I think what you're missing is the way that the oppression faced by these groups manifested. For example, one of the key arguments made to attack jews is the idea that they control the banks. Where does this come from? For a while, Jews were the only people who could run banks, because it was illegal for christians to own banks, because it would result in usury, which was illegal for christians to be involved in. They were also explicitly banned from other forms of employment, resulting in many jews working in banks. This in turn resulted in two outcomes, one a direct form of hatred directed at jews, because people don't like banks, and this hatred was then extended to the entirety of the jewish population, and 2) running banks is a somewhat effective way to make money, resulting in jews growing richer, in turn sparking more hatred against them because christians saw jews as taking advantage of them. Now does any of this justify antisemitism against Jews? No, of course not. Especially today, banking is a profession anyone can take part in, and jews do not, in fact, control the levers of the world. However, Jewish communities involved in banking were able to build more capital and resources, and thus, had a better starting point when oppression was lifted (not to say that it ever really was and that antisemitism does not exist today, but that they simply had more resources to take advantage of in general.) Compare that to teh position of African-Americans. Intially, they were kept as slaves, unable to make any money at all. Then, during reconstruction and later, kept away from accessing education and other jobs through segregation, with many black farmers forced into sharecropping as a way to make a living, a profession that does not result in much of an ability to build generational resources. Socioeconomic status is often something of a self-fulfilling prophecy. If you begin life in a low socioeconomic status, it becomes much harder to break out of it, primarily due to a lack of resources and other systemic barriers. As a result, communities with more resources tend to stay in higher socioeconomic levels, while those in lower socioeconomic levels tend to stay lower. Of course, people can and do move between socioeconomic strata, but I'm speaking in generalities here. I think you've also hit upon another way the oppression of both communities was different and resulted in different outcomes. Oppression towards Jewish communities often manifested in such a manner that clustered jews into communities, allowing for more community support and greater cultural connections. In contrast, one of the most heinous aspects of slavery was its breaking up of families. This created an environment and community full of fractured families and really eliminated much of the ability of communities and cultures that would have existed and provided connection and support for African Americans to exist. This ended up exacerbated further by later issues like the CIA at the very least, turning a blind eye to crack cocaine being sold in African American communities, if not actively doing it themselves, something that resulted in drug addiction and gangs being more commonplace, both issues that consistently lead to poverty. Now, do I think culture is also extremely important? Of course! My family is from India, and so I grew up in a community that had incredible value towards education and I owe no small part of my success in life to that, and the values instilled in my parents leading them towards getting a good education! I've seen how some of my friends don't have that same emphasis on education, and how that's affected them, but one thing I have noticed is that, among those friends, the ones in rich families are better off than those from poor families, despite often having similar grades. I have a lot of respect towards the Jewish community for its focus on education, and I do think that, as a general American culture, we've sort of lost that focus on education, and that its something we need to bring back to improve everyone's lives. But, its also important to have the resources to capture that culture, to help make those values actually achievable. If my family didn't have the resources they did, even with that same culture of education, I don't think I'd be as successful. Nothing in this world is monofactorial, everything interacts with so many different issues, that I think attributing the success of the Jewish community to simply their cultural values is shortsighted. More on reddit.com

Tread lightly, all ye who comment in this thread. Racism will not be tolerated.

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I'm Jewish, so can't speak for other cultures and religions. However, education, literacy, continued study through adulthood, and academic debate are mitzvot (Torah commandments) in Judaism. Every child is required to study and learn to read, write, and debate. Every parent is commanded to make sure their children and the community have resources needed for quality education. Furthermore, it is also commanded to support one's family, and one of the highest honors a Jew can do is to find work and steady income for another Jew, or to help them get on their feet financially and with a stable career. Helping someone find a job and income is considered akin to saving a life. Part of the persecution of Jews was to limit the professions in which they could work. Jews of Europe were not allowed to own land or produce foods for the non-Jewish market. There are other restrictions, too, but that left mostly "white-collar" jobs that Jews could legally hold. Those jobs all required higher levels of education and training. The Jewish culture of education found a natural ally in these professions, and the culture of academics and education was further strengthened. Education breeds success, and success further breeds a culture of success across generations. All the documented successful Jews, and the generally higher rate of employment, literacy, level of education, etc. all comes from the very strong cultural ties to education. More on reddit.com

The economists Maristella Botticini & Zvi Eckstein wrote a book called The Chosen Few: How Education Shaped Jewish History, 70-1492 , which argues that it was Jewish universally literacy that really did it. While Jews up through Roman times were mostly farmers, largely undistinguished by their neighbors, the creation of the Talmud, and more importantly the demands that every male study Torah and Talmud, created a community that could read. Now, obviously, this was in economic terms, a very costly investment in human capital. And while Jews were farmers, there was very little economic return to literacy (though their likely was a social return to the structure of Jewish communities). However, as Jews urbanized, there was suddenly a huge benefit to being literate and part of a community that had a high degree of both in group trust and social ties over large distances. Botticini and Eckstein argue that Jews, contra the conventional narrative, entered certain profitable trades like banking before laws forced them to. Though that brings us to the last point: for much of European history, Christians (and Muslims) were not allowed to loan money on interest. Loans, or "access to capital"/"investment", are obviously crucial for an economy. It's hard to convince someone to loan money without interest, when people could just invest that money profitably in their own enterprises. Anyway, Jews were allowed to loan to Christians, and, moreover, they were in most places the only non Christians allowed to be around (most "pagans" were converted, sometimes forcibly, and the Muslims often expelled). Here's an interview with the one of the authors . As mentioned in the interview, they're apparently working on a sequel to bring their study from the Expulsion from Spain up through the present. More on reddit.com