THE VIEW FROM

AS THE claims have intensified about a disproportionate number of Jews dying from coronavirus, I recalled a finding from a survey of British Jewish university students we conducted about a decade ago. In that study, we asked the students — mostly aged 18 to 22 — what their biggest worries were — passing exams, finding a job, paying off financial debts, antisemitism on campus and such like.

One of the options was “personal health concerns”. And we found something that continues to strike me as remarkable to this day. A staggering 28 per cent said they were either “very worried” or “fairly worried” about their health — twice the rate found among university students in general and higher than the proportion who said they were concerned about antisemitism.

My first reaction at the time was to wonder whether young British Jews are genuinely afflicted by health issues in ways others aren’t. But I knew then as I know now that there is no evidence of that at all; on the contrary, Jews are typically healthier than average, essentially because they tend to be well-educated, comparatively wealthy and avoid destructive health habits such as smoking or excessive drinking.

So, the only real explanation for the finding is that young Jews are more likely than average to be health-conscious, or more fastidious about checking out any health concerns. Or, if Woody Allen