The Fiddler on the Roof School of Jewish Historiography:

Jonah Goldberg writes on NRO's Corner:

I just got around to reading this fascinating New York Times article about a possible link between some genetic diseases among Ashkenazic Jews and higher intelligence... Here's my quibble, and I'm sure people who know more have an answer. But, the percentage of Jews in medieval moneylending alone has to be a very small number out of the total demographic pie. I mean most medieval Jews were in agriculture (or at least I'm pretty sure they were). Most of the Ashkenazi Jews I know are descended from the Shtetl not from long lines of bankers. It seems farfetched to me to imagine that this small stratum of financiers could be responsible for the widespread genetic effects described in the article.

Like Tevye!

An awful lot of Americans' knowledge of Eastern European Jews comes from that musical about an early 20th century milkman. It's one of my favorite movies, but it doesn't pretend to be a reliable guide to the status of medieval Jews.

No, less than 5% of Ashkenazis were in agriculture. Back in medieval times, most Ashkenazis were in relatively high-end jobs in finance, tax-farming, estate management, and the like. Then, there was a huge Jewish population boom in the last few centuries, so in the 18th and 19th centuries, lots of Jews dropped down to the skilled crafts and many became poor (cue "If I Were a Rich Man"), but very few became farmers.

This is different from most other middle man minorities. For example, Armenians have filled a lot of the same occupational slots (in Hollywood, there are quite a few Armenian agents and producers), but even in America, many Armenians are farmers (typically, fruit and nut growers in California's Central Valley).

The larger point is that post-Biblical Jewish history remains terra incognita for most people, including most Jews (in case you are wondering, I believe Jonah's father is Jewish and his mother, Lucianne Goldberg, is Irish), since writing about it in any fashion other than the most sentimental is apt to get you denounced as trafficking in stereotypes.

Update: Randall Parker has much additional information on the Cochran-Harpending theory at FuturePundit.

My published articles are archived at iSteve.com -- Steve Sailer