JEWS AND GENETICS
by Andrew Ryan and Peter J. White
"The Jewish secular religion today is singularly
concerned about blood purity over any other concerns; it could easily
be called a eugenics secular religion."
- M. Nuenke [1]
"The percentage of foreign blood in Jews
today is very low. Probably no important European race is so pure."
- Justice Louis Brandeis, US Supreme Court.
"Most American Jews say that being Jewish
means belonging to a cultural or ethnic group, rather than a religious
group. Less than 5% (of the nation-wide Jews questioned) picked solely
the religious group category, whereas 90% defined being Jewish as being
a member of a cultural or ethnic block." [2]
It has been a popular belief among Christian
patriots, as well as conservative nationalist writers, to hold that
the Jews are not a "race" or a sub-racial group.[3] This belief
- which will be shown to be a myth in this paper - is usually held with
the "13th tribe" or Khazar theory of the origin of Ashkenazi
Jews, promoted by the Jewish communist Arthur Koestler. Those using
such arguments often claim that the Ashkenazim, well known today, do
not have an essential racial link with those Jews of "The Book".
[4] However, these views are refuted by biological evidence which is
summarized here.
The Jews as a Race: It is true that the frequency
of genes identified in ethnic Jews overlaps with the gene frequencies
of the majority population in the area in which they live. However it
is logically fallacious to infer from a mere overlap that Jews do not
constitute an ethno-racial group as Helen Macbeth does. [5] An overlap
is consistent with an existence - albeit one with vague boundaries.
There is an overlap in the color spectrum and in all natural phenomena,
but no rational scientist infers non-existence of a phenomena on that
basis alone.
The first argument that Jews constitute an ethno-racial group is that
there are specific genetic based diseases which are largely found in
their group. Here is a preliminary list of genetic diseases of specific
racial, sub-racial and ethno-racial groups.
--RACE--
Ethnic Group Disorder Mode of Inheritance
Africans Hemoglobinpathies, namely Autosomal
dominant
HbS, HbC, and persistent HbF
Alpha - and Beta - Thalassemia Autosomal recessive
Armenians Familial Mediterranean fever Autosomal
recessive
Chinese Alpha-Thalassemia Autosomal recessive
G-6-PD deficiency, Chinese type X-linked recessive
Japanese (Koreans) Acatalasia Autosomal recessive
Dsychromatosis universilas
hereditaria Autosomal recessive
Oguchi's disease Autosomal dominant or
recessive?
Jews (Ashkenazic) A-Beta-Lipoproteinemia Autosomal
recessive
Bloom's disease Autosomal recessive
Dystonia musculorum
deformans Autosomal recessive
Factor XI (PTA) deficiency Autosomal recessive
Gaucher's disease Autosomal recessive
Familial dysautonomia Autosomal recessive
Niemann-Pick disease Autosomal recessive
Pentosuria Autosomal recessive
Spongy degeneration of the brain Autosomal recessive
Stub thumbs Autosomal recessive
Tay-Sachs disease Autosomal recessive
Jews (Sephardic) Familial Mediterranean fever
Autosomal disease
G-6_PD deficiency, Mediterranean
type X-linked recessive
Mediterraneans Familial Mediterranean fever Autosomal
recessive
Greeks G-6-PD deficiency X-linked recessive
Italians Thalassemia (mainly Beta) Autosomal
recessive
Richard Goodman in his medical text, Genetic
Disorders Among Jewish People [6] gives a detailed analysis of such
diseases. The reader should not be concerned about the specific meaning
of each genetic disease, but merely "get a feel" for the magnitude
and variety of disorders.
Genetic disorders among Ashkenazi Jews include:
- Abetalipoprotienemia (Bassen-Kornzweig syndrome);
- Bloom syndrome
- Familial Dysautonomia (Riley-Day syndrome).
- Gaucher disease Type I (Chronic adult non-cerebral form)
- Mucolipidosis Type IV
- Niemann-Pick disease (Type A: Acute Neuropathic form)
- Primary Torsion Dystonia (dystonia musculorum deformans)
- PTA Deficiency (Plasma Thromboplastin Antecedent, or Factor XI, Deficiency)
- Spongy Degeneration of the Central Nervous System
- Tay-Sachs disease (GM2 Gangliosidosis Type I)
Genetic Disorders Among Sephardic and Oriental
Jews
-
- Ataxia-telangiectasia
- Congenital Adrenal Hyperplasia
- Cystinosis
- Cystinuria
- Down Syndrome (Mongolism)
- Dubin-Johnson syndrome
- Familial Deafness
- Familial Mediterranean fever
- Glanzmann Thrombasthenia
- Glucose-6-Phosphate Dehydrogenase deficiency
- Glycogen Storage Disease Type III (Debrancher Enzyme deficiency)
- Ichthyosis Vulgaris
- Metachromatic Leukodystrophy
- Phenylketonuria
- Pituitary Dwarfism II
- Pseudocholinesterase deficiency
- Selective hypoaldosteronism
- Selective vitamin B12 malabsorption
- Thalassemia
- Werdnig-Hoffmann disease
Rarer Genetic Diseases in non-Ashkenazi Jews
- Acute Hemolytic Anemia with familial ultra structural abnormality
of the red-cell membrane
- Acrocephalop Dysyndactyly Type IV
- Aldolase A deficiency
- Blue Sclerae and Keratoconus
- Chronic Airway disease
- Cleidocranial Dysplasia
- Combined Factor V and factor VIII deficiency
- Congenital Deafness and Onychodystrophy
- Congenital Hepatic Fibrosis and Nephronophthisis
- Congential Ichthyosis with atrophy, mental retardation, dwarfism and
generalized aminoaciduria
- Vutis Laxa
- Deaf-mutism with total albinism
- Familial infantile renal tubular acidosis with congenital nerve deafness
- Familial syndrome of the central nervous system and ocular malformations
- Glycinuria associated with nephrolithiasis
- Glycoprotienuria, osteopetrosis and dwarfism
- Hydrotic ectodermal dysplasia
- Hypouricemia, hypercalciuria and decreased bone density
- Leprechaunism
- Meckel syndrome
- Metachromatic Leukodystrophy
- Neurological syndrome simulating familial dysautonomia
- Ocuulopharyngeal muscular dystrophy
- Partial albinism and deaf-mutism
- Pyloric atresia
- Radioulnar synostosis
- Spondyloechondroysplasia
- Tel hashomer Camptodactyly syndrome
- Upper limb-cardiovascular syndromes
- Werner syndrome
- Wrinkly skin syndrome
- X-linked gout caused by mutant feedback-resistant phosphoribosylpy-rophosphate
synthetase
- X-linked recessive retinal dysplasia
Here is a brief account of the effects of some
of these diseases; paraphrased from Richard Goodman's textbook.
Abetalipoproteinemia -
- (or ABL) affects Jewish infants in the first year of life. They fail
to grow or gain weight and suffer from diarrhea, vomiting, and visual
defects leading to blindness. There is unsteady walk and muscle weakness.
Most die of congestive heart failure before age 30.
Bloom Syndrome -
- results in dwarfism. This affects a very large number of Jews who
are easily identified walking around Jewish neighborhoods and resorts.
Israel's Prime Minister Shamir is nearly a dwarf standing at only 5'
1" tall!
The features of the full Bloom's disease also includes a weakening of
the immune system and a predisposition to cancer. They show small facial
skin lesions and have a high-pitched voice. Those with the full disease
die by age 16. The genetic trait of this disease is found in 1 out of
every 120 Jews. This affects large numbers of Jews to one degree or
another.
Familial Dysautonomia -
- affects no one except members of the Jewish race. It also causes dwarfism,
vomiting, difficult swallowing, instability in walking and spastic arm
and head movements. The speech is slurred, monotonous with a peculiar
nasal quality. There is diffuse pain and hyperactivity. The disease
is found in 1 in every l0,000 Jews and a carrier frequency of 18 out
of every 1,000 Jews.
Gaucher's Disease -
- begins in teen-age Jews. It involves the spleen, liver and bone. The
bones fracture easily especially the hip. There is severe bone pain
which can last from days to weeks at a time. There is a yellow pallor
of the skin. This disease affects 1 in every 2,500 Jews and the gene
frequency is 0.02%. Death usually occurs by age 45.
Mucolipidosis Type IV -
-features mental and physical degeneration and blindness. Affected children
can only speak a few words and show little response to verbal commands.
They are unable to walk or feed themselves. They rarely live past age
10.
Niemann-Pick Disease -
- features vomiting, skin lesions, thickening of the skin, brownish-yellow
skin color, loss of physical and mental functions. Death usually occurs
by age 4. The disease affects 1 in every 20,000 Jews born and this gene
deficiency is found in 1 in every 100 Jews.
Primary Torsion Dystonia -
- begins around age 10 and will cause one foot to drag with bizarre
involuntary jerking movements of the arms, legs, head and torso. The
disease affects 1 in every 17,000 Jews and the gene is found in one
out of every 130 Jews. This disease is not fatal but few are ever able
to lead normal or productive lives. Comedian Jerry Lewis first reached
fame mimicking the jerky movements of such victims. Later he gave up
such performances after protests objecting to his making fun of these
people.
PTA Deficiency -
- causes episodes of excessive bleeding after cuts, dental work, minor
surgery or traumas. Some experience severe bleeding for no outside reason.
The disease affects 1 in every 12,000 Jews and the carriers are 1 in
every 56 Jews.
Spongy Degeneration of The Central Nervous System
-
- begins during the third month of life. The victim cannot support his
head, suffers seizures and spastic movements. The head becomes enlarged
and blindness occurs. Most die by age 4. The genetic defect has never
been identified but 80% of all such cases are found in Ashkenazi Jews.
Tay-Sachs Disease -
The best known of all Jewish diseases is Tay-Sachs disease. Nearly all
infected new-born occur in Ashkenazi Jews. An Ashkenazi Jew has a 1
in 30 chance of being heterozygotic, so there is a 1 in 900 (30 x 30)
chance that a couple will both be heterozygotes.
Genetic disorders affecting Jews are largely autosomal recessives. These
disorders are primarily due to Jewish consanguinity - the mating of
genetically related individuals which was an important phenomenon in
Jewish history. Goodman accepts that this mechanism accounts for disorders
in Jewish non-Ashkenazi communities but he says, giving no evidence
or argument at all, that it plays no role in Ashkenazi Jewish communities.[7]
He also rejects other hypotheses accounting for genetic disorders in
Ashkenazi Jewish communities because of lack of evidence such as: linkage
to an advantageous gene, heterozygotes advantage, genetic drift and
the founder effect, hybridization and high mutation rates. Thus he is
left with no hypotheses at all to account for the wide variety of genetic
disorders in Ashkenazi Jews.
Scientific reasoning and considerations of simplicity would suggest
that the inbreeding (consanguinity) hypotheses would explain this phenomena.
A.E. Mourant in The Genetics of Jews [8] cites
reports of blood group tests on thousands of individual Jews in Europe,
North Africa and the Middle East. A strain of genetic homogeneity runs
through Jewry. Jews as a group differ from their host populations as
a group having a Negro admixture of 5 to 10 per cent. This refutes the
Khazar theory of Jewish origin. Even in Russia there have been very
few Khazars.
Mourant says:
"Looking at the complete blood group picture of either the Ashkenazim
or the Sephardim separately, one may observe that neither of these populations
resemble closely the people among whom they now or recently have lived,
and the range of variation between separate samples of the Ashkenazim
compared with one another and the Sephardim compared with one another,
is so small that we can be sure that each is essentially a single population
group.
When, however, we compare Ashkenazim with Sephardim we find that there
are indeed systematic differences between them. But these are so small
that we can hardly avoid the conclusion that the two populations have
a common origin, and a common original blood group picture, only slightly
modified in one direction or another by their different histories since
separation."[9]
Mourant (et al) examined the blood groups and other inherited blood
factors, such as systems of plasma proteins, red-cell enzymes, hemoglobin
system, systems of lymphocyte and tissue antigens, the histocompatibility
or HLA systems, other polymorphic systems including the secretion into
the saliva of the antigens of the ABO blood-group system and the ability
to taste phenylthiocarbamide. Here is a summary of their research.
The Samaritans
- The Kell gene K is absent so is the African
marker gene Jsa and African marker Fy4 and absent also is Mongoloid
marker gene Dia.
- Glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency present in most other
Jewish populations is rare.
- Frequency of the phenylthiocarbamide tester gene is 75 per cent. High
in the author's opinion.
- Frequency of male color blindness is high as are congenital abnormalities
such as deafness and neuromuscular diseases.
The Oriental Jews
- This includes Kurdish Jews, Persian Jews, the
Jews of Bukhara, Jews between the Caspian and the Black Seas, the Jews
of Afghanistan and Jews of India.
- With respect to the ABO blood groups there are primarily high A and
B frequencies. The Karaites in Iraq and the Bene-Israel Jews of Bombay
have very high B frequencies for example. The Cochin Jews of Kerala,
"White Jews" have higher A frequency than the "Black
Jews".
- There is a high frequency of M gene in Jews of the Arabian Peninsula
and generally in indigenous populations in South-west Asia, including
Iraq (Babylonian Jews) Iraq Kurdish Jews and Iran Kurdish Jews.
Yemenite Jews
- North and South Yemenite Jews have a high frequency
of Fy4, the African gene marker and also a high frequency of Jka (Kidd)
gene which has higher levels in African than in Caucasoid populations.
- Glucose-6-phospahte dehydrogenase deficiency is present in most Jewish
populations except for the Ashkenazim Jews of Eastern Europe.
- Yemenite Jews have a well-defined set of African marker genes. Thus
both the Yemenite Jewish populations have some African genes.
Karaites
- There is very high frequency of the B gene
especially the Karaites of Hit, Iraq, and a high M gene frequency.
- Karaites of Iraq in the Rh system have 53 per cent of the Rh-negative
Cde complex, which is one of the highest levels known.
Jews of Africa
- This includes Jews in Egypt, North Africa from
Libya to Morocco, and the Falashas "Black Jews" of Ethiopia.
- Such Jews have a higher B gene frequency than non-Jews, and generally
a higher A frequency. The M gene frequency is higher in Jews than in
non-Jews.
- With regard to Rhesus groups, nearly all Jewish populations everywhere
show frequencies of RO or cDe complex slightly higher than the European
level of 2-3 per cent, which indicates a small amount of African admixture
in these Jews. Falashas of Ethiopia Rh frequencies suggest that they
are at least 50 per cent of Negroid ancestry.
Sephardic Jews
- Every single national group of Sephardic Jews
has a higher B gene frequency than the average 11 per cent for the Ashkenazim.
Sephardic have a high frequency of Rh negatives.
- Sephardic have a high frequency of the cDe African marker allele well
above the 2-3 per cent found in most European populations.
- Low levels of Fya are found implying the presence of high frequencies
of the African marker allele Fy4. High frequencies of the Jka gene of
the Kidd system may also indicate an African component. [10]
Ashkenazim
- Maurant tested Koestler's theory of a Khazar
ancestry for the early Ashkenazim. He found Ashkenazim were European
Jews closely related to the Sephardim.
- There is a closer similarity between the Jewish populations of various
European countries than between non-Jews with respect to ABO blood groups.
Ashkenazi gene frequencies in European samples cluster A 27 per cent,
B 12 per cent, which is about the same as samples in Israel
- The African marker allele cDE (Ro) is always present in Ashkenazi
Jews at frequencies higher than in indigenous European populations.
- The high frequencies of the Kidd JKa gene may also be another indicator
of an African component in Ashkenazi Jews.
- Maurant believes that Ashkenazi and Sephardim are essentially a single
population group, and that considerable hybridization between Jews and
their African slaves has occurred.
Genetic Aspects of Diseases in Jews
Some hereditary diseases are commoner among Ashkenazi
Jews than Europeans and are:
- Dystasia musculorum dysfunction
- Familial autonomic dysfunction
- Gaucher's disease
- Infantile amaurotic idiocy
- Lipid histiocytosis
- Pemphigus vulgaris
- Essential pentosuria
- Polycythaemia vera
- Dubin-Johnson syndrome (hyperbilirubin-aemia, chronic idiopathic jaundice
is especially prevalent in the Jews of Iran.
- Kurdish Jews have a very high frequency of glucose-6-phosphate dehydrogenase
deficiency and infantile renal tubular acidosis.
- Yemenite Jews have a large number of very rare hereditary diseases
such as familial neonatal hyperbilrubinaemia, infantile acute Pelizaeus-Merzbacher
disease, deficiency of plasma thromboplastin antecedent (Factor XI),
recessive cystic disease of the lung, benign familial neutropenia and
they also have the highest known incidence of recessive deficiency of
peroxidase and phospholipids in the eosinophil granulocytes of the blood.
CONCLUSIONS:
Mourant concludes:
"It may be said that, in general, blood-group
data are readily correlated with the known facts of history, and that
they support the relative homogeneity of the main historical Jewish
communities and their distinctions from one another."[11]
Each major community bears some resemblance to
the indigenous people of the region where they first developed.
Nearly all Jewish communities have a substantial proportion of African
Negroid marker genes implying a total Negroid admixture of the order
of 5 to10 per cent.
The genetic unity of the Jews is also confirmed
by more recent genetic studies. A study of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes
(i.e., Y-chromosome markers) concludes that all Jews (except for the
Ethiopian Jews) throughout the Near-East, North Africa and Europe descended
from a common Middle Eastern ancestral population that bred endogamously,
even though wide dispersion occurred. [12] The Khazar theory of the
origin of Ashkenazi Jews is therefore refuted by the genetic evidence.
NOTES
1. M. Nuenke, "Reproducitve Perspectives:
A Review of Some Recent Books on the Ethics of Manipulating Human Genes,"
The Mankind Quarterly, vol.61, no.3, Spring 2001, pp.315-350, cited
p.320.
2. Council of Jewish Federation, Chicago Sun-Times, June 15, 1991, p.15.
3. e.g., W.P. Fairchild, Race and Nationality as Factors in American
Life, (Ronald Press, New York, 1947).
4. See J. Tiffany, "The Khazar Origins of the Jews," The Barnes
Review, July 1997, pp.9-12. In reality Nordic Russians destroyed the
Khazar kingdom, and the remnants converted to Islam in the 11th century,
all contrary to Koestler.
5. H. Macbeth, "Ethnicity and Human Biology," in M. Chapman
(ed.), Social and Biological Aspects of Ethnicity, (Oxford University
Press, Oxford, 1993), pp.47-91.
6. R.M. Goodman, Genetic Disorders Among Jewish People, (The John Hopkins
University Press, Baltimore and London, 1979).
7. Above p.464.
8. A.E. Mourant, The Genetics of Jews, (Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1978).
9. Above p.38.
10. Above p.43.
11. Above p.57.
12. M.F. Hammer, (et al), "Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish
Populations Share a Common Pool of Y-Chromosome Biallelic Haplotypes,"
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA, vol.97,
no.12, 2000, pp.6769-6774; A. Nebel (et al), "The Y Chromosome
Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East,"
American Journal of Human Genetics, vol.69, 2001, pp.1095-1112; D.M.
Behar (et al) "Multiple Origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y Chromosome
Evidence for Both Near Eastern and European Ancestries," American
Journal of Human Genetics, vol.73, 2003, pp.768-779.
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