Sunday, June 07, 2009

Semites and Jews : Phoenician Gene : Judaism of Hebrews is a Religion : Jews are not a Separate Race of People but are Ethnic - LexiLine Journal 521

The terms Semite and Semitic were first coined by the German historian August Ludwig von Schlözer only in the modern era in the year 1781 to designate the progeny of Shem of the Bible, so that if we speak about Semites or talk about Semitic language, we are still quite "stuck" to the Bible in our conversation and our concepts, even if we try to avoid that Bible.

In any case, I think that any serious researcher would agree that one has to be careful not to make too many assumptions in trying to find out the truth about man's ancient astronomy and history.

On the other hand, you do have to make some assumptions in order to arrive at workable hypotheses - subject to rigorous testing of course. If they don't work, well, then you throw out your old theories, check your assumptions and then try to formulate new hypotheses. You continue to move forward.

One thing that I do want to emphasize, however, is that my own research is definitely NOT political or religiously oriented - at least not consciously. I look on ALL of the world's religions and political doings with a great deal of distrust.

I myself am not Jewish, but I respect the Hebrew people, the Jewish tradition and the Christian heritage derived from the Judeo-Christian ethic which has played an integral part in the development of the modern Western world.

Already in ancient times the Hebrews were called "the People of the Book".

There are only about 14 million Jews on this planet - and yet they excel in nearly every field of modern human endeavor. We moderns know enough about genetics today to understand that this can not have occurred suddenly in our era - quite the contrary - those genes, and also the corresponding talents, will have been there a long time.

One of the most interesting pieces in this entire puzzle is the matter of genetic evidence.

We find the following written about Y-DNA Haplogroup J2 , the so-called "Phoenician gene", at the Wikipedia:

"Haplogroup J2 is widely believed to be associated with the spread of agriculture from the Mesopotamian regions of the Levant & Anatolia. The age of J2 has been estimated as 18,500 +/- 3,500 thousand years ago. Its distribution, centered in West Asia and Southeastern Europe, its association with the presence of Neolithic archaeological artifacts, such as figurines and painted pottery, and its association with annual precipitation have been interpreted as evidence that J2, and in particular its J2a-M410 subclade belonged to the agricultural innovators who followed the rainfall....

Haplogroup J2 is found mainly in the Fertile Crescent, the Mediterranean (including Southern Europe and North Africa), the Iranian plateau, and Central Asia. More specifically it is found in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Greece, Italy and the eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, and more frequently in Iraqis 29.7% ..., Lebanese 30% ..., Palestinians 16.8% ..., Syrians 29%, Sephardic Jews 29% ....

According to Semino et al. and the National Geographic Genographic Project, the frequency of haplogroup J2 generally declines as one moves away from the Northern fertile crescent. Haplogroup J2 is carried by 6% of Europeans and its frequency drops dramatically as one moves northward away from the Mediterranean.

Another important fact about the distribution of Haplogroup J2 is that it appears to have dispersed from a Middle Eastern homeland to the west through a primarily maritime or littoral route, as it is found in high concentrations among the populations of the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea in both Eurasia and Africa, and particularly along the coasts of the eastern Mediterranean in Europe. This distribution may be more consonant with a Neolithic or post-Neolithic maritime dispersal from the Middle East, such as through Greek colonization or Phoenician commercial and colonial activities.


In Italy, J2 is found in about 19.3% of Italians [23]. Turkey is one of the countries with major J2 population. Approximately 24% of Turkish men are J2 according to a recent study.... Haplogroup J2 is also common in neighboring Greece, with regional frequencies ranging between 11% and 46%.


It has been proposed that haplogroup J2a-M410 was linked to populations on ancient Crete by examining the relationship between Anatolian, Cretan, and Greek populations from around early Neolithic sites. Haplogroup J2b-M12 was associated with Neolithic Greece (ca. 8500 - 4300 BCE) and was reported to be found in modern Crete (3.1%) and mainland Greece (Macedonia 7.0%, Thessaly 8.8%, Argolis 1.8%).

Sephardic Jews have about 29% of haplogroup J2[1] and Ashkenazi Jews have 23%[1], or 19%[26]. It has been reported that a sample of Italian Cohensbelong to Network 1.2, a group of Y chromosomes characterized by avalue of the DYS413 marker less or equal to 18. This deletion has beenplaced in the J2a-M410 clade. However, other Jewish Cohens belong to haplogroup J1 (see Cohen modal haplotype).

J2 subclades are also found in the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia.

Haplogroup J2 has been shown to have a more northern distribution inthe Middle East, although it exists in significant amounts in thesouthern middle-east regions, a lesser amount of it was found whencompared to its brother haplogroup, J1, which has a high frequencysoutherly distribution. This suggests that, if the occurrence ofHaplogroup J among modern populations of Europe, Central Asia, andSouth Asia does reflect Neolithic demic diffusion from the Middle East, the source population is more likely to have originated from Anatolia, the Levant or northern Mesopotamia than from regions further south.

Haplogroup J2a-M410 in India is largely confined to the upper castes[27]with little occurrence in the middle and lower castes and is completelyabsent from south Indian tribes and middle and lower castes.

J2b in most cases seems to be mostly limited to the Balkans/Eastern Europe and India."

At Cohen Modal Haplotype at the Wikipedia it is written:

"Y-chromosomal Aaron is the name given to the hypothesised most recent common ancestor of many of the patrilineal Jewish priestly caste known as KohanimKohane). In the Hebrew Bible this ancestor is identified as Aaron, the brother of Moses. Research published in 1997 and thereafter has indicated that some contemporary Jewish Kohanim share Y-chromosomal Haplogroup J1 (Y-DNA) with a set of genetic markers,known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype, which may well derive from a singlecommon ancestor. Later, in 2007, the same team announced that theyfound another common set of genetic marker related to present-day traditional Kohanim families in Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA). (singular "Kohen", "Cohen", or
Although membership in the Jewish community has, since at least the second century CE, been passed maternally (see: Who is a Jew?), membership in the group that originally comprised the Jewish priesthood ("Cohen" or "Kohen"; plural: Kohanim), is patrilineal. Modern Kohens claim descent from a biblical person, Aaron, brother of Moses,in the direct lineage from Levi, the patriarch of the Tribe of Levi,greatgrandson of Abraham, according to the tradition codified in the Tanakh (שמות / Sh'mot/Exodus 6). DNAtesting is aiding scholars to trace the lineages found among modernJewish populations, including contemporary Cohen families, to decipherorigins of the people groups that were joined to the ancient Israelites and to identify genetic admixture and genetic drift."
Khazaria.com points out that genetic studies have helped to draw the following conclusions:
"Advanced genetic testing ... of modern Jewish communities around the world, has helped to determine which of the communities are likely to descend from the Israelites and which are not ....

Key findings:


  • The main ethnic element of ... most ... modern Jewish populations of the world is Israelite. The Israelite haplotypes fall into Y-DNA haplogroups J and E.




  • Ashkenazim also descend, in a smaller way, from European peoples such as Slavs and Khazars. The non-Israelite Y-DNA haplogroups include Q (typically Central Asian) and R1a1 (typically Eastern European).




  • Dutch Jews from the Netherlands also descend from northwestern Europeans.




  • Sephardim also descend, in a smaller way, from various non-Israelite peoples.




  • Georgian Jews (Gruzinim) are a mix of Georgians and Israelites.




  • Yemenite Jews (Temanim) are a mix of Yemenite Arabs and Israelites.




  • Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, and Tunisian Jews are mainly Israelites.




  • Libyan Jews are mainly Israelites who may have mixed somewhat with Berbers.




  • Ethiopian Jews are almost exclusively Ethiopian, with little or no Israelite ancestry.




  • Bene Israel Jews and Cochin Jews of India have much Indian ancestry in their mtDNA.




  • Palestinian Arabs are probably partly Israelite...

    Key findings:




  • Samaritans are descended from Israelite men and Assyrian women.




  • Those Lembas who possess the Cohen Modal Haplotype have Middle Eastern ancestry, possibly Jewish Cohen. The Buba clan is especially Middle Eastern in its paternal DNA.




  • Many Spanish-speaking Latinos of the American Southwest are descended from Anusim (Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism).




  • The Mizo people of northeastern India, the self-styled "B'nei Menashe", have no proven genetic connection to the Israelites....Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis explains the nature of Judaism: "One of the unique aspects of Judaism is its rejection of Judaism as a biological entity, an inherited spiritual DNA, racial or ethnic. The point is that being a Jew is not a matter of genes and chromosomes. To the contrary,Judaism is the first religion to recognize the 'ger', the stranger who chooses to identify himself with Judaism. Judaism is not rooted in race or clan or in a genetic matter but a religious tradition of choice."


  • The answer is that Jews are a religion and a civilization, but not a race or singular ethnic group (the latter two definitions marginalize proselytes). As Rabbi Rami Shapiro said: "There is only one response to Who is a Jew? that works: A Jew is one who takes Judaism seriously. One who takes Judaism seriously studies it, argues with it, and lives it."The proper name of the separate ethnic group that most Jews descend from is Israelite."

  • Saturday, June 06, 2009

    Some Comments on Hebrew Calendration and Kings and Dynasties - LexiLine Journal 520

    Hebrew Calendration

    1. If the Hebrews have a calendar which they trace back to nearly 3800 BC, then they will have had an astronomy system at that early time.

    2. I am fairly sure that this calendar originated at Gobekli Tepe, near Ur(fa), birthplace of Abraham. Gobekli Tepe is north of Haran.

    3. The Hebrews brought the calendric system with them to Egypt, where, according to my decipherments, they were the pharaohs of Egypt (the tomb of Tutankhamun features the two enemies of Egypt on the prow of a ship - the native peoples of Africa and the Asiatics - but the Hebrews are not pictured, so they are identical with the Pharaohs). e.g. King Saul was Akhenaten, King David was Sethos and King Solomon was Ramses II, with Shishak as Ramses III. This is all quite clearly apparent.

    4. The Pharaonic dynasties are astronomically based and calculated, as I show in Kings and Dynasties (but see the update below to see that this book is now outdated and inaccurate and not be used). The oldest of these Pharaohs are the Biblical Patriarchs.

    5. In those ancient days, longer periods of time, such as the realms of kings, were measured by the stars , and that is the basic theory of Kings and Dynasties. This is not a "code" at all. It is just the way that time was calculated in ancient eras, in addition to using the Sun and the Moon - the "Sun" name of a Pharaoh was his RA name and the "Moon" name of a Pharaoh was his AMUN name.

    6. The Old Testament is an actual history of ca. 3800 BC to the year 0, but much of the Bible is nevertheless astronomically-based chronology, e.g. Chronicles, Kings.

    7. The Book of Enoch is in fact a very detailed ancient Hebrew astronomy, but it was not included in the modern Bible by laymen when put together in the modern era - the exclusion of the astronomical Book of Enoch from the modern Bible was an error. You have to have astronomy if you want chronology.

    In other words, there is in fact a LOT of astronomy in the Bible and the so-called apochryphal texts, such as the Book of Enoch, which has developed over thousands of years.
    ______________

    I received some correspondence about Kings and Dynasties and here is the current state of affairs about that publication.

    Kings and Dynasties is a problematical publication of mine and it should currently not be used for chronological study.

    It contained a number of first insights about the way that stars were used for chronology in ancient days, but it can no longer be considered to be accurate.

    The basic stellar rising and setting system used is right, and was also used by the Sumerians as well, but my data as to specific stars for the Patriarchs is wrong.

    When I came up with this system many years ago, I used a simple planisphere taken from the back pocket of Whitney's Starfinder by which one can follow the rising and setting of stars quite simply on the horizons. Simple enough - but, as I have found out in the interim - wrong in my application.

    One CAN NOT use a normal planisphere for this work.

    In the interim, I use the portable plastic "Precession of the Equinoxes Historical Planisphere" by Milton D. Heifetz which he produced together with astronomy prof Owen Gingerich of Harvard. It used to be the case that this could be ordered as Milton D. Heifetz's Historical Planisphere with Precession of the Equinoxes (created with consultation from Owen Gingrich of Harvard) from Learning Technologies, Inc., 40 Cameron Avenue, Somerville, MA, 02144 USA, internet at http://www.starlab.com, e-mail at starlab@starlab.com, phone at 800-537-8703, 617-628-1459, and fax 617-628-8606. THIS HAS CHANGED and it is now being sold through ScienceFirst at http://www.sciencefirst.com/vw_prdct_mdl.asp?mdl_cd=6540155.

    The Heifetz Planisphere adjusts for precession of the equinoxes and it also shows "undistorted images of the constellations along its periphery - " exactly as they appear in the real sky." Most softward astronomy programs are unable to do that. The cost of that HISTORICAL PLANISPHERE is $11.95.

    There are two such planispheres by Heifetz and I have both, one for the Northern Heavens and one for the Southern Heavens, and although both are essential for world megalithic and calendric study I no longer am able to find the one for the Southern Heavens at ScienceFirst - probably not enough commercial demand for it - but you might ask them if they still have it for sale in their product archives somewhere.

    The setting of the Heifetz Planisphere for the Northern Heavens is at 30 degrees North latitutde - which is close enough for my purposes - but I have discovered since then that the system of rising and setting stars for the Biblical Patriarchs was surely conceived originally at Gobekli Tepe (just north of Haran) at between 37 and 38 degrees North latitude. See my posting at http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/LexiLine/message/1775 for more information.

    Although the positions of the stars in the heavens are fixed, their rising and setting ARE NOT FIXED and in fact this differs from era to era because of precession of the equinoxes. Because of the wobbly rotation of the North Pole around the Ecliptic Pole in about 26,000 years, this results in the heavens "rising" or "falling", depending on the phase of the wobble in which the Earth is found, and this also "raises" or "lowers" the stars respective to the viewer on Earth. This also GREATLY affects which stars are rising and setting at any given time in any era and is surely the reason the ancients ultimately abandoned this system as a means of telling time.

    Accordingly, although the principle of using the rising and setting stars for chronology of the lives of the Biblical Patriarchs is sound, the only way to get the correct stellar results for rising and setting stars is to set the Heifetz Planisphere at the same date at which this system was actually recorded for posterity - this need not be the date of origin - and I have been working on that - but it is by no means finished.

    In any case, my publication Kings & Dynasies can be archived.
    ______________

    Joseph wrote:

    It's unbelievable how knowledgeable you are about these things.
    Thanks for sharing your knowledge.
    Where does one begin in learning to master stars and history?
    ______________

    Andis Kaulins replied:

    Thank you for your kind words, but as you can see from my own comments about my
    book Kings & Dynasites, this entire area of research is fraught with difficulty.
    One reason that most mainstream scholars detour around megalithic research, for
    example, is surely that it is too full of pitfalls. Too little is known, too
    much is unknown.

    Moreover, I am more traditional in my approach than you might suspect. As
    regards your question about learning astronomy and history, I would recommend to
    anyone wishing to master astronomy or history that they enroll in the
    corresponding courses at educational institutions of their choice. There they
    will learn the basics, from which they can then expand on their own, if they are
    willing - and able.

    It is for example the case in my theories that I am not trying to supplant our
    institutions or our learning. Rather, I am bombarding established academia with
    questions that they have have been ignoring and I am putting into doubt accepted
    theories that have no basis in probative fact. Someone has to do it and fate has
    somehow put me in this position. We all have our destiny.

    6 billion now and soon 7 billion human beings are like a giant swarm of bees or
    a massive ant hill. Or, as Pink Floyd sings, you are just another brick in the
    wall, even if your bank account says that you are worth billions or if you are
    the head of a country. It applies to all humanity - we are all just part of a
    gigantic human "project".

    I mean that positively.
    ______________

    Magnus Munn wrote:

    This is an area of intense interest and (from what I've seen) seems to border
    closely with political agendas. The fabric of ancient history has been written
    very hastily and with a great deal of emphasis on the notions of biblical
    authority ie: whoever wrote the oldest documents - the bible - must also be the
    oldest race. In my investigations into archaeological and anthropological
    discoveries both recent and established, I've found that quite the opposite is
    true.

    The Hebrews have the appearance of antiquity only because of their conquest of
    older races. They did not possess an advanced system of astronomy or writing,
    they inherited them; the original settlers of Canaan after the flood arrived by
    sea and migrated from Anatolia. Egypt was conquered and civilized by these sea
    same foreigners, as was Sumer and Harrappa - they all arrived by sea.

    At the time of Pre-Dynastic Egypt (5000-3300 BC) the indigenous tribesmen,
    including the Semites, were no match for these people at first, who had brought
    with them an already advanced language, military and seafaring skill and
    technology, system of astronomy, and monotheist spirituality.

    But as it can be seen in the Old Testament which is an account of far more
    recent times, the business of the Hebrew tribes was to utterly wipe out the
    Caananites, which they did. The thing is, not only did they wipe them out, but
    they immediately assumed the knowledge and antiquity of their victims for their
    own.

    If you do any amount of research into the history of the Phoenicians
    (Canaanites), it becomes obvious that Hebrew is not a root culture, nor is it
    even a root language. Hebrews were to the Canaanites as the Romans were to the
    Greeks.

    The ancient astronomy that the Hebrews took ownership of was never maintained,
    or advanced. In terms of its use, it actually devolved to a sidereal system
    where constellations were thought to never change position. Its earlier form was
    the more sophisticated tropical system which accounted for precession of
    equinoxes. The reason for this was that they simply had no use for it - the
    Semitic tribesmen were not seafarers by practice or by ancestry.

    My main point here is, there are vast, vast assumptions being made about who is
    who in ancient history and prehistory, and it deserves to be revisited without
    biblical spectacles on, so that things can be seen from a wider view.
    ______________

    Andis Kaulins replied:

    The terms Semite and Semitic were first coined by the German historian August Ludwig von Schlözer only in the modern era in the year 1781 to designate the progeny of Shem of the Bible, so that if we speak about Semites or talk about Semitic language, we are still quite "stuck" to the Bible in our conversation and our concepts, even if we try to avoid that Bible.

    In any case, I think that any serious researcher would agree that one has to be careful not to make too many assumptions in trying to find out the truth about man's ancient astronomy and history.

    On the other hand, you do have to make some assumptions in order to arrive at workable hypotheses - subject to rigorous testing of course. If they don't work, well, then you throw out your old theories, check your assumptions and then try to formulate new hypotheses. You continue to move forward.

    One thing that I do want to emphasize, however, is that my own research is definitely NOT poltiical or religiously oriented - at least not consciously. I look on ALL of the world's religions and political doings with a great deal of distrust.

    I myself am not Jewish, but I respect the Hebrew people, the Jewish tradition and the Christian heritage derived from the Judeo-Christian ethic which has played an integral part in the development of the modern Western world.

    Already in ancient times the Hebrews were called "the People of the Book".

    There are only about 14 million Jews on this planet - and yet they excel in nearly every field of modern human endeavor. We moderns know enough about genetics today to understand that this can not have occurred suddenly in our era - quite the contrary - those genes, and also the corresponding talents, will have been there a long time.

    One of the most interesting pieces in this entire puzzle is the matter of genetic evidence.

    We find the following written about Y-DNA Haplogroup J2 , the so-called "Phoenician gene", at the Wikipedia:

    "Haplogroup J2 is widely believed to be associated with the spread of agriculture from the Mesopotamian regions of the Levant & Anatolia. The age of J2 has been estimated as 18,500 +/- 3,500 thousand years ago. Its distribution, centered in West Asia and Southeastern Europe, its association with the presence of Neolithic archaeological artifacts, such as figurines and painted pottery, and its association with annual precipitationhave been interpreted as evidence that J2, and in particular itsJ2a-M410 subclade belonged to the agricultural innovators who followedthe rainfall....

    Haplogroup J2 is found mainly in the Fertile Crescent, the Mediterranean (including Southern Europe and North Africa), the Iranian plateau, and Central Asia. More specifically it is found in Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Turkey, Israel, Palestine, Greece, Italy and the eastern coasts of the Iberian Peninsula, and more frequently in Iraqis 29.7% ..., Lebanese 30% ..., Palestinians 16.8% ..., Syrians 29%, Sephardic Jews 29% .... According to Semino et al. and the National Geographic Genographic Project,the frequency of haplogroup J2 generally declines as one moves awayfrom the Northern fertile crescent. Haplogroup J2 is carried by 6% ofEuropeans and its frequency drops dramatically as one moves northwardaway from the Mediterranean.

    Another important fact about the distribution of Haplogroup J2 is that it appears to have dispersed from a Middle Easternhomeland to the west through a primarily maritime or littoral route, asit is found in high concentrations among the populations of the coastsof the Mediterranean Seain both Eurasia and Africa, and particularly along the coasts of theeastern Mediterranean in Europe. This distribution may be moreconsonant with a Neolithic or post-Neolithic maritime dispersal fromthe Middle East, such as through Greek colonization or Phoenician commercial and colonial activities.

    In Italy, J2 is found in about 19.3% of Italians [23]. Turkey is one of the countries with major J2 population. Approximately 24% of Turkish men are J2 according to a recent study.... Haplogroup J2 is also common in neighboring Greece, withregional frequencies ranging between 11% and 46%.

    It has been proposed that haplogroup J2a-M410 was linked to populations on ancient Crete by examining the relationship between Anatolian, Cretan, and Greek. Haplogroup J2b-M12 was associated with Neolithic Greece (ca. 8500 - 4300 BCE) and was reported to be found in modern Crete (3.1%) and mainland Greece (Macedonia 7.0%, Thessaly 8.8%, Argolis 1.8%). populations from around early Neolithic sites

    Sephardic Jews have about 29% of haplogroup J2[1] and Ashkenazi Jews have 23%[1], or 19%[26]. It has been reported that a sample of Italian Cohensbelong to Network 1.2, a group of Y chromosomes characterized by avalue of the DYS413 marker less or equal to 18. This deletion has beenplaced in the J2a-M410 clade. However, other Jewish Cohens belong to haplogroup J1 (see Cohen modal haplotype).

    J2 subclades are also found in the South Caucasus (Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan), Iran, Central Asia, and South Asia.

    Haplogroup J2 has been shown to have a more northern distribution inthe Middle East, although it exists in significant amounts in thesouthern middle-east regions, a lesser amount of it was found whencompared to its brother haplogroup, J1, which has a high frequencysoutherly distribution. This suggests that, if the occurrence ofHaplogroup J among modern populations of Europe, Central Asia, andSouth Asia does reflect Neolithic demic diffusion from the Middle East, the source population is more likely to have originated from Anatolia, the Levant or northern Mesopotamia than from regions further south.

    Haplogroup J2a-M410 in India is largely confined to the upper castes[27]with little occurrence in the middle and lower castes and is completelyabsent from south Indian tribes and middle and lower castes.

    J2b in most cases seems to be mostly limited to the Balkans/Eastern Europe and India."

    At Cohen Modal Haplotype at the Wikipedia it is written:

    "Y-chromosomal Aaron is the name given to the hypothesised most recent common ancestor of many of the patrilineal Jewish priestly caste known as KohanimKohane). In the Hebrew Bible this ancestor is identified as Aaron, the brother of Moses. Research published in 1997 and thereafter has indicated that some contemporary Jewish Kohanim share Y-chromosomal Haplogroup J1 (Y-DNA) with a set of genetic markers,known as the Cohen Modal Haplotype, which may well derive from a singlecommon ancestor. Later, in 2007, the same team announced that theyfound another common set of genetic marker related to present-day traditional Kohanim families in Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA). (singular "Kohen", "Cohen", or

    Although membership in the Jewish community has, since at least the second century CE, been passed maternally (see: Who is a Jew?), membership in the group that originally comprised the Jewish priesthood ("Cohen" or "Kohen"; plural: Kohanim), is patrilineal. Modern Kohens claim descent from a biblical person, Aaron, brother of Moses,in the direct lineage from Levi, the patriarch of the Tribe of Levi,greatgrandson of Abraham, according to the tradition codified in the Tanakh (שמות / Sh'mot/Exodus 6). DNAtesting is aiding scholars to trace the lineages found among modernJewish populations, including contemporary Cohen families, to decipherorigins of the people groups that were joined to the ancient Israelites and to identify genetic admixture and genetic drift."

    Khazaria.com points out that genetic studies have helped to draw the following conclusions:

    "Advanced genetic testing ... of modern Jewish communities around the world, has helped to determine which of the communities are likely to descend from the Israelites and which are not ....

    Key findings:

  • The main ethnic element of ... most ... modern Jewish populations of the world is Israelite. The Israelite haplotypes fall into Y-DNA haplogroups J and E.
  • Ashkenazim also descend, in a smaller way, from European peoples such as Slavs and Khazars. The non-Israelite Y-DNA haplogroups include Q (typically Central Asian) and R1a1 (typically Eastern European).
  • Dutch Jews from the Netherlands also descend from northwestern Europeans.
  • Sephardim also descend, in a smaller way, from various non-Israelite peoples.
  • Georgian Jews (Gruzinim) are a mix of Georgians and Israelites.
  • Yemenite Jews (Temanim) are a mix of Yemenite Arabs and Israelites.
  • Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, and Tunisian Jews are mainly Israelites.
  • Libyan Jews are mainly Israelites who may have mixed somewhat with Berbers.
  • Ethiopian Jews are almost exclusively Ethiopian, with little or no Israelite ancestry.
  • Bene Israel Jews and Cochin Jews of India have much Indian ancestry in their mtDNA.
  • Palestinian Arabs are probably partly Israelite...

    Key findings:

  • Samaritans are descended from Israelite men and Assyrian women.
  • Those Lembas who possess the Cohen Modal Haplotype have Middle Eastern ancestry, possibly Jewish Cohen. The Buba clan is especially Middle Eastern in its paternal DNA.
  • Many Spanish-speaking Latinos of the American Southwest are descended from Anusim (Spanish Jews who were forced to convert to Catholicism).
  • The Mizo people of northeastern India, the self-styled "B'nei Menashe", have no proven genetic connection to the Israelites....Rabbi Harold M. Schulweis explains the nature of Judaism: "One of the unique aspects of Judaism is its rejection of Judaism as a biological entity, an inherited spiritual DNA, racial or ethnic. The point is that being a Jew is not a matter of genes and chromosomes. To the contrary,Judaism is the first religion to recognize the 'ger', the stranger who chooses to identify himself with Judaism. Judaism is not rooted in race or clan or in a genetic matter but a religious tradition of choice."

    The answer is that Jews are a religion and a civilization, but not a race or singular ethnic group (the latter two definitions marginalize proselytes). As Rabbi Rami Shapiro said: "There is only one response to Who is a Jew? that works: A Jew is one who takes Judaism seriously. One who takes Judaism seriously studies it, argues with it, and lives it."The proper name of the separate ethnic group that most Jews descend from is Israelite."

  • Most Popular Posts of All Time

    LexiLine Journal Archive