Lost Jewish tribe 'found in Zimbabwe'

BBC ^ | Mar 6, 2010 | Steve Vickers

[decimon]

In many ways, the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and South Africa are just like their neighbours.

But in other ways their customs are remarkably similar to Jewish ones.

They do not eat pork, they practise male circumcision, they ritually slaughter their animals, some of their men wear skull caps and they put the Star of David on their gravestones.

Their oral traditions claim that their ancestors were Jews who fled the Holy Land about 2,500 years ago.

It may sound like another myth of a lost tribe of Israel, but British scientists have carried out DNA tests which confirm their Semitic origin.

These tests back up the group's belief that a group of perhaps seven men married African women and settled on the continent. The Lemba, who number perhaps 80,000, live in central Zimbabwe and the north of South Africa.

[decimon]

Lost and found ping.

[Titus Quinctius Cincinnatus]

Well, the Bible does say that the Jews would be scattered to the ends of the earth before their final ingathering....and this didn’t just mean to Elephantine in Egypt and Babylon in Mesopotamia!

[Ghost of Philip Marlowe]

Has anyone ever performed DNA testing on the Jews that Koestler refers to as the 13th tribe?

[Tax-chick]

They do not eat pork, they practise male circumcision, they ritually slaughter their animals, some of their men wear skull caps and they put the Star of David on their gravestones.

Aside from the Star of David, those are Muslim customs as well.

[RightOnline]

Oy vey.

[blam]

The Great Zimbabwe Ruins

[JoeProBono]

[yefragetuwrabrumuy]

The clincher was some years ago, when it was discovered that these people had a very distinct DNA segment unique to the Jewish priestly subdivision of the Levi tribe, called the Kohanim, the modern descendants of which is Cohen, Kohn, and other variations of that name.

Unlike the other tribes, the Levi were not granted territory, but were supposed to be itinerant (travelers) in the territories of the other tribes. But with the diaspora, the Kohanim eventually settled down where other Jews lived, more or less. One of their big enclaves was in Yemen. And this is where this southern African tribe is believed to have originated.

In their tribal mythology, a great leader named “Bubu”, or something like that, took a large number of the Kohanim from Yemen and led them through Africa to their destination in the south of the continent.

[windsorknot]

Fascinating.

[pnh102]

Wow... neat.

[muawiyah]

Lot of studies regarding the Yemeni Jews. Many of them have substantial signs of "blondism" ~ light hair, light skin, light eyes, etc.

Still, some of them were very primitive ~ I recall reading about one group that didn't have a word for "ball".

[dangerdoc]

They claim to have the Ark, does anybody have a picture of their artifact

[madison10]

Awesome!

[SunkenCiv]

· join list or digest · view topics · view or post blog · bookmark · post a topic · subscribe ·
	Gods Graves Glyphs	Thanks decimon. A Lemba update. To all -- please ping me to other topics which are appropriate for the GGG list. GGG managers are SunkenCiv, StayAt HomeMother, and Ernest_at_the_Beach
·Dogpile · Archaeologica · LiveScience · Archaeology · Biblical Archaeology Society · · Discover · Nat Geographic · Texas AM Anthro News · Yahoo Anthro & Archaeo · Google · · The Archaeology Channel · Excerpt, or Link only? · cgk's list of ping lists ·

[hennie pennie]

I still think that the articles about the Taliban being descended from Jews is more bizarre, LOL

[cashless]

Thanks for your input. I found it fascinating. Seems to me that this “new” tribe is nothing more than many of the Levites relocating to the South. I have never given much stock to the “lost tribe” musings. I think God, the Father of Abraham, Issac and Joseph, knows exactly where every member of every tribe is at this exact moment. If he has counted and labeled every hair on our head and knows the condition of every sparrow, and hears the prayers of millions if not billions of believers, then keeping up with the lineage of 12 tribes over the millennia is child's play to Him. That is why He is Omniscient.

[Hawthorn]

A well-known story. The BBC is a little late getting to it. PBS did an hour’s documentary on the matter about five or six years ago. But still fascinating!

[decimon]

A well-known story.

The DNA analysis is likely new.

[NYer]

Ping!