Are Jews really European and does that explain their skin color?

Question

This is not meant to be racist & I'm sorry if anyone interprets it that way. I am a biology major and I'm fascinated by people's migration & the effect of the sun on different races, how people have adapted to different weather conditions, etc. & considering writing my thesis on this. Also my girlfriend is Jewish!

I'm wondering if the reason why so many American and other Jews have very light skin that doesn't look very Middle Eastern or Mediterranean at all is because their DNA is overwhelmingly European, perhaps Eastern European or Russian?

Or do some people in the Middle East naturally have fair skin (for example if the Jews had never left the Middle East).

Answer 1

If a black and a white person have children then they are most likely going to be a fair brown color...jews didn't just come to europe and married jews...they married normal europeans with white skin color

Answer 2

Jews come from the Middle East originally. And not all Jews are light skinned. My husband lived in Israel for years and there were white Jews, Semitic looking Jews, Ethiopian Jews, Moroccan Jews, Russian Jews, Egyptian Jews, Americans Jews......

You get the point. It is possible that weather conditions and sun effect skin tone. You could blame it on intermarriage to a point but physiological characteristics seems some what consistent. You should see my Grandfather and my husband next to each other. They look more related then I do to my Grandpa.

I think it is an interesting thing though. Not just about Jews but anthropologically for many groups. Aryans come from India but so do the Roma (gypsies) and Roma are darker but neither look very much like the present day Indians. But then if it is because of sun then why are the Inuit (sometimes called Eskimos) so dark skinned. And why were the original Greeks blond haired and blue eyed.

I don't know but I have read a few books on the subject and think it is really fascinating. I think that would make and interesting thesis. If you do it I would love to read it although I am not much for the biology.

Answer 3

The European Jews or Askhenazis have mixed with the locals of the areas where they have settled. The Sephardim Jews of the middle eastern and North African type look like the people there. The Chinese Jews are Chinese,the Indian Jews are Indian,the Ethiopian Jews are black. For a comprehensive study on the Jews see "The Myth of the Jewish Race" which documents Jews around the world.in photos and genetic makeup.

Answer 4

as a bio major I think this will interest you.

http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html

"Key findings:

The main ethnic element of Ashkenazim (German and Eastern European Jews), Sephardim (Spanish and Portuguese Jews), Mizrakhim (Middle Eastern Jews), Juhurim (Mountain Jews of the Caucasus), Italqim (Italian Jews), and most other modern Jewish populations of the world is Israelite. The Israelite haplotypes fall into haplogroups J and E.
Ashkenazim also descend, in a smaller way, from European peoples such as Slavs and Khazars. The non-Israelite haplogroups include Q (typically Central Asian) and R1a1 (typically Eastern European).
Dutch Jews from the Netherlands also descend from northwestern Europeans.
Sephardim also descend, in a smaller way, from various non-Israelite peoples.
Georgian Jews (Gruzim) are a mix of Georgians and Israelites.
Yemenite Jews (Temanim) are a mix of Yemenite Arabs and Israelites.
Moroccan Jews, Algerian Jews, and Tunisian Jews are mainly Israelites.
Libyan Jews are mainly Berbers.
Ethiopian Jews are almost exclusively Ethiopian, with little or no Israelite ancestry.
Palestinian Arabs are probably partly Israelite. "

Answer 5

A Jewish person follows the religion of Judaism and can be of any race. I believe you mean Hebrews, and they are actually originally from the Arabian Peninsula, near the Mediterranean. This gives them a natural complexion similar to Greeks and Turks. Those that have lived for several generations out of that area (aka the Diaspora, pardon spelling) may have complexions similar to the area they are now living in.

Before the creation of Israel, most Hebrews were spread out to all parts of the world after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem. During this time they intermarried with other peoples and took on some of their characteristics.

Answer 6

They say up to 10% of children are not born to who they think their parents are. I'm sure this holds for Jews too. Being a relatively small minority in Europe for centuries gives plenty of opportunities for European DNA to enter the group. Jews that stayed in the mideast for the last couple thousand years continue to look just like other middleeasterners.

Answer 7

Yes, Ashkenazi Jews have predominantly Eastern European heritage, and were the predominant Jewish immigrants to America.

Answer 8

Are Jews really European? I suppose if they live in Europe, then they are Europeans. And for many centuries some of them did. Some still do.

Well, historically they are Semite.

And what about the Ethiopian Jews? What would be their DNA?

Answer 9

"Semitic" isn't a race, that's a linguistic definition. Like "Hispanic". some people who stay interior the middle East do have honest dermis, maximum tend in the direction of olivish dermis with the two darkish brown or black hair , etc, yet some are even fairer than that particular. i'm Jewish, yet not Sephardic (Spanish Jewish) , or of any direct center eastern extraction; i'm of significant / eastern eu extraction. My dermis is greater like the "olive" tone. greater like an Italian, or Greek , or various the darker Poles and Russians and different Slavs, in keeping with risk. it is not "white", interior the experience of what some human beings take to point white, like "Nordic" or Irish or Scottish human beings, whose dermis has a tendency to be pinkish or very very dwindled customarily. yet Jews are actually not a race. If any Jew, apart from in keeping with risk an East Asian or Southeast Asian Jew (particular there are some) , or a black Ethiopian Jew (particular there are some), had to be categorized as to race, they may be merely "Caucasian". That Jews make up a separate "race" is a (racist) false impression which has been unfold for a protracted time and a protracted time. it is not genuine in any understand. Jews are a "human beings", united by ability of a uncomplicated experience of non secular historical past. we are a "u . s . a .", in an attempt to speak, whether we don't stay in Israel. yet we are actually not a race. you will locate tall blonde haired blue eyed Jews who look like they may be Scandinavians or Germans, and short "darker" Jews with valuable properties that could tend to in good shape the "stereotypes", and all forms of Jews in between besides. There are black Jews in Israel, from Ethiopia, as i discussed formerly, and that they are stated as Falashas. they look merely like African-human beings, for the main section. There are literally all styles of Jews, and no stereotype can outline the quite "Jewish" look, even nevertheless continually there's a undeniable kernel of reality in each and every stereotype; there ARE people who "look" like we would wager our backside dollar they're Jewish. look on the Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli case in point. Barbara Streisand. Woody Allen. yet then additionally Goldie Hawn and her daughter Kate Hudson are Jewish. As is David Lee Roth. So, you not at all can quite tell who's a Jew. :-P except you ask...