Jews. Who are the Jews? Russian Jews

Let's talk about Jewish DNA genealogy

Jews are one of the most active players in the field of DNA genealogy. This applies to the authors of academic articles on DNA genealogy, a significant part of which are Jews themselves, and to their articles about Jews and the history of Jews, and to the people themselves who want to know their haplotype and haplogroup, and understand where they come from, Jews, happened. The thing is, they don't know it themselves. As part of my DNA genealogy, and out of general interest, I often visit Jewish discussion sites. And one of the hottest topics out there - who are Jews, what are the criteria for classifying Jews, whether there are deep differences between Jews and non-Jews, including at the genetic level. The Jews, I repeat, do not know this themselves, but they are very interested in it. I must say that Jewish discussion sites are among the most intelligent. And there, not without it, fights and quarrels take place, but orders of magnitude less than on ordinary Russian network "forums". In general, the informational level of discussions between Jews - and Russian-speaking Jews all over the world participate in them - from Canada and the USA to Russia, Australia and South Africa - is exceptionally high. And, importantly, he, the level, is mostly benevolent, even when different points of view converge. And I’m by no means an outside observer there, I also put in place (or so it seems to me) Jewish nationalists (and there are many of them) when they “bring a snowstorm”, such as that the Russian language came from Hebrew, or that the Jews established metallurgy in the South the Urals in general and in Arkaim in particular, and that the Jews were at the heart of the creation of Kievan Rus. I must admit that I conduct discussions with Jewish nationalists quite harshly, as is customary in science, which not everyone knows about. And the rest of the Jews on the site treat this with understanding and benevolence, a sign of that - three annual laureate titles received on the main and most famous Jewish site over the past few years, for popular science and educational activities, including (and in particular) for articles on the history of the Jewish people.

The Jewish interest in DNA genealogy is understandable. The fact is that most of them do not know their even relatively close ancestors. And there are sad reasons for this - Jews were persecuted at all times and all peoples. Often they were forced to run away from pogroms, persecution, murders, often massacres. Somehow I was puzzled by the fact that Jewish populations (I'm talking primarily about men, because I study mainly the DNA genealogy of Y-chromosome carriers, and these are men) in Poland, Germany, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania, Latvia, Russia, which were quite numerous in the last centuries, all have common ancestors mainly in the middle of the 14th century AD. In other words, shtetl Jews in those regions date back to that time. Why is that?

An explanation has been found. The middle of the 14th century is the height of the plague in Europe (1346-1351), more than 25 million people died from the plague. There was a steady rumor that this was the work of the Jews, who allegedly contaminated the wells. Mass pogroms and massacres began, and the surviving Jews rushed to flee, but where to? They have already been expelled from many European countries, there is only one way left - to the east. The rulers of Poland, Russia, Lithuania reacted favorably to the acceptance of the fugitives, and it was then that the Jews who arrived in those lands became the first ancestors of the soon-expanded Jewish populations. It is them, these first ancestors, that DNA genealogy identifies by the haplotypes of modern Jews. And their haplogroups turned out to be very different - E, G, I1, I2, J1, J2, N, R1a, R1b, T ... There were hard times. This is how the Ashkenazi, that is, European Jews, got a whole bunch of haplogroups.

But the common ancestors of the Jews of the Middle East are rooted far back in pre-Jewish times, in the time of the Bedouins, from whom, in particular, the Jews in their large part originated. The oldest haplogroups of Middle Eastern Jews are E1b, J1, J2, their common ancestors among modern Jews are far over 10 thousand years old. One of the main haplogroups of the modern Middle East, haplogroup J, was divided into haplogroups J1 and J2 about 20 thousand years ago. Then, much later, the haplogroups R1b and R1a appeared in the Middle East, which transferred their haplogroups to the ancestors of modern Jews about 5500 and 4000 years ago, respectively. These were the Bedouins, and the Sumerians, and the Akkadians, and everyone who lived there then.

Approximately 4,000 years ago, a common ancestor of the future Jews and Arabs was born in Mesopotamia, and according to the Bible (Old Testament), Torah and Koran, his name was Abraham. By that time, the population of Mesopotamia had long lived in numerous villages and even cities, the most significant of which were Uruk and Babylon, the Sumerian state was already fading away. The earliest settlements in northern Mesopotamia date back to about 9,000 years ago. In southern Mesopotamia, about 6,000 years ago. The first direct mention of Mesopotamia in the Bible reads, when describing the kingdom of Nimrod, the great-grandson of Noah: “His kingdom at first consisted of: Babylon, Erech, Akkad and Halne in the land of Shinar. Assur came out of this land ... ”(Ashur). This is about the Assyrians.

So, millennia have passed, and one of the owners of the haplogroup J1 (although this is only one of the assumptions, but already deeply imposed by population geneticists - the Jews of the haplogroup J1; the Jews of the haplogroup J2 object, which will be discussed below), a resident of the ancient city of Ur, one of the oldest cities of Sumer, left the city with his family and went northwest to Canaan, on the Mediterranean coast. His name was Abram, and he was a descendant of Eber, the great-grandson of Shem, the first son of Noah, as the Bible tells. Terah's father, Sarai's wife, and Lot's nephew were with him. The reasons why he left his hometown are unknown. But it is known that at that time, about 3800-4000 years ago, Ur fell into economic decline, and many inhabitants who were not engaged in agricultural labor and were not tied to their land holdings migrated from Ur.

Abram's life was full of events detailed in the Bible. In short, these events made Abram the founder of the Jewish people. According to legend, God gave him the name Abraham ("father of many nations"), and his wife - Sarah instead of Sarai, and bequeathed to him and his descendants "the whole land of Canaan for an everlasting possession." The Land of Canaa is roughly what is now Israel.

Let's move on to genealogy. Abraham, the son of Terah, the grandson of Nahor and the great-grandson of Serukh, and seven more generations before Shem, the son of Noah, who, as is known, had two more sons, Ham and Japheth (the son of Ham, by the way, was called Canaan, and he, and then the descendants of According to legend, they owned the land of Canaan), and so, Abraham gave birth to two sons from two wives - Ishmael (from the Egyptian servant Hagar) and Isaac (from Sarah). Since women do not make any contribution to the male haplogroup and haplotype, Ishmael and Isaac continued the paternal, Abraham, haplotypes and haplogroup. Ishmael was further expelled from the family, took an Egyptian as his wife, and gave birth to sons by the names: Nabaioth, Kedar, Adbeel, Mivsam, Mishma, Duma, Massa, Hadad, Thema, Jetur, Nafish and Kedma, numbering 12 souls. “They lived from Havil to Sur, which is before Egypt, as you go to Assyria,” the Bible tells us, and adds: “These are the sons of Ishmael ... These are the twelve princes of their tribes.” This is an Arabic line. One of their descendants, according to the interpreters of the Koran - after 30 generations, was the prophet Mohammed, aka Muhammad, the founder of Islam.

Isaac begat Esau and his brother Jacob (Ishmael was their uncle). Jacob gave birth to 12 sons, the ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. These are Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph and Benjamin (the names are given in the version of the Russian synodal translation; slightly different spellings of names are accepted in Judaica - Reuven, Shimon, Levi, Yehuda, Dan, Naftali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zevulun, Yosef and Benjamin). There was also a daughter of Dean, but she is not considered in this context, since she carried the haplotype not of Jacob, but of her mother Leah. After the death of Joseph, his two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born in Egypt even before Jacob and his family arrived there, adopted by Jacob before his death, and equalized in rights with the rest of his twelve sons, also became the ancestors of the tribes of Israel. In total - after the death of Joseph - there should be 13 tribes.

However, in fact, only combat units were considered knees; they had their own combat standards, which they deployed in campaigns and battles. They were sort of like divisions. And the great-grandchildren of Levi, Moses and Aaron, were not included in the tribes. They received another task, according to the Bible - from the Lord himself. The task was not easy - to negotiate with the pharaoh and bring all the sons of Israel out of Egypt by twelve of their militias. And further, God bequeathed to Aaron to become a high priest, and to his descendants - priests. And so it happened - 12 tribes of Israel, plus hereditary priests, kohanim, or kohens.

So, the genealogical framework is defined. Since Y-chromosomal markers and their alleles (the same numbers in haplotypes) are transmitted in a straight line, from father to son, then, naturally, all siblings should have had the same markers and alleles (that is, numbers in haplotypes) as theirs. father. So, if the genealogy is set out in the Bible correctly, then identical markers and alleles in the form of corresponding chains of numbers should be identical for all 12 tribes and their direct descendants until now, as well as for Ishmael and his descendants. This must be so, since Ishmael is the son of Abraham and the brother (paternally) of Isaac. And Isaac, let me remind you, is the father of Jacob and the grandfather of the ancestors of the 12 tribes (and the great-grandfather of Ephraim and Manasseh, who also headed the corresponding tribes of Israel).

In other words, if Ishmael really is in such a relationship as described in the Bible, then the Arabs, direct descendants of Ishmael, and the Jews, direct descendants of 12 tribes, including kohanim, direct descendants of Aaron, the great-grandson of Levi, should have identical haplotypes in our time.

The matter, however, is somewhat complicated by the fact that over the past 3600 years, mutations have definitely occurred in the markers of this haplotype. In six-digit haplotypes that researchers operated on 10-15 years ago, one mutation occurs on average every about three thousand years. This is a statistical estimate, no one will give an exact answer. This means that there will either be no mutations (in a minority of haplotypes), or there may be from one to five mutations, within 99% of haplotypes. This will shift the haplotype numbers up and down, different numbers in different ways. As a result, we get a whole cloud of haplotypes, at least several dozen.

What is the further history of the 12 tribes in the presentation of the Bible? Jacob had twelve children. They came to Egypt to settle in a group of 75 people, including women and children. After 210 years, they left Egypt (the Bible gives 430 years of stay in Egypt, but this is with the capture of a wider period, from the birth of Abraham). In the second year after the exodus, in the wilderness of Sinai, Moses and Aaron counted the entire available military men, according to the tribes of Israel, from 20 years and above, and a total of 603 thousand 550 people came out. The Bible punctually lists everything for each tribe, from the smallest tribe of Benjamin, 35,400 people, to the largest, Judah, 74,600 people. This total did not include the descendants of Levi. According to the Bible, the Lord told Moses - “only do not enter the tribes of Levi in ​​the census and do not number them together with the sons of Israel; but entrust to the Levites the tabernacle of revelation and all its utensils...and the Levites will stand guard at the tabernacle of revelation” (Numbers 1:49-53).

The image below shows the layout of the 12 tribes of Israel around the Tabernacle of the Covenant in the Sinai desert.

As you can see, the number of the tribes of Israel in those years grew by leaps and bounds. And in all the tribes in its male part, it must be assumed that the same haplotype of 12 tribes, the haplotype of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, was preserved, or prevailed. Although, most likely, these thousands included the most diverse people, as indicated in the Bible. This number of 600 thousand people was not disputed only by the lazy one, that, they say, it is impossible to feed so many on a campaign, and even in the desert, but the Bible explains how it was there and talks about manna from heaven.

Yes, we must also recall how, during the exodus from Egypt, the pharaoh with his army chased the fugitives, but the waters of the sea parted, let the “diverse people” through, and then closed again, swallowing the pharaoh with the army. Thus, the Egyptian yoke was finally ended. At least that's what the Bible says.

After all the decades of walking in the wilderness, the army of Israel in the plains of Moab near the Jordan was again counted, and it turned out to be 601 thousand 730 people in total. All those previously counted in the wilderness of Sinai died, except for four people. The greatest losses were suffered by the tribe of Simeon, which decreased almost three times; the largest continued to be the tribe of Judah. The Levites, male descendants of Levi, were also listed, but not as warriors, as was customary, from 20 years old and older, but including boys from a month old and above, and their number was 23 thousand people. Approximately as the minimum size of Simeon's knee.

After arriving in the land on both sides of the Jordan, all 12 tribes received inheritances, as shown on a medieval map:

Or on another map, where it is already somewhat different:
And on a more modern map:
To the left of the Jordan River were located - from south to northeast - the inheritances of Judah and Benjamin, with small inheritances of the tribes of Simeon and Dan between them, then the inheritances of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, and further Issachar, Zebulun, Asher and Naphtali. Across the Jordan River were the inheritances of Reuben and Gad.

After about five hundred years, from the described 3300 years ago, or 1300 BC, to 800 BC, the united Judea after the death of King Solomon split into two parts - the southern kingdom, Judea proper with its capital in Jerusalem , and the northern kingdom, Israel proper. The southern kingdom was inhabited mainly by the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (in whose lot Jerusalem was), the northern kingdom was inhabited by the descendants of the remaining ten tribes, to a large extent by the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, the sons of Joseph. The tribe of Simeon lived "in the midst of the inheritance of the sons of Judah" (Joshua 19:1), but this is not so important for our consideration. And what is important is that the northern and then the southern kingdoms were at least twice subjected to catastrophic devastation, which led to the captivity, deportation and subsequent disappearance of the ten tribes of Israel.

In 735-701. BC, the northern kingdom of Israel (or Samaria) was repeatedly ravaged by Assyria and the people were driven en masse into the inner regions of the empire. Instead, other tribes were brought into the devastated Jewish territories, from Arabia and Mesopotamia, giving rise, in particular, to the Samaritans, who exist there to this day. Such migrations were practiced by the Assyrians, and not only by them, as a means against possible uprisings and to increase human resources in certain territories. Part of the kingdom of Judah was also subjected to ruin and resettlement. According to the Assyrian annals, from there in 701 BC more than 200 thousand people were driven to Assyria, settled in the territories of the former Aramaic kingdoms. Their fate remained largely unknown. According to the documents, some of the exiles were enrolled in the Assyrian army, and some became Assyrian officials, sometimes high-ranking. Some of their descendants later returned to their homeland, along with the later Babylonian exiles, after two hundred years.

The second major forced resettlement of Jews in the form of a series of expulsions was already from the Kingdom of Judah, more than a hundred years after the Assyrian, in 598-582. BC. This happened shortly after Judea effectively became independent from Assyria. After the capture of Jerusalem, the destruction of the temple, mass captivity and the forcible deportation of people to Babylonia, the Kingdom of Judah ceased to exist. However, already fifty years after the fall of Babylon under the blows of the Persians, King Cyrus by decree allowed the exiles to return to Judea. Thousands of people returned, and this was an unprecedented case in those days when the driven people returned to their homeland, according to biblical sources. Those who remained were mainly those who did not have landed property in Judea, or finally settled in Babylon.

In general, according to sources, only two tribes of Israel continued to exist. These are the tribes of Judah and Benjamin. The descendants of Levi, the Levites, continued to exist and perform public worship, to teach the people the law of the Torah, but they did not belong to the tribes. The other ten tribes have disappeared. The search for them has attracted the attention of researchers, both professional and amateur, for two thousand years.

Since, according to the Bible, Jews and Arabs descend from one common ancestor named Abraham, this should be verifiable by DNA genealogy methods. A few years ago, I did just that - I collected the available haplotypes of Jews and Arabs of the haplogroup J1, put everything into one file, and launched a program to build a haplotype tree.

The program distributes haplotypes according to the principle of similarity and the formation of some haplotypes from others by mutations. Thus, related haplotypes go into one branch on the tree, lining up in the order of their formation, and the ancestral haplotype is automatically located at the base of the branch, or the ancestral one is obtained by extrapolation. Haplotypes unrelated to the first branch are rebuilt into another branch, which also consists of a pyramid of their related haplotypes with their common branch ancestor. So, the Jews and Arabs of haplogroup J1 formed a complex tree with many branches, mostly young, several centuries old, and what was characteristic of these branches was that they were either exclusively Arab or exclusively Jewish. There were no mixed branches up to two or three thousand years old. And this shows that the situation between Jews and Arabs is really complicated, centuries and millennia. Let's say, on the tree of Slavic haplotypes, Russians, Ukrainians, Belarusians are mixed in the same branches, there is no antagonism between them - they easily marry and get married, ethnic differences do not interfere with them. Not so with Jews and Arabs, cases of mixed marriages are statistically very insignificant.

In short, only one branch on the tree of haplotypes of Jews and Arabs of haplogroup J1, the oldest, although it was double, that is, there were Jews in one half of it, and Arabs in the other, converged to one point, that is, to one common ancestor. Calculations immediately showed that he lived about four thousand years ago. This is the time of the life of the biblical Abraham, although the haplotypes, of course, do not name him. That is, we showed that Abraham, or whatever his real name was, belonged to the J1 haplogroup, right?

No, not quite right. Because exactly the same picture - in principle - turned out with the haplotype tree of haplogroup J2. Again, non-mixing branches of Jews and Arabs, and again one common double branch, which converges to one common ancestor who lived the same 4000 years ago.

What is especially interesting is that exactly the same picture turned out in the haplogroup R1a. On the haplotype tree of this haplogroup, there is again a double branch, Jews and Arabs, with the following ancestral 67-marker haplotypes - Jews:

and Arabs (modern residents of Kuwait, Qatar, the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia):
The age of these branches, calculated from mutations in them, is 1300±150 and 1075±160 years. There are 22 mutations between their ancestral haplotypes, as noted above (some mutations are counted according to special rules, for example, in the so-called multicopy markers), which gives 22/0.12 = 183 → 224 conditional generations, or approximately 5600 years between their common ancestors. This means that the common ancestors of these branches of Jews and Arabs were formed from one of their common ancestor, who lived (5600+1300+1075)/2 = 3990 years ago. Again about 4000 years ago.

It turns out that there were three Abrahams - one in the J1 haplogroup, the other in the J2 haplogroup, and the third in the R1a haplogroup. This can be interpreted in such a way that Abraham was a collective figure, although the time of his life coincides with the biblical descriptions and interpretations of the Jewish sages. It is clear that the Jews and the Arabs, and their genealogical lines diverged precisely in those times, as the Bible tells about the history of the sons of Abraham, Isaac and Ishmael, aka Ishmael, who led, respectively, the lines of Jews and Arabs. Thus, these calculations confirmed that for all the mythical nature of biblical stories, a number of provisions in the Bible and the Torah are reflected correctly - both the origin of Jews and Arabs from the same ancestor (in their haplogroups), and the lifetime of this ancestor.

It becomes clear why it is difficult, if not impossible, to search for the missing ten tribes of Israel using DNA genealogy methods. What to look for? Whom? Owners of what haplogroups? We already have at least three haplogroups of applicants for the DNA line of the biblical Abraham, and therefore for the 12 tribes of Israel, J1, J2 and R1a. Let's see where the haplogroup R1a came from.

Ten years ago, data were published in the academic literature that among Ashkenazi Jews, approximately 10% have the R1a haplogroup (Behar et al., 2003). But the Jews have many different haplogroups, so 10% is a relatively large amount for one haplogroup. Moreover, it turned out that the R1a haplogroup is mainly occupied by the Levites, the descendants of Levi, whose roots lead directly to Jacob, Isaac and Abraham. At the end of last year, in 2013, a detailed article about Levites was published (Rootsi et al, 2013), and it was made public that out of all the “different tribes” Ashkenazim, 15% have haplogroup R1a (87 people out of 600 Ashkenazim tested), and this percentage of Levites , having haplogroup R1a, already rises to 65%, that is, two-thirds of all. At first it was announced that the Slavs were to blame for this, who allegedly threw their Slavic haplogroup R1a into the Jewish environment, apparently through the Levite family, and then it multiplied there.

In general, among popgeneticists, the belief still reigns that the haplogroup R1a is Slavs. In their 2010 article (Atzmon et al, 2010), they, popgeneticists, write that “these impurities could have come from Ukrainians, Poles or Russians.” But the authors, talking about the haplogroup R1a among the Jews, did not bother to look at their haplotypes, which differ markedly from those of the Slavs of the haplogroup R1a. Let's take a look, and at the same time move on to more accurate 111-marker haplotypes. The base (that is, ancestral) 111-marker haplotype of modern Jews with the dating of a common ancestor, as indicated above, about 1300 years ago:

And here is the basic 111-marker haplotype of modern Slavs, dated approximately 4900 years ago:
There are 20 mutations between them (marked), which shows that their common ancestor, Slavs and Jews, diverges by 20 / 0.198 = 101 → 112 conditional generations of 25 years each, that is, 2800 years. This, in turn, places their common ancestor at (2800+4900+1300)/2 = 4500 years ago. These are Aryans, of course, haplogroup R1a. Here, 0.198 is the mutation rate constant for 111-marker haplotypes, the arrow is a tabular correction for backmutations, and the calculation methods have already been explained earlier in other essays on Reformat. Thus, the Slavs have nothing to do with it. The Aryans left the Russian Plain, one wave of them headed south, through the Caucasus to Mesopotamia, and there they came into close contact, in the literal sense of the word, with the ancestors of modern Jews. So haplogroup R1a entered the Jewish environment. Somewhat earlier 1300 years ago, that is, already at the end of the 1st millennium AD, the carriers of the haplogroup R1a of the Jews passed the bottleneck of the population, simply speaking, they almost disappeared, and 1300 years ago their DNA line was revived. Almost all modern Jews of the haplogroup R1a are descendants of that surviving common ancestor 1300 years ago, who, by the will of fate, turned out to be a Levite.

Now - another interesting find. The base 111-marker haplotype of the Arabs and other peoples of the Middle East of the haplogroup R1a has the following form, and the age of the common ancestor is approximately 4050 years (Rozhanskii and Klyosov, 2012):

Between it and the R1a haplotype, Jews have 27 mutations (noted), which breeds their common ancestors by 27 / 0.198 = 136 → 158 conditional generations, that is, by 3950 years. This in turn places their common ancestor at (3950+4050+1300)/2 = 4650 years ago. This is again arias, within the limits of the calculation error. It turns out that in the R1a haplogroup, both Jews and other peoples of the Middle East trace their DNA genealogy from the ancient Aryans. And in this genealogy there was one common ancestor who lived 4000 years ago, who gave the lines of both Jews and Arabs, and not just Arabs, but those who are now the most orthodox. I repeat - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Qatar, Kuwait.

It was not by chance that I mentioned the haplogroup R1a among the Arabs. The fact is that the Aryans, who went south from the Russian Plain, having passed Mesopotamia, and reached the Arabian Peninsula, the Gulf of Oman, where the countries listed above are now, and the Arabs there, having received the results of DNA testing, look with amazement at the testing certificate with a haplotype and haplogroup R1a. However, they looked with amazement a few years ago. Now they are watching with understanding. They already understand that their certificates define the boundaries of the range of the campaigns of the ancient Aryans. The times of these trips to Arabia are about 4 thousand years ago. Haplotypes are typical Aryan, from the Russian Plain, the same as those of the Indian and Iranian descendants of the Aryans. Proto-Slavic haplotypes of the R1a group. Indeed, compare the above ancestral haplotypes from the Russian Plain (4900 years ago) and the haplotypes of the Arabs of the Middle East (4050 years ago):

There are only 7 mutations between them. Now it becomes clearer why the political leaders of the USSR constantly talked about the "fraternal Arab people." This is, of course, a joke, but there is some truth in it. 7 mutations breed the common ancestors of the Slavs and Arabs of the haplogroup R1a by 7 / 0.198 = 35 → 36 conditional generations, that is, for only 900 years. Their common ancestor lived (900 + 4900 + 4050) / 2 = 4925 years ago, and these are again the Aryans, who appeared on the Russian Plain about 4900 years ago. All dating of common ancestors given above - 4500, 4650, 4925 years ago - all within the calculation error, which is approximately plus or minus 10%.

Currently, the haplogroup R1a among the Arabs reaches 9% of the male population, including in such famous clans as the Qureish clan, from which came the prophet Mohammed (aka Muhammad), the founder of Islam, and his clan is mentioned in the Koran. I receive a lot of letters from well-born Arabs, who at first were shocked by their own haplogroup R1a, they even hid it from others, but gradually it became prestigious. An analogy arises with the higher castes in India, where the haplogroup R1a reaches 72%. It seems that the story of the arrival of the Aryans, who, in fact, entered the highest caste, was also on the Arabian Peninsula, only it is not yet as well known as the story of the Indian and Iranian Aryans. Now the hottest Arab heads are raising the question of whether Mohammed himself was of haplogroup R1a, which means that it turns out that Ismail (Ishmael), the son of the biblical Abraham, the “ancestor of the Arabs” according to the Bible, and hence Abraham himself. Strictly speaking, there is no answer to this question yet. But given that Abraham (or whatever the common ancestor of the main male line of Jews and Arabs was actually called) lived four thousand years ago, just at the time of the Aryan campaigns in the Middle East, such a possibility is not at all excluded. Although, to be honest, I doubt this option. It would be too twisted if Abraham is the youngest descendant of the Proto-Slavs, so to speak, the side son of the military campaigns of the Aryans.

IA SakhaNews. American scientists have accurately established that Jews are not some isolated socio-cultural group of representatives of different peoples, but have pronounced common genetic roots. Contrary to numerous tales, jokes and anecdotes, a Jew is not a character, not a vocation, not a profession, and not even a destiny, but simply a nationality. One of the thousands of other nationalities on earth.

A large-scale study of the Jewish genome was conducted by Dr. Gil Atzmon, Professor Edward Burns from the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, professor Harry Ostrer from the New York University School of Medicine, Professor Eitan Friedman from the Israeli Medical Center "Tel Hashomer" and an Israeli expert Doron Behar.

They studied the genetic samples of Jews from 14 countries of the world and compared them with the genes of representatives of 69 other peoples, summarizing them in a work entitled “Children of Abraham in the era of the genome. Principal Jewish populations of the diaspora with a common Middle Eastern ancestry".

The main conclusion of the study: all Jews, regardless of populations, are genetically almost the same, like brothers or sisters. At the same time, they are very different from non-Jews.

Scholars have traced their Jewish roots to their very ends. To do this, they studied the genomes of representatives of the three most numerous Jewish populations - Ashkenazi, Sephardic and Mizrahi. The first are the Jews of Eastern and Central Europe, the second are Turkish, Italian and Greek Jews, the third are the Jews of Syria, Iraq and Iran.

It turned out that all three varieties of Jews come from the Middle East. They appeared in Mesopotamia as a result of a certain mutation. 2,500 years ago (150 generations changed), they split into two groups. One half of the Jews went to Europe and North Africa, the other half remained in the Middle East.

By the way, it is not difficult to establish that this event coincides in time with the reign of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar, the conqueror of Judea. He is known for having stormed Jerusalem and in 586 BC destroyed the temple of Solomon, which contained the mysterious biblical shrine - the Ark of the Covenant.

So, now we know for sure: most of today's Jews are the descendants of the ancient population of Israel and other territories located in the eastern Mediterranean. At the same time, the Jewish people are connected by a common genetic history. Ashkenazim are a minor exception - they have “corrected” their Jewish genome more than other populations - they have gained signs from the surrounding Europeans. Ashkenazim can have blond hair and blue or gray eyes. But genetically they are also Jews.

Scientists who "believed harmony by algebra" willingly comment on their work in the media. "I hope that our work will show the inconsistency of the hypotheses according to which Jews are cultural, and not ethnic groups of people. Jews are not mistaken in considering themselves to be one people. Our research confirms this concept, and shows that the Jewish people are connected by a common genetic history", Harry Ostrer is sure.

"Apparently, the bulk of the Jewish people, and therefore the majority of Jews, are genetically closer to each other and to the inhabitants of the Middle East than to the peoples with whom they live now", - says Doron Behar. True, he makes a reservation: the Jewish communities of Ethiopia and India are genetically closer to the non-Jewish population of these countries. This is also a new curious discovery of scientists.

Scientists believe that their study will be of interest not only to historians, but also to physicians. For example, along the way it turned out: characteristic Jewish diseases - prostatitis in men and breast cancer in women. Now it remains to be seen whether there really is a genetic predisposition to these ailments.

Another conclusion of scientists: of all the people who are not Jews, the Italians and the French were genetically closest to the Jews.

Didn't you notice how Pierre Richard look like Albert Einstein?

Photo by Oleg Solodukhin.

Where do Jews live? The country - the modern homeland of this people - is called Israel. Its appearance on the political map of the world happened relatively recently - on May 14, 1948. The creation of a new Jewish state in the Middle East did not please the Muslim world, as it upset the balance of power in the region. Israel from the first days of its appearance was drawn into numerous Arab-Israeli conflicts. Almost half a century of bloody battles and constant terrorist attacks survived the young state before finally establishing itself in the Middle East. Where did Jews live before 1948? Why was the place chosen for the new state in the Middle East, next to the militant Arab states? In the article we will try to understand this.

origin theory

Where did Jews live in ancient times? Where do they start from? This debatable question haunts many. Undoubtedly, the Jews are one of the most ancient peoples of mankind who have managed to preserve their national identity to this day, although this seems paradoxical: throughout their history they have been subjected to various persecutions, deportations, genocides. They were in subjection and slavery to the Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Romans, Greeks, etc.

Where did Jews live in ancient times? There are no sources that would reliably indicate the place of their origin. Some researchers believe that the first representatives of the Jews appeared on the Indian Peninsula. From there they were forced out by the tribes of the Aryans, and they settled in the territory of Mesopotamia. One indirect confirmation of this is the fact that they receive their national identity from their Jewish mother. In other words, the Jewish society did not consider a person to be a member of his tribe if only his father was a Jew.

This tradition was also traced among some of the Celts, who, presumably, also originate from the Indian Peninsula.

The formation of the Jewish people

The beginning of the history of the people is connected with the name of Abraham. There are no historical sources that would objectively reflect this era. The Bible is the only source by which the first representatives can be studied, therefore the initial period of their history was called the “Biblical era”.

It is believed that the Jewish nation was formed in the 2nd millennium BC. e. in ancient Canaan. Geographically, this place was located at the "busy crossroads" of the Ancient World, connecting the developed civilizations of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Asia Minor, Arabia and Africa. Around the same time, writing appeared and the historical era of human history began - before that it was considered prehistoric.

Where did Jews live in ancient times? The descendants of Abraham left the fertile Mesopotamia and captured the Canaanite lands. Did they do it of their own free will? There is no answer to this question. There may have been a peaceful integration of the Semitic-speaking pastoralists and farmers of Canaan.

Egyptian History of the Jews

According to the Jewish tradition recorded in the Torah, their national identity was formed after the Exodus from Egypt. But how did they get there? Abraham's grandson, Jacob, brought his nomadic shepherds to the lands of Ancient Egypt. The local civilization was so developed that the appearance of a small new tribe of shepherds did not cause any alarm. Perhaps the Jews understood the favorable situation for themselves, since one of the greatest civilizations of Egypt during this period was captured by the same nomadic shepherds - the Hyksos. These two circumstances led to the development of a nomadic backward nation. The reign of the "nasty Hyksos" - such a name can be traced in Egyptian sources of a later period - is a "black page" in the history of highly cultured Egypt. The nomads showed frank savagery and barbarism. They destroyed the centuries-old ways of life of Egyptian society, destroyed religion, culture, etc. Jews became their faithful allies, who completely made their way into all spheres of public life in Egypt, received the best lands. An ideal environment was created for the "God's chosen people": rich soil, developed civilization, merging with the ruling elite, etc. However, everything ended when a liberation movement began from Thebes, which overthrew the Hyksos (1550 BC).

This is reflected in the Bible with the story of Joseph, who "gave them possession in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land." I would like to note that Joseph himself achieved the fact that he actually became the formal pharaoh of Egypt: he bought the lands of ordinary Egyptians using “seven lean” years, and taxed all the inhabitants with a 20% tax on their own land, which the pharaohs themselves could not come up with over a thousand-year history.

Slavery and exodus

The national liberation movement formed new features of the Egyptian nation: a militant spirit, suspicion of all non-believers, a pathological hatred of everything shepherd, etc. The situation was aggravated by the fact that favorable conditions and the absence of taxes for the Jews themselves significantly increased their numbers. This begins to threaten the native population: "The sons of Israel were fruitful and multiplied, and increased, and became exceedingly strong, and the land was filled with them." From a privileged people, they began to turn into slaves. Although the Bible itself makes it clear that they were simply forced to work physically, like everyone else: "they made their lives bitter from hard work on clay and bricks and from all work in the field." They were not accustomed to this, and they did not want to get used to it even after two centuries. This went on for 210 years, until they fled again to another territory. The Exodus from Egypt took place in the 14th century BC. e. and is associated with the name of Moses. According to one version, he was the son of Ramses the Great, according to another, his grandson, and the Jewish tradition even attributes him to “his own”, whom the court maid miraculously saved and settled in the palace.

If we analyze the only source that exists - the Bible, and compare the facts, then we can conclude that the exodus was more likely an escape with looted wealth. “When you go, you will not go empty-handed: every woman will beg from her neighbor and from her woman who lives in her house silver things and gold things, and clothes, and you will dress your sons and your daughters with them, and wrap the Egyptians.” Perhaps that is why the authorities went in pursuit of the "unfortunate" not in order to return them, but to take the stolen jewelry, since the Egyptians realized late that they had been massively deceived.

Strange wandering

After Egypt, Moses led his people through the wilderness for 40 years. Why so long? Crossing the Sinai takes no more than one month. Many researchers and publicists believe that Moses purposefully did this: 40 years is a sufficient period for a complete change of generation. The shepherd simply needed his people to completely forget their slave roots. In parallel, the cult of usury and money was inculcated. According to the Bible, Moses brutally dealt with those who participated in the burning of the golden calf, erected from the looted Egyptian gold. The following is also unclear here: why did the gold burn to ashes and not melt? Most likely, the shepherds thus decided to rob the people themselves, who had previously robbed the Egyptians. If so, this is the first time in history that an entire country's wealth has been embezzled by a small group of elites. Perhaps this money is used to produce "manna from heaven" - a perishable product that "God took away from the greedy."

Where did Jews live after Egypt?

It is possible that Moses himself considered himself a slave race, so he fell victim to his ideology. He dies right before the walls of Canaan - a country stretching west and northwest from the northwestern bend of the Euphrates and from Joradan to the shores of the Mediterranean Sea. Authority is transferred to Joshua. Here the Jews again conquer the Canaanite principalities, as before, before the entry into Egypt of their distant ancestors. Israel is formed on this land. The era of kingdoms begins. In this era, such famous personalities as Saul, David, Solomon, and others appear. It is here, in the Middle East, that Jews settle for a long time.

Constant struggle

The promised land is constantly under attack. From the 8th century BC e. it is under the rule of Assyria, then Babylon (586-539 BC), which destroys the famous temple of Solomon, then the Persian state of the Achaemenids (539-331 BC), Macedonia (332-312 years . BC.). After the collapse of the empire of Alexander the Great, the Jews enter the Ptolemaic and Seleucid states. And all this time the Jews were constantly trying to fight the invaders. For example, as a result of the Maccabean uprising, the Hasmonean Jewish dynasty ruled for some time in Judea.

Then this land became a vassal of Rome. But the Romans could not cope with the recalcitrant Jews. It was decided to completely expel them from this territory, and to rename Judea itself into Palestinian Syria in order to erase all memory of them. This happened in 135.

Resettlement of the Jews

Where do Jews live in the world? After the Romans again sent the "God's chosen people" to wander, they settled almost throughout the world. There was not a single country where they did not live. Their appearance was accompanied by constant anti-Semitic sentiments. The reason is that many Jews began to engage in their usual business - usury. In pursuit of profit, some of them used the most vile methods: profiteering on hunger, artificial creation of shortages, inflation, buying up stolen goods, etc. In the Commonwealth, they completely bought off all Orthodox churches at the suggestion of the Catholic authorities and began to charge for rituals. For the vile deeds of some of its representatives, innocent Jews had to suffer.

Where did the Jews live in Russia

The Russian autocracy strictly controlled the Jewish people. In "backward" Russia, capitalism did not advance, so they were not attracted to us. Their appearance happened by chance: during the division of the Commonwealth, our country took away not only Polish lands, but also a huge number of representatives of the sons of Israel. The autocracy encouraged the assimilation of the Jews: it gave them benefits, gave them land, but the bulk of them were kept outside the Pale of Settlement and did not allow them to spread throughout the empire. This was the case before the revolution of 1917.

Stalin and Jews

Where do Jews live in Russia? Thanks to I. Stalin, they were sent away from the rest of Russia: to the north of the Far East, to the desert lands. Today it is the Jewish Autonomous Okrug with the center in the city of Birobidzhan. Stalin fought against Trotsky's party, in which the Jews firmly fortified their positions. There was neither the strength nor the desire to identify them, so it was decided to send everyone away from the capital.

Results

So, we answered the question: where do the Jews live, in what country is their homeland located today. Briefly covered the history of the settlement of this people. We hope that the article will be useful.

Today there are about 14 million Jews worldwide, according to official statistics. There is an opinion that there are much more Jews. As we have already said, communities differ in customs and origin. There are two words in Hebrew (reflecting two different concepts), which translate into Russian with one word “community” - these are kegila and eda.

Kegila - a local community, a group of people living in the neighborhood - in the same city, quarter, etc. - and attending the local synagogue (or synagogues, if there are several). Kegila (pl. kegilot) has its own administration, appoints a rabbi, and performs other organizational functions.

Ed. The Jews are one people, but for many centuries they lived in different countries of the world, among different peoples. This led to the formation of separate groups with different languages ​​of everyday communication, with slightly different customs, and so on. Each of these groups is called an eda (pl. edot) in Hebrew. Today the largest edots are Ashkenazim and Sephardim.

The ancestors of the Ashkenazim (“Ashkenazim” - from the Hebrew word “Ashkenaz”: this is how the Jews called Germany in the Middle Ages) - lived in the German principalities about a thousand years ago; 150 years ago, almost all Ashkenazi Jews lived in Russia, Poland, Germany, Austria, Romania and Hungary and used the Yiddish language in everyday life. Today, Ashkenazim make up the majority of the Jews of Europe and America and more than half of the Jews of Israel. The vast majority of Russian Jews are Ashkenazim.

Sephardim ("sfaradim") today is commonly referred to as all non-Ashkenazi Jews. However, at first this was the name given to the Jews who originated from Spain. Spain in Hebrew is Sfarad. Jews were expelled from Spain and Portugal about 500 years ago and settled in different countries - mainly around the Mediterranean: in Italy, Greece, the Balkans, North Africa, Turkey; some went as far as France, Holland, England, and even America, and created their kegilot there. Then other communities began to be included in the number of Sephardim, not leading their origin from the Spanish exiles, but close to them in customs: Iraqi, Yemeni, Iranian, Kurdish, Kochi (Indian), etc. In the CIS, Georgian, mountainous , Bukharan and Crimean Jews. Sephardim today make up the majority of the Jews of Turkey, France and Holland. In the State of Israel, slightly less than half of the Jews are Sephardi.

Not only every eda, but also many kegilots have and carefully preserve their customs within the framework of the Jewish tradition; the differences between them, as a rule, are imperceptible to a person far from the Jewish way of life, but are important for everyone who lives in this community.

These differences do not contradict the fact that all Jews are one people, and the diversity of the customs of different communities only enriches the Jewish tradition and emphasizes that the common source for all of them is the Torah. Moreover, if not for this common source, one would only be surprised that over the millennia of Jewish history, different communities, thousands and tens of thousands of kilometers apart from each other, often existed as small islands among the gigantic and dissimilar communities surrounding them. civilizations, reveal such minor differences in tradition.

Review questions

What are the names for the Jewish communities? Where did these names come from? What groups are Jewish communities divided into? Which Jewish communities in the CIS and in the world belong to Ashkenazim, and which ones Sephardim? Is there a difference in the traditions of different Jewish communities?

Jewish languages

Common to the entire Jewish people is the Hebrew language Hebrew. Jews spoke this language several thousand years ago, the Torah and most of the other books of the Jewish tradition were written in this language, Jews all over the world prayed and pray in this language, this language today is the state language of the State of Israel. Jewish tradition calls Hebrew "the holy language" - Leshon Kodesh) and even the Hebrew letters themselves - holy, since in this language, according to tradition, the Almighty uttered the sayings through which the world was created.

Of course, modern Hebrew is not exactly the language spoken three thousand years ago; in addition, the pronunciation of Hebrew words in different communities is not the same. However, even today an Israeli student can read the Torah without a dictionary, since the spoken language of Israel is a continuation of ancient Hebrew with the addition of some modern words and concepts.

19 centuries ago, the Jerusalem Temple was destroyed, and most of the Jewish people were expelled from their country (Eretz Israel, see the chapter "Land of Israel", p. 106). Even before the destruction of the Temple, Hebrew began to lose its functions as a spoken language, this process intensified after the departure of the people into exile. Gradually, Hebrew practically ceased to be a spoken language - it was written and read, but not spoken. And only at the beginning of the 20th century a revolution took place: under the influence of several enthusiasts, immigrants from Russia, many Jews living in Eretz Israel began to speak Hebrew. Many Jews see a clear miracle granted by the Almighty in the fact that this language was revived as a spoken language in 20-25 years - there is nothing like it in the entire history of the world.

For a long period (ending about a thousand years ago) the spoken and literary language of the Jews was Aramaic, close to Hebrew and using the same alphabet. At that time, the study of the Torah was carried out in Aramaic, and a significant part of the Gmara was written in it (see "The Main Books of the Jewish Tradition"). There are also some prayers recited in this language; so that even today the Torah student must understand Aramaic.

The remaining languages, which are usually called "Jewish", were and remain accepted in various Jewish communities. The most famous of them is the language of the Ashkenazi communities, Yiddish, which is still spoken and written by hundreds of thousands of people today. Some disdainfully call it "jargon" and "distorted German", but we must remember: books were written in Yiddish even when there was no literature in almost any European language. For the grandparents of most Russian Jews, Yiddish was their native language.

Other well-known Jewish languages ​​are Judesmo, also called Ladino (it is spoken by the descendants of immigrants from Spain), Mountain Jewish (the language of the Jews of the North Caucasus), etc.

Review questions

What languages ​​are called Hebrew?

Why are there so many?

What language is the main Hebrew language? Why?

Names of the Jewish people

The Jewish people have several names. There are many reasons for this, and each of these names has its own meaning in the tradition:

Jew - in Hebrew, Ivri is a word from the Torah. There are different explanations for this name: from the Hebrew word avar - “passed over” (or “came from the other side”); on behalf of Ever, one of the ancestors of the Jewish people. It is easy to guess that the word Hebrew comes from the same root.

Israel - in Hebrew Israel - is the name that Jacob, one of the forefathers of the Jewish people (see below), took after the events described in the Torah, as a result of which he received a special blessing from the Almighty. Actually, the Jews are the descendants of Israel (Jacob), therefore there are also expressions: bnei Yisrael - sons (i.e., descendants) of Israel and bnei Yaakov - sons (descendants) of Yaakov. Sometimes the entire Jewish people is also called Beit Yaakov - "the house of Yaakov."

Jew - in Hebrew Yehudi - from Yehud, the name of one of the sons of Jacob, whose descendants are the vast majority of Jews living today. From this word comes the name of the Jewish religion in European languages ​​- "Judaism" and the name of the language "Yiddish".

Review questions

What are the names of the Jewish people? What do they mean?

Jewish land

Despite the fact that during their many thousands of years of history, Jews lived in various countries, there is only one land in the world that tradition considers "Jewish". In Hebrew, it is called "Eretz Yisrael" - "Land of Israel".

This land, according to tradition, was granted by the Almighty to the Jewish people. Most of the life of the forefathers of the Jewish people passed here (see the next chapter). A Jewish state existed on this land until the expulsion of the Jews. Since then, all Jewish communities outside of Eretz Israel are called the Jewish diaspora (the word "diaspora" means "scattering" in Greek).

The Torah tells that the Almighty entered into an alliance with the forefather Avraham (Brit-Avraham), according to which this land will be given to the offspring of Avraham (hence the name "Promised Land"). Indeed, the Jews in ancient times owned this land for many centuries.

Tradition says: the time will come when all the Jews will again gather in Eretz Israel. Since the State of Israel, which today has more than 4 million Jews, exists in part of the territory of the historical Eretz Israel, many see its existence as a sign of the approach of this time.

We will talk more about this in the chapter "Land of Israel".

Review questions

What land is special in Jewish tradition?

What is a "diaspora"?

The first Jews

The first Jew was Avraham, who lived about 3700 years ago. He, his son Yitzhak and Yitzhak's son Yaakov are called in the Jewish tradition the forefathers of the Jewish people. Avraham's wife Sarah, Yitzchak's wife Rivka, Yaakov's wife Rachel and Leah the foremother of the Jews.

Yaakov had 12 sons: Reuven, Shimdn, Leah, Yehuda, Dan, Naftalp, Gad, Asher, Isachar, Zvulun, Yosef and Binyampn. In the future, the descendants of each of these sons formed their own large families - hence the expression "Twelve tribes (kinds) of Israel." Once upon a time, every Jew knew which of these 12 genera he was a descendant of. The name "Twelve Tribes of Israel" passed to the entire Jewish people.

At a time when almost the entire Jewish people lived in Eretz Israel, the concept of "12 genera" also had a geographical meaning. The fact is that after the conquest of Eretz-Israel by the Jews, the land was divided between these clans. We can see the resettlement of the twelve tribes of Israel on the map on page 25. However, the names of the allotments are not quite identical to the names of the sons of Jacob: there is no land of Levi and Yosef, but there are lands of Ephraim and Menashe. Why?

The fact is that the family of Levi - the Levites (in Hebrew - Leviim) - became a family of priests. They had to live with all generations and therefore did not receive an allotment of land. At the same time, the clan of Joseph by that time was divided into two: Ephraim and Menashe - after the names of the sons of Joseph, so that again there were 12 allotments of land.

Review questions

List the forefathers and foremothers of the Jewish people.

What are the twelve tribes of Israel?

Who is a Jew?

We have already used the words "Jew", "Jewish" several times. Who is considered a Jew? There is a clear answer to this question in Jewish tradition.

The first Jews were the forefathers and foremothers of the Jewish people, whom we spoke about above.

As we will learn later in the chapter "Major Periods of Jewish History", the families of the 12 sons of Jacob settled in Egypt. Approximately two centuries later, their descendants were led out of Egypt by the Almighty and in the desert, at Mount Sinai, they accepted His teachings - the Torah. All those who stood at the same time at Mount Sinai were Jews.

In all subsequent generations, Jewish tradition considers as a Jew anyone who has a Jewish mother.

In addition, any person has the opportunity to become a Jew, to join the Jewish people. This is not done automatically, since the Torah (unlike other religions) does not oblige the whole world to become Jews; in order to undergo conversion, the procedure for converting to Judaism, a person must study the Torah and prove the sincerity of his desire to live according to the commandments of the Torah. It is impossible, for example, to accept into Jewry a person who does this for material reasons. Tradition categorically prohibits not only "violent conversion." It is also forbidden to convince a non-believer to convert to Judaism. A convert to Judaism is called a Ger.

There were times when the conversion was dangerous, as the authorities punished him with the death penalty - back in the 18th century, this happened in Poland and Russia.

History has brought us the names of many people who converted to Jewishness, and then they themselves or their descendants became famous among the Jewish people.

Review questions

Who according to tradition is a Jew?

Is it possible to become a Jew? What is the procedure for converting to Jewishness called?

Jews today

How many Jews are in the world today? This question, oddly enough, is difficult to answer precisely. There are several reasons for this.

Firstly, in many countries - for example, in the USA, England, France, where the number of Jews is large - there are no accurate statistics on nationality.

Secondly, in those countries where Jews are currently or have recently been subjected to discrimination and persecution, Jews often tried to hide their Jewishness.

Thirdly, where the processes of assimilation (mixing with the surrounding population) were especially strong - as, for example, on the territory of the former USSR - today there are many people whose mothers (or mothers of their mothers) were Jewish. These people are Jews according to the halakha, but are registered in official documents as non-Jews and often do not themselves know that they are Jews.

All this, of course, greatly complicates attempts to determine the exact number of Jews in the world. However, this number can be roughly estimated using data from local communities, population censuses, surveys, etc. Based on the results of these data, estimates of the Jewish population of each country are compiled - for example, this was done in the Atlas of the History of the Jewish People by the English researcher Martin Gilbert.

A summary of such statistics suggests that there are approximately 14 million Jews on the globe today.

About 30% of them - more than four million - live in the State of Israel.

The largest diaspora community is located in the United States and has approximately five and a half million Jews.

In second place in the diaspora is the CIS, where, according to official statistics, about one and a half million Jews live. Taking into account what has been said above about assimilation and about Jews who do not know about their Jewishness, it can be assumed that this number is actually several times higher.

There are also relatively large Jewish communities in France, Ukraine, England, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, South Africa and Australia.

Review questions

What is the approximate number of Jews living on the globe today. Why can't this number be determined exactly?

What large diaspora communities do you know?

Lexicon

Ashkenazi

Bnei Yisrael

bnei Yaakov

Beit Yaakov

leshawn kodesh

Eretz Israel

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The Jews are the sons of Jacob. How many talk about them! Someone respects these people, someone despises, but the Jewish people leave no one indifferent. Unflattering epithets are assigned to them, myths and legends are composed about them, jokes are heard everywhere that ridicule their stinginess, pettiness and stinginess. So who are the Jews?

separate tribe

Representatives of each nationality are similar to each other: the Chinese belong to a single Mongoloid race, they have a similar eye shape, skin color, height; Italians are a temperamental and dark-haired nation; Swedes are distinguished by light eyes and hair, while Jews are completely different.

If you walk along the beautiful and well-groomed streets of Tel Aviv, you can see dark-skinned men in national clothes hurrying about their business, blond women dressed in luxurious oriental dresses, pale and thin students in strict European costumes. What unites all these people, is it really a common history?

The question of who the Jews are cannot be answered without a preface. There is a funny and fascinating legend that says that in ancient times the concept of "nationality" did not exist in principle, and the peoples lived in separate tribes, while speaking the same language. The continuation is known even to children: people decided to erect a high tower (to the very sky), which angered the Almighty. He destroyed the unfinished building and, as a punishment, divided all people into nationalities speaking different languages. There were no Jews among those who rebelled against God...

Who are the Jews? To begin with, it is worth debunking the most common misconception that a Jew is a nationality. In fact, the word "Jew" is very closely intertwined with the word "Jew", hence it follows that "Jew" is a religious affiliation, a creed. Any person who has undergone conversion (the process of conversion to Judaism) is officially considered a Jew.

Summing up, we can answer the question of who the Jews are. They can be Russians, and Americans, and Germans, and Japanese, and residents of any other countries. Jews are those who accepted the Jewish faith and all its strict laws, as well as children born of a Jewish mother, even if later they openly oppose the Torah and change their religion.

Russian-speaking Jews

What does the concept of "Russian Jews" mean and are there such? Of course, they exist, but at the same time they differ sharply from relatives living in other countries. First of all, less religiosity. The bulk of them treat Judaism as coolly as they do Buddhism, Hinduism, or Christianity.

As a result of the divisions of the Commonwealth, the composition of the Russian Empire was replenished with the lands where the main part of the Jews lived. By the end of the 19th century, almost 70% of the entire Jewish people lived in Russia. These people are a unique phenomenon, this is a truth that does not require proof. A special sub-ethnic group was formed, speaking Russian, but at the same time it belonged to several cultures at the same time - Russian and Jewish.

Russian Jews have endured many hardships. In 1908, a decree was passed prohibiting them from entering higher educational institutions. Not only the Jews themselves, but also their descendants were not promoted to the officer rank. Persecution, multiple bans, infringement of rights, and finally the Holocaust led to mass emigration of Jews.

Now one-sixth of Russian Jews live in Israel. They are the largest ethnic group in the country and have a huge impact on the political and social environment. The interesting thing is that for Israelis they are Russians, and for Russians they are Jews.

Dislike for enemies

Why don't they like Jews? Jews live in Russia - this fact haunts many people. Perhaps the point is in some qualities and features of their character, inherent only to this nation? Most likely no. Something invisible and invisible is hidden in them, it causes a whole gamut of feelings: from mild and unexpressed hostility to outright disgust. There is an assumption that the point is envy of their luck, intelligence and wealth. There is also a more interesting and plausible explanation for anti-Semitism. It has spiritual roots.

Even ardent atheists in the depths of their souls cannot completely renounce the thought: “What if God still exists?”, And if this is true, then people cannot call themselves the masters of the world. Society is irritated by the violent faith of the Jews in their own God's chosen people. Anti-Semites believe that they claim world domination as well as innate national superiority. The Jewish concept of the messiah (messiahism) is based on the fact that it was not they who appointed themselves, but the Almighty chose them as guardians and followers of the doctrine of the one God (monotheism).

Jews in Russia will always be attacked, Western tolerance will not take root in this territory. Religious fanatics cannot forgive them for burning Jesus Christ; people for whom the "Bible" is the work of Mein kampf, written by Adolf Hitler, will also not change their beliefs.

But the Jewish ethnos seems to be completely abstracted from the opinions of the people of the whole world. And continues to live his life. By the way, without forgetting to focus on your own significance and the magnitude of your contribution to art, literature, science, etc.

Jews: photo

The Jewish people have features in appearance, but not every person is able to distinguish a Jew from a non-Jew. With age, their features become more pronounced. It is believed that a Jew is easily identified by the nose - this "outstanding" part of the face betrays nationality. Indeed, a thin, elongated nose with a tip that is strongly bent down is a trait that many Jews possess. The photo allows you to consider this sign in detail.

This is a characteristic Jewish nose.

Was there a tragedy?

Holocaust (burnt offering) is a word that is known to every person. The history of the Jews preserves many sad facts, but there was nothing more terrible than systematic persecution and complete destruction. How many of them died? In 1945, a terrifying figure was named - 6,000,000 people. But modern research has shown that the arguments about the victims, numbering in the millions, are absurd and not supported by any evidence. Holocaust denial is punishable by law. Why do people want to hide the truth and what is the basis for the assertion that only a few hundred thousand people died?

Irvingists (deniers) argue that all this is a big lie and falsification, a deliberate concealment of historical facts. And this is done so that cunning Jews can continue to take money from Germany, presenting themselves as victims.

The main arguments of the revisionists:

1. The absence of orders for destruction only says that they did not exist.
2. The mass disappearance of Jews is the result of their resettlement and deportation.
3. Jewish testimonies are contradictory.
4. Burning and gassing were economically and technically impossible at the time.

The people were divided into two camps. Those who support the Jews on this issue believe that the Germans, realizing that the war was lost, began to create the necessary base for Holocaust denial. Whatever it was, a lot of people died. The history of the Jews keeps a lot of evidence of mass executions and torture, they themselves call it all with one short word "shoah", which means "catastrophe, destruction, collapse."

The highest echelon of power

Many places were taken by Jews in the government of Russia. And they occupy the most prestigious positions:

1. Dvorkovich Arkady Vladimirovich - Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
2. Shuvalov Igor Ivanovich - First Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
3. Kozak Dmitry Nikolaevich - Deputy Prime Minister of the Russian Federation.
4. Sechin Igor Ivanovich - President of the state oil company Rosneft.
5. Nurgaliev Rashid Gumarovich - Minister of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation.
6. Lavrov Sergey Viktorovich - Minister of Foreign Affairs.
7. Avdeev Alexander Alekseevich - Minister of Culture.

The list can go on for a very long time. One thing is clear - the Jews in the Russian government took almost all the seats. You can often hear the joke that Russia is the second Israel and a huge unplowed field for the activities of enterprising Jews. According to unofficial data, their number in the government is from 70 to 90 percent. And it started a very long time ago.

After the tsar, Ulyanov Vladimir Ilyich came to power. The leader did not hide his belonging to the Jewish people, but did not feel any pride or shame about this. He was replaced by Joseph Vissarionovich. Opinions are divided here: someone believes that he is a Georgian, someone that he is an Ossetian, someone that he is a Jew. What arguments are given in favor of the latest version? First of all, his father's profession is a shoemaker. In those days, this was a traditional Jewish occupation. Well, the main argument is the surname - Dzhugashvili. In translation from Georgian "Juga" is "Jew". Thus, in Russian, this surname sounds like "son of a Jew."

Jews in Russian show business

Famous Jews perform on the Russian stage. Many people do not even suspect that their favorite singers and actors belong to the cohort of the Jewish people. Below is a list of them:

• Angelica Varum (Varum Maria Yurievna) is the daughter of a composer and theater director. The grandfather's surname is Roebuck, he was forced to change it during the Second World War.
• Leonid Agutin (Chizhov Leonty Nikolaevich) - was born in the family of a musician and teacher. Mother's maiden name is Shkolnikova.
• Larisa Dolina (Kudelman Larisa Alexandrovna) - was born in Baku. Mother - Galina Izrailevna Kudelman.
• Jasmine. Born into a Jewish family.
• Lolita Milyavskaya (Gorelik Lolita Markovna). Mom is Russian, father is Jewish, after a divorce he immigrated to his homeland - to Israel.
• Boris Mikhailovich Moiseev - was born in prison, his mother is a political prisoner (Jewish).
• Mikhail Zakharovich Shufutinsky - was born into a Jewish family.
• Musical group "Bi-2" (Igor Mikhailovich Bortnik, Alexander Nikolaevich Uman). Both members are Jewish.
• Elena Vorobey (Elena Yakovlevna Lebenbaum) - was born in a Jewish family.
• Maxim Aleksandrovich Galkin is a Jew on his mother's side.
• Vladimir Natanovich Vinokur - was born in the family of a builder (Natan Lvovich Vinokur) - a Jew.
• Leonidov Maxim Leonidovich is a Jew.
• Oleg Mikhailovich Gazmanov. His mother is Jewish.
• Tamara Mikhailovna Gverdtsiteli (Tamriko Gverdtsiteli) is a purebred Jewish woman.
• Marina Arnoldovna Khlebnikova is Jewish.
• Klara Novikova is Jewish.
• Valery Miladovich Syutkin is a Polish inhabitant of Odessa with Jewish roots.

Famous Jews are also filmed in Russian cinema:

• Alika Smekhova.
• Ilya Oleinikov.
• Veniamin Smekhov.
• Mikhail Politseymako.
• Innokenty Smoktunovsky.
• Leonid Filatov.
• Gennady Khazanov.
• Alexander Tsekalo.
• Inna Churikova.
• Leonid Yarmolnik.

All these people are only a small part of the Jews whom everyone in Russia knows and loves. Someone is a great admirer of their talent, charisma, but does not even know about their Jewish origin.

The list of Jews bearing the title of national heroes of Russia includes almost 200 names. All these people distinguished themselves before the fatherland and deserve good memory and eternal gratitude. Here are some of them:

1. Dragunsky David Abramovich - Colonel of the Guard.
2. Volynov Boris Valentinovich - colonel.
3. Abramov Shetiel Semenovich - captain of the guard.
4. Barsht Abrek Arkadyevich - major.
5. Berezovsky Efim Matveevich - senior lieutenant.
6. Bluvshtein Alexander Abramovich - Major of the Guard.
7. Buber Leonid Ilyich - lieutenant.
8. Weinrub Matvei Grigorievich - Major General.
9. Gelman Polina Vladimirovna - senior lieutenant.
10. Dyskin Efim Anatolyevich - Red Army soldier.

Character. Features. disposition

Many people believe that the traits of the Jews have their own characteristics and fundamental differences from the character traits of other people. The Jewish ethnic group has positive and negative qualities (like any nation). Jews are endowed with increased adaptability, they always easily navigate in a new place, they do not experience discomfort. Self-confidence and arrogance - in their language, these traits are called the short and capacious word "hutspa".

Jews are unusually resistant to any conflicts, cheerful and very smart. All this allows them to achieve extraordinary success in any industry, there is a craving for knowledge, an increased ability to learn. They always come to the aid of each other, and also oppose themselves to other nations.

Significant contribution to science

Russian Jews have occupied a niche not only in the country's politics, but also in science and art.

• Volfkovich Semyon Isaakovich (chemist) - made a huge contribution to the development of chemistry. He was awarded the Stalin Prize of the second degree for the development of a technological process for the integrated use of phosphate raw materials with the production of phosphate and nitrogen fertilizers, sodium silicate fluoride and rare earths.
• Bernstein Sergey Natanovich (mathematician) - his dissertation was devoted to solving the Hilbert problem. He found conditions for the analyticity of the solution of equations of the second order of elliptic and parabolic types.
• Ginsburg Vitaly Lazarevich (theoretical physicist) - Nobel laureate, awarded for his contribution to the theory of superconductors and superfluid liquids.
• Kantorovich Leonid Vitalievich (mathematician) - Nobel Prize winner for his contribution to the theory of optimal allocation of resources.

There is one interesting fact about Jews: 1/5 of the winners of the prestigious Nobel Prize are either Jews or have Jewish roots. This once again confirms the strength and power of their unique intellect.

In art, these people also have a lot of space:

• Osip Emilievich Mandelstam is a well-known Russian poet who was born into a Jewish family.
• Isaak Osipovich Dunayevsky is a talented and famous composer of Jewish origin.
• Marshak Samuil Yakovlevich - poet, children's writer (Jew).
• Boris Leonidovich Pasternak is an outstanding and revered poet, a Jew by origin.

Thus, it can be seen that the Jews in government, science, art conquer incredible heights and not only have success, but create a real sensation and upheaval.

A persecuted and despised people?

But if they are so smart, successful and talented, then one question inevitably arises: "Why are the Jews a persecuted people?" They are literally scattered all over the world, they tried to destroy them, but in spite of everything they are alive, moreover, they are happy and focused on their own great deeds. In fact, the question is rhetorical. Jews who have lived all their lives in Russia, of course, differ from those who were born on Jewish land, but still in their words, gestures, deeds there is disdain for the “goy”, it is this unflattering epithet that is awarded to people - not Jews. Goy is the whole other people. And most often this word has a negative connotation.

"Jew is a janitor"

A jewish janitor is a short anecdote from distant Soviet times. The meaning of the joke is that these people have never engaged in such "humiliating" activities, they prefer highly paid and prestigious positions. Pride, arrogance and pride are the essential and basic traits of the Jews. But the moment came when the situation began to change for the worse for them. The famous six-day war became a coup, during which Israeli troops defeated the armies of Egypt, Syria, Jordan and many other Arab countries. A period of mass emigration began. Jews in the USSR were systematically ousted from leadership positions.

For more than 20 years they have been refused, trying to take their place under the sun in the country of the Soviets. To get rid of them, percentage norms for admission to universities were adopted. All these measures led to a powerful movement of Jewish emigration. As a result, hundreds of Jews began to hastily leave the country.

Surnames of Jews

Jewish clerics had two very popular titles - Levi and Cohen. These statuses were passed down through the male line (from father to son, etc.). It was these words that served as the product for the formation of a number of surnames common among Jews:

• Kagansky;
• Kaganovich;
• Kaganer;
• Leviticus;
• Levinson;
• Levitan;
• Levitansky;
• Levitin.

More than 3% of the Jewish population has the surname Cohen, in second place is the surname Levy (1.5%).

Many surnames are derived from male names. If we consider this with a simple example, then we can take the Russian name Ivan, add the ending “ov” to it and get the well-known surname Ivanov. The same principle of action and the Jews.

In Russia, the suffix "-ovich / -evich" is added to the name, and in some cases "-sky / -chik". Surnames are obtained: Yakubovich, Berkovich, Abramovich, Davidovich.

The endings “-bein”, “-shtam”, “-sleep” are also popular. (Davidson, Yakobson, Aronstam, Hirshbein, Mandelstam).

Surnames can also be formed from female names. For example, the surname Rivman came from the name of Riva, Godelson - from the name of Gold, Tsivyan - from the name of Tsiva.

In the main Jewish book - the Torah - one can find comparisons of Jews with animals such as a lion, donkey, doe, etc. The surname Yehudu is identified with a lion, Naftali - with a doe, Issachar - with a strong and enduring donkey.

Appearance can also be a reason for the formation of a surname. Fine is handsome, Schwartzman is black, swarthy, Shtarkman has incredible physical strength, there were also funny ones - Gorbonos, Zdorovyak, Belenky, etc.