5. Adoption of “Race”
Jews adopted the terms to distinguish themselves
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England
6. “All is race: there is no other truth”
Sidonia, the Jewish superwoman
speaking to a gathering of English
aristocrats.
Benjamin Disraeli, Prime Minister of England
Disraeli, Tancred, 1847
7. Early Zionists
Connected bloodline with Nationality
Nationality with the Land of Israel
Ze’ev Jabotinsky wrote an essay titled “Race and
Nationality” in 1911
8. Encountering
Diaspora Jews in 19th century
• Levantine Jews
• Sephardic Jews
• Ashkenazi Jews
• Baghdadi (Iraqi) Jews
Baghdadi Jews in India
10. Aside: What are the ethnic groups?
1. Ashkenazi — Central & Eastern Europe
2. Sephardic — Portugal and Spain
3. Mizrahi — Arab lands
4. Baghdadi — Iraqi
5. Persian — Iran
6. Ethiopian
10
11. Why were Jews fascinated with Biology?
1. Identity — How to distinguish ourselves after emancipation
2. Diasporic Communities — What do we share? What di
ff
erentiates us?
3. Curiosity — Jews are curious people who want to understand ourselves
4. History — Biology can explain Jewish history and migration
5. Zionism — Biology can prove a connection to the Land of Israel
11
20. Evidence for Origins of Ashkenazi Jews
1. Archaeological Evidence — cemeteries, synagogues
2. Literary Evidence — Church & historical records of Jewish communities
3. Linguistical Evidence — Yiddish having origins in 16th Century German
4. Cultural Evidence — Cultural artifacts originating in Central Europe (ex. Food, music, folk
stories)
20
24. R Isaac Baer Levinsohn
1788 - 1860
Claimed Eastern European Jews
fi
rst spoke
Russian, later learned Yiddish proving they came
from East. In Te’uddah (1827)
24
29. Implications
• Ashkenazi Jews have no historical connection to the Land
• Early Zionists were Europeans colonizing the Muslim World
• American Jews are White Europeans who share responsibility for the
oppression of Blacks
29
30. King Hussein
In 1947 Address to UN
Jews are Europeans
Many Palestinians continue to
maintain this
30
31. Black Israelites
Frank Cherry, Chattanooga, TN (1886)
William Crowdy, Lawrence, KS (1896)
founded churches claiming that African Americans are
descendants of the Hebrews in the Bible, advocating for a return
to Jewish Law.
31
William Saunders Crowdy in 1907
32. Black Israelites
Church claims that White Jews are imposters
Descended from Khazars
Church become popular in 1970s during the
Ethnic Pride Movements
32
35. Karl Skorecki
University of Haifa
Skorecki, K et. Al. “Y chromosomes of Jewish
Priests”. Nature 385. (January, 1997).
35
36. Sahakyan, Saag, & Tabor
Origin 3,200 - 2,570 years ago
Sahakyan H, Margaryan A, Saag L, Karmin M,
Flores R, Haber M, et al. (March 2021). "Origin and
di
ff
usion of human Y chromosome haplogroup J1-
M267". Scientific Reports. 11 (1): p. 6659
36
39. In recent years, genetic studies have demonstrated that, at least paternally, Jewish
ethnic divisions and the Palestinians are related to each other.[95] Genetic studies on
Jews have shown that Jews and Palestinians are closer to each other than the Jews
are to their host countries.[96][97] At the haplogroup level, de
fi
ned by the binary
polymorphisms only, the Y chromosome distribution in Arabs and Jews was similar but
not identical
39
Nebel, Almut; Filon, Dvora; Weiss, Deborah A.; Weale, Michael; Faerman, Marina; Oppenheim, Ariella; Thomas, Mark G. (December 2000). "High-resolution Y
chromosome haplotypes of Israeli and Palestinian Arabs reveal geographic substructure and substantial overlap with haplotypes of Jews" (PDF). Human
Genetics. 107 (6): 630–641. doi:10.1007/s004390000426. PMID 11153918. S2CID 8136092.
Atzmon G, Hao L, Pe'er I, Velez C, Pearlman A, Palamara PF, Morrow B, Friedman E, Oddoux C, Burns E, Ostrer H (June 2010). "Abraham's children in the genome
era: major Jewish diaspora populations comprise distinct genetic clusters with shared Middle Eastern Ancestry". American Journal of Human Genetics. 86 (6): 850–
9. doi:10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015. PMC 3032072. PMID 20560205.
40. What we know about biology of the Jews
1. Shared DNA between all Jewish communities around the world
2. Cohen Modal Haplotype found in every diaspora Jewish community
3. Deep European genes in Matriarchal genes
4. Implies Jews married Gentile Women.
5. Explains Ashkenazi Jews — European similarities
6. Khazari Theory disproved
7. Jews share more DNA with original inhabitants of Palestine than Khazars
40
41. Questions Remaining
• Is there a “Jewish Gene”?
• With so much shared DNA scattered around the world, who can you call
“Jewish” based on their DNA?
• Is DNA undependable in determining Jewish Identity?
41
42. Implications
• What do we do with Jewish DNA?
• Can everybody who
fi
nds traces of shared DNA claim to be Jewish?
• Can Jewish Identity be reduced to a DNA test?
42
