[I was gonna put a pic here of a clearly goyishe woman but—wow—holy NSFW, Internet]
Now here's the fun part: The genetic record suggests these Jews were single men (who probably came to Eastern Europe to trade) and settled down there, marrying the local women and then converting them to Judaism.
Three thoughts:
1. Shiksappeal for the win!
2. Big boost for that whole Judaism is a race, not just a religion.
3. Ummmm, doesn't that screw up CENTURIES of arguments (ones we've railed against) that the mother is the only determinant of a child's Judaism at birth?
This one is especially tasty considering it suggests that the people who have been the most vehement defenders of matrilineal inheritance would not actually be Jewish themselves by the same law.
Anyway, good article. Highly recommend.
"This one is especially tasty considering it suggests that the people who have been the most vehement defenders of matrilineal inheritance would not actually be Jewish themselves by the same law."
ReplyDeleteYou're forgetting a few things, though:
1. Those women did convert to Judaism.
2. In the 1000+ years since, those women's descendants would have through the Mikvah many times.
3. All Jews are descended exclusively from converts to Judaism if you go back far enough. If you back through the maternal line, 7000 years ago, for example, the matrilineal ancestor you would discover at that point for any Jew on earth would be a non-Jewish woman.
P.S., another thing: the article mentions that these lineages were "incorporated" into the Jewish gene pool 2000 or more years ago. So they are talking about Roman-era converts to Judaism. This shouldn't be a surprise to anyone: back then, conversion to Judaism was quite common and Romans (and others) certainly converted to Judaism. It is only in the last 1000 or so years that Jews have become homogeneous.
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