'The Israel Test': Making the case for Judaism's 'culture of mind' - review

In this post-Oct. 7 reshaped edition of his classic book The Israel Test, George Gilder’s central thesis is confirmed and strengthened.

He firmly believes that the Jewish people nurture within themselves an intellect that is both a gift and a goad for the rest of the world. These ideas, expounded with conviction and even fervor, do not emanate from the pen of a passionate Zionist Jew. Gilder is not Jewish, he was born into a classic WASP family with highly literate and artistic forebears.

Gilder points out that the proportion of people with an IQ of 140 or more is about six times higher among Jews than any other population. He cites the extraordinary fact that Jews, forming much less than a single percent of the world’s population, have won 32% of the Nobel Prizes awarded in the 21st century.

Allied to this inherent Jewish intellectual prowess, Gilder discerns a distinctly Jewish “culture of mind” emanating from within Judaism itself. It fosters the go-getting entrepreneurial spirit that is the essential basis of capitalism.

Israel, Gilder writes, “produces a vastly outsized share of the world’s innovations,” and he maintains, quoting chapter and verse, that the United States’ economic reliance on Israel increases year on year.

The most precious resource in the world, he says, is human genius, which he defines as “the ability to devise inventions and enterprises, and to create works of art and science that enhance human survival and prosperity.”

At any one time, Gilder believes, genius is embodied in probably fewer than 50,000 creative individuals, and “during the 20th century, an astounding proportion of geniuses have been Jewish.” Today, he says, “an outsized share of the world’s genius resides in Israel,” which has become a center of innovation.

The extent of Israeli innovation

Gilder became aware of the extent of Israeli innovation while working in Jerusalem in 1998. He realized that the Jewish state was the emerging world leader, outside of the United States, in launching new companies and technologies.

Now, he writes, “this tiny, embattled country, smaller than most American states, is outperforming European and Asian Goliaths...” In 2007, Israel surpassed Canada as the home of most foreign companies on the NASDAQ index.

Quoting Israeli journalist Caroline Glick, Gilder writes that while some people admire success, some envy it, and the envious hate Israel. His “Israel test” is a moral challenge; it identifies the “parochial intellects” clouded with envy and suspicion, that hate Israel for its very virtues. “The source of antisemitism,” Gilder believes, “is Jewish superiority and excellence.”

HE WEAVES his deeply held beliefs about the Jewish people and Israel into a worldview of the essential nature of the Israel-Arab divide – their pro- and anti-capitalist philosophies.

Later, he subdivides the capitalist West between those who protect the past and the entrepreneurs and innovators who challenge them with visions of the future.

Moreover, he maintains, the Palestinian leadership, fueled by obdurate antisemitism, is in hock to the belief that Jews must die before Palestine can live.

Those who obsessively denounce Jews, he writes, have a historic designation. They are Nazis, such as he considers most of the Palestinian-Arab leadership, like the leaders of Iran.

In his Afterword chapter, Gilder recounts how his family “perched near the top of the American establishment” was actively philosemitic – although still not immune to the general mix of disdain, admiration, and anxiety about Jews.

He records some of his family’s outstanding achievements in the artistic and industrial fields. Like virtually all Americans who accomplished anything important in the 20th century, he says, they had crucially important Jewish colleagues and collaborators.

The United States, Gilder maintains, like all those throughout history who have been faced by the fact of Jewish brilliance and success, has a choice – resent it or embrace it as a divine gift to the world. Today, that choice is focused not on individual Jews within US society but on the Jews as a nation. That is today’s “Israel test.” Will America and the world acknowledge the truth about Israel and its Jewish population or not?

Although the sentiment might be somewhat startling to some, Gilder maintains that the message of The Israel Test can be summed up as: “Don’t worry, America, as long as Israel remains behind you.”

This book is for people who relish being faced with the unexpected, who like to have their minds stretched, their long-held ideas challenged, and who enjoy being presented with novel ways of looking at the world. It is also an encomium, a eulogy, and a heartfelt tribute to Israel and the Jewish people. 

The writer is the Middle East correspondent for Eurasia Review. His latest book is Trump and the Holy Land: 2016-2020. Follow him at a-mid-east-journal.blogspot.com.

• THE ISRAEL TEST: HOW ISRAEL’S GENIUS ENRICHES AND CHALLENGES THE WORLD
• By George Gilder
• Encounter Bo