Before You Erase the Jews, Read This
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From railroads to penicillin to the food on your table, Jewish innovation shaped the modern world.
The year was 1921. A catastrophic drought has hit one of the world’s richest grain producing regions, the Volga River basin. In a dramatic attempt to save lives, the American Relief Administration shipped millions of tons of grain to Russian ports. But that grain never made it to the starving interior. Broken down railroads couldn’t move it to those who needed it. As a result, five million people starved to death.
In 1966, a similar famine struck India. 80% of crops in Bihar were destroyed and 60 million people faced imminent starvation. 11 million tons of grain were shipped to ports. Unlike the Russian famine, that grain was successfully moved and millions saved.
The critical difference between these two stories was railroad technology. The thermite process, a chemical reaction that generates intense heat to fuse metals, enabled railroad ties to be joined together on an atomic level. They thus formed a single continuous rail that was far easier to maintain. With the old bolt-together methods, trains not only produced the classic “clack clack”, they broke down constantly. A single broken connection could cripple a transportation network. A series of them could starve a population.
In India the railroads had been upgraded, and famine was averted.
Hans Goldschmidt
I’m telling you this story not because I’m fascinated by railroads, but because the thermite process was developed by Hans Goldschmidt, a German Jew. This single invention highlights something we often miss.
When people talk about the Jewish and Israeli impact on modern life, we often focus on the iPhone, Waze, the microprocessor and various apps.
But the Jewish impact on modern life is far more fundamental than that.
Karl Landsteiner discovered blood types, enabling transfusions. Benno Straus developed 18/8 stainless steel, enabling the safe storage of perishable foods (including milk, which used to be a major source of tuberculosis).
Karl Landsteiner
While Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin, it was Ernst Chain who enabled that unstable laboratory curiosity to become a lifesaving antibiotic. Not only that, Ernst foresaw antibiotic resistance and laid the groundwork for follow-on antibiotics like Amoxicillin.
Herman Pines, another Jew, opened up entirely new ways to process raw petroleum. His work yielded practical plastics, far higher yields from petroleum resources (and thus massive reductions in pollution for the same energy output) and even synthetic rubbers and seals. Today’s petroleum industry, which enables almost every industry on earth, is based on Pines’ work. Not only that, Pines enabled the shift from leaded to unleaded fuel. Since lead poisoning measurably reduces cognitive function, removing it from fuel raised global IQs by as much as 6 points while seriously boosting public health.
In 1900, over 80% of children had rickets, deforming their ribcages and softening their skeletons. Many died from opportunistic diseases; surviving girls often died in childbirth because their bodies couldn't bear the strain of labor. Meanwhile, half of all Chinese laborers in Malaya were dying from beriberi. A Jew named Casimir Funk solved these problems. He coined the term "vitamin" and identified specific deficiencies as the cause of these devastating conditions.
Casimir Funk
Today, more and more people openly talk about the wonders of a world without Jews. They speak about exploitation and oppression being erased, as if Israel and the Jews are the core of all evil. What they often don’t realize is that they owe their very lives to Jewish innovation.
This innovation didn’t stop in the 1940s. From communications to healthcare to water security, some of the most advanced technologies in the world are being developed by Jews and Israelis.
My cousin Amitai used to get drunk with hard-core antisemites. Back in those days they required a little help before they’d blurt out their underlying Jew-hatred. But eventually they’d tell him that they knew the Jews ruled the world.
Rather than argue, Amitai would say, “Well, yeah. But there are only 15 million of us, not enough to control the entire world. Care to guess what countries we actually control?”
Invariably, his interlocutors would say the US, maybe Europe and Australia and Canada. As they listed the victims of Jewish control, my cousin would nod his head, agreeing with every word.
When they were done, he’d ask, “And would you rather live in any other country?”
Jews don’t rule the world but their impact is enormously positive.
Amitai was speaking to a fundamental truth: Jews don’t rule the world but their impact is enormously positive. The Jewish People should be proud of their achievements that have saved countless lives, enriched cultures, and increased the quality of life for people across the globe.
When others suggest the world would be better off without the Jews, perhaps they can be reminded of Hans Goldschmidt – and so many others – who have positively impacted them and the world they live in.
