Interesting.
My father was born in Poland, my mother´s parents were from northern Poland, and no one in the family has a clear understanding of our genetic roots, although my father´s family came from a line of ancestors that can be traced back to 1714 in the baptism and marriage records of a village Roman Catholic church in Poland.
Mother´s parents, from the Gdansk region, were probably jewish,they came to America, and became Catholics.
We may never know for sure.

#1 - if you are interested in your genetic ancestry, check out Family Tree DNA´s website. We did both the Y-DNA and the mtDNA testing just out of curiosity.

Two books to read are Seven Daughters of Eve (Bryan Sykes) and Journey of Man (Spencer Wells).

The article implies, without coming out and saying so, that most modern Jews are not descended from ancestors who lived in the ancient kingdoms of Israel and Judah. However, if you read the article all the way through, the study indicates that while the Kazarian Hypothesis is correct in broad outlines, the idea that modern Jews are not descended from Palestinian Jews is not true. The Khazars converted to Judaism and Jews moved into their empire and interbred with them to such an extent that modern Jews are largely descended from Khazars and Middle Eastern Jews.

Interesting study. I just finished reading, ´´Ancient Post-Flood History,´´ by Ken Johnson, Th.D, which traces known ancient writings about the origins of peoples who populated the Earth after the flood and their languages. ...Complicated but still fascinating.

Well, not exactly #4. What he said is:

"Among European Jews, Elhaik found ancestral signatures that pointed clearly to the Caucasus and also, but to a smaller degree, the Middle East." Operative words being "but to a smaller degree."

Meaning, European Jews aren´t really Jews but are Khazars, with some Jewish DNA mixed in. Kind of like Elizabeth Warren is an Indian. It supports completely the Khazar hypothesis.

This is one type of thread I really enjoy...some real brainiacs among the LDotters and one can learn a great deal...following up on #3´s references, alone, yielded and enjoyable hour of reading...

Thanks, #3. Will do.

#6, That is, of course, that you believe Jews are a just a people and not a religion.

And all those people dying in the concentration camps was just a tragic misunterstanding - as Slavs they could have been worked to death as slave laborers, instead of being gassed.

So if the moslems ran the Jews from Palestine in 638 AD... Then weren´t the Jews there 1st?

Things to keep in mind about our Jewish friends: a. Masada; b. the Warsaw Ghetto uprising; c. Mark Twain´s take on contributions; and d. the roster of Nobel science prize winners.

When I was a student at Oxford, I remember studying the Khazars. They were known as a fair-minded, reasonable and lawful people, and thus, attracted to the Jewish law and faith. Just by temperament, I thought they were a good fit for Judaism.

It´s nice to know what has since become of the Khazars.

#9
Caucasus populations are not Slaves, though they are ethnically Caucasian.

I don´t think the study said the Khazar were Slaves, though it did say Yiddish had been once categorized as a Slavic language, and not German. Migrating populations do pick up the languages of linguistic territories as they pass through, or where they settle.

Just like the Chuvash organically from the northern Caucasus call themselves Volga Bulgars to differentiate themselves from Volga Tatars though both speak Turkic languages and both were Muslim until the 17th c.

Arthur Koestler must be so happy. His _The Thirteenth Tribe_ is true.

It is a safe bet that racists and anti-Semites (how much of the Democrat Party did I just describe?) will abuse this work to mean European Jews should not be in Israel, ignoring the fact that nobody needs to do much research to show that the Arabs are from Arabia.

#13, Slavs, not Slaves, although I know the one is the root of the other.

Actually, the Khazars are considered a Turkic people, which I believe, makes them Mongoloid (not idiots) people, rather than Caucasoid. (Same goes for the Turks.)

Why, if the Khazars are the founding population of the Eastern Europen Jews, Yiddish would be Slavic-based, rather than, Turkic-based, is a significant point.