mag
Heeb Issue #10 : Family AlbumMerchants of Menace
An Illustrated History of Jewish Money Makers, Fakers, Lenders and Spenders
(excerpted from original article)
There are many explanations for the storied cupidity of the Jewish people. Some argue that laws in Christian Europe forced us to work disproportionately in fields of finance. Others feel that Jews, like the dwarf king Alberich, are biologically predisposed to loving the golden stuff. And yet others posit a divine origin; that God blessed both of Abraham s sons, giving Ishmael the oil, and Isaac the folding money. To be sure, not all Jews are rich, and not all rich Jews are bastards. But as the-far-from-exhaustive list below suggests, there are certainly no shortage of Jews who are out there working overtime to make sure the stereotype applies to us all.
Shylock (circa 1597): On the face of it, Shylock got a pretty raw deal—his daughter converts and marries a goy, the legal system screws him out of a major debt, and he ends up looking like the bad guy. Somehow, Shylock—literature’s most famous failure when it comes to debt collection—has become synonymous with loan shark. How quickly we forget that it is Antonio, and not Shylock, who is the play’s titular merchant.
There are many explanations for the storied cupidity of the Jewish people. Some argue that laws in Christian Europe forced us to work disproportionately in fields of finance. Others feel that Jews, like the dwarf king Alberich, are biologically predisposed to loving the golden stuff. And yet others posit a divine origin; that God blessed both of Abraham s sons, giving Ishmael the oil, and Isaac the folding money. To be sure, not all Jews are rich, and not all rich Jews are bastards. But as the-far-from-exhaustive list below suggests, there are certainly no shortage of Jews who are out there working overtime to make sure the stereotype applies to us all.
Shylock (circa 1597): On the face of it, Shylock got a pretty raw deal—his daughter converts and marries a goy, the legal system screws him out of a major debt, and he ends up looking like the bad guy. Somehow, Shylock—literature’s most famous failure when it comes to debt collection—has become synonymous with loan shark. How quickly we forget that it is Antonio, and not Shylock, who is the play’s titular merchant.
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