The Protocols of the Elders of Zion was a fraudulent book written by antisemites to convince the world that there was a conspiracy where Jews were trying to take over the world.
The book was based on the notion that Jews consider themselves superior to all other people in the world. In the 1970s, the Soviet Union lobbied hard to pass a resolution in the United Nations to equate Zionism with racism. A large basis of their argument stemmed from the notion that Jews consider themselves superior and they used The Protocols of the Elders of Zion to support their claims.
For millennia, the world has used the Jews’ status as the “chosen people” as a club to bludgeon the Jewish people with, both literally and figuratively. Although mainstream Jewish philosophy does not teach that Jews are superior to non-Jews, this hasn’t stopped antisemites from accusing Jews of thinking they’re superior to non-Jews.
In the Torah, we find many verses that sound like this verse in Deuteronomy, “For you are a people consecrated to your God: of all the peoples on earth, your God chose you to be God’s treasured people (Chapter 7, verse 6).” This verse gave antisemites plenty of fodder to accuse the Jews of supremacist attitudes.
While an outlying stream of thought among a small minority of Jewish scholars maintains that Jews are inherently superior to non-Jews, their opinion has not been accepted by mainstream Jewish scholars.
One of the first biblical verses to state that Jews were “chosen” came with a qualifier: “Now then, if you will obey Me faithfully and keep My covenant, you shall be My treasured possession among all the peoples. Indeed, all the earth is Mine (Exodus, Chapter 19, Verse 5).”
Mainstream Jewish scholars teach that Jews are chosen to keep God’s commands and act as models of moral behavior for the rest of humankind. As Isaiah the prophet declared, Jews are chosen to be “a light unto the nations.”
Being chosen by God to be a moral example for the rest of humanity doesn’t make the Jewish people superior to other people; it charges them with a responsibility to live a lifestyle that matches God’s expectations of humanity.
With the extent of persecution the Jewish people have faced, the thinning out of their numbers that persecution has caused, and the torture the Jewish people have faced throughout the last 3,000 years, it’s hard to believe the Jewish people are superior to anyone. It’s easier to believe that the Jews have been rejected more than chosen by God. What could lead antisemites to conclude that Jews think themselves superior to non-Jews?
Antisemitic works such as The Protocols of the Elders of Zion helped convince non-Jews that Jews thought they were better than others, but it was the individual Jewish success stories that gave non-Jews the impression that Jews were supremacists. While the Jewish nation might have experienced persecution, many individual Jews became the top one percent in their fields.
The Jewish people don’t consider themselves superior to others, but they do believe that they are exceptional, and their experience of success in every field supports their theory of Jewish exceptionalism. When surveying most fields, including science, thought and finance, the leaders in all these fields for hundreds of years have been Jews. At the other extreme, when looking at societal ills like violent crime, sexual deviancy and gang activity, Jews rarely appear in significant numbers.
Jewish scientists have made groundbreaking discoveries, with more than 20% of Nobel prizes in science awarded to Jewish individuals despite Jews comprising less than 0.2% of the global population. Examples include Albert Einstein’s “Theory of Relativity,” Jonas Salk’s polio vaccine and Richard Feynman’s quantum mechanics.
Jewish philosophers, writers and thinkers, such as Baruch Spinoza, Franz Kafka and Hannah Arendt, have profoundly shaped Western philosophy, literature and political theory.
Jewish entrepreneurs and financiers, like the Rothschild family in the 19th century, modern figures like Sergey Brin, co-founder of Google, and Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, have played significant roles in global commerce and technology.
Jewish authors have excelled in literature, with figures such as Saul Bellow, Philip Roth, Isaac Bashevis Singer—even Bob Dylan—winning prestigious awards, including Nobel prizes in literature, for their contributions to storytelling and cultural reflection.
Jewish researchers have been at the forefront of medical breakthroughs, such as Paul Ehrlich’s work on immunology and chemotherapy, and modern contributions like Robert Langer’s advancements in drug delivery systems. Jewish individuals have been prominent in social-justice movements, including civil rights.
Rabbi Abraham Heschel marched with Martin Luther King Jr. and labor rights were advanced by Jewish leaders like Samuel Gompers, a key figure in American labor unions. Jewish composers and artists, such as Leonard Bernstein, Marc Chagall and Gustav Mahler, have left lasting legacies in classical music, visual arts, and modern performance.
Jewish leaders have risen to the top of every field despite facing overwhelming persecution. Jewish communities have demonstrated remarkable resilience, surviving and thriving despite historical challenges like the Holocaust, pogroms and expulsions, rebuilding vibrant cultural and intellectual lives in places around the world.
Jews don’t believe they are inherently exceptional. If you cut a Jew open, they are made of the same materials as any other human being. The key to Jewish exceptionalism has been the tradition of placing a high value on education and literacy, leading to disproportionate representation in academia and other areas where high levels of knowledge lead to greater success.
For example, Jewish scholars have been instrumental in fields such as biblical studies, history and mathematics.
The modern-day State of Israel, often tied to Jewish identity, has become the symbol of Jewish exceptionalism. In malaria-infested swampland just a century ago, pioneers transformed the nation into a global leader in technology and innovation with advancements in cybersecurity, agriculture and start-ups, earning the nickname, “Start-Up Nation.”
Jewish individuals or communities have made significant impacts, disproportionate to their population size, which has led antisemites to accuse Jews of supremacism. To Jews, these successes are signs of exceptionalism borne of hard work and an emphasis on education rather than an arrogant belief in their superiority.
This exceptionalism, while a point of pride for world Jewry, acts as a continuing challenge to the next generation of Jews.
