-----Original Message-----
From: yair davidi <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Date: Thursday, 18 May 2000 17:35
Subject: Arab-Jew genetics
Question:
At 05:54 PM 5/17/00 -0400, Sir Moshe Barr - Nea <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
wrote:
>( A propo, have you seen the last article in the Science Section of New
>York Times of May 9,2000 ? " Y Chromosome Bears Witness to Story of the
>Jewish Diaspora."
Answer:
Several people wrote in on this issue with a similar question:
The article says:
May 9, 2000
Y Chromosome Bears Witness to Story of
the Jewish Diaspora
Related Articles
Genetics: The Human Genome Project
The New York Times on the Web: Science
By NICHOLAS WADE
ith a new technique based on the male or Y chromosome,
biologists have traced the diaspora of Jewish populations
from
the dispersals that began in 586 B.C. to the modern communities of
Europe and the Middle East.
The analysis provides genetic witness that these communities
have, to a
remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate
from their
host populations, evidence of relatively little intermarriage or
conversion
into Judaism over the centuries.
Another finding, paradoxical but
unsurprising, is that by the yardstick of
the
Y chromosome, the world's Jewish
communities closely resemble not only each
other but also Palestinians, Syrians and
Lebanese, suggesting that all are descended
from a common ancestral population that
inhabited the Middle East some four
thousand years ago.
Dr. Lawrence H. Schiffman, chairman of the department of Hebrew
and
Judaic Studies at New York University, said the study fit with
historical
evidence that Jews originated in the Near East and with biblical
evidence
suggesting that there were a variety of families and types in the
original
population. He said the finding would cause "a lot of discussion
of the
relationship of scientific evidence to the manner in which we
evaluate
long-held academic and personal religious positions," like the
question of
who is a Jew.
The study, reported in today's Proceedings of the National
Academy of
Sciences, was conducted by Dr. Michael F. Hammer of the
University of
Arizona with colleagues in the United States, Italy, Israel,
England and
South Africa. The results accord with Jewish history and
tradition and
refute theories like those holding that Jewish communities
consist mostly
of converts from other faiths, or that they are descended from the
Khazars, a medieval Turkish tribe that adopted Judaism.
The analysis by Dr. Hammer and colleagues is based on the Y
chromosome, which is passed unchanged from father to son. Early in
human evolution, all but one of the Y chromosomes were lost as
their
owners had no children or only daughters, so that all Y
chromosomes
today are descended from that of a single genetic Adam who is
estimated
to have lived about 140,000 years ago.
In principle, all men should therefore carry the identical
sequence of
DNA letters on their Y chromosomes, but in fact occasional
misspellings
have occurred, and because each misspelling is then repeated in
subsequent generations, the branching lineages of errors form a
family
tree rooted in the original Adam.
These variant spellings are in DNA that is not involved in the
genes and
therefore has no effect on the body. But the type and abundance
of the
lineages in each population serve as genetic signature by which to
compare different populations.
Based on these variations, Dr. Hammer identified 19 variations in
the Y
chromosome family tree.
The ancestral Middle East population from which both Arabs and
Jews
are descended was a mixture of men from eight of these lineages.
Among major contributors to the ancestral Arab-Jewish population
were
men who carried what Dr. Hammer calls the "Med" lineage. This Y
chromosome is found all round the Mediterranean and in Europe and
may have been spread by the Neolithic inventors of agriculture or
perhaps by the voyages of sea-going people like the Phoenicians.
Another lineage common in the ancestral Arab-Jewish gene pool is
found
among today's Ethiopians and may have reached the Middle East by
men
who traveled down the Nile. But present-day Ethiopian Jews lack
some
of the other lineages found in Jewish communities, and overall
are more
like non-Jewish Ethiopians than other Jewish populations, at
least in
terms of their Y chromosome lineage pattern.
The ancestral pattern of lineages is recognizable in today's Arab
and
Jewish populations, but is distinct from that of European
populations and
both groups differ widely from sub-Saharan Africans.
Each Arab and Jewish community has its own flavor of the ancestral
pattern, reflecting their different genetic histories. Roman Jews
have a
pattern quite similar to that of Ashkenazis, the Jewish community
of
Eastern Europe. Dr. Hammer said the finding accorded with the
hypothesis that Roman Jews were the ancestors of the Ashkenazis.
Despite the Ashkenazi Jews' long residence in Europe, their Y
signature
has remained distinct from that of non-Jewish Europeans.
On the assumption that there have been 80 generations since the
founding
of the Ashkenazi population, Dr. Hammer and colleagues calculate
that
the rate of genetic admixture with Europeans has been less than
half a
percent per generation.
Jewish law tracing back almost 2,000 years states that Jewish
affiliation is
determined by maternal ancestry, so the Y chromosome study
addresses
the question of how much non-Jewish men may have contributed to
Jewish genetic diversity.
Dr. Hammer was surprised to find how little that contribution was.
"It could be that wherever Jews were, they were very much
isolated," he
said. The close genetic affinity between Jews and Arabs, at least
by the
Y chromosome yardstick, is reflected in the Genesis account of how
Abraham fathered Ishmael by his wife's maid Hagar and, when Sarah
was then able to conceive, Isaac. Although Muslims have a
different
version of the story, they regard Abraham and Ishmael, or Ismail,
as
patriarchs just as Jews do Abraham and Isaac.
Copyright 2000 The New York Times Company
Comment:
1. The article in itself is almost useless from anacademic point of view.
The original paper must be obtained and the results examined and even then
it must be cross-checked
and reconsidered on several levels.
2. The timing of the article is suspicious and may have been politically
motivated.
2. They took 8 variations of the Y chromosome out of 19
that they recognized for the whole human race and played around with them.
This is suspicious.
3. How many people did they examine? Where did they take their subjects
from?
What type of Arabs? What type of Syrians? Alawis?
Where did the Jewish subjects come from?
Universities?
4. The point made about the Jews in Rome is also highly suspicious and
contradicts other information.
5. A connection with Mediterranean and European populations is recognized
and in the
opinion of John Hulley (with whom I consult on these matters) once we see
the original
paper the facts may actually strengthen the BRIT-AM position.
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