Jewish heritage

The question of the Jewish population's heritage is getting clearer. The Israelites within the occupation of Palestine claim heritage from 2000 years ago. There was a genetic study completed to confirm this.


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http://www.nynewsday.com/news/health/sns-ap-jewish-descent,0,7319635.story?coll=nyc-healthhome-headlines (This link no longer working)

Study: Most Ashkenazi Jews From Four Women

By MALCOLM RITTER
AP Science Writer

January 12, 2006, 7:01 PM EST

NEW YORK -- Some 3.5 million of today's Ashkenazi Jews -- about 40 percent of the total Ashkenazi population -- are descended from just four women, a genetic study indicates.

Those women apparently lived somewhere in Europe within the last 2,000 years, but not necessarily in the same place or even the same century, said lead author Dr. Doron Behar of the Rambam Medical Center in Haifa, Israel.

He did the work with Karl Skorecki of the Technion-Israel Institute of Technology and others.

Each woman left a genetic signature that shows up in their descendants today, he and colleagues say in a report published online by the American Journal of Human Genetics. Together, their four signatures appear in about 40 percent of Ashkenazi Jews, while being virtually absent in non-Jews and found only rarely in Jews of non-Ashkenazi origin, the researchers said.

They said the total Ashkenazi population is estimated at around 8 million people. The estimated world Jewish population is about 13 million.

Ashkenazi Jews are a group with mainly central and eastern European ancestry. Ultimately, though, they can be traced back to Jews who migrated from Israel to Italy in the first and second centuries, Behar said. Eventually this group moved to Eastern Europe in the 12th and 13th centuries and expanded greatly, reaching about 10 million just before World War II, he said.

The study involved mitochondrial DNA, called mtDNA, which is passed only through the mother. A woman can pass her mtDNA to grandchildren only by having daughters. So mtDNA is "the perfect tool to trace maternal lineages," Behar said Thursday in a telephone interview.

His study involved analyzing mtDNA from more than 11,000 samples representing 67 populations.

Mike Hammer, who does similar research at the University of Arizona, said he found the work tracing back to just four ancestors "quite plausible... I think they've done a really good job of tackling this question."

But he said it's not clear the women lived in Europe.

"They may have existed in the Near East," Hammer said. "We don't know exactly where the four women were, but their descendants left a legacy in the population today, whereas ... other women's descendants did not."

Behar said the four women he referred to did inherit their genetic signatures from female ancestors who lived in the Near East. But he said he preferred to focus on these later European descendants because they were at the root of the Ashkenazi population explosion.
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2000 years ago there were four main Jewish groups that today's Jews could possibly be the descendants of. 1)The Zealots, 2)The Jewish rebels, 3)The Idumeans or Edomites, or 4)the Jews that went north into Pella. At the time of Rome's destruction of Jerusalem 70ad, all of these groups were in and around Jerusalem. To understand these groups is to also understand the influence of Jesus affect on the Jews. When Jesus was preaching he advised his followers that when they see Jerusalem surrounded by encamped armies, they need to head for the mountains. In this case, Pella.

Rome first approached Jerusalem in 66 ad but stayed, encamped, then left. At this point the 4 groups had to make a decision. Their were some Jews that heeded the warning by Jesus and took off for Pella. The rebels decided that Rome has probably left and will not return. The Zealots were Jewish extremists that did not even respect Jewish worship and ended up killing the rightful high priest of the temple and installed one of their own men. This caused a huge uproar by the existing residents and caused severe infighting. The Zealots then called in an army of Idumeans who were to their south to come in and help get them out. They end up dispatching many of the leaders within Jerusalem leaving the Zealots to lead against the incoming Roman army. Herod, the king of the Jews, was Idumean and a loyal Roman puppet who longed for the Jewish marker as God's chosen just like his ancestor Esau. By the time Rome had come back he was safely back in Rome.

Rome eventually decimated Jerusalem on 70ad and all that were in the city which meant the Zealots and their followers. Who were left? There were some scattered groups of Jews for years after this that managed to gather and create another up rising. The Herodian dynasty maintained their power on into the 90s ad but melted into Roman society. There was another Jewish rebellion in 132 ad called Bar Kochba. Rome decimated whatever was there then abolished Jewish religious practice throughout all of the Roman kingdom.

So how did Jewish culture survive? Of the groups that started this out it can only be one of the two groups left. The Pella Jews were following Jesus direction because they were told the Jewish system of religion would end. I don't think they would have put their lives in danger for an unacceptable form of worship that was no longer acceptable even by Rome.

The Idumean Jews were the only ones that could have even had a small chance to carry on Jewish teachings underground. After the prohibition of Judaism, Christianity would have taken over that area. Idumaens would then either decide to conform to Christianity or leave. Being that Rome prohibited Judaism, I believe they left and eventually reemerged into society keeping the Talmud as their guidebook. Where did they go?

The greater percentage of Jews today come from Ashkenazim which descends from western European sources. This could have only happened by a flow of Talmud keepers out of the Byzantine areas north from the area of Turkey which then split on either side of the black sea. To the east of the sea went Jews who would become the Khazarian Jews and to the west of the black sea went the Askenazi Jews who would eventually settle into lands like Hungary, Poland, and Germany.

If the genetic tests are right then I am about 85% positive that the Jews of today more than likely descended from the Idumean-Edomite-Esau line.