So this is a bit random, but a friend of mine just IMed me to tell me that he was trying to make plans with a friend for Thursday of this week when she told him that she was going to this lecture: “Jews, Genes and Intelligence”. It carries the subhead: “Fact or Fiction? Ashkenazi Genes Produce Higher Intelligence.”
As a Jew of Ashkenazi descent should I feel like an idiot for not having any awareness that this potential subject of conversation even existed? Or does my lack of knowledge in this instance (and plenty of others, I’m sure) just go to prove the “fiction” side of the argument. And really, which group of Jews would you consider more intelligent: the ones who decided to leave in cold, dank, often grey and ice-covered Eastern Europe or the ones who settled and stayed in more tropical areas like the Mediterranean and the middle-east? Plus, if Ashkenazi Jews are so smart, why does our cuisine basically suck relative to what the Sephardim can cook up?
Do you think the lecture will cover any of these topics? I don’t know if I have the patience to find out, but if you go, let me know.
Out of Focus 
Perhaps it is a Darwinian arguement(the smartest Jews of European descent are the ones who are descended from the survivors of the Holocaust and the Russian Pogroms). I’ve known plenty of really stupid Sephardim (starting with members of my own family who I absolutely deny any real relation to) and really stupid Ashkenazi as well. Are there more smart Jews or is there simply a smaller and generally more educated Jewish population that allows intelligence to be exemplified (Jewish culture emphasizing education above other pursuits).
Then again, my 4 month old son is already showing signs that he is smarter than many of my high school students.
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