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Statistics show 30% of Nobel Prizes in science and twenty percent of Forbes 400 are Jewish achievements. I don't believe genetic explanation is accurate, there must be some parts of upbringing and environmental factors. Which one?

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Dominik, Welcome to mi.yodeya, and thanks very much for the interesting question! Please consider clicking "register," above, to create your account. This will give you access to all of mi.yodeya's features and will allow you to take full credit for your contributions. – Isaac Moses Apr 14 '10 at 13:46
There are many reasons to believe that it is genetic. For example, many successful Jews do not have a Jewish upbringing. The success rate is also not the so high for all Jewish groups. – Ariel K Sep 5 '11 at 18:12

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We repeatedly see throughout Rabbinic literature (Mishna, Talmud, Medrash, etc.) that the highest value is placed on study. I would confidently estimate that Judaism places more value on scholarship than any other major religion or culture. Like the middle school nerd, this has gotten us kicked around by bullies for most of the past 4000 years, but now, as the rest of the world is slowly coming around, we get our just dessert.

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The answer is simple although not likely to be accepted by science. Studying Torah Lishmah makes a person smarter. The Torah comes from G-d and by involving our mind with it we connect our mind to G-d's mind. This can have an effect on our minds and on our children and descendents.

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