Greece’s Minister of Health is Baffled by the Jews

On a popular daily Greek news show cum political talk program, Greece’s Minister of Health Adonis Georgiadis expressed his frustration at trying to figure out how the Jewish state is not only financially successful, but also, against all odds, happy.

“Is there a people like the Jews,” he wondered with a mix of annoyance and awe, “who has taken a strip of desert land smaller than the Pelopennese and has a GNP of 500 billion?”

Not only that, Mr. Georgiadis continues, this is a country at war and suffering terrorist attacks within, and yet it is rated as the fifth happiest country in the world. He then contrasts this maddening reality with his own country, Greece, where “the weather is sweet, everything is nice,” yet the people are miserable and sad.

“Do you have an explanation?” he concludes, sitting down at the table with his fellow commentators. He throws up his hands. “There is no explanation!”

Perhaps the difference is that Jews are never satisfied with, “No explanation.” We fill library shelves with explanations—from sociological analyzes to theological treatises explaining why the Jews have survived or win so many Nobel prizes or defy the laws of history (which drove Arnold Toynbee crazy).

So, Aish.com readers, what’s your explanation? How did the Jews take a tiny strip of desert land (I don’t know where the Pelopennese is, but Israel is the size of New Jersey), always at war and subject to terrorism, and turned it into a booming economy, a high-tech powerhouse, fourth in the world for the longevity of its citizens, and fifth in the world for their happiness? Please answer in the comments section below.

As for my personal opinion, I think our success comes from God. As the ditty goes:

How odd of God to choose the Jews.
It’s not odd. The Jews chose God.