India's children of Israel find their roots

Timesof India ^ | 7.21.02 | RASHMEE Z AHMED

[swarthyguy]

LONDON: More than 2,000 years after they first claimed to have set foot in India, the mystery of the world's most obscure Jewish community - the Marathi-speaking Bene Israel - may finally have been solved with genetic carbon-dating revealing they carry the unusual Moses gene that would make them, literally, the original children of Israel.

Four years of DNA tests on the 4,000-strong Bene Israel, now mainly based in Mumbai, Pune, Thane and Ahmedabad, indicates they are probable descendants of a small group of hereditary Israelite priests or Cohanim, according to new results exclusively made available to the Sunday Times of India.

The priests are scattered worldwide but genetically related in a distinctive fashion that leaves just a billion to one chance of a mistake in identifying who the Bene Israel really are, says Tudor Parfitt, Jewish Studies professor at London's School of Oriental and African Studies.

Parfitt, who initiated and led the research, says this is the first concrete proof that “exiles from Palestine made it as far as India and managed to maintain Judaism in the sea of Hinduism and Islam”.

Contacted in the Israeli town of Ramla, 15 miles from Tel Aviv, where he emigrated from Mumbai, Aharon Daniel expressed doubt about the new findings. “Many scientists have claimed to have found Israeli or Cohanim genes in tribes in black Africa and other communities around the world and many here were sceptical about this,” he told STOI.

But some analysts said that Daniel's doubt could be a reflection of the shoddy treatment given to a few of the 30,000 Bene Israelis who returned to the Promised Land in the early '50s, soon after the state of Israel was created. Their Indian appearance, cricket-playing, sari-wearing, curry-eating and Marathi-speaking habits led to a bitter battle for recognition as “real Jews”.

The name Bene Israel literally means Children of Israel and their unsubstantiated legend of origin holds their ancestors to be Jews fleeing persecution in Palestine in 175 BC.

According to the legend, seven men and seven women survived a shipwreck near Navgaon village on the Konkan coast. Their descendants became thoroughly Indian except for observing Saturday, the Jewish sabbath, as a weekly holiday. The practice led them to be known as Shanwar Teli, Marathi for 'Saturday oilpressers'.

It was only in 1964, that the Israeli prime minister declared they were genuinely Jewish and should be allowed to return home (to Israel) and inter-marry.

But now, the new study goes one better. By studying certain genetic markers on the DNA chain, found only in male descendants of Aaron, Moses' elder brother, who founded the line of Jewish priests, the Bene Israel could well claim to be the purest of the pure.

Prominent Bene Israelis include poet Nissim Ezekiel and actress Pearl Padamsee.

The new research has also found preliminary genetic evidence to show the declining community of Black Jews of Cochin left Israel in remote historical times.

The new data, which is to feature in leading Western scientific journals over the next few months, comes after painstaking efforts to genetically source the origins of India's other, self-professed “lost” Jewish tribes, including the Manipuri Jews and the Telugu-speaking Jews of Guntur.

“We took DNA samples, but there was nothing that could prove they were related to other than the general family of mankind”, said Parfitt, who has researched Indian Jewry since 1984.

[LostTribe]

Thanks for the ping!

Problem with the article is that is casually tosses off "may finally have been solved with genetic carbon-dating revealing they carry the unusual Moses gene that would make them, literally, the original children of Israel." Excuse me! the unusual Moses gene??? That's a new way of wording it." Does anyone have some of Moses genes to check against?

We have seen repeatedly here on FR that THERE IS NO ISRAELITE or (as it's usually put forward) JEWISH GENE. Every "gene study" (so far at least) which attempted to prove such existance was an apparent fraud, with the results always "proving" what it's financial sponsors paid to "prove".

This article is based on that same apparent continuing sham. More fiction masquerading as a scientific report. Wonder how long it will take REAL scientists to expose it.

[LostTribe]

I would love to see a really good study which sought "the Moses gene". But it would have to run by someone other than the class of "scientist" that keeps proving we are about to perish due to Global Warming. Their starting point would be to first get the Basics right.

Moses of course was not a Jew. He, like the rest of Jacobs children in Egypt were Israelites, not Jews. There would be no Jews for another 1,500 years of so. (Click on my Profile below for more details.)

If they were serious about doing "gene sampling" in the Israelite population they would go to where the largest concentrations of Israelites are to be found; Europe and America. The huge Northern Kingdom of Israel is the rootstalk of todays LostTribes/Celts/Europeans/Americans/Christians. (Please click on my FR Profile...)

[swarthyguy]

"Moses of course was not a Jew. He, like the rest of Jacobs children in Egypt were Israelites, not Jews"

You lose me here. But it's not a important issue to me anyway. ISraelites, Jews, it's a little too theological for me.

[LostTribe]

>ISraelites, Jews, it's a little too theological for me.

I try to steer clear of that too, when possible, trying to rely on History first as much as possible. The Assyrian history in the British Museum makes it pretty clear who the Northern Kingdom Israelites were, what they did, and where they went after they escaped. They are not some little shabby clan of nose-pickers huddled around a campfire with their foul breathed camels, perpetually lost.

[LostTribe]

>"Moses of course was not a Jew. He, like the rest of Jacobs children in Egypt were Israelites, not Jews" You lose me here.

Oops, sorry. Just click on my LostTribe profile below and take 3 minutes to read the 3-MINUTE HISTORY. It makes very clear the distinction between Israelites and Jews. You will never have to wonder again. --ggg--.

[swarthyguy]

YOu're welcome. Here's an interesting link, in light of the jihad in Kashmir.

http://www.moshiach.com/tribes/ns/4.html

[swarthyguy]

Interesting.

[LostTribe]

>In Kashmir there is a strange legend which says that Jesus did not die on the cross but in his search for the Ten Tribes reached the Kashmir valley and lived there until his death. They even point to his grave in Kashmir.

That "tradition" alone would seem enough to discredit their claim as being the Lost Tribes of Israel.

[swarthyguy]

Personally, i've always thought the Jews were one of the lost Hindu tribes ;)

[LostTribe]

Thanks. It's my feeling that if we can get the Basics straight, the rest will pretty much fall into line. The foundation is everything.

But it seems very few people understand the simple differences between Hebrew, Semite, Israelite and Jew. That's what got me started in creating the 3-MINUTE HISTORY at my Freeper page. Once those simple distinctions are clearly recognized, all of a sudden history (and the Bible) start to make more sense. We can then discuss the actual and substantive issues, not those which arise from getting the historical basics wrong.

[swarthyguy]

[swarthyguy]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/688494/posts

[keithtoo]

Cohanim

I've been told by a Jewish friend, that this title is the root of the Jewish surname, Cohen. Just FYI.

Incidentally, a prooftest as to whether these folks are Jewish would be to see if their population has a disproportionate grouping of Lawyers, MD's, Orthodontists etc. And neurotic comedians of course, that would be the clincher <;)-

[keithtoo]

Holy Cow! What is your point here?

[LostTribe]

>Personally, i've always thought the Jews were one of the lost Hindu tribes ;)

Well, there's certainly nothing that prohibits a few "strays" from any of the tribes ending up somewhere. As you can see from the population numbers at my Profile, we are talking LOTS and LOTS of people, especially from the Northern Kingdom.

Since only ~50,000 Judeans returned from Babylon, that leaves another half million unaccounted for. Technically they are not Jews since only those who returned from Babylon were accorded that name, but they certainly were Judeans, and essentially the same people. They also knew and practised the tradition (we assume), even though they didn't return. Maybe some of them ended up in India?

That cannot be said for the Northern Kingdom taken into Assyrian captivity. They had lost virtually all contact with their religious and cultural roots even BEFORE their captivity. That, along with their diaspora was part of their punishment. They carried little or none of it into captivity or beyond. That's why its such a big error to attempt to find the Lost 10 Tribes of Israel practising any ancient Israelite customs. And that's why obscure little tribes found here and there, practising ancient Israelite customs or claiming to be The Lost Tribes (for whatever reason) are most certainly not.

[swarthyguy]

Don't forget the mothers!

[keithtoo]

That's implied in the neurosis. Yuk yuk!

[Victoria Delsoul]

By studying certain genetic markers on the DNA chain, found only in male descendants of Aaron, Moses' elder brother, who founded the line of Jewish priests, the Bene Israel could well claim to be the purest of the pure.

Wow, that's fascinating! Thanks for the ping, Dennis.