Tuesday, February 12, 2008
Here's a lengthy and interesting article on the genetic history of the Jews (and others): Genetics and the Jewish identity
...More studies have been carried out on the genetic history of the Jews than on most ethnic groups, perhaps because there are so many Jewish doctors to take advantage of the fabled willingness of Jews to participate in research. These studies not only show that almost all Jewish populations have origins in the Middle East, but that the DNA of Jews from almost every corner of the Diaspora is more similar to that of other Jews than to any other population. When compared with non-Jewish groups, the closest match is with the Muslims of Kurdistan, not with the European peoples alongside whom Ashkenazi Jews lived for centuries or the Arab neighbors of many Sephardi populations.
Other groups with histories of ancient migrations do not have the same degree of continuity. Hungarians are known to have originated on the Eurasian steppe and moved westward in a migration many centuries long, arriving in the Carpathian basin about 995 CE. They speak a language from the steppe, take pride in their history of migration and military conquest and expected that genetic research would demonstrate their central Asian origins. The evidence to date, however, has shown a varying but quite small element of central Asian ancestry in Hungarian populations, along with great similarities between Hungarians and their Slavic and German neighbors. This does not mean that the Hungarians with Slavic ancestry are not real Hungarians. Rather, Hungarian culture has been so powerfully attractive that for many centuries people of Slavic, Germanic and other ancestry elected to join the Hungarian people. Ironically, the genetic distinctiveness of the Jews in part may reflect the unattractiveness of joining a religious minority that was oppressed and impoverished through much of its history...
Of course, such things are interesting, but don't really dictate anything about politics, culture or "peoplehood" -- there is no genetic test for Israeli citizenship, for instance. But there is a renewing racist trend in antisemitic circles to dismiss Jewish identity on a genetic basis, so it's certainly good to know that in this, as in so many other things, they are wrong. As the authors themselves conclude:
What genetic data cannot tell us is who is a Jew. The answers to that question are, variously, halachic, political and cultural. On a purely technical level, there is no genetic screen that can sort Jews from non-Jews. Population differences do not translate into reliable tests of individual lineage. What genetics can tell us is something about where our ancestors came from - no more. It cannot tell us who we are. Nor can it tell us who we want to become, as individual Jews or as a Jewish people. As new data emerge from genetics laboratories, though, we are likely to learn a great deal more about the history of our people.
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There is a genetic basis for the Jewish people, but that doesn't mean a "pure" genetic basis. The point is that there is a good deal of genetic *continuity* rather than any purity. Anyone can see that the Jews have had input from many other groups over the centuries (and are better off for it) just by looking at Jews from different countries. It's fascinating, however, to see a Russian Jew and Moroccan Jew looking so different from each other, yet having many of the same Y- and X-chromosome tracers linking them back to the same Levantine Jewish ancestors.
No nation is totally pure. Those that are nearly so (Japanese, Icelanders) owe their lack of in-mixing to centuries of isolation. So a lack of genetic purity doesn't mean a lack of national...or even ethnic...identity.
Actually, I've heard it said that Israeli Jews are exceptionally good-looking (as opposed to European or American Jews) because Jews from different parts of the world are marrying each other in Israel. Here's what I read on the subject at www.roadjunky.com/guide/399/a-guide-to-the-israelis-rude-smart-and-kind
"The first thing you notice about Israelis is that they come from everywhere. The big aliyah or migration of Jews to Israel happened back in the 50’s after no one wanted to live in Europe any more. Yet many came from places like Morocco, Yemen and Iran, so the resulting inter-marriages have left the present generation of Israelis with just about every physical complexion and aspect imaginable. It’s also made them a stunningly good-looking race with Spanish eyes mixing with Polish cheekbones and Arabic tanned skin.
"Add to the equation that around a million Russian Jews turned up after the fall of the Iron Curtain and that a whole bunch of Ethiopians were declared to be Jewish and the racial spectrum is almost complete. The government couldn’t quite bring itself to declare the Thais or Filipinos to be Jewish but they were imported anyway to do all the jobs that Israelis don’t want to do."
Who knows? If those Thais and Filipinos stay there long enough, maybe they'll be added to the mix, too.
Why do European Jews often do look like other Europeans? I read that, after the dispersion, at least in Europe, newly arrived Jewish communities would take wives from the surrounding populations for awhile, but then that would stop. After that, the intermarriage rate would only be .5% per generation. A small amount, to be sure. But, along with the episodes of great, great-grandmothers being raped by a Cossacks, apparently that was enough.
One is for certain, though, the Jews are not really Khazars. Arthur Koestler wrote a tome on the subject, and it was a favorite debating point of anti-Zionists, showing that the Jews really didn't belong in Palestine. I understand that this theory has been successfully debunked.
Regarding the unattractiveness of some groups: I think this is a valid point when it comes to the Jews. When intermarriage did occur, especially in Europe from the 19th century onward, it was typically the Jew who was looking to leave, not anyone else looking to become a Jew. Intermarriage and conversion were the ticket to social acceptance in places like turn-of-the-century Germany and Austria. I heard that the Jewish community in Western and Central Europe absolutely hemmorhaged people at that time.
what about the Hebrwes of the biblical days. I presume they were dark skinned, as were the Egyptians dark skin people who were black and came from Ham line. Shem's line was dark skin as well. I know some people would diagree with me on that. Jese himself was a man of color not white as pictured in many biblical movies. most biblical scholars are afraid to admist this. in genetics you can go from black to white not white to black. black is a dominant gene which is proven. Noah' ark landed in mt Arat. Japeth people went north of the ark and into the caucous mountains and over time adapted to the climate by their skin getting lighter, hair texture changing,etc. that needs to be talk about once we start talking about DNA.
Who were the first jewish people. The the bible the prophets feet were black upon the sand. Christ was bronze cooper.
http://www.coppertone.com/coppertone/index.jsp
Who knew?