"Cracow and the Polish Jew"

"Most of us, who are acquainted with Jews only in America or in Western Europe have been led to believe, in spite of the evident poverty of many Jews who live on the East Side in New York and in Whitechapel district of London, that, as a race, the Jews are extremely wealthy. I was surprised, therefore, to read recently the statement, made by Jews who have investigated the condition of their own people, to the effect that , while they are undeniably wealthier than their Christian neighbors in the countries in which, during the past hundred years, they have been granted their freedom, taking the Jews as a whole they are poorer than any other civilized nation in the world. In short, one writer has said: 'If we were to capitalize their wealth and distribute it among the twelve millions of Jews they would dispute with any poor nation for the lowest place in the scale of wealth.' "The direction in which the Jews seem to be superior to all of the rest of the world is apparently not in wealth but in education. Even in Russia, where they do not have the educational advantages that are given to the rest of the population, it is found that, while 79 per cent. of the total population can neither read nor write, the percentage of illiteracy among the Jews is 61 per cent. which is 18 percent less than that of the rest of the population.... "One reason for this is that the Jews have almost invariably made their homes in the cities, where the opportunities for education existed. They have, at the same time, been almost wholly engaged in business, which not only requires a certain amount of education, but is in itself, more than any other occupations, a source of education. "The name rabbi, or teacher, has always been a title of respect and honor among the Jews from earliest time. It was the name that his disciples bestowed upon Jesus. "If there were no other reasons why the story of the Jew should be studied, it would be interesting and inspiring as showing what education can do and has done for a people who, in the face of prejudice and persecution, have patiently struggled up to a position of power and prominence in the life and civilization in which all races are now beginning to share." P. 261-263, "Cracow and the Polish Jew," THE MAN FARTHEST DOWN by Booker T. Washington (2012)