Tag: secret Jews

  • New research says that Jews and Palestinians have close genetic links

    New research says that Jews and Palestinians have close genetic links

    Judaica
    Judaica

    By John Thomas Didymus

    A researcher at the Hebrew University has published results of genetic research studies which show that Palestinians and Jews have a common ancestry in the Kurdish population of Iraq and Turkey.

    Ariella Oppenheim, Ph.D. researcher at Hebrew University, who conducted the DNA studies, said that the results show also that the Ashkenazi Jews of Central Europe are more genetically related to the Palestinians than to the Jewish population of the Middle East.

    Oppenheim’s  study also included a study of the chromosome of the Kohen priests traced by geneticists to a hypothetical “Y-chromosomal Aaron.” Oppenheim’s study showed that many Palestinians also carry the Kohen chromosome and thus may be considered of the Kohen genetic line.

    According to a documentary in which Oppenheim featured, the Palestinian city of Yatta, south of Hebron in the West Bank, which has a population of about 50,000 people, has 90% of its people with Jewish ancestry. According to a report by Mark Ellis of God Reports,

    In some of the dry and dusty Palestinian and Bedouin villages they still circumcise their boys after the seventh day. Hidden away in some Palestinian homes are Jewish mezuzahs and tefillin. Some older residents an recall lighting candles on the Sabbath.

    A report by Steve Hageman of the Turkish World Outreach, according to Mark, says,

    Many of the Palestinians know it [that they have Jewish roots], but it’s not politically correct to acknowledge this publicly among Muslims…There are two houses of Israel in the Holy Land: one aligned with the West and primarily secular or Jewish and the other aligned with the East and primarily Islam.

    A Jewish Rabbi Dov Stein explains Oppenheim’s startling revelation,

    It becomes clear that a significant part of the Arabs in the land of Israel are actually descendants of Jews who were forced to convert to Islam over the centuries. There are studies which indicate that 85% of this group is of Jewish origin.

    A documentary by Jewish filmmaker Nissim Mossek captured on camera a Palestinian home where the Jewish mezuzah (a parchment of scripture placed on the doorposts by pious Jews) is kept away from sight under a shelf and the tefillin (or phylacteries) hidden in a dresser. Palestinians who recognize their Jewish ancestry practice their religious way of life in secret.

    Another line of explanation of the genetic links between Palestinians and Jews comes from Ancient History and explains that the genetic kinship between the Jews and the Kurds of Iran and Turkey may have it origins in deportation of the population of the Northern Kingdom of Israel to the Euphrates-Tigris region of Mesopotamia by the Assyrians in the eighth century BC

    www.goddiscussion.com, September 19, 2011

  • The emergence of Turkey’s hidden Jews

    The emergence of Turkey’s hidden Jews

    The False MesiahsBy MICHAEL FREUND

    Fundamentally Freund: the Donmeh community, numbering several thousand people, descends from followers of the false messiah Shabtai Zvi.

    Recently, at a small synagogue in New Jersey, a Jewish tragedy more than three centuries old came to an abrupt and long-awaited end.

    Standing before a rabbinical court, a “hidden Jew” from Turkey closed an historical circle by emerging from the shadows of the past and formally returning to the Jewish people.

    The young man in question, who now goes by his Hebrew name of Ari, is a member of the Donmeh, a community numbering several thousand people who are descendants of the followers of the false messiah Shabtai Zvi.

    It might sound fanciful, or even far-fetched, but after all these years, there are still people who believe that he will yet return to redeem Israel.

    In the 17th century, Zvi stormed onto the Jewish scene, raising hopes of redemption and electrifying Jews the world over. Armed with immense charisma, he traveled to various Jewish communities and promised that the long-awaited deliverance from exile was at hand.

    But his messianic career came to a crushing end when the Ottoman sultan presented him with a dire choice: convert to Islam or die by the sword. The would-be claimant to King David’s throne tossed heroism aside and became a Muslim, along with 300 families who were among his most loyal adherents.

    While they ostensibly practiced Islam, the Donmeh (also known as the Ma’aminim, Hebrew for “believers”) nonetheless continued to observe a mystical form of Judaism in secret.

    Scholars such as Gershom Scholem wrote extensively about the Donmeh, and the University of California’s Marc David Baer recently published an important new study about them.

    Until today, some of these Sabbateans preserve various Jewish customs, such as celebration of the festivals, study of the Zohar, and even the recital of portions of the book of Psalms each day. And they still follow the “18 Commandments” handed down to them by Shabtai Zvi, which includes an absolute prohibition on intermarriage.

    For many years, they concentrated in the Greek city of Salonika, until they were expelled to Turkey in 1923-24 as part of the population exchanges between the two countries. This painful chapter in their history turned out to be a blessing in disguise, because it saved them from the fate that befell Greek Jewry, most of whom were murdered by the Nazis.

    But despite the Donmeh’s conversion to Islam and the passage of more than 300 years, they are still viewed with suspicion by Turkish Muslims, and are frequent targets of the country’s press, which accuses them of being part of an international Zionist conspiracy.

    So it is no surprise that the Donmeh turned inward and essentially went underground, in effect leading double lives to survive. Though many of them have assimilated into Turkish society, several thousand still reside in cities such as Istanbul and Izmir.

    TWO YEARS ago, on a visit to Istanbul, I met with some members of the younger generation of Donmeh, including Ari. Given the current state of Turkish- Israeli relations, I cannot divulge identifying details about them, other than to say they all expressed a deep yearning to return to Judaism.

    When I met them in the lobby of a small hotel, Ari in particular seemed especially nervous. He was constantly peering around the room, initially afraid of being seen with a kippa-wearing Jew from Israel.

    He told me of the mistreatment the Donmeh endure in the Turkish media, and said, “I am tired of hiding and I am tired of pretending. I want to be a Jew – I want to return to my people.”

    When I probed him about his Jewish knowledge, I was astonished to see how conversant he was with various kabbalistic concepts. And I’m not referring to the pseudo-Kabbala practiced by Madonna and others in Hollywood, but to the real thing.

    Ari later showed me around the city, pointing out the Donmeh cemetery and other sites central to the community’s hidden life. With an obvious sense of frustration, he explained how Turkey’s Jewish community will not go near the Donmeh issue, fearful of the reaction this might evoke.

    “I am caught between two worlds,” he said. “The Turks see me as a Jew, but the Jews will not accept me.”

    But all that changed a few weeks ago, when Ari took the brave step of traveling to America to undergo a return to Judaism. After the rabbis examined his case, taking into account the fact that his ancestors had only married among themselves, they welcomed Ari back into the fold.

    Speaking to me shortly afterward, Ari could not contain his emotions: “It is a miracle – I am now an ‘official’ Jew, after all these years!” The following Sabbath, he was honored at a New York-area synagogue with carrying the Torah before the congregation. He held the scroll tightly and lovingly in his hands, cradling it like a newborn infant as tears of joy and relief trickled down his cheeks.

    Ari is not alone. There are many other young Donmeh also looking to find their way back, and it behooves the Jewish people to help them. Whatever mistakes their ancestors may have committed, the Donmeh of today have clung to their Jewish heritage and kept it alive. Those who wish to reclaim their roots should be enabled to do so.

    Welcome back to our people, Ari, and may your return pave the way for other Donmeh.

    The writer serves as chairman of Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org), a Jerusalem-based group that assists “lost Jews” seeking to return to the Jewish people.

    www.jpost.com, 23.03.2011