And the Winner of the Nobel Prize is…Jewish!

Although Jews comprise 0.2 per cent of the world’s population, they have won approximately 22% of Nobel Prizes. Twenty-six per cent of winners in scientific fields are Jewish. This performance is 112 times or 11,250% above average. To say this is astonishing is an understatement.

Most writers refer to this comparison as disproportionate, which can imply that it is excessive, or undue or inordinate. I prefer to say that it is out of all proportion to our numbers. The range is as impressive as the numbers; Jews demonstrated ability in chemistry (19% of the world total), economics (39%), literature (14%), peace (8%), physics (26%) and physiology or medicine (26%).

The only Jewish country in the world, Israel, was ranked by Times of Higher Education as the fifth-best performer this past century. On the basis of Nobel Prize winners, Israel’s Technion placed higher than Harvard and every British university.

The obvious question is: “Why do Jews achieve at such an extraordinarily high level?” I think the most comprehensive response is historical and begins with the first Jews.

In the Torah, we are told that God chose Abraham so that he would instruct his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing what is right and just. Moses, too, was to educate future leaders and is known as “Moshe Rabbeinu,” Moses our teacher. It is worthwhile here to note that the word Torah means “teaching.”

After the Roman destruction of the Temple in 70 CE, Rabbi Yohanan ben Zakkei was granted permission by the Romans to establish an academy in Yavne. That was his one and only request. In the words of the late Rabbi Jonathan Sacks, Rabbi ben Zaakei knew that “to defend a country, you need an army, but to defend an identity, you need a school.”

By the first century, Joshua ben Gamla had established primary schools in Judea, not just for the elite but also a system of universal education.

The great mediaeval sage, Maimonides, ruled that if a city has made no provision for the education of the young, its inhabitants would be placed under a ban until teachers are engaged.

Not only was universal education taken seriously, but also potential and merit were given the highest priority. Maimonides wrote that if the son had better capacity and greater ability than the father, then the son’s education took precedence.

So great was the emphasis on study that Maimonides declared that education of the young must not be interrupted even for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple. That was a remarkable statement given that medieval Jewish life was often uncertain as Jews were expelled from country after country and yearned for the return to Zion and the rebuilding of the Temple.

So great was the emphasis on study that Maimonides declared that education of the young must not be interrupted even for the purpose of rebuilding the Temple.

Maimonides taught that Jewish education did not preclude study of the world at large. He introduced Greek philosophy into Jewish study and was himself a doctor.

Poverty was not to be a barrier to education. The Talmud, in Nedarim, states that society “be careful with regard to the education of sons of the paupers, as it is from them that the Torah will issue forth.” One may well ask why the Torah will issue forth from the children of paupers. I suggest it is rabbinical rhetoric in order to draw attention to the importance of study for everyone lest talent be overlooked. Perhaps it is also an expression of faith in the ability of everyone to learn.

The Talmud, in Horayot, makes the astonishing claim that a bastard scholar takes precedence over an ignorant High Priest. A bastard, in ancient society, was an illegitimate child and was shunned. An illegitimate child is set up in opposition to a High Priest in yet another example of rabbinic poetic license to emphasize the essential nature of education in Judaism. The Cohain was a hereditary position and the High Priest was the highest position in sacred society. The point the rabbis are making is that pedigree yields to scholarship. It is as strong and bold a stand in favour of education as one can imagine. The Shulchan Arukh, or Code of Jewish Law (1563), states that “as for children that have reached the age for education, we are obligated to educate them.”

In his “Nineteen Letters,” published in 1836, the renowned Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch, defender of traditional Judaism in a rapidly assimilating Germany, wrote that the three great concepts of Judaism are justice, love and education. I take it from this list that he considers justice (law) and love (compassion) to be the most fundamental priorities of Judaism and that education is the vehicle that will communicate them from generation to generation.

Extraordinary Jewish performance in obtaining Nobel Prizes is the result of a culture profoundly committed to education—universal, secular and religious, for young and old, rich and poor, good times and bad, from its inception to this very day. Even for members of a secular culture, the traditions of the past influence the present day, for the betterment of everyone.

“Genius without education,” wrote Benjamin Franklin, “is like silver in the mine.” Without education, the talent and achievements that we celebrate would be impossible. This core principle of Judaism is yet another legacy to its people and a gift and an example to the world.

Dr. Paul Socken is Distinguished Professor Emeritus and founder of the Jewish Studies program at the University of Waterloo.