"Brit-Am Now"-134: Genetics

November 1, 2002

This is another new series we will begin to develop.
The point of the posting below and other postings that will follow is to
clarify
certain points:
a. It has been claimed that Genetic studies for the Jewish people show that
they
are connected to Middle East populations and not to western ones.
The studies in question were done by the same team as the one discussed in
the article below,
and used the same methods which are shown to have reached doubtful conclusions.
b. We are not convinced of the reliability of DNA studies in general but in
so far as they
prove anything they tend to confirm the general drift of our researches, as
we will show.
c. Brit-Am is the truth or at least Brit-Am is closer to the truth than any
other proffered explanation.
d. People have accused us of racism and then turned around and attempted to
use genetic evidence against us.
We do not expect our opponents to be consistent or even logical.
There will always be those who oppose Brit-Am and Biblical Truth.
Help us keep going, Support Brit-Am.
 

Recently certain findings claiming to have noticed a common genetic denominator
amongst Jewish Priestly Families (Cohens) were published and received much
publicity.
The article below throws these claims into doubt. The article may be unjust
but it is
worth keeping in mind  not only concerning the specific claims made but
also in regard
to all similar DNA announcements.

NEWS RELEASE - For Immediate Release

Doctor finds fault in the contentions that the "Cohen modal haplotype"
designates Israelites and that most Jewish priests have a common ancestor

A study by Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin, Ph.D., "Are today's Jewish priests
descended from the old ones?", has recently been published in the German
journal "HOMO: Journal of Comparative Human Biology - Zeitschrift fuer
vergleichende Biologie des Menschen" (volume 51, no. 2-3, 2000, pp.
156-162).  Zoossmann's study casts doubt on the hypothesis expounded by
Michael F. Hammer, Karl Skorecki, and their colleagues in their January 2,
1997 paper in Nature volume 385 entitled "Y Chromosomes of Jewish Priests"
and that of Karl Skorecki, David Goldstein, et al. in Nature volume 394
entitled "Origins of Old Testament Priests" as well as the related study
with the Lemba tribe of South Africa (American Journal of Human Genetics
volume 66).  These studies asserted that Ashkenazic Cohens are strongly
related to Sephardic Cohens and that today's Cohens are descended from
common paternal ancestry.  Zoossmann concludes that the existing studies
of Jewish priests are problematic and arrive at conclusions that are not
supported by all available data.

In Zoossmann-Diskin's summary, he writes that "Careful examination of
their [Skorecki's and Thomas's] works reveals many faults that lead to the
inevitable conclusion that their claim [that most Cohenim share a common
origin] has not been proven. The faults are: the definition of the studied
communities, significant differences between three samples of Jewish
priests, failure to use enough suitable markers to construct the
Unique-Event-polymorphisms haplotypes, problematic method of calculating
coalescence time and underestimating the mutation rate of Y chromosome
microsatellites. The suggestion that the 'Cohen modal haplotype' is a
signature haplotype for the ancient Hebrew population is also not
supported by data from other populations." (p. 156)

Specifically, Zoossmann explains that:

   * The studies of the Cohens merge together the Sephardic populations
     even though they are too diverse to be considered one unit.
     Even the North African Jewish communities have genetic differences,
     as Batsheva Bonne-Tamir et al. noted in a study in 1978 that is cited
     in Zoossmann's paper.

   * The SRY4064, SRY 465, Tat, and sY81 polymorphisms were
     useless for the purposes of the studies.

   * Some useful markers were not used in the studies that should have
     been included.

   * The Cohen modal haplotype is the most common haplotype among
     Southern and Central Italians*1, Hungarians*2, and Iraqi Kurds*3,
     and is also found among many Armenians*4 and South African Lembas*5.
     This calls into question the notion that the haplotype was a marker
     for the ancient Hebrew population.

Zoossmann's study contains detailed statistical information, charts, and
19 references.

Full citation:

Avshalom Zoossmann-Diskin,
"Are today's Jewish priests descended from the old ones?"
HOMO: Journal of Comparative Human Biology - Zeitschrift fuer
vergleichende Biologie des Menschen
51:2-3 (Urban & Fischer Verlag, 2000): 156-162.

News release footnotes:

*1: A. Cagli et al., "Increased forensic efficiency of a STR-based
Y-specific haplotype by addition of the highly polymorphic DYS385 locus."
Int J Leg Med 111 (1998): 142-146.

*2: S. Fredi et al., "Y-STR haplotyping in two Hungarian populations." Int
J Leg Med 113 (1999): 38-42.

*3: C. Brinkmann et al., "Human Y-chromosomal STR haplotypes in a Kurdish
population sample." Int J Leg Med 112 (1999): 181-183.

*4: Levon Yepiskoposyan, Dr.Sc., Head of the Institute of Man,
President of the Armenian Anthropological Society.

*5: M. G. Thomas et al., "Y chromosomes travelling south: the Cohen modal
haplotype and the origins of the Lemba - the 'Black Jews of Southern
Africa'." Am J Hum Genet 66 (2000): 674-686.
 
 
 

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Lost Ten Tribes even though
the Lost Ten Tribes retained some degree of communal cohesion, and they did
not.

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