Leaving aside Joel Katz' nervous sarcasm, he is right about modern liberalism antedating the emancipation of Jews after the French Revolution. With the exception of Spinoza I don't think there was another Jewish thinker who contributed to the development of liberal thought of the Enlightenment period which started om the 17c, the "age of reason."

However, whether "the Jews are simply the most successful liberals, which is to say, the best users of liberalism," is debatable. Women, Blacks and Gays haven't done so badly either.

jdyer