The Roots of Jewishness

ScienceNOW ^ | 6 August 2012 | Gisela Telis

[1010RD]

Interesting as these would be descendants from the Tribe of Judah. You wonder what the DNA of the missing tribes would tell?

[jjotto]

Judah? At the very least the tribes of Levi and Benjamin are included, as well as ‘remnants’ of the other tribes that were loyal to the Kingdom of Judah. The ‘lost ten tribes’ is mostly myth, and their ‘Jewish’ DNA would have quickly diluted, as other studies have indicated.

[editor-surveyor]

Not really news.

Its been known for centuries that Ashkenazi were converts, not Hebrews, and there was never any reason to believe that the Ethiopians were Hebrews, since they had been added in during Solomon’s time for ‘political’ reasons.

Most Hebrew descendents are scattered throughout the world, and do not currently identify with their Hebrew roots at all, due to the complete dispersion of the “northern kingdom.”

Most that have studied the matter believe that Jacob’s prophecy over Ephraim and Manassah has been fulfilled, and that the descendents of those northern tribes have been ruling the affairs of the world for a millenium.

[editor-surveyor]

>> “You wonder what the DNA of the missing tribes would tell?” <<

.
No way of knowing, since we have no samples of any tribes DNA but Judah, Benjamin, and Levi.

[rmlew]

Re Poland/Ukraine/Austro-Hungarian Empire. Same places, different names. My grandmother/father came from Lemberg, later Lviv and Lvov (now in the Ukraine). This city and others in the “Pale” were trade gateways between Eastern Europe and Western Europe, esp. Austria and Germany. Jewish businessmen/traders moved across these areas with ease and learned to speak several languages so that they could conduct business in the major cities.
The Pale of Settlement was a Russian antisemitic act. Jews were literally limited to living in certain areas in the Russian Empire. The areas of Poland seized by Russia in the partitions were included. Galicia was part of Poland seized by Austria and therefore was not in the Pale of Settlement.

[rmlew]

Its been known for centuries that Ashkenazi were converts, not Hebrews.
It was claimed by some and disproven by the genetic testing mentioned in this article. While some Jews, myself included, have some Khazar ancestry, most don't. (Only a small number of Khazar nobles converted and likely intermarried with the Jewish Radanite traders and the Jews who fled north from Byzantine and Muslim repression) Far more Jews also have some Slavic and German ancestry. But European Jews are exceedingly endogomous and we are basically all fourth cousins. And most of our genes are shared with other Jews.

[rmlew]

There are still 700 Samaritans. And some members of the Northern Tribes fled south to escape the Assyrian invasion.

[editor-surveyor]

While Samaritans are descended from Abraham, they are not of Jacob.

Part of the northern tribes (Dan) went to Macedonia, and scicily, but do not live as Hebrews. Alexander is commonly believed to have been Danite. My maternal grandfather’s family is partly Danite, and partly separtic. They are from Sicily, and the family there are catholics.

[AnalogReigns]

My understanding of the Samaritans is they are the remnants of the northern Hebrew tribes who, when they broke away after Solomon died, immediately reverted to idolatry, and a truncated form of Judaism (only accepting parts of the Tanak), and of course an extensive syncretism (mixing religions) with gentile paganism, while they intermarried extensively with the surrounding gentiles.

When the Assyrian empire conquered the northern tribes from 732 BCE forward, they used a strategy of moving their own peoples in, and killing and enslaving the Hebrew peoples—intermarrying even further—increasing the dissolution of any Hebrew identity.

However the original tribes of the north, descendants of Jacob (just NOT Judah)—which were so compromised as to be called “lost,” eventually were identified with the Samaritans.

Still a form of monotheism survived, which is mentioned in the Christian bible with Jesus’ conversation with a Samaritan woman in the Christian bible’s book of John ch. 4. None the less, what was notable in this interaction is that even at that time, there was a huge degree of antipathy between the Jewish people and the Samaritans, and I’ve heard this hostility was based on the Samaritan religion being a kind of sub-Mosaic cult, NOT at all full Judaism, as well as the virtually extinguished Hebrew ethnic identity of the Samaritans—even back in the 1st Century.

Also the famous parable of Jesus’ of the “Good Samaritan” (where a Samaritan was kind and helpful to a man wounded by robbers, while a Levite and a Priest ignored him) seemed to have been intended to pierce the prejudices against the Samaritans (and remember Jesus’ followers during his life were ALL Jewish), showing righteous character is shown in ethics and action—not based on position or ethnic purity....

[Jewbacca]

It’s funny people are discovering their Jewishness.

Half my family spent generations adopting gentile names and practices to avoid being sh-t upon.

[Jewbacca]

“Its been known for centuries that Ashkenazi were converts, not Hebrews”

This genetic refutes the position that Ashkenazi are converts.

Reading is fundamental.

[Jewbacca]

“Its been known for centuries that Ashkenazi were converts, not Hebrews”

This genetic study refutes the position that Ashkenazi are converts.

Reading is fundamental.

[editor-surveyor]

How about reading the sages commentary over a period of close to two millenia?

This is popular stuff, to Ashkenazi descendents, but it doeth reek!