Two new books, exploring achievement and reflection

years ago, businessman-turned-author Steven Pease published a remarkable book, The Golden Age of Jewish Achievement, a compendium that convincingly chronicled the disproportionate level of Jewish accomplishment in virtually every area of human endeavor. That was the “what” of the author’s objective. The current book, The Debate Over Jewish Achievement, seeks to find and isolate the “why.” Pease, a bright and perceptive writer, has his own theories about this. In a nutshell, he hypothesizes that centuries of hard-earned mental discipline through Torah, Talmudic and rabbinical studies uniquely prepared the Jewish mind for demanding tasks in realms beyond religion. These tasks began to become manifest in the early 19th century, when the Enlightenment opened doors to Jewish thinkers — most importantly in the arts and sciences — […]