Question:
Why do the Jewish people seem to loom so large on the world stage? The numbers don't add up. Here's a nation less than 0.2% of the world's population, yet we command so much attention you'd think there were billions of us. That's like a room of two thousand people, with one puny guy sitting in the corner who everyone wants to talk to (or pick on).... Why do we always seem to be at the centre of history?
 
Answer:
Jews do strange things sometimes. One example is the wide-spread practice of "credit combing."

 

Many Jews have a habit of combing through the credits at the end of a movie, searching for Jewish names. At each discovery they beam with pride:
Look! Assistant Gaffer.......Mo Goldstein! Catering Consultant........Beth Cohen!
 
This odd practice comes from a very deep place in the Jewish psyche. Jews share a spiritual bond with each other. If I meet a Jew anywhere in the world, there is an immediate connection, a kinship, a sense of oneness. We are like one big family, and even closer than that.
 
When Jews are in the news, we each take it personally. When Israel is under attack, we feel the pain wherever we are. When a Jew wins a bronze medal in croquet, we all share the victory. And when we see a Jewish name in the credits, we get excited.
 
Maybe other nations do this too. But I don't think so. This profound sense of connection makes the Jewish nation unique among the peoples of the world.
 
This is the reason why statistics cannot apply to the Jewish people.  No Jew is merely an individual. We are a collective soul, a part of something bigger than ourselves. We may be a tiny blip on the census, but we don't work by the normal rules of demography. Our strength is not measured by our numbers, but by our unity.
 
The destiny of the Jewish people is to be a strong voice of goodness and morality among the family of nations. When we unite with our community and commit ourselves to the shared vision of our people, then we are a formidable presence. Not because we are one billion, but because we are one.

 

~ Rabbi Aron Moss

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