Jewish Contributions: From Blog Posts to Book
The purpose of “Jewish Contributions” and these blog posts is to combine them into a published book entitled Safe Schools for Jewish Students: An Educator’s Guide to Preventing Antisemitism and Strengthening Belonging.
Go here for the full Table of Contents.
Chapter 1 – Jewish Contributions
Jewish Contributions Throughout History
“How many Jews in the world is like 15 million tops. Tops! 15 million out of 7 billion people. […] The numbers of Jews who have won the Nobel Prize in the sciences? 25 percent of the Nobel Prizes.”
—Neil de Grasse Tyson, Sacerdote Great Names Lecture Series, April 12, 2011.
Though Jews make up 0.2% of the world’s population, their contributions have become a part of our daily lives.
From the Diaspora
Treatments and Vaccines
Jonas Salk developed the first polio vaccine, saving millions of children from paralysis. Albert Sabin developed the oral vaccine, nearly eliminating polio across the globe.
Paul Ehrlich pioneered immunology and chemotherapy, and developed the first effective treatment for syphilis.
Computers
John von Neumann developed the basics for most modern computer technology, and also contributed to advances in game theory and artificial intelligence.
Sergei Brin co-founded Google, and Whitfield Diffie of Jewish descent contributed to cryptography, making e-commerce possible.
Michael Dell popularized personal computing with Dell computers.
The Kuiper Belt
No, no Jewish person created the Kuiper Belt. Gerard Kuiper advanced our understanding of cosmology, so the doughnut-shaped region of our solar system made of icy bodies and dwarf planets was named after him.
Equal Rights and Protections in the US
Ruth Bader Ginsburg helped advance equal rights and legislation against gender discrimination.
Louis Brandeis advanced privacy rights and consumer protections.
Physics of the Fast, Large, and Small
Albert Einstein helped us understand how speed (Special Relativity) and mass (General Relativity) slow down the rate of time.
Richard Feinman helped us understand the interactions of particles with his principles of quantum electrodynamics.
Psychology
Sigmund Freud founded psychoanalysis and developed concepts such as the unconscious mind and talk therapy.
Aaron Beck developed cognitive therapy and treatments for depression and anxiety.
Anthropology
Franz Boas challenged the racist claim that race determines behavior by demonstrating that culture, not biology, explains most human differences, promoting respect for diverse societies.
Music
George Gershwin composed the Rhapsody in Blue, an orchestral piece which has an incredible clarinet opening, but unfortunately, people often only hear the piece when on hold with an airline.
Leonard Bernstein composed West Side Story, a musical whose theme is a dissonant tritone, evoking the dissonance between gangs.
Literature
Eli Wiesel shared the horrors of being in a concentration camp in his book Night.
Franz Kafka conveyed the darkness of bureaucracy, alienation, and human identity.
Other famous Jewish contributors
Noam Chomsky, Saul Bellow, Emmy Noether, Baruch Spinoza, Hannah Arendt, Niels Bohr, Erik Erikson, Martin Buber, Marc Chagall, Irving Berlin, Golda Meir, Henrietta Szold, Abba Eban, Levi Strauss, Harrison Ford, Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson, Paul Rudd, Gal Gadot, Dustin Hoffman, Gene Wilder, Michael Douglas, Mila Kunis, Bob Dylan, Billy Joel, Barbara Streisand, Leonard Cohen, Paul Simon, Gene Simmons, Drake, Amy Winehouse, Jerry Seinfeld, Mel Brooks, Sarah Silverman, Larry David, Joan Rivers, Steven Spielberg, Stan Lee, Carl Reiner, J. J. Abrams, Adam Sandler, Ben Stiller, Sacha Baron Cohen, Elvis Presley, and others.
From Israel
Eating
If you eat fruits, vegetables, almonds, or wine grapes, places like Walmart, Costco, the Kroger Co., Whole Foods Market, and California vineyards use Israel’s drip irrigation technique to grow those foods.
Medicine
If you’ve ever swallowed a capsule that photographs the digestive tract at places like Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic, and John Hopkins Medicine, that pill-cam was invented in Israel.
Driving
If you use Google Maps, Apple CarPlay, or Android Auto, you’re using the embedded Waze system invented in Israel. If your car alerts you to diverging from your lane, a pedestrian in front of you, a car in close proximity, or offers auto-braking, that’s Israel’s Mobileye Vehicle Safety Systems.
Computing
If you use flash drives like SanDisk, Kingston, PNY, or Verbatim, the technology was invented in Israel. If you have a computer that says, “Intel Inside,” a part of those processors are designed in Israel. If your network uses firewall technology, that was developed in Israel. If you use fast streaming, cloud technology, AI services, or video conferencing, chances are you’re using technology invented in Israel. If you shop online or use a credit card, encryption technology came from Israel.
Takeaway
So for those who support the BDS movement to boycott, divest, and sanction Israel, I recommend starting by not eating fruits and vegetables, don’t use Google Maps, disconnect the safety features of your car, avoid using computers with Intel processors, don’t use flash drives, turn off your computer’s firewall, don’t use your credit card, and most of all don’t stream movies and videos for fear of being entertained by Jews.
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Author Biography of Safe Schools for Jewish Students
Ezra Barany loves riveting readers with Jewish thrillers. His first two books in The Torah Codes series were award-winning international bestsellers. In his free time, he has eye-opening discussions on the art of writing novels with his wife and book coach Beth Barany. A high school physics teacher, Ezra lives in Oakland with his beloved wife and two cats working on the next book. Ezra, not the cats.
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