Genes set Jews apart, study finds (European Jews Descended from Ancient Roman Converts?)

LA Times ^ | June 3, 2010 | Thomas H. Maugh II

[GOPGuide]

The Jewish people, according to archaeologists, originated in Babylon and Persia between the 4th and 6th centuries BC. The modern-day Jews most closely related to that original population are those in Iran, Iraq and Syria, whose closest non-Jewish relatives are the Druze, Bedouins and Palestinians, the study found.

Sometime in that period, the Middle Eastern and European Jews diverged and the European branch began actively proselytizing for converts.

At the height of the Roman Empire, about 10% of the empire's population was Jewish, although the bulk of them were converts. Some Khazars were also incorporated during this period.

"That explains why so many European and Syrian Jews have blue eyes and blond hair," Ostrer says. It also explains another of the team's findings — that the population most closely related genetically to European Jews are Italians.

[SunkenCiv]

• ---

  Genetic testing raises an age-old question -- are the Jews a people, or a religion? -- The first study, by researchers at New York's Albert Einstein College of Medicine of Yeshiva University, found that Jews across the globe share distinct genetic traits that are different from other groups and that trace back to the ancient Middle East. Researchers say the study, published in the American Journal of Human Genetics, puts to rest age-old questions about whether Jews are a group of unrelated people who share a religious ideology or a distinct ethnicity with common ancestry. "The debate is over," said Dr. Edward R. Burns, one of the lead authors of the study. "The Jewish people are one people with a common genetic thread that evolved in the second or third century BC."

  ---

• Studies Show Jews' Genetic Similarity
• Events of Jewish Diaspora Seen in the Genomes
  ("large-scale southern European conversion")
• Study finds genetic links among Jewish people
• Penn Researchers Add Genetic Data to Archaeology and Linguistics
  to Get Picture of African Population History
• Articles Highlight Different Views on Genetic Basis of Race

[Jedidah]

True. The Levites were not given allotments of land, only cities, so were never considered as one of the northern 10 tribes.

The descendants of all Jacob’s 12 sons received land grants except the Levites. The remaining 11 tribes divided Canaan into 12 parcels, with Joseph’s heirs getting a double measure, his inheritance split between the descendants of his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh.

Judah and Benjamin and, as you point out, Levi, remained faithful. The northern tribes were scattered and absorbed into other nations.

[drpix]

I wrote "... as far from being innocent victims as..."

When you missed/misunderstood the operative clause - now in bold text - you got my comment totally backwards.

[drpix]

I wrote "... as far from being innocent victims as..."

When you missed/misunderstood the operative clause - now in bold text - you got my comment totally backwards.

[Jewbacca]

Fair enough because I think you are getting the statement of the Israeli secretary backwards.

It’s not anti-American.

Of course Americans are not mere “residents of Iroquios territory.”

The absurdity of the statement reflects the absudity of Obama’s demand that Jerusalem be Judenfre.

[SunkenCiv]

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