Correspondence

  1. Teshuva’s messianic email
  2. responses to the Eurocult attacks
  3. the fred thread
  4. Neturei Karta letter

 

Messianic stuff (or “can a person die for someone else’s sins?”)

 

From Teshuva:

 

Anyway, thanks for being open to discussion.  I really enjoy a good chat...regardless of your views and if you convert.  As long as we both learn, we can both be satisfied with our discussions.

 

What would you like to address specifically?  I will have to unpack my books for school to get the references about Isaac, so we CAN do that, but it may take a while for me to respond.  But for starters, let's look at this: (then I'll stop, cause this email is getting long)...

 

"There was...a remarkable tradition that insisted that Abraham completed the sacrifice and that afterward Isaac was miraculously revived.... According to this haggadah, Abraham slew his son, burnt his victim, and the ashes remain as a stored-up merit and atonement for Israel in all generations ...."-The Torah: A Modern Commentary (UAHC, 1981), p.151

 

"Ibn Ezra (commentary on Gen. 22:19) also quotes an opinion that Abraham actually did kill Isaac...and he was later resurrected from the dead. Ibn Ezra rejects this as completely contrary to the biblical text. Shalom Spiegel has demonstrated, however, that such views enjoyed a wide circulation and occasionally found _expression in medieval writings."-Encyclopedia Judaica, 2:482, "Akedah" ©1972

 

            My Response:

 

I don't wish to delve deep in to issues of religion and faith as much of what each of us feels is driven by a belief system and one canot be convinced that beliefs are wrong. I have made no bones in the chat rooms about my belief that Jesus as any sort of messiah (a misused word to begin with) doesn't make sense and have backed my statements up with all sorts of text, but I don't do that to dissuade those who believe, only to discourage them from trying to impose on me. What troubled me tonight was simply your assertion that there exists in Jewish literature a concept that god desires, condones or in any way wants us to be involved with human sacrifice.
 
The binding of Isaac is the quintessential example of god's desire that we NOT kill for others to be atoned for. The idea, though, that Isaac was indeed killed as was resurrected has been dismissed by many others, not just the Ibn Ezra -- you can try this site for a quick summary of the flaws in the argument.  http://www.logon.org/english/s/p244.html
 
What IS in Jewish theory and liturgy is a two (or even three) fold application of the event to help expiate sin:
 
1. Abraham asks god to treat the Jews "as if" Isaac had been slaughtered, because the slaughter, itself, was not acceptable -- so we should receive the merit of atonement when there was NO human sacrifice.
 
2. Isaac's status changed after the binding -- he was made "hekdesh" and set aside from worldly matters -- something set aside for a sacrifice must not be made impure if the sacrifice doesn't happen.  Because of this change of status, Isaac's children attain a higher spiritual level ad merit atonement through his being offered, but not sacrificed -- had he been (god forbid) sacrificed, he would have had no children to receive atonement...
 
3. Through Abraham's binding of Isaac (the text never shows god asking Abraham to slaughter Isaac, only bring him up as a sacrifice and the Ralbag says that even that is not what god asked) god is shown Abraham's ultimate faith even in the face of a seemingly cruel request (though, according to tradition, the adversary, Satan, told Abraham that god didn't intend Isaac to be the sacrifice, but abraham didn't trust the adversary because he had been lying to Abraham all along - Sanhedrin 89b). It is the reminder of this faith which helps us atone for our sins.  This section of the Torah is read on Rosh hashana as an invokation of Abraham's dedication, both to stimulate our own and to, by association with the great man, bring about atonement, but not through human sacrifice.  The Torah is very clear about the exceptions to the rule of "don't kill" and no where is human sacrifice one of them.  The Olah offering in the temple was to bring atonement by consummating the sacrifice of Isaac which didn't happen -- to bring atonement where it hadn't been brought before.
 
Could I go in to the fact that Jesus as sacrifice would fail as he had blemishes from his torture before he was killed, thus making him unfit? Or that the method, enactors and place of his death are totally antithetical to the mode and method of animal sacrifice? Or the fact that the sacrifices of one generation don't mitigate the sins of another generation? Or that Judaism doesn't accept any concept of original sin from which we need to be saved in order to go to heaven?
 
Sure, but you know all that stuff. I'm only concerned with the human sacrifice in the torah claim.
 
references:
http://www.mesora.org/jewishtimes83.pdf
http://www.ottmall.com/mj_ht_arch/v9/mj_v9i18.html#CCT
http://www.shemayisrael.co.il/parsha/chrysler/archives/vayera64.htm
 

 

His Next email:

 

Hey, thanks for the prompt reply...

Moses said to God: 'Will not the time come when Israel shall have neither Tabernacle nor Temple? What will happen with them then? ' The divine reply was: ' I will then take one of their righteous men and retain him as a pledge on their behalf, in order that I may pardon all their sins.'

---Exodus Rabbah 35:4

just a few things:

1) We don't compare Jesus with an animal sacrifice.  It is comparable with the concept in Talmud that "the death of the righteous atones."  It is in THIS context that Jewish tradition has the "death" of Isaac as atoning for
Israel.  If and when I get the texts out of my boxes, I can send you the texts that say Isaac spilled blood, etc.  This is NOT to show that God desires human sacrifice.  This is to show that he did not forbid it in Torah.  He merely forbid the child sacrifices to Molech.  If you can show an incident where Torah forbids human sacrifice (outside of children to Molech) please do =).

Actually, I do have some with me (copy and pasted from my Word.doc:

"MY BELOVED IS UNTO ME AS A CLUSTER OF HENNA. CLUSTER refers to Isaac, who was bound on the altar like A CLUSTER OF HENNA (KOFER): because he atones (mekapper) for the iniquities of Israel."
---Song of Songs Rabbah 1:14:1


"Said R. Ammi, Wherefore is the account of Miriam's death placed next to the [laws of the] red heifer? To inform you that even as the red heifer afforded atonement [by the ritual use of its ashes], so does the death of the righteous afford atonement [for the living they have left behind]."

---Talmud, Mo'ed Katan 28a

This next one deals specifically with your blemish question (it refers to righteousness, not physical blemishes)...

Hence the righteous man is, of a truth, himself an offering of atonement. But he who is not righteous is disqualified as an offering, for the reason that he suffers from a blemish, and is therefore like the defective animals of which it is written, "they shall not be accepted for you" (Lev. XXII, 25). Hence it is that the righteous are an atonement and a sacrifice for the world.'

---Zohar, Section 1, Page 65a

Another important text:

R. Eleazar said: The Holy One, blessed be He, said to the Angel: Take a great man [rab] among them, through whose death many sins can be expiated for them.29

(29) According to the dictum that the death of the righteous is an atonement.

---Talmud, Berachoth 62b

Next we find a RESURRECTION account, which is unusual...

When Father Isaac was bound on the altar and reduced to ashes and his sacrificial dust was cast onto Mount Moriah, the Holy One, blessed be He, immediately brought upon him dew and revived him."

---Shibbole ha-Leket 9a-b (13th c.)

The word "tahat" used in Genesis: "Abrahanm offered him up for a burnt offering in tahat of his son..." can and does mean "after" (ie 2 Kings 15:7).  So with the above statements, from a Jewish traditional point of view, Isaac was slain, the ram was sacrificed, Isaacs ashes were spread, and then God revived him...thus he could easily have descendants, etc.  But though resurrected, he atoned by his death for
Israel.

Hope that helps show my position better!!


2) Also, Judaism, contrary to popular opinion DOES have a concept of original sin.  It is just a wee bit different than that Catholic version (of which church I am not a part).  Most people think this means you inherit a specific sin of your father.  All it means is that we are all born with the inability to not sin.  We cannot avoid sinning in our life.  A cursory glance at the Tanakh shows this.  Lemme know if I can clear up the concept of original sin at all!

And my response:

 

I'll take a stab at the final thought first. We are all punished because of the sin of Adam and Eve -- we all face mortality, which is a change from before the sin (Gen 3:19). None of this is retaliation or taint that needs to be removed, but a change in what we are and what we can be. Our knowledge of good and evil allows us temptation and gives us the urge to sin. The struggle s a component of our mortality as we are not pure enough to continue living forever. This is not the same as having sin on us; it is tantamount to having free will, and having to exercise this free will to remain as pure as we can and needed to repent when we fail. It is this attribute which puts us above angels. They have no free will. If Adam had not sinned, all mankind would have remained in a Blakian state of innocence and the messiah would have come at once. But when I am born, I am born clean and pure, and after Yom Kippur, I am clean again. I have no stain which remains on my soul other than my own status as human and not angel.

 

As to some of your other quotes, first I'll respond in general -- There is a distinction made between the death of a righteous person and a person as a sacrifice. The death of a righteous man is painful to god but has a power to show faith and thus act as an avenue through which god can forgive people. But this concept has nothing to do with sacrifice or the intentional choosing to die in order that others should be atoned. Your initial statement was that Jewish texts support the concept of human sacrifice. No quote can give validity

 

Isaac was bound, but was not a sacrifice. It was his binding which atoned, and he had to be bound pure and unblemished physically and spiritually. That the zohar says that righteousness is also a necessary component cannot negate the other laws of sacrifice.  Additionally, the zoharic quote (though I am not old enough to study the zohar) seems to be saying that the righteous man, himself, is atonement -- as in the presence of a quorum of righteous men whose existence would have saved Sodom and Gemorrah -- not the death, but self-sacrifice of choosing to live in a proper state.

 

To use the zohar by extracting English quotes without attaining the spiritual level needed to truly study the zohar is worthless.  The context, meaning and exact language are integral to understanding what the deeper truth is behind any section.  The terms for the dust, and the "dew" are obviously metaphorical and their understanding requires a level of learning and grounding that neither of us has. It is a disservice to take kabbalistic texts and treat them like text books and quote snippets to be understood literally from their English translations.

 

The word "tachat" (and this is explained in depth with textual citations in the site I put in the earlier email) means both under and instead of.  To choose under, and then to have to interpolate an unwritten resurrection to explain how Isaac is still alive breaks a rule of torah exegesis -- when you look for the complex, you cannot ignore the literal.  "Instead of" is precedented in the text and fits the exact events without strain.  The literal text is that Abraham's hand is stayed and Isaac is alive to get married. Trying to find otherwise to justify human sacrifice is specious at best.

 

As for Miriam's death, the power of atonement was, as the red heifer was, only for people of her generation -- not for any other time. Even then, the "death of the righteous" which would be possible to help with atonement must be a "mitas neshika" -- an easy death by heavenly kiss -- which is why the Moed examples are of Aaron and Miriam, not anyone else who was righteous and died. To generalize to include anyone whom you might consider righteous flies in the face of the text and demands then a quantification of "righteous" -- one on which, no doubt, we would disagree.

 

The torah never PERMITS human sacrifice and makes clear the items which are permitted to be sacrificed (Lev 1:2). The torah forbids murder and also child sacrifice -- why child sacrifice is murder is already a given? Because child sacrifice is an example of how the practices of other religions (which we are not to follow) make us wish to compromise the "don't murder" statute.  If we think that the murder is useful for some religious rite because it appears that way in other religions, we are still forbidden to follow the practices of other religions. We are told not to go in their ways but are also warned against cutting ourselves. Why both? Because we might think that when the acts of the other religions make sense or are explained as a necessary part of life, they would be acceptable. Through these examples we see how looking for exceptions and implying that anything god did not specify as a singular prohibition is permitted is faulty.

 

You cite the death of Avishai Ben Zeruiah and the aggadah surrounding his prominence and then assume that the text is saying that his death caused atonement for the masses. In fact, though, that is not what the text says. It says that god allowed him to be taken to pay off certain sins that were committed (that Avishai was a ruthless man who attempted to kill a king anointed by god could be seen as a direct sin (as it was for David) which merited his death, and through his death his OWN sin was expiated).  You might want to compare this to the story of the 10 martyrs which is said on Yom Kippur.  If, at the time of a sin, the sinners are not punished, when the sin is uncovered, the great men of a generation might suffer to atone for that sin. Thus, it is not the death of the 10 martyrs which atones, but their suffering which pays off specific sins which an equivalent group did not pay off.  If Avishai's death were so able to completely cleanse sin, why would god have allowed the plague to rage until a certain point? Why not just kill Avishai? Because a singular man's death cannot have an effect on the overall punishment of the people.  The use of actual counting which caused the plague needed to be paid off -- a certain number of people had to be killed. God, in his mercy did not want to kill all the people, so you could say that the death of Avishai substituted for the application of the punishment on 70,000 (or 75,000 acc. to others) other people. The number having been fulfilled (though early) the remainder of the people were no longer held guilty.  Notice that Avishai is not reconed by the term "righteous" but only by his comparison to numbers, as is death was not by the godly kiss, but through the plague. The hebrew word "rav" is more literally "much" -- that is, a large enough number has been killed -- even though that number might have been too low, Avishai settled it by being worth many.   

 

I think that the bottom line is that both of our positions are steeped in the exegetical traditions we follow. We find meanings which are consistent with our beliefs and which come from learned sages within those belief systems.  I still take issue with your chatroom claim that the text includes support for human sacrifice and would think that you would be hard pressed to find a source steeped in the religious tradition that would excuse any form of human sacrifice to atone for the sins of others [the fringe or mystical Isaac tradition dismissed by rabbinic Judaism excepted]. You can find messianic sites which piece together partial quotes divorced from their interpretive contexts and that is your right (such as http://www.geocities.com/his_emissary/tab27.html but that site says the no human sacrifice is allowed) but it is unfair to then represent those cullings as indicative of the original texts. I could take a series of quotes from the gospels and church writings and make a pastiche which would, to the unlearned eye, seem to condone most anything.  Learning is about understanding one idea deeply, not 5 simply.

 

The Exodus Rabbah you quote is incomplete -- and in its completion it clearly removes Jesus from the equation. The whole entry discusses a certain linguistic turn and explains with the quote you provided. First thing to notice is the use of the word "as a pledge" that is, not a replacement - the security for an obligation, not a removal of that obligation - the people are not cleared by the death, but are given the chance to repent through the merit of that righteous person. But the text then continues to show that the example of such a pledge is through the death of the children (Eichah 2:4) (some say the rabbis) of Jerusalem in 70CE, after the destruction of the temple. [the possibility that the text refers to the children is especially problematic since their deaths were not through that godly kiss, their deaths could not be though of in the same way as that of the "righteous" -- this shows the difference between pledge and complete atonement] If Jesus' death even cleared the sins of the people of his own generation (as he died within 45 yrs of the temple's destruction) the destruction of the temple and it's "dear ones" would not have been necessary.

 

As a final note, here is an entire section of the zohar to consider -- notice HOW the death of a righteous person is used -- for each generation to be as if we had brought an animal sacrifice -- not as a sacrifice, itself:

"Zohar(3:56b): [[They continued: "Whenever the righteous are removed from the world, punishment is removed from the world and the death of the righteous atones for the sins of the generation. Therefore we read the section dealing with the death of the sons of Aaron on the Day of Atonement that it may atone for the sins of Israel. God says: Recount the death of these righteous ones, and it will be accounted to you as if you brought an offering on that day to make atonement for you. For we have learnt that so long as Israel are in captivity, and cannot bring offerings on that day, the mention of the two sons of Aaron shall be their atonement. For so we have learnt, that Abihu was equal to his two brothers Eleazar and Ithamar, and Nadab to all together, and Nadab and Abihu were reckoned as equal to the seventy elders who were associated with Moses; and therefore their death was an atonement for Israel."

 

 

If one wanted to take something from the death of the righteous (assuming that they died in the appropriate manner) then one would have to say that the death of the 2 sons of Aaron as punishment for their sin should be recalled to be tantamount to our offering the proper animal sacrifice for ours [NB – I have since learned that the death of Aaron’s two sons acted to help redeem the people by serving as a cautionary tale as “do wrong and die, repent and live.”]. There is nothing more direct to be taken from this section.

 

 

 

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These are my responses to the Eurocult emails. Often, his emails are visible in red with my countering statements framing. Read the red first and my responses will make more sense.

 

I have been recently accused of fabricating these emails so I invite everyone to see them as they are posted on the group archice – messages numbered 6586,87,90-93, 6596, 6606, 6608, 09, 6619-21, 6626-28, 6632, 6643 and possibly 6660. I haven’t found the final post in their archives (hmmm, wonder why)…

 

This began when Eurobot claimed that NO current Jew has ANY connection to ancient Jews. I cited the Nature study to show otherwise.

 

1. The study presented in Nature (as far as I understand it) attempted to show that diverse populations which had in them those who claimed to be of the priestly line were all descended from a common ancestor. As this genetic trait correlated positively to the priestly claim, the conclusion was drawn that, as this excluded (in an statistically significant way) those who did not make this claim to priesthood, all those who had the gene were of a common family which predated certain historical markers.

This study drew from its experimental results that those Jews who have this marker share a unique ancestor, one which those who are not priests by tradition lack. Therefore, this common ancestor was that unique priestly source.

This is not to say that other people who are not Jewish don't have this gene, or that the priests today MUST have this gene to be priests -- only that "These Y-chromosome haplotype differences confirm a distinct paternal genealogy for Jewish priests" -- that is, that the priestly class has a separate and discernable (and exclusive) genealogy.

To claim that this study shows that you ARE a priest if you have the gene, or that you are not a Jew or are because of it is wrong. That isn't the aim of the study -- it shows only a common and ancient continuity of a tradition as borne out by genetic statistics.

http://www.familytreedna.com/nature97385.html

 

2. I thank you very much for your response, but your projections, and lack of genetic and scientific background belie an inability to argue the science.  Your claims are not supported by anything other than your own conjecture -- surely you have a genetics expert who has dissected the study and shown that its science -- not your layman's assessment of the science, is faulty.

 

The study ties those who are of a tradition to a source. The correlation is significant enough to draw a conclusion.  If you don't like that conclusion, then that's fine, but that doesn't make the logical conclusion flawed.

 

 

"In order for them to make the claim that the DNA of these European "Cohen" was that of the ancient Levites, they would have to have the DNA of an ancient Levite."

 

Actually not true -- the logical hypothesis derived from the correlation allows for a statistically reasonable presumption; logically, any DNA marker has an origin somewhere.  That two people from disparate geographical locations share this marker indicates a common ancestor. When that genetic marker correlates with a tradition which excludes others who lack both the marker and the tradition, the significance rises. Basic logic.

 

#1 In these people you call "Cohen" today.. in those you have tested for this marker, have you any records to track them to any people of the middle east. Yes or No. 

 

I have no records, but the DNA IS the record. Scientists have claimed to track all human kind back to a single ancestor (they have named "Eve" -- newspaper article references available upon request). Only the DNA trace is available, but the scientists seem convinced.  Your problem is with the scientific method.

 

#2 Have you tested 100 of those who claim to be Cohen and proven they all have this DNA. Yes or No

 

I haven't, but what I said was that such a test might show many others who have the marker -- indicating they are of the same lineage -- more important is the number of Jews who LACK this marker and who also lack the priestly tradition.

 

 

#3 Have you did any random sampling in the places of these "Cohen" and found any non "Jews" to see if they had this marker. Yes or No.

                                  

No, and while that may be interesting, no one who lacks the priestly tradition NEED be tested to prove the hypothesis.  Again, you have to keep in mind what is being proven, not what you are trying to disprove.

 

#4 Do they have the DNA of an ancient DNA Yes or No

To make a study of the group of ancient Levites they would have to dig up about a thousand of them and make sure all the ancient Levites have that DNA marker.

 

Again, no they wouldn't; all they have to show is a statistically significant commonality in paternity-certainty to derive a common ancestor.

 

#5 Have they dug up a whole cross section of ancient Levites and did a study to ensure they all had this marker. Yes or No

 

Unnecessary for the science -- consult your local geneticist.

 

#6 If non "Jews" also have this marker, then it does not come by being a descendant of the Levite priest.

 

Not really -- as you so ably show, the lineage patterns do intermix. What is so amazing is that there

is still a high correlation among those with the priestly (not Levite, that is a separate marker)

tradition which excludes Jews who do not have that tradition.

 

 

#7 Bingo, This goofy test does not tie any European to any one in the bible.

 

This is where you betray a real ignorance of science -- there was never any attempt to tie this marker to any person in the bible, so such a lack is not a failure. It simply indicates a common family and shared geography in the distant past.

 

 

#8 NO this does not show the common ancestors of these "Jews" with any one.

* If there are "Cohen" who do not have this marker

* If there are non "Jews" who have this marker

Then the only thing this marker shows is those with the marker may have some common ancestors.

 

EXACTLY -- those with the marker have a common ancestor or family link, and the vast majority of those who have a priestly tradition have this marker while a much smaller number who don't have the tradition have this marker. QED. Maybe this means that more Jews are actually priests...or that some non Jews have Jewish blood from way back, but you have just conceded the central point.

 

Please provide a scientific refutation of this study, not your own summary of what you think makes sense. Arguing science as or with a lay person is meaningless. Your challenge went out for a scientist to defend it, but without a scientific challenge, why should anyone have to defend it? You need to better understand the genetics of it, and get a scientist to find fault with the study and its conclusions. Till then, you just sound like you have an agenda.

 

My Next email includes his earlier summation of the above email in it to show his duplicity.

3. you realize of course that you deleted all the point by point responses I presented so as to create the impression that I ignored your points, right? Good joke, though...

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

A guy who worked on the web page with the assertion the marker proved the identity of the priest replied.

His response is a blanket response, covered every thing and never responded to one point or argument I made.

i.e.  The Levites exchanged sons and daughters with the Israelites of the other 11 tribes and the Levites poked all the other Arabs around them and sent their own children back to live in their Arab tribes or nations.  So why would the Levites have a marker that the other 11 tribes and the rest of the Arabs would not have.  He completely avoided responding to every argument or assertion I made.

 

              Here is his response

I thank you very much for your response, but your projections, and lack of genetic and scientific background belie an inability to argue the science.  Your claims are not supported by anything other than your own conjecture -- surely you have a genetics expert who has dissected the study and shown that its science -- not your layman's assessment of the science, is faulty.

 

The study ties those who are of a tradition to a source. The correlation is significant enough to draw a conclusion.  If you don't like that conclusion, then that's fine, but that doesn't make the logical conclusion flawed. 

                 End

 

My response to him and all of his supporters is come into a public debate area.  Use all of your scientific knowledge  You respond to my cross examination and I will respond to yours  And let the readers decide for themselves.

 

Instead of a blanket statement which responds to nothing I have said, come on and address each of my arguments point by point

 

I was then added to the yahoogroup so that my words could be archived. My membership has since “disappeared”

 

4. While I appreciate your adding me and all, and think that there are things to discuss, I'd like to make a few points clear, and you may do with this what you wish:

1. Abraham and Isaac were not Israelites. Nor were they Jews, and the etymology of the word "Jew" makes it unclear whether the first Jews were properly from Moses' time, Joshua's, or post the divided kingdom.

 

2. The "nation" of Israel was made of a combination of peoples -- there was a "core group" of the sons and daughters (whose families were actually made of an influx of cross marriages and interbreedings along with the linear descendants, plus concubines and such) and those who attached themselves to the Children of Israel (meaning Jacob) after the Exodus.  They were not a discrete group until they were united upon that exodus and received the law from god. The clock, in a Jews' eyes, starts there, with the various other countries already represented. So I wouldn't dare fight any assertion that the children of Israel as the later "Jews" were a mishmash of cultures and genetic pools.

 

3. The initial point that I was discussing with regard to the genetics article had nothing to do with whether any Jews today are linked to biblical Jews. That cannot be proven, nor disproven, and the argument lies on where the burden of proof remains. My point was to counter your statement the NO Jew can link himself back, while the genetic truths indicate that those with the specific marker can be traced back to a single male (scientific sources available) about 3000 years ago. That's it...nothing else.

 

4. As for whether or not Jews today follow the laws handed down in the desert, that is a complex discussion which is contextually sensitive. As my understanding of Judaism demands a belief in an oral law and a rabbinic tradition, the laws as I have them no must be seen by me as the end in a chain connected to the desert. As you may see the written law as the only one with authority, you will see a major disconnect and therefore say that I am not practicing what the text demands.  Each of us cannot convince the other as we don't share common beliefs upon which to compare arguments and opinions.

 

If you still question the science of the genetics article, I really do encourage you to contact a geneticist of your choice and have him look at the 2 studies (I can give the journal volumes and pages) and discuss any methodological flaws.

 

Have a nice day.

His response is embedded in my counter response

 

5. the marker came from a single patrilineal ancestor approximately 300 years ago. As those with the marker currently are diverse geographically, while they retain tradition which ties them, the logical conclusion would be to tie the ancestor to the origin of that tradition. This is a supposition with which you may argue at your leisure.

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

#1 In these people you call "Cohen" today.. in those you have tested for this marker, have you any records to track them to any people of the middle east. Yes or No.

 

I have no records, but the DNA IS the record.

///

Did this y marker come from the middle east to Europe or did it come from Europe to the middle east and how do you know.

 

 

6. So the bottom line is that you have not had a geneticist check the science, methodology or conclusion. That's fine. If you wish to deny the genetics and the study, you may do so, but please subject all genetics to the same standards. I have many other non middle east based articles which discuss similar studies on a variety of peoples in an effort to trace distant lineage.  These other non-Judaism related studies were also vetted by peer review and found to be persuasive. I respect your urge to deny the entire branch of science if it is done

consistently.

 

 7. I'm no expert in mutations and DNA, but I assume that those who performed the tests are. I can only excerpt what is written about their work and let you take this to a scientist who can examine the science behind it. "He looked at a set of three Y chromosome sites with stable genetic mutations and six sites at which mutations occur quite often, a mix designed to give good resolution between similar Y chromosomes during historical times. The mutations are all at sites that lie outside the genes, and thus do not contribute in any way to the individual's physical makeup.  He found a particular set of genetic mutations at these nine sites that was strongly associated with the priestly caste, not so common among lay Jews, and very rare among non-Jewish populations. Unlike forensic DNA markers, which are chosen to be almost wholly specific to individuals, this cohen-associated genetic signature cannot be used to say who is or who is not a priest. But it is highly diagnostic of whether a population has Jewish ancestry, Goldstein said.  He finds that 45 percent of Ashkenazi priests and 56 percent of Sephardic priests have the cohen genetic signature, while in Jewish populations in general the frequency is 3 to 5 percent.  Some of his subjects had the cohen genetic signature but with slight variations caused by mutations. From the pattern and number of mutations, Goldstein was able to calculate when the present day bearers of the cohen genetic signature and its variations last shared a common ancestor. This date, when all the branches of the family tree coalesce into a single trunk, has a wide range of uncertainty and depends on several assumptions, like the number of years in a human generation and the rate of mutation. But assuming 25 years to a generation on average, Goldstein calculated the coalescence time as 2,650 years ago, or 3,180 years with a 30-year generation time.  Though they are only rough, these dates make an evocative match with the Jewish tradition that Moses assigned the priesthood to the male descendants of his brother Aaron after the Exodus from Egypt, believed to have occurred some 3,000 years ago. Goldstein and colleagues published this conclusion last July. "

 

Again, his response is in red (with the italics being my responses to his claims), the surrounding text is my counter-response

                         

8. Your ignorance of and anger towards Jewish tradition makes this less a discussion about the validity of certain scientific testing and more a sounding board for your own distaste for Judaism and modern Jewish practice. Thus I can not be involved in such discussion -- your bitterness or distaste is not something that anyone can convince you out of, nor should anyone try. You need to come to terms with your anger on your own. Have a nice day.

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

Have you tested 100 of those who claim to be Cohen and proven they all have this DNA. Yes or No

///

Blight responds

 

I haven't, but what I said was that such a test might show many others who have the marker -- indicating they are of the same lineage -- more important is the number of Jews who LACK this marker and who also lack the priestly tradition.

///

#1 OF your own selected geneticist... have they taken 100 males that have this marker and then compared their dna with their grandpa, their great grandpa, their father and all of their brothers.

YES or NO

 

"The Jews" who lack this marker also lack the priestly tradition

 

What is the priestly tradition?

*  Do they teach the laws of Moses, if so I can show you 10,000 people who teach the laws of Moses and do not have the marker.

*   Do they teach that people must keep the laws of Moses. If so I will the laws of Moses and you show me the "Cohen" who teaches their congregation they must follow them.

*   Do you mean the males with this marker keep the laws and ceremonies of the Levites...

What do you mean the "Jews" who have this marker have the priestly tradition?

 

a) the males that have this priestly tradition teach the laws and ceremonies of the Israelites that millions of others teach and do not have this marker.

b) the males that have this priestly tradition teach their congregation that they are to keep the laws and ceremonies of Moses.

c) the males that have this priestly tradition actually keep the laws and ceremonies of the Levite priest.

d) the males that have this priestly tradition just blab about the laws and ceremonies like millions of other non "jews" and mock it, ignore keeping it.

 

What do you mean 'THESE MEN HAVE THE PRIESTLY

TRADITION"?

 

 

9. How can you question a conclusion when your understanding of the science is not as practiced as the scientist who made the conclusion? If I go to my doctor and he interprets a series of medical tests one way, should I turn to him and say "I argue with your conclusion even though I lack medical training, because according to what I think, you must be wrong."?

 

You can disagree with suppositions, method or drawn conclusion, but your feelings don't carry any weight when measured against professionals in the field. When you take this study to someone whose credentials match those of the author (as was done in the peer review process) and your expert can makes a scholarly analysis of the problems he finds, then the authors would no doubt be moved to address these shortcomings.

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

One writes:

So the bottom line is that you have not had a geneticist check the science, methodology or conclusion

///

NO

I accept the

*  Procedures of YOUR selected geneticist.

*  Observations of YOUR selected geneticist

 

I challenge no genetics or science.

I challenge the CONCLUSION

My challenge needs NO genetic or scientific knowledge  My challenge needs to find contradictions of your geneticist self contradictions or contradictions against the facts.

My challenge is based on my knowledge of the law of contradictions.

 

If what ever your geneticist claims contradicts the facts it is not I but your geneticist which is proven ignorant or a liar.

 

In YOUR geneticist conclusion this marker is ALWAYS passed from the father to the son.

In FACT where this marker is found ALL great grandfathers, grandfathers, fathers, brothers and sons of the person this marker is found in, does not have this marker  Your geneticist conclusion that this marker is always passed from the father to the son, is false.

 

In the people now in the middle east who have this marker, your geneticist does not know if it came from the middle east to europe or from europe to the middle east.

 

My conclusions have nothing to do with my scientific/genetic knowledge but that of your own geneticist... because they do not have ignorance as an excuse, their blatant contradictions of the truth exposes them as liars..

 

 

10. Your response is still mired in anger and conjecture. You have presented no science to bolster your claim. Are my attitudes informed by a faith in the text of the bible as written? Sure. But yours are only driven by ad hominem attack and hatred. There can be no dialogue when your posts are permeated by such language.

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

He finds that 45 percent of Ashkenazi priests and 56 percent of Sephardic priests have the cohen genetic

///

In scientific facts.. an axiom or a fact is a constant

 

 

If it were a fact this gene is passed from the male to the son  it would not be 45 percent, it would not be 56 percent but it would be

100 percent

 

IN EVERY GENERATION

EVERY GREAT GRANDFATHER

EVERY GRANDFATHER

EVERY FATHER

EVERY BROTHER

AND EVERY SON ... if every male relative does not have this marker, you have nothing but wishful thinking

 

You have nothing but bullshit and you can not even tie your bullshit to any native people of the middle east.

 

///

Moses assigned the priesthood to the male descendants of his brother Aaron after the Exodus from Egypt, believed to have occurred some 3,000 years ago. Goldstein and colleagues published this conclusion last July. "

///

 

Looking at the number of Israelites who went in and those numbered when they came out, the only way they could have ever produced that number would be by mass breeding with the Egyptians when they were in captivity.  Maybe one of the Levite women was poked by the high priest of the Egyptian gods and the Levites now carry the marker of pagan worshippers?

 

Begin and produce your 3000 year dna with this marker.

 

Lets see you tie this marker with any ancient people of the middle east, then look around stone hinge, you might be able to track it to their real ancestors the druids.

 

11. Your poor command of the language as evidenced in your prose might be the source of your inability to understand my statements and even more so, to phrase your questions in any meaningful fashion. The priestly tradition is the religious belief that one springs from the priestly lineage and therefore performs the priestly functions as a result of that belief. It is clear that you are not aware of the responsibilities or roles of those priests within the religion as you are confusing those of that tradition with other functionaries. I will answer your yes/no questions, but you should understand that the answers have little bearing on the topic at hand. By flouting such ignorance it becomes you who changes the subject.

 

 

YOU COME UP WITH A PHRASE LIKE PRIESTLY TRADITION  YOU MAKE IT APPEAR IT IS SOME KIND OF SPECIAL QUALITY  SO WE MUST KNOW WHAT THIS QUALITY IS

 

What is the priestly tradition?

#1  Do they teach the laws of Moses

YES OR NO

 

No, that is not their role

 

 

#2   Do they teach that people must keep the laws of Moses.

YES OR NO

 

No, that is not their role.

 

 

#3   Do you mean the males with this marker keep the laws and ceremonies of the Levites...

YES OR NO

 

Some do, some, no doubt, don't.

 

 

What do you mean the "Jews" who have this marker have the priestly tradition?

 

The Jews who have this marker and also have the family tradition of being from the priestly lineage.

 

 

ARE THESE PRIEST DIFFERENT THAN ANY OTHER SUBSET OF MEN ON EARTH?

 

Obviously, by DNA, yes, as I am different from someone else because of my DNA.

 

 

#4 Do any of those with the priestly tradition ever get drunk?

YES OR NO

 

Sure. So?

 

 

#5 Do any of those with the priestly tradition ever get caught in adultery?

YES OR NO

 

I'm sure. So? What do you think the role of these people is? Do you think that they are not human, or all ultra religious?

 

#6 Do any of those with the priestly tradition ever get caught poking little boys or other men?

YES OR NO

 

There seems to be an affinity towards the term "poking" among the members of this list. All this does is makes one think that all respondents are either the same person, or all misinformed by the same source. Sort of like a DNA chain...but as to the question, while I don't know of any cases, it is reasonable to expect that among those with the marker are those who have committed a variety of sins, possibly even such attacks on minors. So?

 

#7 Do any of those with the priestly tradition ever get convicted of theft?

YES OR NO

 

As answered, sure. So?

 

#8  Do any of those with the priestly tradition ever get convicted of murder?

YES OR NO

 

Possibly. So?

 

You have yet to make any argument other than to concede the presence of this marker. When you are ready to debate the point at hand, we can talk. Meanwhile, think about the British royal family. While it is traced by blood and family (to some extent) its members are just as fallible and liable to commit crimes. Does that invalidate their DNA?

 

 

12. So instead of going to your own doctor for a second opinion doctor, you decide that since you don't like the conclusion of the first doctor, you will ignore the medical profession. Brilliant. You must have many headaches as you are afraid to survey a number of

doctors and get their professional opinions.

 

If you don't like one scientist's opinion, get others.

Don't self medicate...

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

How can you question a conclusion when your understanding of the science is not as practiced as the scientist who made the conclusion? If I go to my doctor and he interprets a series of medical tests one way, should I turn to him and say "I argue with your conclusion even though I lack medical training, because according to what I think, you must be wrong."?

///

Your cult members are not my doctor If I have a head ache and my doctor tells me I will feel better if I have my head cut off And CONTRARY TO THE FACTS no one has ever had their head cut off and lived Then I will tell that doctor to shove his education where the sun does not shine

The process of looking for a trait is pure mechanics I do not challenge The observations of the cult I do not challenge

 

The conclusions that this trait is always passed from father to son When it is NOT always passed from father to son makes your scientist blatant liars. Ignorance is not their excuse.

 

The conclusion this trait comes from some ancient people from the middle east when they do not have a cross section of dna from ancient people of the middle east makes them blatant liars.

 

When people with out ignorance contradict the facts, they are blatant liars

 

13. I'm not precisely sure to what you are replying as I don't recall being in a conversation regarding this topic. "Every Israelite" is a tough phrase to parse, as your focus of time and place is unstated.  One thing you might want to remember is that the same forces which Europeanized volumes of traveling "Israelites" also Arabicized merchants who migrated to the middle east. Thus one could argue that a vast number of those currently claiming to be Arabs (though that term is nebulous) are really ones whose physical traits have been modified over years of intermarriage.

 

By the way, the definition of race you provide creates a most bizarre possibility -- according to the language of the American Heritage Dictionary, (some important details of which you omit, by the way, as the definition number two actually reads "A group of people united or classified together on the basis of common history, nationality, or geographic distribution" )  any group of people, even on a global scale, can be considered a race, which might make any one individual a member of a series of overlapping and non exclusive races.

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

Explain to me how EVERY ISRAELITE  came from a composite of 27 Arab tribes or nations... all of the skeleton remains from Turkey to Egypt were either Arabs or Negros.. (which are NOT european skeletons)  Explain to me how every Israelite came from the Arab race and yet you can not tell any of these self proclaiming "Jews" from any other European or nazi in a line up?

 

No such thing as an Arab race?

 

American Heritage : race

1. A local geographic or global human population distinguished by genetically transmitted physical characteristics.

2. A group of people classified together on the basis of ... common geographic distribution.

3. Human beings considered as a group.

5. Biology. a. A population of organisms differing from others of the same species in the frequency of hereditary traits; a subspecies.

 

Microsoft Encarta

Race, term historically used to describe a human population distinguishable from others based on shared biological traits. All living human beings belong to one species, Homo sapiens. The concept of race stems from the idea that the human species can be naturally

subdivided into biologically distinct groups.

 

The assertions below only include natives of these areas which are not mixed.

 

While humans can not be divided into specific races, we can observe that un-mixed populations in different areas of the earth have biological or physical appearances different than those in people in other parts of the world. While we have been given 3 divisions of races, there are many differences in people in different areas of the world that make up many different races.

 

 

* Natives of western Europe share the same fair skin with some Orientals, but no un-mixed Orientals have blue eyes or blond hair. Further more Europeans have different physical features than Orientals.

 

 

* Natives of western Europe share the same physical features as natives of the middle east, EXCEPT no un-mixed European had the brown/black faces of the natives of the middle east and no native of the middle east had the fair skin, light brown or brown hair of the Europeans.

 

 

* Natives of the middle east have the same brown/black skin as Africans, but different physical features, Africans had no straight hair, there is a difference in skulls and skin thickness between Arabs and Africans.

 

 

* Natives of the middle east have the same brown/black skin and straight hair as native Americans but they have different facial features. Not is there the differences we can observe with the eye, there are different biological differences.

 

 

Un-mixed Europeans are different than all people on earth and Arabs are different than all other people on earth. The Arab race existed over 6000 years before the first Israelite was conceived. The Israelites had no separate race but they were a composite of every Arab they fought against or encountered in the scriptures. The Israelites belonged to the Arab race... that is who they came from. They were not formed out of the clay, they came from nothing other than all the Arabs they encountered through out the scriptures.

 

AFRICANS TRICKLE IN

 

Later when in captivity they encountered Africans and Moses caused a big conflict when he married a Cushite (not Ethiopian). There was no big conflict when the Israelites took non Israelites for husbands and wives because there was NO conflict when they married other non Israelites (of the Arab race) ... Midiaites, Moabites, Syrians, Canaanites. Only when Moses married the Cushite (Cush between southern Egypt and northern Sudan) did it cause such an outrage. The whole Old Testament (Tanakah) account involves a big pot luck of Arabs and a pinch of Africans until the very end after the multitude of Israelites were already scattered into the Arab nations.

 

 Today the middle east has many people who have taken on the physical of the Europeans who have invaded over the centuries, before any Europeans polluted the middle east, the * yellow area * of this map is the land of the Arab race. The red area is where 96% of all the European invaders now in Palestine came from.

 

    Below is a picture of a European who got off a plane from Russia to take the home land of the Palestinians. She calls herself a Jew .. The European race.   The other belongs to the Arab race. She was a Palestinian.

 

 

American Heritage : race

1. A local geographic or global human population distinguished by genetically transmitted physical

characteristics.

 

 

Microsoft Encarta

Race, term historically used to describe a human population distinguishable from others based on shared biological traits.

 

The Arab race is NOT the European race. The millions invading Palestine belong to the European race... using the scriptures to con the world they are descendants of the Israelites.. who were NOTHING BUT a family of the Arabs race.  ( It appears the Arab race is the race of God. Gen 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness:) 

 

The Arab race was the first race to exist on earth. The Israelites were their descendants and yet today we have a cult in the European race claiming they are the heirs of the families of the holy Arab race?

 

Here is the link that exposes the farce of the phony definitions of Arab given by this Europe cult

http://arabisraelites.fortunecity.net/i1500.htm

 

14. Read carefully and you will see that I didn't claim it was your definition, only the one you provide. And by that same definition, global groups are races outside of genetics and physical features. So while you can choose one aspect of a definition and defend an Arab race through it, I can choose another aspect of ONE YOU PRESENT and show you some other "race." You make the mistake of hitching your thoughts to only one part of a complex definition and assume I will ignore the rest.

 

Interesting scientific note -- paleontologists have reported studies tracing all mankind back to a single genetic origin in Africa, and yet we aren't all dark skinned anymore.  How does that fit in?

 

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

By the way, the definition of race you provide creates a most bizarre possibility

///

It is NOT my definition

 

Brown skin is not caused by climate The Arab race is DIFFERENT than the European race The genes that cause brown skin are not present in the European race. Your European "Jews" have white European skin, not Arab brown skin The Israelites began with Iraqis and Syrians... Look at the physical remains of the people in these regions 2000-4000  BC

NO European race

Look in the Pyramids, NO blond hair, NO fair skin The Egyptians were by far the major ancestor contributors of the Israelites. Your pretend Jews do not have the genes of the Arab race, but your  white skin, blond hair, light brown hair.. they are the very same race as the rest of the Europeans. Explain how 100% brown/black face, black hair people went into Europe  and now you can not pick them out of a line up of any other Europeans

 

 

15. Actually, none of these claims you make is at all substantiable without genetic testing which your own agenda says is not useful.  How can you say that anyone now is a descendent of anyone hundreds or thousands of years ago, without that earlier person's DNA. Therefore, any attempt to invalidate a Jewish claim and yet still support a claim about the evolution of other groups is doomed by its own logic.

 

Giggle, giggle.

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

The Europeans invaded the middle east before Christ, the Romans and Greeks were in Egypt.  In a multitude of pictures in the pyramids, there are no fair skin, no blond hair pictures of Egyptians before the invasion of the Europeans.  After the Europeans invaded centuries before Christ, people with European faces began to appear.  When the Europeans poked the Arab women they were not thinking about taking them home to mom, but they left their illegitimate children in the middle east.

 

THE DESCENDANTS OF THE EUROPEANS IN THE MIDDLE EAST DID NOT ALL MUTATE INTO THE ARAB RACE BY MARRIAGE NOR CLIMATE.  TODAY THERE IS A MULTI DUDE OF NATIVES IN THE MIDDLE EAST WHO'S ANCESTORS WERE EUROPEANS AND YOU COULD NOT TELL FROM ANY OTHER EUROPEAN

 

Before Christ the Romans took Arab and African soldiers into Europe. The descendants of these Arab / Africans have been in Europe for over 2000 years and yet a multitude of their descendants retain the brown/black faces of their ancestors.

 

Gypsies.. the Arab race from Iranians n natives from India who migrated into Europe.. they have been in Europe for over 2000 years and yet neither marriage or climate has turned all of their descendants into milk face Europeans.

 

European descendants in the middle east retain the physical features of their European ancestors.  Africans, Arabs, Gypsies live in Europe for 2000 years and retain the physical features of their Middle east/African ancestors.  ... But the "Jews" go to Europe, fall into a bucket of white paint and ALL of their descendants mutate into white Anglo Saxon, Europeans

giggle, giggle

 

 

16. Your concept of "pictures" is wonderful good fun. According to cave paintings, men were all stick figures and ancient Egyptian tomb drawings had skin tones a variety of shades. So I guess you weren't going for conclusive.

 

And the proof you bring about 25 isolated Arabs is exactly the problem. Can you find twenty five who were NOT isolated and prove that they are descended from Europeans mixed in? If you say tat they all look like Arabs then all you have done is prove that there was, as you so poetically put it, no European "infestation." But if you are trying to prove that they look like they did all those years ago even DESPITE European mixing then you would need, by your own argument, samples of DNA past and present to prove that point. You have just proven your own argument to be wrong. Look at the people who are descended from the native Americans but who have had ancestors from a series of European immigrants who had children with the native Americans. Do they look like native Americans of even 150 years ago in skin tone and physical characteristics? No (and, yes, we have photos from 150 years ago...) and this is a relatively short period of genetic mixing. But would you deny someone who claimed to be of native American ancestry because you lack the DNA of his great-great-great-great-great grandfather? How many blacks in America "passed" for white because of only one or two generations of mixing?

 

= = = Original message = = =

 

actually there are tens of thousands of ancient pictures in the middle  east (most from egypt)  and before the europeans came (2000-4000 bc)

There were no white europeans

///

Actually, none of these claims you make is at all substantiable without genetic testing

///

I don't need genetic testing I look at 25 kids in an isolated  area in the middle east .. where europeans have not infested.  Then I can go to isolated places in europe and can get 25  kids from europe.. mix in say (10 "jews").  No one can tell the jews from the rest of the europeans but  any one can tell the europeans and jews from the arabs

 

Don’t need any micro scope, don't need any geneticist

 

I took one picture of one native person of the middle east. The rest are "Jews" or Germans.. Europeans  My first challenge was for people to pick the one person who was a native of the middle east.. every one has been able to do it in a snap

 

NO one can pick the "Jews" out from any otherEuropeans

 

Don’t need a geneticist to pick an arab out from aeuropean, dont need dna all israelites were arabs the cult of false jews are anglo saxons

 

 

17. This mish mash of vituperative and speculative anecdote lacks any basis in reality -- you have no sample, no evidence and your narrative does not clearly address any point. All you invective does is assure me that your agenda has blinded you to any objective rendering of the facts. Scientifically, we are all descended from one African ancestor. More recently, "Americans" are made up of a variety of genetic originators. Europeans are a distinct mix based on the trade routes and migratory patterns of the last few thousand years.  That any group has maintained a modicum of physical distinctiveness (though without ancient photographs, you can't be sure that the current look is identical with the historical one -- modern Egyptians look very little like those depicted in tomb drawings) is more an indicator of a lack of mixing. That the mass of Europeans and Americans, and many Asians (excluding the far east) share physical traits is proof of the mix which can have an effect on outward appearance but yet cannot change DNA. There are two major texts out there which bear this out having nothing to do with any specific race or religion. I will supply references if you'd like, but your tone indicates that you are unwilling to consider any direction of discourse which requires scientific thinking or actual evidence based conversation.

 

And by the way, using the term Negroes is positively hilarious. Keep it up; I look forward to your ramblings for their entertainment value as I have seen that you are not interested in any intelligent give and take.

 

18. This is pretty basic and I've dealt with this in other posts. The bottom line to genetics is that if we all evolved from a single set of African ancestors, by your logic we should al be black now (and science has posited in many studies that we all DO stem from a group of homo sapiens in Africa). According to your summary of pseudo science, no child could ever have "passed" as white in Civil War era America and yet many children of mixed marriages (after only 1-2 generations of mixing) passed quite convincingly.

 

 

19. exactly -- I'm glad you understand. It is the ones who didn't stay in the middle east and whose blood was further mixed with that of Europeans which changed. You have proven my point elegantly. Thank you.

 

 

"The descendants of Europeans in the middle east have retained the appearance of their European ancestors and they retain a mix of the physical appearance of their Arab ancestors.

 

The descendants of Gypsies, Africans and Arabs in Europe have retained a great multitude of offsprings that retain the brown/black faces or their non European ancestors. "

 

 

Back to top

another genetic thread _ I sent email to the Khazar researcher whom Fred loves to (mis)interpret:

 

On Wed, 8 Sep 2004, daniel rosen wrote:
> On your page of abstracts, which gives summaries of genetic studies  done which connect "jewish" dna to a variety of groups, you write:

 " Additional research is necessary, and it will certainly take several more years to sort it all out. All existing studies fail to compare
 modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA and medieval Khazarian DNA, and many of them focus on paternal ancestries rather
 than maternal ancestries,"

 Have there been any studies to compare the Jewish population's dna to "ancient Judean"?

 What is "ancient Judean" DNA and where would one find an authentic sample to compare modern DNA to it?

 Where does anyone have medieval khazarian DNA?

 Are you saying that current studies which connect Jews to Khazars are flawed because they focus on patrilineal markers?

 What would a test from the DNA Family Tree center prove?  If I were to get a test, could I then be connected to "ancient Judean DNA"?

 Thank you for this clarification.

 

 

Dear John Day and Daniel Rosen:
  There is no way to extract DNA from most ancient bones, so at the present time no ancient Judeans have been tested, but it is not necessary because comparisons with nearby populations give a reasonable estimation of the genetic constitution of the region in old times, in particular the Kurds have not intermarried or migrated much over the past 3,000 years so
they are a good representation of the northern section of the Middle East, and the Lebanese probably are descended from the ancient Phoenician Canaanites whose language and ethnicity was related to the ancient Hebrews.  Meanwhile modern Egyptians are descended from the ancient Egyptians despite the change in culture and language with the forced Arabization of North Africa.  Same with the Berbers, who are the Berbers of old.
  By the same token, one perhaps cannot extract Khazarian DNA from medieval bones except if certain circumstances exist.  Right now there are only a few people working on collecting DNA from bones of old steppe peoples and I don't know what the results, if any, are yet.  It depends on whether bone barrow or other remains still preserve the DNA in a form that
scientists could examine.  We know about many archaeological sites of Khazars and some of the remains are stored in museums but I do not have a full catalogue nor have all of the sites been completely itemized yet.
  A genetic test through Family Tree DNA would help to establish only the Y-DNA and mtDNA lines of your ancestry, representing two lines out of hundreds of thousands that you have.  Y-DNA would tell you whether your male ancestor who is going back about 2000-3000 years of your father's father's father's father's father's etc. side is likely to have been from a certain ethnic group or geographic region.  Since I do not know your family background I cannot speculate on what the results would be.  On average about 80 percent of Y-DNA tests of Jews trace back to the
Middle East and this contrasts greatly with the common mtDNA results of Jews.
At the time of ordering your test, should you choose to buy one or two, please visit Family Tree DNA through my outgoing referral link at http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/family-tree-dna.html   These issues are clarified in my paper "The Origins of East European Jews" in Russian History/Histoire Russe vol. 30 nos. 1-2 (Spring-Summer 2003 issue) on pages 1-22.  You may wish to read that.  Are you both in the
U.K. or only John is?  Some of the research was
performed in the
U.K.

Best regards,
Kevin Brook
kbrook@khazaria.com



My Response:

 


I thank you for your clearly presented answers and am left with only a few basic questions which need further clarification:

1. If Judaism is matrilineal, then how does that affect the claims based on "father's father's father's father's father's etc. side is likely to have been from a certain ethnic group or geographic region"?

2. Weren't the residents of the Middle East, themselves, the result of years of migration and intermixing (we know that the temple in Jerusalem was destroyed by Romans and before that, Greeks, indicating a European presence which would no doubt intermix with local groups). Even the ancient peoples from before the Roman or Greek invaders --
the ancient Philistines are said by some to be migrant descendants of
Crete. So isn't testing ancient Middle Eastern DNA actually testing for DNA from a wider variety of locations?

Note - -I haven't found the article you cite online, but did find another summary you post which I found fascinating:

""In summary, Eastern European Jews are descended from a mixture of German and Austrian Jews, Czech Jews, and East Slavic Jews. The East Slavic Jews may have roots in both the Khazar and Byzantine empires, hence necessitating our further study of Jewish life in those lands. But the largest, and most influential, proportion of Eastern European Jews came from
Central Europe. By this analysis we can show that the dominant ethnic element among Eastern European Jews is Judean – the ancient Jewish people of Judea in the Middle East."


”We no longer need to rely on speculation. It is now a known FACT that German Jews mingled with other Jews when they came east. It is also clear that the ancient Israelites possessed those Y-DNA patterns that are found in common among Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazic Jews, Kurdish Jews, and Indian Jews, despite the fact that ultimately those patterns
may have earlier stemmed, in part, from somewhere in Kurdistan or Armenia or Iraq. The Middle Eastern Y-DNA patterns in the J and E haplogroups cannot be explained by Khazars. Some of the mtDNA evidence
and Levite Y-DNA evidence can be, however."

I thank you for your time and have already bookmarked a few of your sites for reference.

 

 

I then got a response to me (not cc:ed to the website author) and responded:

 

It seems he is telling you just what I have said. You use the DNA in populations from the region. In this case the Palestinians who have always lived there.  Lets face it most of you do not have any Arab in you so how could you be Jew's? The people are are killing everyday have more right to call themselves Jew's than most of you people do who came there in and around 1948. I understand you  refer to the Arabs as your cousins. Well if there was indeed a racial link then they would indeed be cousins as they say. But in 95% of cases there is no racial link.

Get a test done..Its simple..$212 http://www.familytreedna.com/

 

What are you people sarced of it you really think you are Jew's?

 


Sorry. The debate goes on.

*********************************** 

 

 I'm not sure what email of his you read, so I'll just quote a few sentences from his reply:

1. as to your misunderstanding of the claim that scientists have "failed to compare": he writes " There is no way to extract DNA from
most ancient bones, so at the present time no ancient Judeans have been tested"

2. as for your contention that there is no connection, he writes "On  average about 80 percent of Y-DNA tests of Jews trace back to the Middle East "

If you read through his site he agrees that there is a genetic link to the mid east and says that IN ADDITION, there was a conversion of the
Khazars who ADDED their genetic markers to the Jewish genes...

It would be pretty hard to hear from the expert and still contend that there is no connection. You'd have to argue with him now -- his 80%
connected based in science far outstrips your 95% unconnected based on nothing.

As for the test, I hope you read what he said about what the test can show, he said :"A genetic test through Family Tree DNA would help to
establish only the Y-DNA and mtDNA lines of your ancestry, representing two lines out of  hundreds of thousands that you have.  Y-DNA would tell you whether your male ancestor who is going back about 2000-3000 years of your father's father's father's father's father's etc. side is likely to have been from a certain ethnic group or geographic region"

So (and I'll make this simple) -- there is an 80 percent probability that this test will establish that through my father's side, I have a
Y-DNA connection which connects to the middle east.

Of course, since Judaism allows conversion and is passed along matrilineally, none of this is useful, but it pretty forcefully negates your argument...

 

And please, don't forget this quote of his:

”It is also clear that the ancient Israelites possessed those Y-DNA patterns that are found in common among Sephardic Jews, Ashkenazic Jews, Kurdish Jews, and Indian Jews, despite the fact that ultimately those patterns may have earlier stemmed, in part, from somewhere in Kurdistan or Armenia or Iraq. The Middle Eastern Y-DNA patterns in the J and E haplogroups cannot be explained by Khazars.”

Quite clearly, the studies have shown the connection to the ancient Israelites...

 

Then a final response from the author, and my response to him:

 

I am not concerned about "claims" of religions about who belongs and who doesn't.  My focus is on ethnic, not religious, belonging.  First off,
in ancient times Judaism considered the paternal line to be of most importance anyway, and that rule only changed later.  Second, the whole
concept of inheriting a religion automatically by lineage is fraudulent  What really gets inherited automatically is ethnicity, whereas other
things like culture and language and religion are not so automatic. One cannot choose or change what one is, but one can change or choose what one believes.  Whether DNA evidence or the findings of historical research supports or denies certain claims of Judaism the religion is not of my interest.
  If you look at the background of why the rule was changed, it was because rabbis wanted to ensure that children were identifiable as
Jewish and raised Jewish, and since it is easier to know who the mother than the father is of a child at birth in some cases, and since mothers
imparted their faith and values to their children by virtue of how much time they spent with them, it is seen as easier to establish "Jewishness".
  If Y-DNA says that the father's line comes from Judeans, then the descendant has some Judean ancestry, and belongs in some (at least small)
way to the Judean people, and by the way can still inherit religious titles like Israelite, Cohen, and Levite.  It's that simple.  Whether a
rabbi thinks the child is Jewish based on an arbitrary rule is not important to me.  Besides, anyone can convert to Judaism, whether they
have any recent Jewish ancestors or not.  Israelites/Judeans were an identifiable people before Judaism was fixed in form around the 6th
century BCE.  In the
U.S. today there are maybe 12 million or more people total who descend from Ashkenazic Judeans but only about 5-6 million of them are Jewish by the religious definition.  Why exclude the others from cultural activities related to, e.g., Israel, Jews as a people, Jewish holidays with at least partial secular themes like Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Passover, and Jewish organizations in the broad sense, etc., just because of some arbitrary flip-flop notion conceived by some authoritarian rabbis after the fall of the second temple?  Did the rabbis get the right to hijack an entire ethnicity according to their own whims?  Before Judaism there were other beliefs among our people.  I consider Christian Ashkenazim, secular Ashkenazim, and Buddhist Ashkenazim to be part of my people, just as much as Jewish Ashkenazim.

  I know that the
Middle East has mixed populations too, but we don't have any choice but to test modern populations.  Since there are so many
populations to choose from we still can cluster them geographically by genetic distance testing in conjunction with maps.  I don't know who the
modern descendants of Philistines would be, so they don't fall into this discussion.

 

 

My response:

 

I read with interest your most recent mail and appreciate your thoughts about the apparently arbitrary exclusion of many from the
Jewish fold.  My only interest in bringing up the issue of matrilineal descent is to compare claims based on patrilineal. The point of the
Philistines was just a concern that the local population as it is currently is an amalgam itself so the comparison can't be pristine.

I thank you again for all your help and clarification; it has been
most enlightening.

 

 

Sadly, Fred cannot read the facts and continues to pester me with the same old, same old as shown here (intermixed with my responses) (and note – he does not cc: the author on any of this):

 

Him: YOU ARE JUST GOING ROUND AND ROUND IN CIRCLES FROM THE MAIN ARGUMENT.  WHY DON'T YOU JUST TAKE A TEST..YOU MUST LAY AWAKE AT NIGHT WONDERING..ARE YOU A JEW OR ARE NOT..I DON'T THINK IT WOULD BE LONG BEFORE I TOOK THE TEST.

Me: You are now back to all caps and not substance. If yopu read what the author of the site says, you might learn that the idea you hang your
hat on is baseless. Don't argue with me...it should be clear to you by now that his main point was to INCREASE the number of people considered Jews. If you think I am going around in circles and avoiding a main point, please state what the main point is -- it isn't that I don't have Judean DNA because the author makes it clear that 80% of Jews will have Judean DNA...if it is that Jews don't exist for some reason, then you have a problem as the author makes it clear that they do.

If it is that I should spend 212 dollars to take a test then you forget that a) 80 percent of people tested can trace back to Judean DNA and b) the test looks at those elements Patrilineally traced, but Judaism is Matrilineal, so the whole test is useless.

So, please, what main point? And please...try to state clear facts, not empty rhetoric...


Him: TAKE THE TEST..GET IT OVER WITH..THE MAN TOLD YOU WHERE THE JUDEAN IS. in THE LOCAL ARABS..IF YOU DONT UNDERSTAND THAT i FELL SORRY FOR YOU. NO JUDEAN  DNA = NO JEW. ALL THINGS ARE AS THEY WERE. I RECON MOST OF YOU ARE FAKES AND A SIMPLE DNA TEST WOULD PROVE IT AND YOU KNOW THAT.. THANK GOD FOR DNA.. I RECON HE SEND US THAT YOU KNOW.

 

Me:  Your English is deteriorating in both your writing and reading areas. The author was very clear about the connection to Judean DNA - it
exists. He gave the proof. How come you refuse to read what he wrote? And why are you so interested in the test when the facts already show the result as a foregone conclusion? You seem very angry -- it comes through in your writing -- I wonder why you are so angry? Could it be that "the man" has shown that your understanding of the facts is wrong? You insistence that "no Judean DNA=no Jew" means that if I don't have "american DNA" from 3000 years ago, there are no Americans
(and this is applicable to any group; by that logic, no racial or ethnic group actually exists.) If you insist on parroting the same
nonsense and ignoring the facts as presented by the objective voice of YOUR choosing, then I guess you truly are incapable of discourse.

Of course it is laughable that you "thank god" for DNA, your understanding of DNA is so limited that you can't see that the Y-DNA is conclusively connected between modern day Jews and the ancient
Middle East...

 

Him:     You are certainly right that I am angry. What started out with you  fake Jews stealing Arab land and killing them  has now turned into muslin thing worldwide. Thanks to parasites like you going there to get something for nothing, we goy now live under the threat of attack wherever we are in the world. If you were real Jews then I suppose there could have been a vague reason for it, yet still not a reason to steal and kill for.

 

Get over your identity crises over with  Daniel. http://www.familytreedna.com/  just $212 will end those dreams you are having..am I a jew..am  I not a jew..did I mutilate my son for no good medical reason? did I really stand there and laugh as he lay there screaming.……………..

 

 

Me: ahhh. Now we are getting to the supposed heart of it. You now claim ahhh. Now we are getting to the supposed heart of it. You now claim
your anger is not because the author of the website you bank on has flatly disproven your claims, but because you don't like the policy of the Israeli government and are ignorant of history and therefore blame all Jews for the fact the Muslims kill people. You have spread the wings of ignorance and illogic into heretofore uncharted land.  Jews have lived in the middle east continuously for over 2000 years and have been the victims of attacks from a variety of invading groups (Greeks, Romans, European Crusaders and, since 638, when the Jews rejected  Mohammed, Muslims).  What I find most discursively fascinating is your vaccilation in your conception of Jews as "other."


If there are no Jews, you cannot exclude yourself from the group and have less justification for Islamic terror, and yet you don't go that route and try to convince Muslims that they are wrong for attacking people.  Instead, you define yourself as "goy" thereby adopting a Judeo-centric word (and accepting the notion of Jewish existence which you want to deny) to marginalize yourself. I think it might be you who has a self-loathing crisis. You enjoy the language and ideas of Judaism and hate yourself for it.  This all seems to be a facade meant to cover up a very boring and commonplace anti-semitism -- but you can claim you aren't a run of the mill anti-semite by denying that Jews exist. Elegant in its own twisted way.

 

Additionally, it looks as if you might have a latent hostility towards circumcision. There is no way that I could convince you that it is anything but mutilation, but I'm surprised that you don't assail "fake" Muslims (Islam began in Meca, therefore, a Chechen muslim with no "Meccan DNA" is a fake Muslim...right? And Muslims circumcize at age 13, not 8 days old before the full pain sensation will be realized.

 

Lastly, and in some sense, most fascinating, is not your insistence that I take a test which won't prove anything (as has already been ably proven by the website author) but that you project your own identity confusion on me. i never have had any question, yet you repeatedly claim I do...I wonder where your sense of inadequacy stems from...it probably feeds your anger.

 

Him: Not how I read his reply..He said the judean dna came from the local arabs which would be the right thing to do..But still, a good pair of glasses will sort that out..

 

Get over your identity crises over with  Daniel. http://www.familytreedna.com/  just $212 will end those dreams you are
having..am I a jew..am  I not a jew..did I mutilate my son for no good medical reason? did I really stand there and laugh as he lay there
screaming.

 

 

Me: Ok -- so now I know you looked at some of what he said...after he mentioned that he didn't have ancient Judean DNA and was relying on
other indigenous peoples *(though conceding that they, themselves, are the product of migrations and intermixing) he said that 80% of Jews
have a Y-DNA connection to that group. I hope you read that part too.

 

Him: You seem to be in denial Danial. But never mind, That’s you problem. With the advancement of DNA I think the problem of Middle East can now be sorted out at last. I think the international community should step in and take samples of DNA from every "Jew" in Palestine. Those that don’t have Judean DNA could then be shipped back to the countries where they came including those who have been born there from non-Arabs. Mixed relationships could stay. The Arabs have accepted the present of Jews for thousands of years in the area as indeed they should  as they are fellow Arabs. The few real Jews would be welcome to stay I am sure but could be given protection by the international community should there be any problems. . What do you think of that Danial? The final solution perhaps? You claim to be a real jew so it would not affect you or others like you. Now why is it that I am sure your next e-mail will not agree with what I have just suggested?……Not a real jew perhaps??

Me: I am in a state of denial? Your humor is improving. Let's start simple -- please try to answer the exact questions I pose without evading or
obfuscating:

1. Do you accept that the author said that 80% of modern Jews have a DNA connection to the middle east?

2. Do you accept that the local Arab population (as stated by the author) has mixed DNA because of migratory patterns, as is not pure?

3. Do you understand that Judaism is matrilineal and not patrilineal, but these DNA tests check for patrilineal connection?

Please answer with simple yes or no to each. I need to know if any of this got through to you. If you can't keep your answers to a yes or
no, please don't bother respoding.

 

 

Him:  Just checked the web site and its still there.. All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA .I guess your intervention did not make too much differance. It seems to me you are stating he is saying one thing on one page and another thing on the next. I will have another look..Yes, its still there  ''All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA Get that test done man''. I will have just one other look..no, its still there..All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA . I guess thats what everyone sees when they go to the site. First page as well.Cant you do something about it? Kill his children? Blow his house up? Wonderfull thing this interenet you know.Seems to me you have got to get him to change it. As far as I am concerned while its up there I will post it. If the chap who runs the web site is happy with the statment then so am as he knows a lot more about it than me..or you for that matter.

 

Me: Well, you have conveninetly ignored the 3 questions I asked, but repeated your intial misunderstanding of English. So let me repeat
something he said about that line and you can simply tell me if you understand what I am about to quote:

[and remember, the author of the website wrote this about that line you quote]:

When asked if any tests had been performed on ancient DNA:

"There is no way to extract DNA from most ancient bones, so at the present time no ancient Judeans have been tested"


Now try to stay with me without sounding so desperate as you dance away from fact...if NO ANCIENT DNA HAS BEEN TESTED, the there have been no studies which can compare anything to nonexistent DNA.  See what "fail to compare" means? No comparison has been done because there is no DNA to compare it to. If I have to, I will rephrase this in only monosyllabic words, but I think that even the most basic reader can understand this.

Him: If you are considered to be an educated Jew I sure as hell would not like to meet a dumb one. All I am concern with is the statement ''All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA'' (This you challenged me about in the chat room) which casts a lot of doubt about the so called Jews in Israel really being Jews and have any right to be any where in Palestine. You have accepted the fact that there is Judean DNA to test them by which is good. What puzzles me that you told one person in the chat room (skip) that Jews are not a race at all..You are a very confused man indeed. Best end your confusion and have that test.

I see that you are desperate to lead me away from the core subject ''All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations DNA to ancient Judean DNA''. That is all I am interested in. Go off in a different direction if you wish, but you go on your own.

Me: Your ad hominems don't cover the fact that you are flailing again. Within the same email you concede that there is no Judean DNA to
compare against, but still insist that your favorite quote indicates that there have been comparisons but that they have failed to make a
link. Think for just one second. If there is nothing to compare to, how could any tests have been done. If no tests have been done, how
can you draw a conclusion like "there is no connection"? This is so basic that it astounds me that you don't see it. The fact that there
have been NO STUDIES can't cast doubt...that's like saying that because there have been no studies which compare my sofa to George
Washington's sofa, my sofa must not be a sofa at all.

What I said to Skips is that Judaism has elements of being a race, religion, culture, nationality and ethnicity but because no one can
adequatle define race, and because Judaism accepts converts, it cannot be seen solely as a race. Please, quote responsibly...I know you have
a hard time with understanding what people mean, but you might want to ask for clarification to...oh...oops, we did that here and you still
cling to your mistake.

So, I'll spell it out for you, and I'll ignore what you obviously don’t understand (matrilineal vs. patrilineal, andthe 80% proven connection):

When you reply, you can just underline the parts you don't get

1. There is no available ancient Judean DNA

2. Therefore, no comparison studies have been done -- all current studies cannot make that comparison.

3. No conclusion can be drawn from a lack of studies.

4. Therefore, to try and prove the exitence of a current group based on a series of logical steps which end up denying ANY CONCLUSIONS due
to lack of facts is specious.

Just point out where my logic is wrong. You have had no success with the concept of "yes" and "no" so just try underlining.

 

Him: Here is the mans reply again. Try reading one line at a time and get help if necessary

> Dear John Day and Daniel Rosen:
There is no way to extract DNA from most ancient bones, so at the  present time no ancient Judeans have been tested, but it is not necessary
 because comparisons with nearby populations give a reasonable estimation of the genetic constitution of the region in old times, in particular
the Kurds have not intermarried or migrated much over the past 3,000 years so they are a good representation of the northern section of the Middle East, and the Lebanese probably are descended from the ancient Phoenician Canaanites whose language and ethnicity was related to the ancient Hebrews.  Meanwhile modern Egyptians are descended from the ancient Egyptians despite the change in culture and language with the forced Arabization of North Africa.  Same with the Berbers, who are the Berbers of old.   By the same token, one perhaps cannot extract Khazarian DNA from medieval bones except if certain circumstances exist.  Right now there are only a few people working on ollecting DNA from bones of old steppe peoples and I don't know what the results, if any, are yet.  It depends on whether bone barrow or other remains still preserve the DNA in a form that scientists could examine.  We know about many archaeological sites of Khazars and some of the remains are stored in museums but I do not have a full catalogue nor have all of the sites been completely itemized yet.


A genetic test through Family Tree DNA would help to establish only the Y-DNA and mtDNA lines of your ancestry, representing two lines out of hundreds of thousands that you have.  Y-DNA would tell you whether your male ancestor who is going back about 2000-3000 years of your
father's father's father's father's father's etc. side is likely to have been from a certain ethnic group or geographic region.  Since I do not know
your family background I cannot speculate on what the results would be.  On average about 80 percent of Y-DNA tests of Jews trace back to the
Middle East and this contrasts greatly with the common mtDNA results of Jews.


At the time of ordering your test, should you choose to buy one or two, please visit Family Tree DNA through my outgoing referral link

 

 

Me: Do you even read the stuff you write? You just quoted his original email which said that there was an 80% correlation between current
Jews and the middle east residents, and that NO tests have been done to try and compare current Jews to anything else.

So far you have failed at the "yes" or "no" portion, have been unable to follow a simple line of logic, so I'll ask just one question:

Do you believe that any tests have been done comparing current Jews to ancient Judean DNA?

Just clomp once for yes, twice for no. But do so soon -- you are embarrassing yourself when you post stuff which disagrees with your
own supposed point of view.

 

Him: >  There is no way to extract DNA from most ancient bones, so at the present time no ancient Judeans have been tested, but it is not
necessary because comparisons with nearby populations give a reasonable estimation of the genetic constitution of the region in old times, in particular the Kurds have not intermarried or migrated much over the past 3,000 years so they are a good representation of the northern section of the Middle East,

Your claim that 80% of jews have middle eastern dna is fine but I dare say a lot of gentiles have it, but the middle east is a big place..im only interested in the Judean region WHERE THE JEWS CAME FROM. now get some sleep at nights.and get that test done..You know it makes sense. O yes, when you get ther result, put it on your web site for us all to see regardless if it is negative or postive if you have the guts. You never know..you could be in the lucky 5%

(You will understand in the end I am sure)

 

 

Me: Now this is what I call progress. You are finally getting to the point of the website. if you read what the author's point is, it is that there are substantially MORE Jews than are commonly counted because of exactly what you said! He complains that the current state of Judaism EXCLUDES too man -- so if anything, the odds are that according to his standards, you, too, might be Jewish. You might want to sleep better at night and take the test.

I'm glad you finally figured this out. It was nice showing you the error of your ways.

Here is the author's quote just to confirm that the goal is to be inclusive in the community, not exclusive, though the use of DNA:

"In the U.S. today there are maybe 12 million or more people total who descend from Ashkenazic Judeans but only about 5-6 million of them are Jewish by the religious definition.  Why exclude the others from cultural activities related to, e.g., Israel, Jews as a people, Jewish holidays with at least partial secular themes like Sukkot, Hanukkah, and Passover, and Jewish organizations in the broad sense, etc., just because of some arbitrary flip-flop notion conceived by some authoritarian rabbis after the fall of the second temple?"

Welcome to the world of logic and reason.

 

Him: The point of the website is this...All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA. Now if you think that so many people have  judean DNA  (even I seem to have it now...lol) you will not fear having the test then will you so you can be sure you are a jew..When you going to have it done  Dan? The DNA they will use to test you by will be from the local Palestinians who have always been there and have therefore ancient  judean dnaThe same DNA as the real Jews. You will put the result on your web site. wont you Dan ..wont you??????

 

Me: Well, since there is an 80 percent correlation, you are right, the test should show my connection to middle east (Kurdish to be precise) DNA. However, this will still have no bearing on Jewishness. You forget that A) Judaism accepts conversion and I might be related to a convert 1000 yrs back and B) This traces Patrilineal connection, but Judaism is a Matrilineal function. So why should I spend 200+ bucks to end up with the knowledge that I do or do not have a Y-DNA connection to the Kurds?

If you pay for it, and can deal with its inapplicability under Jewish law, then sure I'll do it. And I'll post whatever it says because it doesn't  impact Jewish status.

At least now you see that the issue is one of INCLUSION, not EXCLUSION.

 

Him: So, after all that you at last agree with what I have been saying along in the chat room..95% of so called jews are fakes..they are not of the jewish race.Im glad we got there in the end.  I now see no need to answer any more of your e-mails..Dont forget to put this reply on your site also..LOL

 

Me: If you'd like to run and hide after a "parting shot" which bears no connection to the earlier emails, I'll be sure to post that in all its
glory. You conced the 80 percent connection, concede that Jews now are connected to the Middle East and concede that the DNA testing would show a patrilineal link to "ancient Judean" equivalent DNA. Then run to your unsubstantiated non-connection claim...I don't see how you can live in such a logical vacuum, but if it works for you...I'll just know that if I ever need someone who has any memory and logical
skills, I'll look elsewhere. You might find it useful to review the emails and your own agreement to the material and then try and (graphically) chart out how you leap from (your own words):

"DNA they will use to test you by will be from the local Palestinians who have always been there and have therefore ancient judean dna. The same DNA as the real Jews."

when the author says that there is an 80 percent connection to the local DNA to


"95% of so called jews are fakes."

Which has no basis in anything other than your own fantasies.

I'd love to hear how you rationalize this one. Feel free not to respond, I know how pesky facts can be.

 

Him: Being connected to the Middle East, which is a very large place, is different to being connected to a small part of it, JUDEA. This is where the REAL Jews come from. I haven’t even been to your web site so could not give a dam what you put on it. I doubt if my e-mails are of interest to anyone then you Dan. Your ego had got the better of you. My statement.. ''All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations' DNA to ancient Judean DNA'' is what it states. If I said ''All existing studies fail to compare modern Jewish populations DNA to middle eastern DNA then you would have a point. Get that test done..I would as it must be worrying you to keep this thing going so long.

 

Me: It seems you change your tune according to how things go...you denied that any Jews were real Jews because they weren't connected to ancient Judean DNA and now that the author of the website says that Jews re as connected as modern science can prove, you suddenly change what you say.  You asserted there was ancient DNA to compare to through the local populations. I said, OK there is, and there is an 80 percent connection rate to your group of choice. And suddenly you are more concerned with the nonexistent DNA and the impossible conclusions which you can no longer try to draw.  Watching you wriggle is fun -- you were so focused on there being no connection to the people of the middle east and now you want to say your focus is only ancient Judea -- what happened to your insistence that we compare to the local "Palestinian" peoples? You never were interested in just Judea before..you conceded that you had to use the closest middle east DNA...ooops for you.

Remember -- the only conclusion you can draw from an inability to compare to something which we don't have is that you can't draw any conclusions.
Wriggle on.

 

Him: If you read my e-mails all along I have referred to Judean DNA. If is you, desperate to win your argument, who brought in the Middle Eastern element. But I am sure people can read that for themselves. I relly feel you should get someone to asist you in reading. Off on hoilday from Thrusday night for 7 days. Make haste and learn what you can. I cant be an unpaid tecaher for ever!

 

Me: Now someone's being a bit naive. Your argument was that because there was no "Judean" DNA there were no real Jews. Then we agreed that the local Middle East DNA was the ony equivalent to ancient Judean DNA, and that there IS a DNA connection between current Jews and ancient Middle Eastern DNA via current Kurdish population. Thus, the thrust of your argument has been handily deflated. It was your contention that tests HAD been conducted on the nearest we have to ancient Judean DNA and they were proven to show no connection.

 

Your FIRST email to me after we both received a response to my questions from the website author was "use the DNA in populations from the region. In this case the Palestinians who have always lived there. Lets face it most of you do not have any Arab in you so how could you be Jew's".

So who brought in the
Middle East and claimed no connection? YOU. Who asserted something other than just "Judean"? YOU. Who has been proven wrong on his own terms and through his own language? YOU.

Have a great holiday...use the time to review basic logic and your own argument, plus what has been written here -- ask friends for help if you have to. You'll be quite surprised.

 

Him: As you are going round and round in circles I find my self repeating what I have said before.

''If you read my e-mails all along I have referred to Judean DNA. If is you, desperate to win your argument, who brought in the Middle Eastern element. But I am sure people can read that for themselves. I really feel you should get someone to assist you in reading. Off on holiday from Thursday night for 7 days. Make haste and learn what you can. I cant be an unpaid teacher for ever!''

Me: Well, you certainly did repeat yourself. But you also ignored that I just quoted what YOU started with --

"use the DNA in populations from the region. In this case the Palestinians who have always lived there. Lets face it most of you do
not have any Arab in you so how could you be Jew's".

This was your quote, but I can see how you would prefer to ignore it. Do you deny now that YOU brought up using other Middle Eastern DNA to establish Judaism? Because if you do, then your position is clear -- you will deny and lie and ignore to insulate yourself from the truth.

If you have any doubt that this is your quote, check your sent mail folder and see that YOU typed it, not I.

 

 

Him: am sure a lot of the jews who have come to Israle since 1948 have very little arab blood in them..Blue eyes..Lilly white skin...Bronde hair..Come on dan..Arab blood.....

 

Me: ahh...so now you have totally moved away from that DNA argument and want to "look" at people who, to you, don't "look" like the ancient Judeans. How novel. I guess it would be silly to point out that within 1-2 generations, black slaves raped by white owners had grandchildren who looked white and the "Judean" DNA, as the author writes, represent only "two lines out of hundreds of thousands that you have".
Physial characteristics vary and account for many hundreds of other DNA lines. Facts have become unnecessary as you dance among arguments avoiding any actual issues.

 

Him: No..DNA still stands..If you don't have Judean DNA you are not a Jew in my books and a lot of real Jews would agree with me and you know that is a fact..Lot of trouble be ween the fakes like yourself and the real Jews from time to time In Israel. They view you as parasite's and trouble makers and wish you all would go home.

 

Me: Except that you can't prove that a Jew has no Judean DNA because there is none around to compare my DNA to. You are now back at the beginning. You got around this by saying that we should compare to local Middle Eastern DNA (your claim in your first email). The author did that and showed a connection. Remeber that by your logic, no group exist with any connection to 3000 yrs ago as the author of the website says that there is no way to extract and ancient DNA from ancient bones. So no comparisons can ever be made for anyone (including your precious test).

Please show me any proof that there exist in Israel 2 separate groups -- one "real" and one "fake" based on DNA and that there has ever been trouble between them. And I pray that your knowledge of Israeli politics and history is more advanced than your knowledge of genetics and your rhetorical skills.  I must admit I like how you now change the focus and make a baseless claim about current
Israel when your baseless claims of ancient Judea have been deflated.

 

Him: It was on British TV two or three years ago..God knows what group they were but they had it in for you fakes thats for sure..Look, If you were a real Jew who had lived  there before the fake jews like yourself came, in Harmony with the Arabs for thousands of years. How would you feel to have your once neighbors now trying to kill you because of the actions of cranks - non Jews who have come into the region. Or are you saying no real Jews lived there before 1948?

 

As for going round and round I find my self soon to bring these silly e-mails to an end..Your argument has been exhausted and your are trying to jump back to the beginning and starting all over again. I am now certainly finding it very boring. Get a life.

 

 

Me: Oh wait -- your "proof" is something that you claim was on British TV "two or three years ago". Hmm, that's real convincing. Then, based on your fictional TV show, you don't even know "what group they were". Wow -- I'm reeling under the weight of all this evidence. And your claim about living in harmony with Arabs? Oh boy...you really need a refresher in history. Would it helped if I cited Arab on Jewish violence starting in 638 CE?  Key dates are already available online, but if you'd like me to tutor you, just say the word. I can also teach you about the Jews who have lived there continuously for thousands of years and their cultural connection to the Jews outside of Israel. I know ignorance when I see it, and you got it in spades.

You ave stopped going round and round because you recognize your initial claims are proven wrong. In your new venture, instead of banking on the misinterpretation of a website, you invent history. Interesting choice.  You may run away and bring these to the end. I have a holiday starting in an hour which celebrates my being Jewish. You may use the time away to review television listings or learn about history, argumentation and logic or genetics. I shall think of you and laugh over the next few days.

Him: The Orthodox Jews take a great dislike to the converts and do not accept them as real Jews. This you know well. You also have what is known as the Liberal jews, who again, are disliked by the Orthodox Jews. The Orthodox Jew are also spited into different  groups.. I believe you have one sect that’s lives as the ancient Jews lived in Moses time and use the earliest from of Hebrew. As what is the name of these sects are I have no idea and no interest in finding out. I am sure you are aware of them all. The thought of sending anytime af all in finding out the pecking order of a cess pit of evil and sick people called the barstard state of Israel makes one feel ill.

I am still only concerned with the statement you challenged me on that 95% of Jews have no Judean DNA and are therefore fake Jews. This  is proved to be correct and I feel I have given you a fair crack of the wipe to disprove it, which you have not been able to do. I am now bringing these rather silly exchanges to an end.

Me: So you start by ignoring all the stuff you said earlier and telling me what I am supposed to know. All this does is underscore your ignorance
of Judaism. Converts are considered full Jews and even higher than born Jews. The converts I know are accepted in the community completely,
and I know more than a couple. As for your simplification that Orthodox Jews are split into different joke, this broad statement is not only irrelevant, but incomplete and the splits you invoke are not supportive of the points you earlier made. There is no "sect" though, that lives like ancient Jews using ancient Hebrew -- you made that one right up. I am much more aware of the history and sociological groupings of Jews then and now so when you say you have no idea, I know this to be true. So your invective is shown to be even less based in reality than before.

Then, as to what you are still "only concerned" with, you requite something which has been proven wrong time and again. The facts as stated over and over make it clear that 80 percent of Jews have a genetic connection to the indigenous poeples of the mid-east, the only peoples with whom anyone CAN compare DNA to. If you want to claim anything about 95 percent, there is a burden of proof on you, one which you have not even approached. You have given no statistics, studies or evidence to support this meaningless number and now run away from the dialogue when that is abundantly clear. Bye...don't trip over your tail between your legs.

 

 

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My letter to Neturei Karta

 

 

I must say from the outset that I am not a supporter of your views but would like clarification of your position so I may beter understand what you say and why you say it.

 

According to your stance, it is against the Torah for there to be a Jewish state. Your central support is a quote from Kesubos 111a in the argument between R. Zerah and R. Yehudah. The prohibition is quoted by R. Zerah WHO WANTED TO MAKE ALIYAH and his explanation, unclear as it is, is not brought down as halacha, and ony applies to the migration of all Israel as an act of force.  The state was created by political means, and now, those who move, do so without violence!

 

Please remember that this cannot be about the number of Jews in the land, as Kesubos 110b says "One should always live in the Land of Israel, even in a town most of whose inhabitants are idolaters, but let no one live outside the Land, even in a town most of whose inhabitants are Israelites; for whoever lives in the Land of Israel may be considered to have a God, but whoever lives outside the Land may be regarded as one who has no God"

 

As for 111a, on that same daf it says that those dying outside of Israel won't be resurrected, and that those there are forbidden to leave.

 

What concerns me is another facet of your argument -- that Jews lived peacefully with Arabs and Muslims before the advent of modern Zionism.  You seem to ignore the entire concept of the dhimmi unless you think it "peaceful" to be denied rights and have to wear identifying marks and pay extra taxes. Additionally, your idea of peace must include the actions of Caliph Fatimid Al-Hakim in 1009, the actions of Al Malik Al Ashraf in 1291, the destruction of the Ramban synagogue in 1474 and the actions in 1625 of Muhammed Ibn Farkoh  (there are many other examples).

 

Additionally, Jews have not fared that well among all the other nations where we fled over the generations. Do you forget the expulsions from Spain, Portugal and England by those pre-Zionists? Did our loyalty protect us then? Or were we deserving of torture even when we were "all" torah observant (a fallacy, as the talmud, itself, gives accounts of Jews who did not observe the torah)?

 

What really gets me, though, is that your supposed support for the nascent Palestinian state includes condoning acts of violence against resident Jews (who, according to the same page in Kesubos, are not forbidden to live there as long as they do not make aliyah "in a wall" i.e. by force).  My sister lives in Jerusalem with her family. Were your vision of the removal of the Israeli government to come to pass, do you truly believe that my sister's family would be safe? Does her three year old deserve to be hurt because his family moved as individuals (an act acceptbale according to the Talmud you quote)?  Do you truly believe that all violence against a Jew is part of divine retribution, even if the individuals aren't in the army or doing anything other than living. What about the deaths of students and visitors? Were they "asking for it" as you seem to portray the rest of the victims?

 

Lastly -- do the Arabs whom you support know that your ultimate goal is the removal of the state so that Moshiach will come and get rid of all the Arabs?

 

You miss the important distinctions and conflate and simplify too many key concepts. Zionist does not, by definition, refer only to non-religious Jews unless you define "religious" as accepting the tradition as YOU understand it. By that same token, I could say that you are not religious because you don't support the notion which I believe in.  The current state is a political and secular entity. You need not support it simply because it is not a religious state. That is fine with me. But to claim that its existence as a secular state has it fall into a prohibition against the creation of a purely religious Jewish state is specious logic. The secular state should, by its own nature, prove that it is not the return to the messianic "zion" but only a modern political return so that Jews can (in a safe manner) choose to fulfill the mitzvos and "live without sin" as Rav Elazar says on 111a.

 

You do not have, in my unlearned opinion, the weight of history, human nature or halacha to bolster your arguments. The fact that many of the most vehement anti-zionist groups of the 30's and 40's changed their opinions shows that your halachik basis cannot be totally persuasive. And that you couch these teachings in an advocacy of violence against those who lived there in the past and who live there now is repugnant and sinas chinam.  To blame the victim is a slippery slope -- you cannot know the exact nature of s'char va'onesh (and your claim that "all" the rabbis knew that Hitler's rise to punish the Zionist concept would be laughable if it weren't so demenaing to the 6 million who died) and you cannot lead by naivete. No one is claiming that the modern state is the same as what will be after Moshiach. No one is denying that many of the early zionsist were not religious, therefore no one should be saying that the goal of the early and non religious zionsist was to achieve a religious state!

 

I am at a loss. Please help me understand without repeating the Kesubos 111a argument.

 

Thank you..

 

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