I'm not sure how prevalent this myth is. Proportionally, there are more wealthy, influential jews than there are members of other specific religious/ethnic groups, but of the total number of wealthy people worldwide jews comprise only a minority.

The western world is going through a cycle in which Israel is being criticised more honestly for its actions, and zionists are responding by branding any critic an anti-semite. Perhaps, in this atmosphere, jews are actively looking for old, discredited myths to resurface, and are therefore more sensitive to the charge that "they're all rich", even though it's not made often.

Several of my best mates are Jewish and I know from my own experience of their community that many are not rich and stuggle to survive like the rest of the community.

My friends struggle each week to make rent and put food on the table as casual delivery drivers and pensioners, so I try to help them out as much as possible. But they are too proud to seek any financial assistance from me so we mainly meet in their community because they cannot afford petrol to come my side of town.

I think that if both political parties decided to tackle poverty in this country instead of giving out hand outs before we vote, then just maybe Australia might become a better place to live in the future.

We rarely get to read anything about the "poor" in any community. It's usually the rich and famous that attract the media. The fascination with the problems of Paris or Britney or Brad or Angelina, seems to be worldwide. Why? possibly because it sells!

If these are "God's chosen people" why don't the rich share with the poor, as their saviour said? Apparently once you become rich equality is no longer on the horizon, except as an ethereal thought.

Prejudice exists everywhere - so stereotyping is a common practice
amongst certain people. Education often helps - though is not always successful. The real challenge is to persuade the news media to listen to voices that challenge their prejudices and preconceptions.
But it won't happen easily, nor without the involvement of many caring people...

Despite the prevailing idea that those who say they are Jews, are Jews, in fact the only Jewishness about them, when boiled down, is their saying that they are.

That is, the Jewish 'race' has evolved into that which defines itself, and not that which submits to the teachings of its Torah. When you point out to them that they don't obey the laws in their Torah and that they are therefore not really Jews, they answer you with "we'll decide who are Jews and who are not". Accordingly many who today call themselves "Jews" are involved in media productions which advocate, or promote as normal, all sorts of immoral behaviour.

So even if their genealogy could be traced back to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob (which is simply not possible: most 'Jews' cannot trace their lineage back more than a few generations), this would not be sufficient to count them as Jews, for the Jewish race comprises not only lineage, but religion: a conjugate identity delineator.

A discussion over whether Jews are rich or poor is therefore misappropriated unless one first of all discards from the set of "Jews" those who think they are Jews simply because they say they are, and who rationalise away the obligation to obey their Torah as given by Moses.

Here are Moses' words concerning such Torah (law): "Ye shall not add unto the word that I command you, neither shall ye diminish ought from it." (Deut 4:2).

Dear Liberty,

So you think a Jew is not a Jew unless he/she follows the teachings of the Torah ...

Would you apply the same principle to a Christian? Is a Christian
still a Christian if they don't follow the teachings of the Christian gospel? Especially the demand of, " Do unto others as you would have done unto you."

Foxy,

[[[[Dear Liberty,
So you think a Jew is not a Jew unless he/she follows the teachings of the Torah ...
Would you apply the same principle to a Christian? Is a Christian
still a Christian if they don't follow the teachings of the Christian gospel? Especially the demand of, " Do unto others as you would have done unto you."]]]]
.
.
.
Unfortunately the definition of Jewishness is not contingent on the consistency of lack thereof of the adherents of any other belief. And vice versa.

As this thread is about Jews, it is therefore not appropriate nor a form of skilled debate to introduce tangents.

So the issue of what is Jewishness still stands: they must not be able to define themselves by themselves (a circularity), but by an (at least ostensible) external source. Such ostensible external source is the Torah, for such is purported to emanate from someone other than themselves, ie, God.

The issue over what is Christianity, or Islam, or Mormonism, or any other belief, should be confined to a thread which deals specifically with those peoples, as does this thread with Jews.

What is therefore in order is to repeat what I have last posted, viz. a Jew is only a Jew if he completely submits to the teachings of his Torah. For failing such submission, and were he amongst those original Jews with Moses, he would have been put to death for wilful disobedience to such Torah. And a Jew who is dead is no more a Jew than an onion without skin is an onion.

Dear Liberty,

As a result of the long and varied history of the Jews, it is difficult to define a Jew. For example, there is no such thing as a Jewish race. Anyone born to a Jewish mother, or anyone who has converted to Judaism according to Jewish law, is a Jew.

Many people simply define Jews as persons who consider themselves Jews.

ooops, I forgot to add that Judaism has two major collections of sacred writings, the Bible and the Talmud. These works provide the basis for Judaism's beliefs and practices. The first five books of the Hebrew Bible make up the Torah. The Talmud is a collection of legal and ethical writings as well as a guide to the civil and religious laws of Judaism. Orthodox Jews believe the laws in the Talmud were given to Moses by God and passed down orally from generation to generation.

You may be interested to know that Judaism has three major branches
1) Orthodox Judaism. 2) Reform Judaism and, 3) Conservative Judaism. And that each branch represents a wide range of beliefs and practices.

RobbyH,

Jews are disproportionately more active in philanthropy than the wider community.

http://www.ajn.com.au/news/news.asp?pgID=655