I came across two interesting articles recently about why you don’t see all that many Jewish farmers out there. A recent economic study points out that back in ancient times (say when Jesus lived or even before), most Jews were farmers just like in most every other human culture. But over the upcoming millennium, they largely left that way of life, mostly moved to the cities, and took up a wide variety of trades and enterprises.
According to these economists, this was not so much because of laws forbidding land ownership by Jews (although such laws did exist given that Jews were usually a minority group and often treated as outsiders by the powers that were). The main factor was the high degree of literacy promoted by the Jewish culture. I.e., smart people found better things to do in a world where trade was growing than raise crops and milk goats.
A similar conclusion was reached in a Slate article from 2003. Judaism has always emphasized the importance of reading, so as to keep the Torah alive (and thus preserve the Jewish identity). And so, Judaism early on developed a tradition » continue reading …
