if it's true. saying that "making money is part of the Jewish tradition" is no more true than saying that getting snookered drunk every night is part of the Catholic tradition.
you people are letting him off too easy by implying he just didn't say it well.
And, damn, the guy's speaking at a Jewish organization. Shouldn't he at least have some prepared thoughts to avoid making such a ridiculous misstatement?
The fact that Jews are good at making money (and a lot of other things too) is largely thanks to a cultural heritage (I beliee mostly because they were restricted to lowly, disdained jobs, like banking back in medieaval times. Something which makes the envy towards Jews later on kind of funny, in a non-comic way). And I say this as someone with Jewish background myself. Of course, phrasing it as "Jews are good at making money" leads the thoughts in, ehm, interesting directions. Jews have had to resort to certain strategies to survive in a harsh environment and that has, partly, included many of them accumulating a lot of wealth. Like every sterotype there are many exceptions of course, but noone can deny that Jewish culture is quite distinct and in many ways admirable. Though personally I'd stress the interest in education rather than money-making which is more of an anti-semitic prejudice.
