Undoubtedly there is an (intentional) bit of humorous navel-gazing here, but I tend to agree with the general premise of the article.
We see the same principles at work in first-generation Chinese immigrants in terms of achievement, because, well, more is expected of them by the family, and they are drilled to study, learn and study. And then repeat. (That’s why an 19-year old Chinese American daughter of one of our immigrant friends is a classical pianist, a ballet dancer, a math whiz and a pageant-winning beauty queen - all the while attending college. And why her older brother graduated from Harvard and then Stanford business school and makes more than people 30 years out of college). Its not rocket science.
And I especially agree that the very fact that the Jews were so singled out for persecution was probably in an unintended way an important factor in fostering these cultural traits of an shall we say outsized ehasis on family and cultural unity, and study, and study, and hard work and hard work.
And guess what? It yields results (which tend to be resented by the slugs of humanity who then seek to persecute the achievers).
A principle that is on display in every modern society.
Oh, yes - there is the IQ factor too. And some groups tend to have more of it. Specifically, the Northern Europeans, the Northern Asians (think: China and Japan) and Jews.
And that may have something to do with the evolutionary stresses imposed on the people of the Northern hemisphere during the last Ice Age, which, at one point, came close to wiping out the Northern human population. A real discriminatory natural selection fator that the peoples of the Tropics were not exposed to.