Jewish parents are (at least in the land of stereotypes) known to push their children hard to succeed (e.g. by enrolling them in private schools, forcing them to work hard, and so on), perhaps even to the point of making their kid feel overworked or over-pressured. I’m looking for a good example of a famous Jew who attributes his/her success to being raised in this kind of environment, but can’t find a direct statement like this anywhere. Any leads?
You might do better to recast the stereotype to answer your own question. A different stereotype of Jews has them valuing education, considering their obligations to the rest of society, and emphasizing the importance of examining many ways of looking at things. Those qualities can lead to a certain amount of success and anyone who’s of the Jewish faith who is successful might point to those features as being instrumental. Stereotypes are tricky, aren’t they?
You’re completely right, CC, and this is probably a more accurate assessment of how Jews are brought up, but I am nevertheless looking specifically for an instance of a Jewish celebrity attributing his/her success to a strict upbringing. I’m not doing this to validate the stereotype; I’m trying to prove another point in an argument I’m trying to make about minorities in America.
You might try Howard Cosell, Alan King and Jackie Mason. No cites here but I have vague memries of each of them speakiing fondly of their parents.
I wouldn’t waste time googling Woody Allen, however.
Isaac Asimov became an atheist as he studied science. But in one of his essays, he said his success as a scientist was due to his Orthodox Jewish father , whose love of learning religious texts taught him to value education and intense study above all.
(sorry, I can’t cite where I read that)