544 



The Journal of Heredity 



to the effect that fools have been weeded 

 out from amon^ the Jews, that the 

 proportion of mental defectives, idiots, 

 imbeciles, etc., is much higher amon^ 

 them than amon^ others. It is of 

 immense interest from the standi)oint 

 of eugenics that hereditary and degen- 

 erative defects are more frequent among 

 them than among people of other 

 faiths who live under a similar social 

 and economic environment. Thvis. 

 blindness, color blindness, deaf-mutism, 

 idiocy, imbecility, insanity, etc., have 

 Ijeen found from two to five times more 

 often among them than among the 

 Christians in Europe. Eliminating 

 most of the possible sources of error, 

 as I have done in my book, The Jews, it 

 must be acknowledged that the modern 

 children of Israel, in sjnte of their 

 phenomenal vigor in other respects, 

 show a larger proportion of physical 

 and mental defectives than any other 

 civilized religious, social, or ethnic 

 group of people. 



We thus have, to a noteworthy degree, 

 two diametrically opposed extremes 

 among the modern Jews. On the one 

 hand we have a very high proportion 

 of feeble-minded, idiots, imbeciles and 

 insane and also j^hysical defectives, 

 weakly and decrepit people; and on the 

 other hand we saw that we have also 

 an amazingly high i^roportion of persons 

 of marked ability in nearly all walks of 

 life, especially such as have attained 

 eminence in the intellectual, commer- 

 cial and industrial fields of human en- 

 deavor. These are facts which have 

 great bearings on the subject we are 

 about to discuss. 



Sociologically, this contrast is even 

 more strikingly evident among the 

 modern sons of Jacob. There are 

 found among them an excessive ]iro- 

 portion of poor and destitute depend- 

 ents, as well as a larger ratio of eco- 

 nomically i;ros]K'rous, and even million- 

 aires, than their total numl:)er would 

 lead us to exjject. The ])opular envy 

 of the "rich Jew" is based on the exces- 

 sive jjrojKjrtion of successful Jewish 

 bankers, merchants and tradesmen; 

 while the frequently rci)cated i)ity ex- 

 pressed for the hordes of poverty- 

 stricken and famishing Israelites in 



eastern Europe and the Orient, as well 

 as the destitute aliens in London, Paris, 

 Berlin and New York, finds its justifica- 

 tion in the large nimiber of Jews who are 

 physically and mentally unfit for the 

 intense struggle for existence demanded 

 by modern life. 



What are the causes of these pecu- 

 liarities among the modern Jew? The 

 sterotyijcd answer given by many 

 writers that these, as well as most other 

 characteristics of the Israelites, are the 

 expression of the "racial peculiarities" 

 does not hold in the light of recent 

 research. Elsewhere I have shown that 

 there is no such thing as a homogeneous 

 and pure race, and that we can no more 

 speak of racial unity among the Jews 

 than we can speak of racial purity 

 among those professing Christianity, 

 Mohammedanism, or any other religion. 

 Indeed, we find ethnically all kinds of 

 racial elements among the contempo- 

 rary followers of Judaism. Granting 

 this, we must conclude that "race" 

 cannot be considered the cause for 

 these social, economic, and pathological 

 dififerences between the Jews and the 

 peoples among whom they live. 



INFLUENCE OF RELIGION 



We must bear in mind that uj) to 

 about seventy-five years ago practically 

 all the Jews in Euroi)e and elsewhere 

 were orthodox, and intensely religious. 

 To the orthodox Jew the biblical ordi- 

 nances, as well as the opinions of the 

 rabbis, are binding in matters of matri- 

 mony just as in everything else. Jewish 

 life in the medieval Ghetto was pemie- 

 ated by the si)irit of the rabbis and 

 sha])cd in accordance with their no- 

 tions. Their marriage and divorce laws 

 are remarkable and, on the whole, 

 more in accordance with the principles 

 of eugenics than the Christian and \Io- 

 hammedan marriage laws. There are, 

 however, some important excei)tions 

 which will receive attention later on. 



hvvery Jew is in duty bound to marry 

 and i)rocreate as early in life as jHJSsible. 

 According to the Schulchan Antch, the 

 recognized Jewish code, "it is the duty 

 of every Jewish man to marry a wife 

 in his eighteenth year, but he who 

 anticipates and marries earlier is follow- 



