Product Description

Did the Twelve Tribes of Israel really exist? Are the scattered groups of modern Jews really the direct descendants of the ancient Hebrews of the Bible? This extraordinary book chronicles the latest discoveries in the cutting-edge field of Molecular Population Genetics that add empirical evidence and scientific confirmation to Biblical tradition.

The areas that are analyzed include:

The Discovery of the "Cohen Gene",
DNA Tests of Tradition,
Confirming the Origin of World Jewry,
Discovering the Genetic Matriarchs,
Abraham's Chromosome Signature

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #158454 in Books
• Published on: 2004-08
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 204 pages

About the Author
Rabbi Yaakov Kleiman is director of The Center for Kohanim (Jews of Priestly origin), which is dedicated to raising awareness and preparedness among today's Kohanim. The Center, located in the Old City of Jerusalem, maintains the website: Cohen-Levi.org. Sparked by the discovery of the "Cohen Gene", Rabbi Kleiman began researching the new science of molecular population genetics - the tracking of peoples' history through DNA. This book presents a summary of the fascinating findings and their possible implications.

Customer Reviews

Uncovers the Middle Eastern origin of the Jewish people
This fascinating book traces the genetic chromosome makeup of the Jewish people and proves their decent from Ancient Israel.
It focuses on the DNA makeup of the Kohanim in both Sephardic (Iberian, North African and Middle Eastern Jews) and Ashkenazic( North, East and Central European Jews) communities and shows that the genetic differences between Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jews are minor.

The author shows a marked understanding and knowledge of a number of disciplines.

Rabbi Kleiman explains how the Kohanim and the Jewish people have passed the test of time and of tradition, and tradition has passed the test of science.

Science has proved that Jewish men from communities in the Middle East: Iran, Iraq, Kurds, Yemenites and Roman Jews as well as Ashkenazim/European Jews- all have very similar almost identical profiles.

The author quotes Professor Michael Hammer who comments:

"Despite the 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".
The genetic research confirms that most Jews today are indeed the descendants of ancestors who came from the Middle East.
Jews everywhere are closely genetically related.

These studies also reveal that there is a closer genetic affinity of Jews to non-Jewish, non- Arab populations in the Middle East, such as Kurds, Turks, Druze and Lebanese Maronites, than to Arabs.

The geneticists have also concluded that all humanity living today can be traced to a common ancient female ancestor called mitochondrial Eve.
The genetic research confirms that despite physical seperation and 2000 years both the Ashkenzic and Sephardic Jewish populations contain the Y chromosome largely derived from the Middle East.
The author traces the history and migrations of Jews from the Mediterranean basin, through Italy to Central and Eastern Europe, as well as Sephardic or Oriental (Mizrachi) communities.

He explores the ancient exile communities such as the Jews from Babylonia (Iraq), and Yemen.

He also provides the compelling evidence- backed up by genetics- that the Pathans of Afghanistan, the Georgian Jews, the Kurdish Jews, the Bukharian Jews, the Bnei Menashe and Benie Israel of India and the Lemba of Southern Africa are of Israelite descent.

The book describes how the prophecies of the Tanach (Jewish Bible) of the Jews being re gathered in their ancient homeland- the Land of Israel, is being fulfilled before our eyes.

After the Holocaust the survivors of European Jewry formed the core population at the re-foundation of the State of Israel. 40% of the early returnees to Israel were Holocaust survivors.

Other population groups such Kurds, Lebanese, Syrians, Druze, Southern and Central Italians, Hungarians and Armenians have a lot of the Y chromosome. This suggests that there is a large degree of Jewish ancestry in these populations.

DNA and the Jews
Even if I didn't understand everything that was written regarding DNA, I thoroughly enjoyed the book from an anthropological level. It was fascinating to read about the dispersion of the Jews to various parts of the world and what they do or don't have in common with their non-Jewish neigbors, genetically speaking, and what they do an don't have in common with their Jewish brethren in far-away places.

I originally bought this book with my daughter in mind since she majored in biology and especially enjoyed genetics. She wrote her last college paper on a subject regarding a Jewish genetic subject. I bought it for her, but my husband and I were both fascinated with the subject and the way it was presented even though our knowledge of genetics is limited.

Jewish genetics
This book is a very good insiders look at the genetic history of the priestly tibe, the Levites and descendants from Aaron. The book and data suggest that the priestly line is intact after a hundred generations and that fact makes me proud (I am one of them). The book also seems to dispel the notion that a large segment of Jews are descendants from Central Asian converts, a theory that has occupied Jewish though for a long time. It is good to know that we are pure and descended from people in the bible.