Posted on 10/08/2013 11:57:29 AM PDT by ek_hornbeck
The majority of Ashkenazi Jews are descended from prehistoric European women, according to study published today (October 8) in Nature Communications. While the Jewish religion began in the Near East, and the Ashkenazi Jews were believed to have origins in the early indigenous tribes of this region, new evidence from mitochondrial DNA, which is passed on exclusively from mother to child, suggests that female ancestors of most modern Ashkenazi Jews converted to Judaism in the north Mediterranean around 2,000 years ago and later in west and central Europe.
(Excerpt) Read more at the-scientist.com ...
The source usually cited is Syrian Bishop Bar-Hebraeus, who was citing now-lost source material from a census in the time of Claudius.
This figure is usually dismissed as impossible, but might refer to semi-converts who gave up Roman beliefs for Jewish ones but did not become official converts to Judaism.
This new study may be yet another interpretation for an unusually large number of Jews in Roman times.
LOL. Reminds me a a good friend I had in Houston, TX who was from Australia. Texans were always trying to guess her accent. First guess was usually England; second guess was always New York! LOL.
There are no such people as “Palestinians” nor a land “Palestine”. That is a name given to the JEWISH people by the Romans when they sacked the 2nd Temple and Jerusalem. They gave it to the Jews as an insult and a way of distancing Jews from their land and nationhood- not unlike what the arabs are attempting to do today.
The name is actually Greek. Are the arabs Greek? No, they are not. The letter “P” is not even in the Arabic language. There are no “Palestinian” archeological artifacts, coinage, government, language or culture. It is all Hebrew and Jewish.
But, here is the truth by their own lips:
PLO executive committee member Zahir Muhsein made one such statement to the Dutch newspaper, Trouw, in March 5,1977. He said:
“The Palestinian people does not [sic.] exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct “Palestinian people” to oppose Zionism.”
On September 13, 1993, the same day Arafat and Yitzhak Rabin signed the “Declaration of Principles” embodying those ideals for which he would later get the Nobel Prize, he explained his motives on Lebanese TV:
“Since we cannot defeat Israel in war, we do this in stages. We take any and every territory that we can of Palestine, and establish sovereignty there, and we use it as a springboard to take more. When the time comes, we can get the Arab nations to join us for the final blow against Israel.”
The true “genetic descendants” of the Jews are JEWS. You can try to revise all you want, but you can NEVER defeat or change such a well documented, known, and recognized history.
And others who have African features.
are a case of accidental convergence.
One hot theory about the Ainu is that their distant ancestors, 15,000 years ago followed the arctic shore line for generations and ended up populating the Americas.
I used to love passing along ethnic jokes, when we still had a since of humor. So, I’d tell people I’m Cherokee/Norwegian and, as such, am allowed to tell them.
I’d love to know my DNA, but don’t want to get booked and sent to prison, for the privilege. It’s just too expensive for us peons.
That may explain the stereotype that Jews are so miserable. Smart people aren’t the happiest people around.
funny, for some reason i thought the orthodox frowned on converts
I've always thought that Jewish intellectuals picked up their angst from gentile Europeans. If you want dark and brooding, try much of the literature, music, and philosophy from Germany, the Scandinavian countries, and Russia.
That being said, you may have a point. It's certainly true that the happiest people I know are also some of the most stupid.
You’re right, but apparently this wasn’t always so.
No, it is not complicated at all.
Halachically, since the women converted, they are Jews.
The convert’s “merit” is that they CHOSE to convert to believe in HaShem and follow Torah, rather than being born into it. Rut ( Ruth), the Moabite was a virtuous woman who converted, married Boaz and became the great-grandmother of King David. She lived to see him crowned king of Israel.
There is no complication as long as the woman converts. Once she converts, she follows Torah and performs the Mitzvot. She is as Jewish as any other Jew. She may not be Israelite/ Hebrew. But, by marrying a Jew, her children will be of her husband’s tribe. By 3 generations, her descendants will be Hebrew lineage.
>>I have read that Ashkenazi Jews have a much higher frequency of above genius level IQ than any other group of people on earth.<<
They do. That’s a given. It’s been known for decades. They are .2 percent of the world’s population, but 20 percent of Nobel laureates. (Something like that.)
I don't think that's what they're saying. Mitochondria is passed down through Mothers with no paternal contribution. So, you can trace the female line back into time.
No, the Orthodox do not frown on the convert. The convert is actually respected because they made an actual choice to follow Torah. The convert is regarded as a Jewish Soul who is returning to the Jewish people.
The story of Rut ( Ruth) the Moabite, wife of Boaz and great-grandmother of King David is a shinning example of a woman who converts to Judaism and how the convert is regarded among us.
I am 1/2 ethnically Jewish. As my father is 100% Ashkenazi (Lithuanian and Romanian). My mother is a Protestant of almost perfectly equally divided Irish, Swedish and German ancestry.
I would say I look Southern European. I’m usually accused of being ‘Italian’ and tan easily but have green eyes. My brother of the same genetic disposition as I has blond hair. My mother’s side has many blonds, my father’s side is what you would expect of Ashkenasim (but athletic!)
I took a DNA test some years ago and without a desire to get too technical here, it looked like a tour of Europe.
My personal belief is that Ashkenazi Jews do have some lineage that traces back to the ancient Israelites, but I believe the vast majority of Ashkenazi blood comes from Europe. The Sepphardic Jews, again in my opinion, are the Jews that most ancestrally tie back to ancient Israel.
.
Thanks.
You can still tell them, you just have to know your audience very well.
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