When I became interested in converting to Judaism, around 1990, I had weekly conversations with a friend who like me grew up as a Seventh-Day Adventist in Australia. This man worked as a pastor for many years before quitting and become an insurance agent to better provide for his family.<\/p>\n
Like me, this bloke didn’t have much experience with Jews, but he did have this distinct memory: “When most people shop for a home, they bring their spouse, but when Jews buy property, they bring their accountant, their lawyer, their friends.” My friend found this distasteful.<\/p>\n
I was not bothered by this accusation, but I didn’t understand its significance. Now I see that Jews have a group strategy for life while WASPs tend towards an individualist strategy. Most of the time in the struggle for scarce resources, a group strategy will out-compete an individualist strategy. WASPs come from northern Europe where life’s competition was historically much more against the environment and much less against other competing groups. Jews come from a history of group competition more than environmental competition. Almost all the prayers in the siddur (Jewish prayer book) are in the collective. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I became interested in converting to Judaism, around 1990, I had weekly conversations with a friend who like me grew up as a Seventh-Day Adventist in Australia. This man worked as a pastor for many years before quitting and … Continue reading