"Concerning the Jew"

Someone gave me an interesting article I would like to share with all of you. It was written in 1898 by the famed author, Mark Twain. At the end of the essay he leaves off with a question, let's try to answer it for him.

Concerning the Jew

If the statistics are right, the Jews constitute but ONE PERCENT of the human race. It suggests a nebulous dim puff of star dust lost in the blaze of the milky Way. Properly the Jew ought to be hardy heard of; but he is heard of always has been heard of. He is as prominent on the planet as any other people, and his commercial importance is extravagantly out of proportion to the smallness of his bulk. His contributions to the world's list of great names in literature, science, art, music, finance, medicine, and abstruse learning are also way out of proportion to the weakness of his numbers. He has made a marvelous fight in this world, in all ages; and has done it with his hands tied behind him. He could be in vain of himself, and be excused for it. The Egyptian, the Babylonian, the Persian rose filled the planet with sound and splendor, then faded to dream-stuff and passed away; the Greek and the Roman followed and made a vast noise, and they are gone; other people have sprung up and held their torch high for a time, but it burned out, and they sit in the twilight now or have vanished. The Jew saw them all, beat them all, and is now what he always was, exhibiting no decadence, no infirmities of age, no weakening of his parts, no showing of his energies, no dulling of his alert and aggressive mind. All things are mortal but the Jew; all other forces pass, but he remains. What is the secret to his immortality?

So there you have it, indeed an interesting thing to read. More interesting, however, would be the answer to his question. If anyone thinks they can answer it, go ahead.