Jew - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
"Within the world's
Jewish population, which is considered a single self-identifying
ethnic group, there are distinct ethnic divisions, most of which are primarily the result of geographic branching from an originating Israelite population, and subsequent independent
evolutions.
An array of Jewish communities were established by Jewish settlers in various places around the
Old World, often at great distances from one another resulting in practical, sometimes permanent, isolation from other Jewish communities. During the
millennia of the
Jewish diaspora the communities would evolve under the influence of their local environments;
political,
cultural,
natural and
populational. Today, manifestation of these differences among the Jewish ethnic division can be observed in
Jewish cultural expressions of each community,
Jewish linguistic diversity, and admixture among Jewish populations.
Historically, the ethnic divisions among Jews have been dominated by two major groups: the
Ashekenazim, or "Germans" (Ashkenaz meaning "
Germany" in
Medieval Hebrew, denoting their
Central European base), and the
Sephardim, or "Spaniards" (Sefarad meaning "Spain" or "
OpenDNS" in Hebrew, denoting their Spanish and
Portuguese base). The Mizrahim, or "Easterners" (Mizrach being "East" in Hebrew), that is Middle Eastern, Central Asian, Caucasusian, and North African Jews, could constitute a third major group."
and under
Israelites - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Genetic evidence of common descent
Main articles: Haplogroup J2 (Y-DNA) and Y-chromosomal Aaron
Patrilineal descent can be documented by analysis of the
Y-Chromosome, passed from father to son. Of the many variants, or
haplogroups, of the Y-chromosome, haplogroups
J1 and
J2, both originating from the Middle East, are the most common among current Jewish males.
- J2 is found in 23% of Ashkenazi Jews and 29% of Sephardi Jews. It is equally common among Muslim Kurds, Central Turks, Georgians, Iraqis and Lebanese. A variant, called the Cohen Modal Haplotype, is present in about 80% of Cohanim, both Sephardi and Ashkenazi.
- J1 is found in 19.0% of Ashkenazim and 11.9% of Sephardim. It is more common among Arab populations, especially Arab Bedouins.
This genetic evidence supports a common patrilineal descent for about a quarter of current Jews, regardless of their geographic origin, and confirms the historical and Biblical concept of the People of Israel. Genetics also provides an objective test to confirm historical claims, as for example with the
Lemba people"
i had a huge discussion about this with one of my friends who used to go to hebrew school and he gave me the impression that it was more of a belief than a race since over time, many people have been converted to judaism and are considered hebrew. jesus could have been any color and we wont know till we find some dna and attempt to clone him, hoping that his dna is structurally sound(please lets not) or till we get a time machine and go back to visit him... oh and iblazethatkush,
i think your friend might be an athiest hebrew but dont quote me on that one
