Dear John and Doves:
Below
is information that I’ve gathered to show where the theory of the
Khazar Jews appears to have originated from. There are also articles
about the genetic studies that have been performed and what those
studies have found regarding this theory. This is a lot to read, and if
you don’t have time to read it all, please scroll down and read the
excerpts from the sections titled “Jewish
Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries - A collection of abstracts and
reviews of books, articles, and genetic studies” and the section titled
“Avenues for further exploration”. These excerpts that I’ve
provided are not very long, and you can click on the links to read them
in their entirety. Theory of Khazar ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews
Early Khazar theories The
theory that all or most Ashkenazi Jews might be descended from Khazars
dates back to the racial studies of late 19th-century Europe.
In
some cases it has been cited to assert that most modern Jews are not
descended from Israelites and/or to refute Israeli claims to Israel.
It was first publicly proposed in a lecture given by the
racial-theorist Ernest Renan on January 27, 1883, titled "Judaism as a
Race and as Religion."[129] It was repeated in articles in The Dearborn
Independent in 1923 and 1925, and popularized by racial theorist Lothrop
Stoddard in a 1926 article in the Forum titled "The Pedigree of Judah",
where he argued that Ashkenazi Jews were a mix of people, of which the
Khazars were a primary element.[108][130] Stoddard's views were "based
on nineteenth and twentieth-century concepts of race, in which small
variations on facial features as well as presumed accompanying character
traits were deemed to pass from generation to generation, subject only
to the corrupting effects of marriage with members of other groups, the
result of which would lower the superior stock without raising the
inferior partners."[131]
This theory was
adopted by British Israelites, who saw it as a means of invalidating the
claims of Jews (rather than themselves) to be the true descendants of
the ancient Israelites, and was supported by early anti-Zionists.[108][130]
Theories linking Jews to Khazars today The
Khazar theory still enjoys popularity among anti-Zionists[112] and
antisemites.[140] Such proponents argue that if Ashkenazi Jews are
primarily Khazar and not Semitic in origin, they would have no
historical claim to Israel, nor would they be the subject of God's
Biblical promise of Canaan to the Israelites, thus undermining the
theological basis of both Jewish religious Zionists and Christian
Zionists.
Genetic studies on Ashkenazi Jewry See also: Ashkenazi Jews#Genetic origins and Genetic studies on Jews
A
1999 study
by Hammer et al., published in the Proceedings of the United States
National Academy of Sciences compared the Y chromosomes of Ashkenazi,
Roman, North African, Kurdish, Near Eastern, Yemenite, and Ethiopian
Jews with 16 non-Jewish groups from similar geographic locations. It
found that "
Despite their long-term residence in different
countries and isolation from one another, most Jewish populations were
not significantly different from one another at the genetic level... The
results support the hypothesis that the paternal gene pools of Jewish
communities from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East descended
from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population, and suggest that most
Jewish communities have remained relatively isolated from neighboring
non-Jewish communities during and after the Diaspora."[141] According to Nicholas Wade "
The
results accord with Jewish history and tradition and refute theories
like those holding that Jewish communities consist mostly of converts
from other faiths, or that they are descended from the Khazars, a medieval Turkish tribe that adopted Judaism."[142]
A
2010 study
on Jewish ancestry by Atzmon et al. says "Two major groups were
identified by principal component, phylogenetic, and identity by descent
(IBD) analysis: Middle Eastern Jews and European/Syrian Jews. The IBD
segment sharing and the proximity of European Jews to each other and to
southern European populations suggested similar origins for European
Jewry and
refuted large-scale genetic contributions of Khazars or Slavic populations to the formation of Ashkenazi Jewry."[143]
Concerning
male-line ancestry, several Y-DNA studies have tested the hypothesis of
Khazar ancestry amongst Ashkenazim.[144][145][146] In these studies
Haplogroup R1a chromosomes (sometimes called Eu 19) have been identified
as potential evidence of one line of Eastern European ancestry amongst
Ashkenazim, which could possibly be Khazar. One concluded that "
neither the
NRY haplogroup composition of the majority of Ashkenazi Jews nor the
microsatellite haplotype composition of the R1a1 haplogroup within
Ashkenazi Levites is consistent with a major Khazar or other European
origin", athough "one cannot rule out the important contribution of a
single or a few founders among contemporary Ashkenazi Levites."[145] Another concluded that "
if
the R-M17 chromosomes in Ashkenazi Jews do indeed represent the
vestiges of the mysterious Khazars then, according to our data, this
contribution was limited to either a single founder or a few closely
related men, and does not exceed ~ 12% of the present-day Ashkenazim."[144]
In August 2012, Dr. Harry Ostrer stated in his book "Legacy: A Genetic History of the Jewish People"
that all major Jewish groups do have common Middle Eastern origin, originating from ancient Israelites, and refuted any large scale genetic contribution from the Turkic Khazars.[147]
Geneticist Noah Rosenberg asserts that although recent DNA studies "
do not appear to support" the Khazar hypothesis, they do not "entirely eliminate it either."[148]
while Sarah Tishkoff, a geneticist at the University of Pennsylvania,
commenting on the results of genetic studies stated "
This is clearly showing a genetic common ancestry of all Jewish populations."[149]
However,
in December 2012, Johns Hopkins geneticist Eran Elhaik (himself Jewish)
released research that he says offers strong evidence that the
Khazar theory is at least partially true.[150]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KhazarsIn
the above article from Wikipedia, in the last sentence, regarding the
latest tests performed by Eran Elhaik, please read below in the section
“Avenues For Further Testing”. There are problems with his tests.Are Russian Jews Descended from the Khazars? (See Part 5 Conclusions)
A Reassessment Based upon the Latest Historical, Archaeological, Linguistic, and Genetic Evidenceby Kevin Alan Brook
http://www.khazaria.com/khazar-diaspora.htmlIn
the article below, over six separate studies show that Ashkenazim Jews
are Israelites. There is also a study by Dr. Eran Elhaik of Johns
Hopkins University. While his study only partially supports the Khazar
theory, it is not a complete study, and there appear to be problems with
the way his studies were conducted.
Jewish Genetics: Abstracts and Summaries
A collection of abstracts and reviews of books, articles, and genetic studiesAdvanced
genetic testing, including Y-DNA and mtDNA haplotyping, of modern
Jewish communities around the world, has helped to determine which of
the communities are likely to descend from the Israelites and which are
not, as well as to establish the degrees of separation between the
groups. Important studies archived here include the University College
London study of 2002, Ariella Oppenheim's study of 2001, Ariella
Oppenheim's study of 2000, Michael Hammer's study of 2000, Doron Behar's
study of 2008, Steven Bray's study of 2010, and others.
Key findings:
The main ethnic element of Ashkenazim (German
and Eastern European Jews), Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews),
Mizrakhim (Middle Eastern Jews), Juhurim (Mountain Jews of the
Caucasus), Italqim (Italian Jews),
and most other modern Jewish populations of the world is Israelite.
The Israelite haplotypes fall into Y-DNA haplogroups J and E.
Ashkenazim also descend, in a smaller way, from European peoples from
the northern Mediterranean region and even less from Slavs and Khazars.
The non-Israelite Y-DNA haplogroups include Q1b1a (typically Central
Asian) and R1a1 (typically Eastern European but the most common
Ashkenazic variant comes from somewhere in Asia, probably Central
Asia).
Avenues for further explorationUnfortunately,
as Bennett Greenspan pointed out, Y-DNA doesn't usually last more than
100 years in the remains of a dead person, so
direct testing of Khazar bones may be impossible.
The
news story "Gene study settles debate over origin of European Jews" was
released by Agence France-Presse on January 16, 2013. But also
see this commentary (below) against the study's consideration of Armenians as a fundamentally Caucasus-based people and this commentary (below) about
its mistake in using Armenians as "a proxy for the gene pool of the
Khazar Empire" as well as Seth Frantzman's commentary mentioning a
possible problem relating to the Druse among other concerns.
Anatole A. Klyosov criticizes Elhaik's study in an article in Russian in
Proceedings of the Academy of DNA Genealogy 6:3 (2013).
http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html
Below
are the commentaries, regarding the gene study, referred to in the
excerpt from the section above titled “Avenues for further exploration”,
from Discover Magazine and Eurogenes Blog.From Discover Magazine:Ashkenazi Jews are probably not descended from the KhazarsBy Razib Khan | August 8, 2012 11:27 pm
http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/gnxp/2012/08/ashkenazi-jews-are-probably-not-descended-from-the-khazars/#.UaKdXdg__TeFrom Eurogenes Blog:Khazar origins of European Jews finally confirmed? http://eurogenes.blogspot.com/2012/08/khazar-origins-of-european-jews-finally.htmlSee the chart “Ethnic Makeup of Jewish Population of Israel” in the link below.Demographics of Israelhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics_of_IsraelDebunking the 'Fake Jew' AKA The 'Khazarian Jew' Myth., page 1
The Conspiracy Begins Fast
forward to the 19th century. French Philosopher Ernest Renan appears to
be responsible for starting the conspiracy theory in his book Judaism
as a Race and as Religion. He puts forth the claim Ashkenazic Jews are
descended from Khazarian converts and the line of Japheth and not 'pure
blood' Semitic Jews descended from Shem and Abraham. Slowly but surely
the theory began to spread in popularity and was ultimately popularized
in the 20th century by the well known racial theorist Lothrop Stoddard.
Several more authors picked up and propagated the myth throughout the
20th century to the point the accusation became wide spread and well
known.
The theory is now very popular with various anti-semitic and
anti-Zionist organizations and is mostly used to negate Israel's purpose
of existence.
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread423972/pg1The Khazar conspiracy part 2In
a different genetic study, more groups were tested. Ashkenazi,
Sephardic (literally “Spanish”), and Kurdish Jews were tested against
various Arab and European samples. The genetic samples of the Arabs and
Europeans clustered in separate groups. On the other hand, “neither
Ashkenazi Jews nor the two Sephardic samples clustered with their former
host populations (non-Jewish Eastern European, Iberian, and North
African populations) (
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1274378/).
In
other words, two separate studies show that the Jewish populations that
lived in Europe remained genetically distinct from the local Europeans.
This would indicate that the local Jewish populations in Europe did not
generally intermarry with the indigenous Europeans. It would also mean
that the Ashkenazi Jews are descended from the Jews of Israel, not the
Khazars of the Caucasus.
The story of Khazaria was co-opted by
anti-Semites and white supremacists as a justification for their hatred
of Israel. Exercise caution and prudence if you see or hear someone
espousing the Khazar conspiracy. As with all conspiracies, know your
source and consider whether other things that they say are truthful. As
Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “Everyone is entitled to their own
opinion, but they are not entitled to their own facts.”
The facts of the genetic tests are incontrovertible evidence that the Khazar conspiracy is a lie. http://www.examiner.com/article/the-khazar-conspiracy-part-2soc.culture.jewish FAQ: Jews As A Nation (7/12)
Section - Question 13.4: Who were the Khazars? Are Ashkenazi Jews descended from the Khazars?http://www.faqs.org/faqs/judaism/FAQ/07-Jews-As-Nation/section-5.html“Fair Use For Information And Discussion Purposes”
Kimberly