Critic on the "Genetic studies" section in the " Jews" entry
Let's review several examples.
The Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) original study was supposed to prove the genetic coherence of a a Jewish sub-population that avoided mixed marriages for many generations and thus support the notion of a common origin of present day Jews. However, a later study made by the same researchers on larger samples casted grave doubts on the historical relevance of CMH.
The last study of this research group [1] found several Cohen lineages, not one. Moreover, their datings are based on controversial generation length (according to studies it should be at least 30 years not 25 for males) and mutation rate. With a more realistic mutation rate (0.0024 instead of 0.00069 as found in a recent Y STRs study based on fathers and sons) the Cohen lineages were founded long after the time indicated by the Bible.
This is not very surprising, a lot of archeological research is incompatible with the Bible so there is no reason to expect genetics will be different.
An even more striking example is Helmut Muhsam's old demonstration that Jews are probably not an ancient people in the process of assimilation into the gentile societies they live in, but the complete opposite [2] [3].
Muhsam used the blood types data of Arthur Mourant and his co-workers to test the popular hypothesis of Jewish common origin. Such an hypothesis automatically requires that the frequency of Jewish blood types, starting at a set of common (but unknown) values will diverge over time towards the values of the gentile populations each Jewish community lives in.
To his chagrin Muhsam found the blood type frequencies are not diverging but very clearly converging.
Yet another example is...
These examples illustrate that Jewish genetics research doesn't really "prove" that the origin of present day Jews is from ancient Israel. In fact the opposite may be indicated.
Is there an alternative to the Jewish common origin hypothesis?
Considerable historical and anecdotic evidence indicates that intermarriage occurred not only between Jews and non-Jews in the communities in which they lived but also between different Jewish communities, even those quite far apart, both geographically and traditionally: Brides from Poland were married to Iraqi bridegrooms; Rabbis from Germany took up positions in Spain and their progeny were later expelled to North Africa; Rabbis from Morocco were hired to serve in Russia; Travelers from Europe spent long periods among Eastern communities, etc (see, e.g., [4]).
Thus, a model of a trellis [5] may explain the genetic variability among Jewish communities better than that of the branching tree rooted in the ancestors who lived as a compact community in the land of Israel two millennia ago.
If this trellis model holds, it may be claimed that much of the genetic relations between Jewish communities are essentially secondary consequences of their common cultural connections: Having common religion and tradition caused the maintenance of a constant trickle of gene-exchange between communities; this explains the shared genetic composition of Jewish communities, some of these introduced alleles may have spread to reasonable frequencies.
Such a trellis model of the distribution of gene frequencies among Jewish communities does not exclude that at least some of the common alleles stem from the populations that inhabited the Near East in ancient times [6].
Testing a trellis model will eliminate an important theoretical reservation to Jewish genetics research, the fact that no alternative hypotheses to the common ancestors assumption were examined. The analyses were performed explicitly to uphold the traditional preconception that the Jewish communities differ from the non-Jews among whom they lived and have common frequencies of genetic markers because they are direct descendants of the ancient Biblical nation of Israel. On this assumption computer programs were applied to construct pedigree trees that identify the genetic composition of the ancestors at the root of this tree and the time the lived.
Summary
Can we safely conclude that most current day Jews are descended from immigrants or exiles from an ancient Jewish state that had existed in the Middle East? Certainly not! There is not sufficient data and what we have seems to point in the opposite direction.
References
- ^ Hammer et. al. (2009), Human Genetics 126:707-717
- ^ Muhhsam, H. V. (1964) "The genetic origin of the Jews". Genus 20(1-4): 3-30
- ^ Falk, R. (1998) "Zionism and the Biology of the Jews". Science in Context 11, 3-4, pp. 587-607
- ^ Sand, S. (2008). When and How the Jewish People was Invented? (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Resling
- ^ Templeton, A. R. (1998). Human races: A genetic and evolutionary perspective. American Anthropologist, 100, 632-650
- ^ Falk, R. (2006). Zionism and the Biology of the Jews (in Hebrew). Tel-Aviv: Resling
Old stuff
Deleted stuff
Critic on the "Genetic studies" section in the " Jews" entry
Let's review several examples.
The Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH) original study was supposed to prove the genetic coherence of a a Jewish sub-population that avoided mixed marriages for many generations and thus support the notion of a common origin of present day Jews. However, a later study made by the same researchers on larger samples casted grave doubts on the historical relevance of CMH.
The last study of this research group [1] found several Cohen lineages, not one. Moreover, their datings are based on controversial generation length (according to studies it should be at least 30 years not 25 for males) and mutation rate. With a more realistic mutation rate (0.0024 instead of 0.00069 as found in a recent Y STRs study based on fathers and sons) the Cohen lineages were founded long after the time indicated by the Bible.
This is not very surprising, a lot of archeological research is incompatible with the Bible so there is no reason to expect genetics will be different.
An even more striking example is Helmut Muhsam's old demonstration that Jews are probably not an ancient people in the process of assimilation into the gentile societies they live in, but the complete opposite [2] [3].
Muhsam used the blood types data of Arthur Mourant and his co-workers to test the popular hypothesis of Jewish common origin. Such an hypothesis automatically requires that the frequency of Jewish blood types, starting at a set of common (but unknown) values will diverge over time towards the values of the gentile populations each Jewish community lives in.
To his chagrin Muhsam found the blood type frequencies are not diverging but very clearly converging.
Yet another example is...
These examples illustrate that Jewish genetics research doesn't really "prove" that the origin of present day Jews is from ancient Israel. In fact the opposite may be indicated.
Is there an alternative to the Jewish common origin hypothesis?
Considerable historical and anecdotic evidence indicates that intermarriage occurred not only between Jews and non-Jews in the communities in which they lived but also between different Jewish communities, even those quite far apart, both geographically and traditionally: Brides from Poland were married to Iraqi bridegrooms; Rabbis from Germany took up positions in Spain and their progeny were later expelled to North Africa; Rabbis from Morocco were hired to serve in Russia; Travelers from Europe spent long periods among Eastern communities, etc (see, e.g., [4]).
Thus, a model of a trellis [5] may explain the genetic variability among Jewish communities better than that of the branching tree rooted in the ancestors who lived as a compact community in the land of Israel two millennia ago.
If this trellis model holds, it may be claimed that much of the genetic relations between Jewish communities are essentially secondary consequences of their common cultural connections: Having common religion and tradition caused the maintenance of a constant trickle of gene-exchange between communities; this explains the shared genetic composition of Jewish communities, some of these introduced alleles may have spread to reasonable frequencies.
Such a trellis model of the distribution of gene frequencies among Jewish communities does not exclude that at least some of the common alleles stem from the populations that inhabited the Near East in ancient times [6].
Testing a trellis model will eliminate an important theoretical reservation to Jewish genetics research, the fact that no alternative hypotheses to the common ancestors assumption were examined. The analyses were performed explicitly to uphold the traditional preconception that the Jewish communities differ from the non-Jews among whom they lived and have common frequencies of genetic markers because they are direct descendants of the ancient Biblical nation of Israel. On this assumption computer programs were applied to construct pedigree trees that identify the genetic composition of the ancestors at the root of this tree and the time the lived.
Summary
Can we safely conclude that most current day Jews are descended from immigrants or exiles from an ancient Jewish state that had existed in the Middle East? Certainly not! There is not sufficient data and what we have seems to point in the opposite direction.
References
- ^ Hammer et. al. (2009), Human Genetics 126:707-717
- ^ Muhhsam, H. V. (1964) "The genetic origin of the Jews". Genus 20(1-4): 3-30
- ^ Falk, R. (1998) "Zionism and the Biology of the Jews". Science in Context 11, 3-4, pp. 587-607
- ^ Sand, S. (2008). When and How the Jewish People was Invented? (in Hebrew). Tel Aviv: Resling
- ^ Templeton, A. R. (1998). Human races: A genetic and evolutionary perspective. American Anthropologist, 100, 632-650
- ^ Falk, R. (2006). Zionism and the Biology of the Jews (in Hebrew). Tel-Aviv: Resling