Jewish Geneology

Where Are Jews From

There are several independent genetic studies on the origins of the Jews. The consensus is that we're from the Levant, which is where all of the shared DNA between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews originates. Both groups also have much more in common with the Levant populations than with the local populations. But we also have interbred with the populations we lived with.

What about the Missing Canaanite DNA?

What about it? One study didn't find Canaanite DNA in some Jews from two sites of thousands. Most studies do indeed find significant overlaps between Jews, Arabs, and Canaanites. In fact, Jews and Arabs are more closely related than Jews and Europeans. We do in fact originate from the Middle East. Which should surprise nobody because we speak basically ancient Canaanite with another 3,000 years of history, we have traditions associated with Canaanites still, again with 3,000 years of new history, and these appear in all the subpopulations of Jews, even the ones that were isolated from the others after the diasporas.

Who Cares?

There's a push to erase this part of our history because it feeds the Khazar theory, that the original Jews disappeared and were replaced by Khazarian usurpers in a mass conversion. But there's no evidence for any mass conversion, just like there's no evidence that we magically appeared out of nowhere in Europe and then rode the wave of the falling Empire to colonize Palestine. This is pure antisemitism, the idea that somehow the Jews of the occupation are "fake". The genetic evidence doesn't support this. There's no difference between Zionist and Diasporist Jews, we're all real. But this also means we Jews can't hide behind the real vs fake Jew analysis. The Jews of the occupation are as much Jews as we are here in the Diaspora. A Jew is a Jew, essentially.

On Jewishness

But is Jewishness tied to ancestry? Obviously not. We intermarried. That's what people do, they go somewhere, they get into relationships with the people they're living with. It's not that common with Jews because of the rampant ghettoization we faced for over 1,000 years, but it happened. And it's okay. Jews have a very long tradition of overlooking ancestry when deciding who a Jew is. The way a Minyan is decided, for example, is to look around, avoid counting Jews specifically, and saying "sure, we've got a Minyan, let's pray". We're not an exclusive club.

Jewishness rather is primarily cultural. Do you daven with the siddur? Do you study the writings? Do you keep Kosher? Then you're Jewish. The "blood quantum" as a rigorous law came from 19th century phrenology, it's not innate to us. So are you a Jew? If you've grown up in the ghetto with us, yeah, you probably are. Nobody would actually choose to be in this kind of situation without very good reason, so if you say you're Jewish you're probably Jewish.

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