re: Honest Question, I've asked Jewish friends and nobody seems to have an answer...

quote:

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In the Jews’ defense, lending money was a sin until Christians realized how rich you could get by doing it. By the time they started ignoring that biblical rule, the Jews had too much of a head start.

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Not exactly. The Knights Templar invented international banking. They were later destroyed by the French Crown and the Pope, after which that kind of usury was disallowed by the church. The Jewish banking networks came after that.