When Jews begin acknowledging the simple fact that they have relatively high IQ or relatively superior math skills, is this a baby step for the Overton Window? David Kirsch ruminates on the role Talmudic scholarship may have played in developing Jewish math and logic skills:
In general, I’ve found that different areas of the Talmud demand the exercise of different mental powers. Understanding the law of eruvs requires a geometrical imagination, while the law of permitted marriages requires a good memory for relationships. In Zevachim, what’s needed so far is the ability to parse fine logical distinctions—to take two things and determine how they are similar and how they are different. All of these abilities are related to logic and mathematics, and a rigorous Talmudic education stimulates those faculties—which may explain why so many great mathematicians have been Jewish.
