Posted on 04/11/2003 5:14:00 AM PDT by Asher
Genetic evidence links Jews to their ancient tribe
By Judy Siegel
JERUSALEM (November 20) - Genetic evidence continues to provide additional proof to the claims that the Jewish people are descended from a common ancient Israelite father: Despite being separated for over 1,000 years, Sephardi Jews of North African origin are genetically indistinguishable from their brethren from Iraq, according to The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
They also proved that Sephardi Jews are very close genetically to the Jews of Kurdistan, and only slight differences exist between these two groups and Ashkenazi Jews from Europe.
These conclusions are reached in an article published recently in the American Journal of Human Genetics and written by Prof. Ariella Oppenheim of the Hebrew University (HU) and Hadassah-University Hospital in Ein Kerem.
Others involved are German doctoral student Almut Nebel, Dr. Marina Faerman of HU, Dr. Dvora Filon of Hadassah-University Hospital, and other colleagues from Germany and India.
The researchers conducted blood tests of Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Kurdish Jews and examined their Y chromosomes, which are carried only by males. They then compared them with those of various Arab groups - Palestinians, Beduins, Jordanians, Syrians and Lebanese - as well as to non-Arab populations from Transcaucasia - Turks, Armenians and Moslem Kurds.
The study is based on 526 Y chromosomes typed by the Israeli team and additional data on 1,321 individuals from 12 populations. The typing of the Jewish groups was performed at the National Genome Center at HU's Silberman Institute of Life Sciences.
The Fertile Crescent of the Middle East was one of the few centers in which the transition from hunting-gathering to permanent settlement and agriculture took place. Genetic studies suggest that migrating Neolithic farmers dispersed their technological innovations and domesticated animals from the Middle East towards Europe, North Africa and Southwest Asia.
Studies of Y chromosomes have become powerful tools for the investigation of the genetic history of males, since these chromosomes are transmitted from fathers to sons.
Surprisingly, the study shows a closer genetic affinity by Jews to the non-Jewish, non-Arab populations in the northern part of the Middle East than to Arabs. These findings are consistent with known cultural links that existed among populations in the Fertile Crescent in early history, and indicate that the Jews are direct descendants of the early Middle Eastern core populations, which later divided into distinct ethnic groups speaking different languages.
Previous investigations by the HU researchers suggested a common origin for Jewish and non-Jewish populations living in the Middle East. The current study refines and delineates that connection.
It is believed that the majority of today's Jews - not including converts and non-Jews with whom Jews intermarried - descended from the ancient Israelis that lived in the historic Land of Israel until the destruction of the Second Temple and their dispersal into the Diaspora.
The researchers say that a genetic analysis of the chromosomes of Jews from various countries show that there was practically no genetic intermixing between them and the host populations among which they were scattered during their dispersion - whether in Eastern Europe, Spain, Portugal or North Africa.
A particularly intriguing case illustrating this is that of the Kurdish Jews, said to be the descendants of the Ten Tribes of Israel who were exiled in 723 BCE. to the area known today as Kurdistan, located in Northern Iraq, Iran and Eastern Turkey. They continued to live there as a separate entity until their immigration to Israel in the 1950s. The Kurdish Jews of today show a much greater affinity to their fellow Jews elsewhere than to the Kurdish Moslems.
(Source: The Jerusalem Post Newspaper)
LOL!! Won't answer the question, huh?
Here it is again in case you missed it...
A) Are the Jewish people today in Israel the same Jewish people of the old Testament (God's Chosen People) AND
B) if they are do they have a right to the land and a homeland that God promised them?
Better not tell Paul that!!
Romans 3
31 Do we then overthrow the law by this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we uphold the law.
Or if you prefer Wycliffe
Romans 5
31 Destroy we therefore the law by faith? God forbid [Far be it]; but we stablish the law.
Doesn't matter, all the versions say the same. By your argument, the Ten Commandments are null and void since they were in the Old Testament. The law exists with some changes. Do we sacrifice bulls, cows, and whatnot? No, because Christ was the Final Sacrifice for our sins.
On a theological basis?
A) Yes, they are the same by and large based on the DNA testing as for being God's Chosen people the answer is no to a Christian because the resurrection of Christ sealed a new covenant (Muslims think this too as far as I can tell). To Jews of course that point is moot.
B) Again, if you are a Christian the answer is that the old covenant no longer exists. Also as a secularist the Jewish people have a right to private property but just because an individual owns land it does not imply Israeli sovereignty follows him.
"God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth." John 4:24
Never heard of a job description being "a spirit".
Why should my choice to honor G-d in whatever way I choose make you think that that choice is borne of a fear of burning in hellfire? I actually prefer to use the name Yah or Abba or Father or Lord, etc.
You take passages concerning "law" out of context. If you could not understand such a simple paragraph then I fear you will have trouble understanding the whole.
Romans 3:27 Where is boasting then? It is excluded. By what law? of works? Nay: but by the law of faith.
Romans 3:28 Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.
Romans 3:29 Is he the God of the Jews only? is he not also of the Gentiles? Yes, of the Gentiles also:
Romans 3:30 Seeing it is one God, which shall justify the circumcision by faith, and uncircumcision through faith.
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
To stress the point that the old covenant is no longer in governance:
Romans 4:13 For the promise, that he should be the heir of the world, was not to Abraham, or to his seed, through the law, but through the righteousness of faith.
His FBI file would read:
Name: I AM
Occupation: God
Appearance: Unknown type of spirit. Warning! Face to face appearance can cause death. Avoid direct eye contact.
And yes orthodox Christianity (small 'o') does say that the old covenant is no longer the one in force. That is why Christians call their books "The New Testament".
The holocaust incidentally was fueled by Nazi obsession over genetics and not theology.
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