World War II-era persecutions by the Nazis. The Holocaust or Shoah has remained a fresh and cautionary reminder for Jews to keep vigilant and strong as a people. The support of Israel as the ultimate refuge is critical in the minds ofJews. And even Israel has been under siege.Three times since its creation-at its birth in 1948, in the 1967 Six-Day War and in the 1973 Yom Kippur War-Israel has been on the brink of extinction, surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors. Each time Israel managed to overcome surprise attacks and overwhelming force to not only win the wars, but also to take the offensive and annex additional territory. For the first time in modern history Jews were not passive victims; they became recognized as a potent military power. Sol Linowitz, former chairman of Xerox, said, "The Israeli victory in the Six-Day War in 1967 was the end of the image of the Jew as a loser."25 In the 1980s and 1990s, much smaller Jewish migrations came from the former Soviet Union, directly or via Israel, totaling about 200,000. This brief overview of Jewish history and the Jewish-American population provides the very broad historical and cultural context for the seven secrets and the success that Jews have enjoyed in America.  My brain is the key to set nie free. -Harry Houdini (born Erik Weisz), magician.1( mind, as the slogan goes, is a terrible thing to waste. The best possible investment you can make in your future is an education. Even if you default on your student loan, nobody can repossess your diploma. It is such a basic concept, but the promise of education often falls on deaf ears. Getting an education requires the ability to defer gratification for a bigger payoff later, an ability Jews have had reason to develop. The value of an education is really not a secret; it is similar to the "miracle" of compounding financial returns given with every pitch for retirement savings. The Jewish secret is how they have come to fully embrace the idea of a good education and execute it. As just one example, after World War II, Jewish veterans took advantage of the GI Bill's educational benefits at a rate twice that of the general population.' My father sat me down as a child and explained to me, as his father had done to him, "how the world works" "If you like to play around, you need to earn your free time. It takes a good education and good grades.Then you can get a good job and make good money. Having earned your way, you can play around for a much longer time with far more expensive toys. Now, Steve, if you get that out of order, the system does not work.You can play for a little while, but then you end up with a few inexpensive toys that eventually break. Then you're left working even harder for the rest of your life with no toys and no fun." It may sound simplistic but it's true. I understood this very well even as a teen because my father took the time to show me the family checkbook, and show me what living in the United States cost in real-life terms. Clearly you needed a lot of money to pay bills, and an average job often could not provide enough. In the real world, the "toys" in my father's story translated to cars, houses, clothes, stereos, dining out and vacations. If you do not earn these "toys," or if you seek them out too early, the fun quickly comes to an unpleasant end. Was my experience unique or common to Jewish children in the U.S.? A comprehensive study conducted in 1990 revealed that the educational advantage was very pronounced for both Jewish men and women: 87 percent of college-age Jews were enrolled in college versus 40 percent for In addition, Jews enrolled in schools with higher academic standards. Another 1990 study found that 78 percent of Jewish males twenty-five and older had at least some college education, compared to only 42 percent of all white males: 65 percent of Jewish men graduated, compared to 57 percent of all white males; 32 percent did some graduate work, compared to only 11 percent of all white males. Jewish women have also had a great educational advantage over non Jews, with a 69 percent college attendance record compared to 34 percent of all white females. That might explain why so many Jewish women were among the pioneers of the feminist movement. Betty Friedan founded the National Organization for Women. Gloria Steinem founded Ms. magazine. Congresswoman Bella Abzug, as well as other Jewish women, led the way in traditionally male jobs. According to the April 1999 issue of Biography magazine, 50 percent of the "25 Most Powerful Women" were either Jewish or had Jewish parents. Table 1.1 Highest Level of Education Achieved (by religion and age) Source,. The CJF National Jewish Population Survey, 1990 Table 1.2 Education and Income Source,. U.S. Bureau of the Census, 2003 The list includes such notables as Barbara Walters; Sherry Lansing, chairman and CEO of Paramount Pictures; and Dr. Mathilde Krini, who founded the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AmFAR). The movie.Scarface offered a version of the natural order of social progression.The main character, played by Al Pacino, was a Cuban immigrant boatlifted to America in 1978. He explained to his handsome, sex-crazed boatmate how American society works. "In America first you get the money, then you get the power, then you get the women, and in that order." Legitimately, the path to success for any group, including the successful Cuban community, begins with an education. The question in a Jewish household is not whether you will go to college, but where you will go, and which profession you will pursue there. Gaining knowledge for knowledge's sake is a core Jewish value. But it's also true that wealth flows naturally from knowledge. In the U.S., the progression of income moves in lockstep with education. The values given in the following chart are median incomes since traditional charts of average incomes tend to overstate the truth, with very high incomes skewing the results. The medians are the middle values of all incomes put in sequential order, offering a view of what the "tniddle of the road" family actually earns. My father's advice notwithstanding, Jews pursue education and wealth for much more than the purchase of "toys." Jews have been forced from their homes not just during the big expulsion from Israel by the Romans in 100 A.D., or during the flight from Nazi Germany in the late 1930s and 1940s, but also repeatedly throughout history. It has long been imperative that Jews have portable wealth and skills to survive. Here is a short list of Jewish expulsions: The Crusaders en route to reclaim the Holy Land, 1000-1200s Germany, 1182 England, 1290-1650 France in 1306, again 1394 The European Black Plague blame-inspired attacks, 1348 Austria, 1421 Spain, 1492 Portugal, 1497 Ukrainian Cossack murders in Poland, 1648 Vienna, 1670 Prague, 1744 Russian-occupied Eastern Europe, 1880s RELIGIOUS ROOTS OF EDUCATION For centuries Jews have been referred as the "The People of the Book." Jews bury religious books that have become worn with age and use, as a sign of respect for their contents and out of respect for the written word. From a very young age, Jewish children celebrate education. Rabbi Joseph Telushkin writes: "In Eastern Europe, both parents would ceremoniously lead their children to the first day of school and give them sweets when they learned their ABCs." Isaac Bashevis Singer, the Nobel Prize-winning novelist who grew up in Poland, claimed that the first day of school was more joyously celebrated than the Bar Mitzvah. The page from the Torah text in front of the child, Singer recalled, "was sprinkled with raisins and candy to associate learning with sweetness."3 As part of their religious training, Jews intensely study the Bible or Torah, the Talmud and the Mishna. The Talmud consists of books of detailed rabbinical commentary on the Bible. The Mishna consists of books codifying the Jewish laws for prayer, religious observance and everyday living. The Jewish religion focuses on the individual and his or her own spiritual exploration and journey. It is therefore important that Jews are involved in spirited discussions and debate about the various stories and laws in their religious texts as a means of forming a personal and intellectual attachment to their religion. At the core of the Christian faith is what is called the "Great Mystery" with regard to the Immaculate Conception, the birth of Jesus and the Resurrection. These events are accepted on faith, and in conservative Christian circles there is not a great deal of discussion or debate on the matter. As an old bumper sticker says, "God said it; I believe it; and that settles it!" There is also not much discussion about Jesus as a child or teen. This approach to accepting one's religious foundations without a great deal of debate is a major cultural departure from the Jewish tradition. Jewish teachers encourage questions as a way to get closer to one's faith. In the 1990 Federations' survey, a large sampling of Jewish people were asked about their feelings toward the Torah or Old Testament Bible. The survey clearly reflects a more critical view of the Bible than the typical Christian attitude toward the Old and New Testaments. More than a divine religious book, the Bible is a historical account of the Jewish people.' Beyond the context of religious readings, critical thinking skills are encouraged and developed in the Jewish community. These highly transferable skills also form the basis for many secular pursuits in the humanities, the sciences and business. It is therefore not so surprising that 40 percent ofAmerican Nobel Prizes in science and economics have been awarded to Jews,5 and Jews have won 25 percent of all the Nobel Prizes awarded to Americans.' Despite a lack of secular educational opportunities throughout their history, the Jews' religious training created a literate and intellectual culture that celebrated academic achievement. When educational opportunities became available, especially in America, the Jewish people were prepared by their family and community environment. A new flood is foretold. In five days the rain will be incessant, and the world will be wiped out. The Dalai Lama addresses the world's Buddhists and says, "Meditate and prepare for your next reincarnation."  The Pope holds an audience and tells Catholics, "Confess your sins and pray." The Chief Rabbi of Israel goes on TV and says, "We have five days to learn to live underwater!" At the turn of the century, Eastern European Jews who had emigrated to the U.S. pursued education to escape the tough industrial jobs traditionally available to new immigrants. The possibility of escaping the Jewish ghetto on the Lower East Side of Manhattan was much more plausible than an escape from the state-mandated ghettos of Eastern Europe. In 1908, 8 percent of American college students were Jewish, even though Jews represented only 2 percent of the national population. These graduates often concentrated on becoming pharmacists, lawyers, dentists and teachers.7 In contrast to current calls for bilingual education, Jews knew that speaking English as soon as possible was critical to their success. At the turn of the century there was a vast informal adult education network where new English speakers would instruct the even greener immigrants about the baffling rules of English grammar and spelling. Karp's A History of the Jews in America describes it well: "A tenement house kitchen turned, after a scant dinner, into a classroom, with the head of the family and his boarder bent over an English school reader.."" From a sociologist's observation in 1905: "I have met very few wage-workers among Russian Jewish people who regard it as their permanent lot in life to remain in the condition of laborers for wage. Almost all are bending their energies to get into business or to acquire an education so that they may fit themselves for some other calling than that of wage worker of the ordinary kind."9 An interesting effort was made in 1884 to provide industrial education to poor Jewish immigrant boys from Eastern Europe. The Hebrew Technical Institute of New York City was founded by German Jews with the best of intentions; however, it was quickly rejected by the immigrants themselves. In Russia carpentry was looked down upon as lower class and parents wanted more for their children than being metalworkers or electricians. Eastern European mothers sang lullabies to get their future scholar to sleep, and fathers worked long hours to produce a doctor, a lawyer. The Jewish advancement in the professions was quick and dramatic. In 1890 there were few Jews practicing in law or medicine in New York City. By 1900, there were four hundred to six hundred Jewish doctors in the city and several thousand in teaching and other professions. In the 1930s, 55 percent of doctors, 64 percent of dentists and 65 percent of lawyers in New York City were Jewish.'' This was in spite of quotas restricting the admittance of Jews to institutions of higher learning. The Jewish example of educational advancement and zeal was not lost on America's Other ethnic groups saw the Jewish education phenomenon and the social mobility it gave them. In the 1920s, an Italian immigrant commented on the progress of his group: "He has not yet learned the lesson which the American Jew could teach him so well; that in America the child of uneducated parents has not only the right but also the duty to rise to the highest rungs of the educational ladder, and thus achieve the success which his uneducated father failed to achieve."11 Leslie Cohen described what being a Jew was all about in the 1950s and 1960s: "70 to 80 percent of Jewish children started their school day in public school and attended a supplementary Hebrew school several afternoons a week. The whole process commonly ended with a lavish Bar Mitzvah, a ceremony recognizing a youth as an adult member at the age of thirteen, and led to the entry into high school and an abandonment of Jewish education. In postwar America, a Jew was more likely to get an extensive and intensive secular education than a religious one. One consequence, Jews have postponed marriage and reduced family size. During the 1960s and 1970s, Jews began to attain even higher formal education and greater average income than the rest of the population. This trend has continued into the present and has led sociologists to label Jews as America's most [financially] successful minority A young stranger in New York was seeking Columbia University, but the many directions he had received only confused him, and he became lost. Luckily, he saw a scholarly old gentleman approaching with a load of books under his arm. He stopped the professional man. "Tell me, sir, how do you get to Columbia University?" The old man deliberated the question for a moment or two and then replied, "Study, young man. Constant study!" JEWISH ROLE MODELS OF EDUCATIONAL SUCCESS In the Jewish community there are numerous role models for whom a good education translated into high-paying professions. But one area where Jews are noticeably absent is in the world of sports. A running joke is that the book of Jewish sports heroes has only blank pages, but actually there would be a few. Of course there was Sandy Koufax in baseball. And there was Lipman Pike, who in 1866 became the first-ever professional baseball player when he was paid twenty dollars a week to play for the Philadelphia Athletics. Mark Spitz won seven gold medals for swimming during the 1972 summer Olympics. Professional wrestler Bill Goldberg ruled the World Championship Wrestling alliance in 1999. There are well-known coaches such as Larry Brown (UCLA, University of Kansas and several NBA teams) and Red Auerbach (Boston Celtics). In the 1920s Jews dominated in the big eastern clubs of the NBA." Although not a player, Abe Saperstein took over the African-American team named the Savoy Big Five in 1927 and renamed them the Harlem Globetrotters, a team he then coached and trained. In the 1920s and 1930s, Jews made up the largest ethnic group of boxing contenders in all weight divisions. Max Baer was the heavyweight champion in 1933 and wore a Star of David on his boxing trunks. Although he is often mentioned as a Jewish sports hero, he was not even Jewish. By passing as a Jew, though, he developed a loyal following ofJewish fans who supported his career.14 But overall, yes, the list of famous Jewish athletes is small. For many reasons, including economic incentive, Jews have kept sports as recreational activities and have enjoyed them only when their schoolwork is completed. Jews, although not on the field as players, are influential in managing and owning professional sports teams. In 2008, all the commissioners of major sports were Jewish: Bud Selig, Major League Baseball, Paul Tagliabue, National Football League, David Stern, National Basketball Association, Gary Bettman, National Hockey League. Many teams have Jewish owners as the Forbes 400 list reveals in chapter 3. From a purely economic standpoint, the lack of interest in being professional athletes has been a wise decision for the Jewish people. The probability of becoming one of America's five thousand highly paid professional athletes, two-thousandths of 1 percent (.002 percent) of the population, is pretty small. Take the expected monetary value of that outcome (the payoff multiplied by the probability of success) and you get a very small prize. Compare that to the total population of lawyers, doctors, accountants, business owners and professors. Getting a good education to pursue a higher-paying job seems like a sure thing by comparison. Of course students can use sports to get a college scholarship, but again the odds are very long. How many star athletes does each high school have? How many high schools are there in this country? If the pursuit of educational excellence comes first and sports come second, the odds of success geometrically increase. With a good academic record-not an exceptional one-students have access to billions of dollars in loans, grants, campus jobs and work studies. These means of financial aid put college within reach of almost all Americans if they are strong students. Again, the "rules" of getting ahead in our society come back into play. An athlete's future is only as strong as his injury- prone bones or tendons, while an education, once earned, cannot be taken away from you. When it comes to role models of Jewish success, there are far more examples than the few pages of this book permit. The following are stories of three Jewish boys who made good. They come from different generations, but with similar life stories that are grounded in a good education. Michael Eisner, Chairman of Disney Michael Eisner was born in Mount Kisco, New York, in 1943. His wealthy parents taught him the value of money, but as a teenager he turned away from a possible career in law or business. He once read a Maxwell Anderson essay that argued that what remains behind in societies are not the wars or the politics but the arts. This inspired Eisner to major in English literature and theater at Denison University in Ohio. Soon after graduating in 1964, he began to work at NBC as a clerk and quickly rose through the ranks at CBS and ABC to become a top TV programming executive. From 1976 to 1984, he was president of Paramount Pictures. In 1984 he took over Disney. Eisner's education in the arts served him well in his chosen career. He created opportunities for himself and was prepared to take advantage of them. After running the company for twelve years he retired in 2006. Forbes estimated his wealth at $690 million in 2004. Sumner Redstone, Chairman of Viacom Sumner Redstone was born in Boston in 1923 as Sumner Rothstein. His father, Michael Rothstein, was a linoleum salesman in Boston's Jewish West End. After Prohibition, the elder Rothstein became a liquor wholesaler and nightclub owner, then bought a restaurant. In 1936 he bought one of the first drive-in movie theaters. Having earned enough money, he sent his son Sumner to Harvard, where Suniner studied languages. After serving in World War II, he returned to Harvard to complete his law degree. He practiced law for six years and then joined his father's company. In less than twenty years Sumner expanded the National Amusements theater chain from 12 to 855 screens by drawing upon his legal knowledge to pursue mergers and acquisitions. He made millions on takeovers of Twentieth Century Fox, Columbia Pictures and MGM-UA Home Entertainment. Redstone made billions in his 1987 leveraged buyout of Viacom, a media company that he greatly expanded. In 1998 Viacom owned Blockbuster, Simon & Schuster, Paramount Studios, the New York Knicks, the New York Rangers, MTV, Nickelodeon, and the USA and Sci-Fi Channels.'' In September 1999, Redstone used Viacom as a springboard to make an even larger acquisition of CBS for $36 billion. Forbes estimated his fortune at $5.1 billion in 2008. The Pritzker Family: Abratn Pritzker Nicholas Pritzker came to Chicago in 1881 at the age of ten. He went to night school and studied law. In 1901 he opened his own practice, Pritzker & Pritzker. His son Abram, born in 1896, earned his law degree at Harvard in 1920, and another son Jack, horn in 1904, earned his law degree at Northwestern in 1927. Abram and Jack soon became the masterminds behind the successful real estate investments and business acquisitions that helped create a family empire, the Marmon Group. The first real wealth came from the takeover of Cory Corporation, a coffee percolator company. Abram believed in keeping their companies private, instead of subjecting them to the whims of investors: "We do not believe in public businesses, noting that shareholders are shortsighted and that obligations to disclose business deals can compromise the secrecy necessary to make the deals succeed." Abram's first son, Jay, was born in 1922 and earned his law degree from Northwestern in 1947. His other son, Robert, was born in 1926 and earned an engineering degree. The two ran the family business for decades until Jay's death in January 1999. Jay avoided risk but loved deal making, and likened it to boxing: "Hard and fast while in progress, but forgotten when finished." Under their leadership, Marmon bought the Hyatt hotel chain, Royal Caribbean cruise line, Braniff Airlines, Continental Airlines, McCall's magazine, Montgomery Securities and Ticketmaster, among many others. Jay's son Thomas took over his father's deal-making duties in 1999 and added thirty companies to Marmon's portfolio of manufacturers. Marmon had total sales of $7 billion in 2008. Forbes estimated the family's net worth at $21 billion in 2008.'6 The stories of many other Jewish notables, high achievers in a wide range of endeavors, will be unfolded in the pages that follow. SO THE JEWS VALUE EDUCATION. WHAT CAN I DO? 1. Build your child's self-esteem 2. Build the ability to defer gratification 3. Choose the best education possible 4. Develop and demonstrate informed and literate habits 5. Create the education expectation 6. Keep your skills up to date Build Your Child's Self-Esteem If children value themselves as unique and talented individuals, they will be more inclined to strive for good things. All your lessons about education will have meaning to them. Make your children truly feel a part of a "chosen people," no matter their heritage. Teach your own family history and teach about your family's ancestral homeland. If your family has many branches, try to concentrate on the two most prevalent so the identity is not diffused. Give your children an international view. Use a globe or maps to show them the world and where they fit into it. For Jews, one of the most profound cultural experiences is visiting Israel, much like Muslims who make their pilgrimage to Mecca. Having a background and a heritage helps immunize children from negative influences. Those who believe that they live in a huge, chaotic world where they have no real place or purpose tend to be less focused and more susceptible to distractions. Build the Ability to Defer Gratification Education is a gradual and lengthy process that leads to an uncertain outcome. The skill of deferring gratification is learned in small measures over time. A parent must begin to provide long-term rewards for positive behaviors at an early age. Rewards can be offered to young children for doing simple household chores, and these can be followed later on by more substantial rewards for good grades. A chart with star stickers culminating in a pizza dinner or toy is just one idea. "Oh, I shouldn't have to pay for grades; they should want them" That is noble, but like adults-respond better to targeted rewards. Parents should of course warmly give emotional recognition, but there should be a tangible component as well. When an adult is honored as "Employee of the Month," we all know there is more gratification when the nominal prize has a material cash award with it. "But the emphasis on grades may detract from the learning experience." The practical truth is that the rules of measuring academic success are based on grades, just as college admissions tests are based on numbers. Parents who deny the importance of grades are not being realistic with regard to their child's educational future-although I do not dispute that learning for learning's sake is extremely important throughout life as well. Personally, I was a poor student. The only classes I made an effort in were the ones that mattered to me: science and history. Science had fun activities, and history was a collection of good stories that I had already seen on TV. Then in fifth grade, my father touched on something that interested me more than school: coin collecting. He promised that if I made the honor roll, he would buy a certain expensive coin set that I wanted for my collection. Unfortunately the goal included doing well in math and English. I hated those subjects and did not care how poor my marks were. During my "silver coin" semester, I actually had to study those subjects, which was not the case with the subjects that came more easily. I missed out on my playtime. But it was an amazing thing: when I studied, I got better grades. What a connection! (Like Oprah made her "connection" between exercise and weight loss.) Those hated subjects weren't that painful when I took the time to study for them.The "I'm not good in math, I'm not good in English" excuses no longer held true. In addition, those teachers who had treated me as an outcast because of my rowdy behavior began to treat me better. I did make my goal, but the prize itself was anticlimactic because I had figured out the school "game." I had acquired the study skills and academic self-confidence that have served me for a lifetime. Another way to learn about deferred gratification is to invest money in a bank account or the stock market. Instead of your children spending their money on immediate needs, they can monitor their investment and watch it grow larger. The ability to defer gratification is a critical skill that will enable them to enter those professions that require lengthy educations. If children do not begin to learn this lesson at a young age, chances are they will be more apt to live hand to mouth as an adult. Choose the Best Education Possible In his research for Ethnic America, Dr. Sowell found that "part of the reason for higher Jewish incomes is that Jews have not only more education but also better education-from higher quality colleges and in more demanding and remunerative fields." A bad mistake parents can make is to send their child to a college that is below his or her abilities. Since part of the education comes from the lessons learned from fellow students, seeking high-caliber students is important. The Talmud says, "As one piece of iron sharpens another so do two students sharpen each other [when they study together]." The child's social environment is also determined by college classmates who become lifelong friends, business associates and, on occasion, spouses. The quality of the teachers will also be commensurate with the quality of students. To find out if an intended school is on the desirable list, consult the latest college survey in U.S. News and World Report. The magazine lists all colleges and judges them by a variety of objective criteria. Restricting yourself to the top tier is not an absolute necessity and is not always economically or academically possible. There are great and affordable institutions in the second tier that provide an excellent education and do not require valedictorian status or perfect SAT scores. However, it is important to avoid the bottom two tiers. Junior college should be avoided entirely. For many, the cost of college is beyond a parent's budget and savings. At worst a student will default on a student loan, but that student cannot reclaim his or her college years. A sacrifice of lifestyle by the student and family for a quality education is a trade-off that is well worth it in the long run. Develop and Demonstrate Informed and Literate Habits Spotting trends and taking advantage of them creates business opportunities. Being aware of the world, locally and internationally, is critical to getting ahead of the curve. This does not mean a singular obsession with the business section of the paper, but a broad awareness of consumer trends, the arts, science, etc. Some of the biggest successes result from spotting a trend or technology and taking advantage of it. David Sarnoff, founder of the NBC Radio and Television networks, realized early the promise of the new wireless technologies. He was born in Minsk, Russia, in 1891 and his family came to America in 1901. In 1906 his father died and the very young Sarnoff had to quit school and go to work for a cable telegraph company to support himself and his family. Without a formal education as an option, he studied technical books to raise his standing and became a wireless operator. He gained some fame when he was the first wireless operator to pick up the message that the Titanic was sinking in 1912. In 1915 he saw the possibilities of wireless mass communication, and proposed to his superiors the idea of the first radio set that he called a "radio music box." His superiors ignored him. In 1926 when his company was taken over by RCA, he founded NBC, the first radio broadcasting network. As early as 1923, Sarnoff saw the possibilities of television as well, and in 1928 he was given the authority to set up the first television station that eventually became the NBC television network." When parents demonstrate literate habits, they set an important example for their children to emulate. They show children the value of reading and being informed. Even reading is a form of deferred gratification; it takes time to enjoy a good book, and the payoff is in the final chapter. Encourage them to watch the news and read the newspaper, and stress the importance of a worldview. Parents should have frequent conversations about age-appropriate current events with their children.Your habits spur your children's imagination, knowledge and literacy. With Jewish children, the ties to Israel can give them a worldview as they follow the current events of Israel and the Middle East with more than a passing interest. They will become familiar with geography, a foreign language and international events. Encourage your children to develop a large vocabulary. It accounts for about one-third of the SAT verbal section, a prime determinant of college admissions. Get a head start by reading to your child and providing a consistent explanation of new words when they appear in everyday life. Create the Education Expectation In a Jewish household, higher education is considered a natural progression from high school. As I mentioned before, the question should not be whether you will go to college, but where you will go, and which profession you will pursue. If you create a savings plan for college, let your child regularly see the statements. As the investment grows in value, the inevitability of a college education grows. Table 1.3 Monthly Investment Required to Have $100,000 for College with an 8 Percent Annual Investment Return It may sound simplistic, but beginning a savings program at the earliest age makes the college bill much less burdensome.The financial cost of college is huge, but planning can help avoid decisions based solely on economics. An investment of just two hundred dollars a month, starting at birth, will yield more than one hundred thousand dollars over eighteen years at an 8 percent return. That is enough to cover the average cost at a public institution. If your child qualifies for a better school, there are loans, scholarships and more to cover the shortfall. The big problem is, just as with saving for retirement, the longer you wait, the more financially onerous the monthly savings become. Keep Your Skills Up to Date as an Adult If you want to be a professional in any occupation, you must keep your skills up to date. Just as any doctor, lawyer, accountant or teacher does, even tradesmen must keep informed. It's called lifelong learning. With computer technology progressing so rapidly, computer skills are only useful for two or three years. A great Ivy League education without constant updating loses its value. If knowledge can be equated with power, then remaining ignorant puts you in a weaker position in the workplace. Executive education and skill-building courses are investments, not expenses. Let your children see you continuing to learn throughout your adult years. It will reinforce the importance of education in their minds and will allow you to share with them the educational experience. o safeguard and enhance the health of their community, Jews zealously deploy their wealth and their time for both charity and social action. The numbers are incredible considering the small size of the Jewish population. In spite of the stereotype that they are miserly, Jews happen to be the most philanthropic ethnic group in the country. Their ability to organize and utilize economic power has been a prime source of the Jewish-American community's strength. Their charitable giving not only supports their expanded world community; it also helps individual Jews up the economic ladder. It is written in the Talmud: "You're only as wealthy as the amount you are able to give." In the Jewish community as a whole, Jews' giving has made them very wealthy. The Book of Leviticus is even more explicit: "You are forbidden to reap the whole harvest; a remnant in the corner must be left for the poor." In addition, Jews understand that when the community serves itself, it also controls its own destiny. According to a Jewish proverb, "He who pays has the say." This philosophy of self- sufficiency applies to humanitarian assistance as well as government lobbying on issues of interest. Jews believe that if your group depends on the funding of others, it becomes subordinate to the funding group. A short list of facts about Jewish-American philanthropy-and its politics-presents the picture of a wealthy, generous and liberally active community. The average American gives 2 percent of disposable income to charity, compared to 4 percent for the average Jew. The annual campaign for the United Jewish Appeal (UJA) collects about $1 billion annually, drawing from 2 percent of the total population. The United Way annual campaign, in contrast, attracts 32 million contributors and raises $3.6 billion.' With the possible exception of the Salvation Army, the United Jewish Appeal raises more money than any other individual charity in America, including the American Red Cross, Catholic Charities and the American Cancer Society. 2 Total Jewish philanthropic giving totaled about $4.5 billion in 1997. This includes $1.5 billion to federations including UJA, $2 billion to synagogues, $700 million sent to Israel outside UJA (which came to be known as United Jewish Communities in 1999), and $250 million for educational, religious and community relations institutions and agencies.; Among the nation's most generous donors, Jews are prominent. Worth magazine's annual "Benefactor 100" contained thirty-five Jewish philanthropists in April 1999.The magazine's list is especially relevant because it counts lifetime donations that have already been put to work. Leading the list was George Soros, who has given more than $2 billion to charity. Bill Gates (No. 15 and not Jewish) was credited with $196 million, and Ted Turner (No. 23 and also not Jewish) with $172 million because their billion-dollar foundations remain primarily undistributed. The impressive amount of Jewish philanthropy is due not only to Jewish wealth but also to well- organized and massive efforts to raise funds for Jewish causes. It serves as a model for other groups that want to create an effective fund-raising organization to meet monetary goals year after year. In the Jewish community, there is always a local Jewish assistance agency. According to the Talmud, a righteous scholar may not live in a town that does not operate a fund for charity. In Europe during the Middle Ages Jews maintained mechanisms to distribute food and clothing for the poor, rooms for travelers, dowries for brides, support for widows and orphans, and burial plots for the departed. Jews would never have been allowed into America if they had not been self-sufficient. Peter Stuyvesant, the leader of the New Amsterdam settlement, refused to allow Jews into the colony until they promised to care for their own indigent and infirm. In fact, if Jews had not been major shareholders of the Dutch trading company that established the colony, Jews would have been turned away.' American Jews have maintained self-help institutions in America ever since, including the Jewish Federation, B'nai B'rith and Hadassah. Indeed, the dependability ofJewish generosity has given rise to one of the enduring characteristics of Jewish lore, the self-confident beggar or shnorrer. In many instances-sometimes in reaction to philanthropy created institutions that have benefited the entire community, including For example, when hospitals did not allow Jewish doctors to practice, Jews built their own hospitals open to all doctors and patients. Jews also started many country clubs and men's clubs because of other people's exclusionary policies. In fact, of all Jewish philanthropists, only 10 percent limit their giving to Jewish charities.' Jews are among the largest contributors to universities, libraries, hospitals, museums, symphonies and opera companies. A shnorrer implored the lady of the house for a morsel of food. Pitying him, she invited him to her table and placed before him a plate heaped high with black bread and chaleh. The chaleh was almost twice as expensive as the black bread, and the beggar did not touch the cheaper variety. Instead he gorged himself on the chaleh. The housewife, growing more irritated by the minute, finally asked, "Did it ever occur to you that the chaleh costs twice as much as the black bread?" "I thought of it many times," answered the beggar agreeably, "and believe me, madame, it's worth every cent!" On the international side, the support of Israel is of paramount importance to Jews and receives very generous support. And when Jews around the world are threatened, Jewish Americans quickly send money, as was the case with Ethiopian Jews facing starvation and the Russian Jews' resettlement needs after the fall of the Soviet Union. Sometimes the need is acute. The 1973 Yom Kippur War began with a surprise attack on Israel as Jews in America were getting dressed in the morning for High Holiday synagogue services. In a remarkable response to this threat, the UJA raised $100 million in cash in one week for emergency assistance.' More recently, Jewish-American donors are increasing their direct support of Israeli causes and bypassing Israeli governmental agencies.The pace of the Arab-Israeli peace process upsets many, some considering the process too fast and others too slow. Also Reform and Conservative Jews feel snubbed by the requirement that only conversions conducted by Orthodox rabbis qualify the converted as a Jew under the Law of Return that makes all Jews automatic citizens of Israel. Direct nongovernmental donations increased from $1.5 billion to $2 billion annually from 1993 to 1998. Meanwhile donations from the UJA to governmental institutions declined 21 percent from $275 million in 1985 to $217 million in 1997.7 CHARITY IS DIFFERENT FOR JEWS Jews and differ on their views of charitable giving. Jews are taught that charity is an obligation rooted in social justice, not in love or pity for their fellow man. The word for charity in Hebrew is tzedakah, from the root word zedek meaning "justice" or "righteousness."The word "charity" comes from the Latin word caritas, meaning "love." Likewise, "philanthropy," derived from the Greek, means "love of mankind." Support of social justice is a common theme in Jewish giving because of the Jews' long history of suffering discrimination. Upon what does the world rest? Upon a singular pillar and its name is: Justice. -The Talmud Jews cannot ensure equality for themselves unless it is assured for all. -American Jewish Committee founding statement, 1906" Judaism is very practical; it focuses on the result. When it comes to a fivedollar gift of kindness or an obligatory gift of one hundred dollars, the larger gift is better because it does the most good. That explains why Jewish charitable institutions give so much public appreciation to the highest contributors. It encourages more giving. In Judaism, the best donation is the one that aims to create an independent recipient. Moses Maimonides, a twelfth-century scholar and philosopher, determined that there are eight degrees of tzedakah: 1. The person gives reluctantly. person gives graciously, but less than his or her means. person gives the proper amount, but only after being asked. 4. The person gives before being asked. person gives without knowledge of the recipient, but the recipient knows the donor. 6. The person gives without making his or her own identity known. person gives without knowing the recipient and without making his or her identity known. person helps another by enabling that person to become selfsufficient through a gift or loan, or helping him gain a skill or find employment. In addition, the Book of Leviticus describes a "holiness code":"Humanity is holy because God is holy, but our expression of that holiness is not, for the most part, through our actions toward God, such as worship, meditation, or sacrifices. The holiness code focuses on our responsibility toward other people."' Another striking difference between synagogues and churches is the practical way synagogues support their institutions. Instead of a weekly voluntary collection, synagogues efficiently collect membership fees from each family much like a secular athletic club does.The annual needs of the temple are budgeted by their boards and the membership fees are set accordingly. Most fee plans allow for some allowances for young singles, new families and seniors in an effort to remain affordable. A 10 percent tithe is not solicited because, given the professional status of most synagogue members, the amount collected would exceed the synagogue's needs. A fee schedule also makes more sense than a weekly collection for synagogues because very few American Jews attend weekly services. On the other hand, for many casually affiliated Jews and those not so well off, annual dues can be prohibitive. Furthermore, the most important Jewish observances, such as the services for the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah andYom Kippur, are often only available to paid-in-full members of the congregation. It is Yom Kippur. A man comes to the synagogue in a state of obvious excitement. The usher is at the door looking at admission tickets. As the man tries to walk in, the usher stops him: "Let's see your ticket." "I don't have a ticket. I just want to see my brother, Abe Teitelbaum. I have an important message for him." "A likely story. There's always someone like you, trying to sneak in for the High Holy Day services. Forget it, friend. Try somewhere else." "Honest. I swear to you, I have to tell my brother something. You'll see, I'll only be a minute." The usher gives him a long look. "All right," he says, "I'll give you the benefit of the doubt. You can go in. But don't let me catch you praying!" JEWISH FREE LOAN SOCIETIES Another important way in which Jews have helped their own financially has been the creation of Jewish Free Loan Societies to directly help immigrants and others in need. There are about forty of these institutions around the country, and they make about $40 million in loans each year, interest free. Local endowments support these societies, exclusively funded by the Jewish community. As it is written in the Book of Exodus, "If you lend money to my people, to the poor among you, do not act toward them as a creditor; exact no interest from them." These societies exist to make loans to people with no assets and with little or no credit history, and to loan smaller amounts than banks would typically bother with. At the turn of the century, it was a way for recent Jewish immigrants to go into business and to become self-supporting. In New York City, Jewish peddlers would use their loans to buy their initial merchandise for their pushcarts. Today these loans often go toward a down payment on a house or used car so that a recent Russian immigrant can get to his or her first job. A surprising feature of these organizations is that most of them have a policy to also lend to non- Jewish people. It is a badly needed community service, and a powerful way to change ingrained prejudices, as illustrated in this story from the Wall Street Journal: Mr. Pham needed money to fly his mother to the U.S. from a refugee camp in Thailand. He was working as a waiter and had little collateral, and a bank turned him down. So he headed to the loan society, which soon cut him a check for $2,000, interest-free. Such generosity was a revelation for Mr. Pham, a Catholic. He had never met a Jew before coming to the U.S. from Vietnam in 1984. Mr. Pham says he had been told that Jews were "mean and stingy"-yet he found the opposite to be true. "Nobody else gave me a loan."'() Unfortunately, high loan-default rates have caused several loan societies to recently reverse their nondiscriminatory policies and serve only Jewish people. In Phoenix the default rate reached about 10 percent a year in the early 1990s and nearly all the defaulted loans involved With the endowment in jeopardy, the Phoenix Free Loan Society reluctantly changed its policy to lend only to Jews, but most societies continue to lend to anyone. For centuries Jews in America have found that similar lending to nonJews could breed goodwill in the face of historic anti-Semitism. "Jews early on understood that charity was related to an ability to gain respect," said Jonathan Sarna, teacher at the School of American Jewish History at Brandeis University." In 1671, Asser Levy financed the first Lutheran church in the early settlement of New Amsterdam, even though the church's German founder, Martin Luther, profoundly hated the Jews for not converting and persecuted them during the early years of his church. In 1543 Luther wrote, "What then shall we Christians do with this damned, rejected race of Jews?... Since they live among us and we know about their lying and blasphemy and cursing, we cannot tolerate them.... First, their synagogues should be set on fire.... Secondly, their homes should likewise be broken down and destroyed.... Thirdly, they should be deprived of their prayerbooks.... Fourthly, their rabbis must be forbidden under threat of death to teach anymore.."12 Fortunately, with the inter-faith goodwill first generated by Levy, the Lutheran church did not transport its active persecution of Jews to America. Haym Salomon, a Polishborn Jew, helped finance the Revolutionary War with interest-free loans to prominent colonialists, including James Madison and Thomas Jefferson. Joseph Seligman, founder of the investment banking firm J. & W. Seligman, was the person Lincoln trusted to convince European investors to buy Union bonds to finance the cost of the Civil War. Emanuel Lehman, one of the founders of the southern-based investment banking house Lehman Brothers, went to Europe and raised a great deal of money for the Confederacy." SUPPORTING THE JEWISH COMMUNITY BY PATRONIZING JEWISH BUSINESSES What better way is there to support your own community and provide people a way to support themselves? It sounds simple, but its effects are profound. Jews were secluded in ghettos of Eastern Europe and in urban concentrations in New York; as a result they patronized their own. From the use of professional services such as medicine and law to meeting everyday needs by using the local grocery, butcher, baker, tailor, car dealer or home builder, Jews have a heightened sensitivity to doing business with their own.  The best example of a community business owned and operated by Jews was the garment industry in New York City. Jews largely created the American clothing production industry, replacing homemade clothes and tailor-made clothing. Starting in the 1880s with the waves of new Eastern European Jewish immigrants, the clothing industry absorbed more than half of Jewish workers. The jobs were indeed sweatshop jobs; however, the profits were being created for Jewish companies and for the Jewish community. By 1885, German Jews owned 234 of the 241 garment factories in New York City.' Unlike other ethnic groups, Jews, through their labors, created the equity that became the Jewish financial capital that supported the progress of a wealthy and independent community. Because of their particular needs for prayer services, their Saturday Sabbath and their language differences, it was almost impossible for most new immigrants to work and live outside the community-adding to the community's insular and self-serving nature. However, in the true Jewish tradition, parents pushed children of the second generation toward an education so they could leave the Lower East Side slum community and the manual factory work, to become professionals and tradespeople as they had been in Europe. JEWISH FEDERATIONS AND FOUNDATIONS American Jews have developed a unique model of philanthropy, which has greatly influenced America's philanthropic structure. It's the widespread use of federations and foundations. The idea is to create a pool of assets and provide mechanisms to fund annual needs, and to develop the infrastructure to maintain those efforts. Charitable institutions that live hand to mouth are likely to experience difficulties in the long run. The task of reinventing the fund-raising wheel whenever funds run low is extremely burdensome. People are often motivated to build a building, but to maintain it and maximize its usefulness takes a sustained effort. The Boston Federation, the first of its kind in America, was founded in 1895; a century later there are 178 federations serving Jewish communities in the United States. These federations are public foundations funded by pooling individual donations for community services. They are organized in a group called the Council of Jewish Federations (CJF). In addition, there are now more than seven thousand independent Jewish foundations funded by individuals or families with total assets estimated at $10 billion to $15 billion. Some of these private foundations have outlived their original creators, but in most cases the founder or his or her descendants still control the funding. Twenty-four percent give more than $250,000 per year. Sixty-four percent give $50,000 to $250,000 annually. The annual giving of all Jewish foundations and federations totals $3 billion." In 1999, to further streamline the fund-raising process, the CJF and the powerful United Jewish Appeal (UJA) combined forces as the United Jewish Communities. "THE MEGA GROUP" In addition to traditional organizations and foundations, wealthy individuals create their own special initiatives to give. In May 1998, the Wall Street Journal reported on "a secretive and loosely organized club of twenty of the wealthiest and most influential Jewish businessmen in America," called the "Mega Group" or "Study Group." Leslie Wexner, the chairman of The Limited, and Charles Bronfman, the cochairman of Seagram Co., founded the group in 1991. Meeting twice a year for two days, members attend a series of seminars related to philanthropy and Jews. Faced with the aging of the immigrant generation, the blurring memory of the Holocaust and the high rate of intermarriage (47% in 2000), the group tries to keep both the philanthropic momentum and the Jewish identity going. This community of the very wealthy enables its members to seek partnerships for their individual causes and learn from one another about their successes and challenges. Networking sessions exist in other faiths, but there are few from the highest ranks of business such as this one. Mega Group members keep a low profile because they do not want to be in competition with established Jewish institutions. They take on special projects that they think can make a difference, such as supporting Jewish day schools or programs like the "Birthright Project," which sends to Israel any young Jew who wants to go. In 1997, Michael Steinhardt, former investment fund manager, launched the Partnership for Jewish Education with the support of $19 million; $1.5 million came from six interested members of the Mega Group. Mega Group members included Steven Spielberg of Dreamworks; bagel tycoon Marvin Lender; Leonard Abramson, founder of U.S. Healthcare; and Lester Crown, investor and part owner of the Chicago Bulls." SUPPORT FOR ANTIDISCRIMINATION CAUSES Jewish support for justice extends beyond the Jewish community to embrace the broader cause of ending discrimination and promoting tolerance. Jewish liberalism stems from an acute awareness of a shared history of persecution and identification with the oppressed that goes all the way back to the time of Moses. In one sense, Jewish support of the liberal agenda is self-serving; after all, Jews continue to be discriminated against. But it also serves the larger community; by working for broad liberal objectives, Jews have made it much easier to form coalitions with other groups sharing similar problems. Jewish people tend to stand on the liberal side of any number of social issues: religious freedom, gay rights, church-state separation, immigration reforms and voters' rights. At the forefront of the fight for Jewish civil rights group is the Anti-Defamation League, a division of the B'nai B'rith organization. AFRICAN AMERICANS AND THE JEWS The relationship between the American Jews and the African-American community has been a close but strained one. At the beginning of the twentieth century the bonds were stronger, but the rise of Muslim religious leaders in the African-American community in the 1950s began to widen the rift between them. Some of these African-American Muslims have mistakenly used Jews as scapegoats for their own lack of progress. Although there were a few Jewish slave owners in the South, Jews were not large players in the slave trade." On the other hand, as early as 1915, Jews were involved with the civil rights movement of African Americans. The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was founded at the home of Joel Spingarn, a Columbia University literature professor and a Jew. He was elected board chairman of the NAACP in 1915 and served as president from 1929 to 1939. Arthur Spingarn, a Jew, served as president from 1939 to 1966. Kivie Kaplan, a Jew, served from 1966 to 1975. Only in 1975 did the first African American serve as president."  Black philosopher Marcus Garvey in the 1920s and 1930s saw many parallels between the Black and the Jewish experience. He was a proponent of ethnic pride. He researched ancient African cultures, promoted racial independence through competitive economic development, encouraged collective self-help and even called for the revitalization of Africa and repatriation to Africa. He saw the diaspora of African slaves as similar to the ex