The reason Jews lived in European cities is that in most European countries, until modern times, Jews were forbidden from owning agricultural land, and the only occupations available to them were in the cities.
Yeah I’ve read that. Likely its been that way in both the middle east and europe since the destruction of Israel by the romans. But living in cities enabled jews to develop the commercial/technical/math skills ahead of most others. another words, you make it sound like living in cites was a bad thing. but its turned out to be a good thing.
These days—everything else being equal— its better to have a mind that strong and back that’s weak than a mind that weak and a back that’s strong.
These days I tell people that the modern world is kinder to smart cripples than it is to dumb strong men.