Nope, not all Jews originate in Israel. Jews by genetics do while converts don't. But this is where things get tricky. A convert is considered a full Jew in all ways. This includes a spiritual/religious connection to Israel. That connection is part and parcel of Judaism. They may or may not have the genes but that's only one part of the package
So I'm Jewish by genetics and faith. Eric is Jewish by genetics and Pagan by faith. My friend Pesach Latin is a convert and is not Jewish by genetics but Jewish by faith. As a side note, I say may or may not as there have been some cases where a convert found that their ancestors were Jewish. While rare, the two most commonly discussed cases are descendants of Morannos and children who were hidden away from the Nazis and grew up in a different faith (usually Catholic). On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 9:28 AM, Larry C. Lyons <[email protected]>wrote: > > But do all jews originate from Israel? Remember the Khazar Empire > (located in parts of Russia and the Caucuses) that converted from > Tengri shamanism to Judaism in the 8th century AD. These people can > not be considered genetically descended from the Jews of Israel or the > Diaspora. > > On Fri, Nov 19, 2010 at 12:56 AM, Michael Dinowitz > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > You see, that's what pisses me off. The attempt to separate Jews (i.e. > me) > > from Israel. In other words, delegitimizing my connection to my homeland. > > How about this. It has been shown that the those of the 'priestly' class > of > > Judaism have specific genes that can and have been traced across > generations > > and locations. A Jew from Iceland and a Jew from Yemen who are both > Kohanim > > both share a proven genetic heritage. > > Lets try another one. For all of the generations that my family has been > in > > the European area, my brother still has an olive complexion. Not as dark > as > > an Israeli but darker than me. My son Moshe has a darker, more olive > > complexion than I do, though not as dark as my brother. > > So bottom line is that I am of Israeli decent and the Jews in Israel are > my > > people in blood as well as faith. > > > > On Thu, Nov 18, 2010 at 1:39 PM, Eric Roberts < > > [email protected]> wrote: > > > >> > >> Here's a serious question for you Michael...are you of Israeli descent, > or > >> does you family come from Eastern Europe? If they are from Eastern > >> Europe...the Israeli's aren't your people other than the fact they share > >> your faith. Any middle eastern blood has long since been diluted out > from > >> eastern Euro populations. Even and insular as Jews were in Europe, they > >> did > >> intermarry quite a bit with the local population. > >> > >> Eric > >> > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:331958 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
