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

To follow up on an earlier response, in Los Angeles there is a very large ex-Iranian Jewish population. ...and to my eyes they look just as Persian as anyone from Iran. Darker skin, black hair, women gorgeous, but I digress.

(For those above that said that Judeism is a religion, not a race, true, but not true. There is a strong genetic continuity among most who are religiously Jewish, and the question concerns these people.)

Answer 2

"Semitic" isn't a race, it's a linguistic definition. Like "Hispanic". Some people who live in the Middle East do have fair skin, most tend towards olivish skin with either dark brown or black hair , etc, But some are even fairer than that yes. I'm Jewish, but not Sephardic (Spanish Jewish) , or of any direct Middle Eastern extraction; I am of central / Eastern European extraction. My skin is more like the "olive" tone. More like an Italian, or Greek , or some of the darker Poles and Russians and other Slavs, perhaps. It's not "white", in the sense of what some people take to mean white, like "Nordic" or Irish or Scottish people, whose skin tends to be pinkish or very very pale in general. Yet Jews are NOT a race. If any Jew, with the exception of perhaps an East Asian or Southeast Asian Jew (yes there are some) , or a black Ethiopian Jew (yes there are some), had to be classified as to race, they would be simply "Caucasian". That Jews make up a separate "race" is a (racist) misconception which has been spread for ages and ages. It's not true whatsoever. Jews are a "people", united by a common sense of spiritual heritage. We are a "nation", so to speak, even if we do not live in Israel. But we are not a race.

You'll find tall blonde haired blue eyed Jews who look like they could be Scandinavians or Germans, and short "darker" Jews with features that might tend to fit the "stereotypes", and ALL types of Jews in between as well. There are black Jews in Israel, from Ethiopia, as I mentioned before, and they are called Falashas. They look just like African-Americans, for the most part. There are literally all kinds of Jews, and no stereotype can define the truly "Jewish" look, although always there is a certain kernel of truth in every stereotype; there ARE people who "look" like we'd bet our bottom dollar they're Jewish. Look at the Sopranos actor Michael Imperioli for instance. Barbara Streisand. Woody Allen. But then also Goldie Hawn and her daughter Kate Hudson are Jewish. As is David Lee Roth. So, you never can really tell who's a Jew. :-P Unless you ask...

Answer 3

As usual in ethnicity questions, history and culture are not as simple as either your question or some racists want it to be.

Some Jews are definitely of European (Caucasian) ethnic ancestry. In particular, there was a king in what is now Ukraine who adopted Judaism and it remained the (or an) official religion there for several centuries ~ I think it was either side of AD1000. Many Ukrainians were therefore Jewish. A noticable minority still are, and a good many more from that stock have emigrated to Israel, Russia and E Europe generally, and the US.

When the Roman Empire sacked Jerusalem in AD70, it scattered Jews all round the empire. (And there were some Jews already around it -- for example, the name Marazion in Cornwall (Britain) means "sea (town) of the Jews".) As I said in another answer elsewhere this week, such limited evidence as there is suggests that (in the absence of interbreeding) skin pigmentation takes more than 500 years but less than 2000 to adapt to the local climate. So by 1949 the descendents in N Europe of those who were kicked out of Jerusalem can be presumed to have become locally colored even without intermarriage.

I believe there has been a study of the Cohenim which shows that a gene unique to them goes way back to Biblical times in a way that supports their cultural belief that Cohenim do not interbreed with others.

BTW, I also experience that Iranian women are exceptionally beautiful.... and they are much whiter than other M/East peoples. Another light-skinned group from over there are the Kashmiris. In both cases because they live(d) in the cold winters of the mountains.

Answer 4

Compare Jews with Catholics. What do Catholics looks like? Where do they live? How do they live? Do they have particular characteristics? No. Catholics come in all sizes, live anywhere. A catholic can be poor or educated and can look like anyone you know. Maybe you are yourself and forgot because your parents forgot too busy with work and living lives like everybody else. What these groups have in common is maybe a local church but most don´t even go anymore or have never been. Therefore when you speak about the Jews as a group, you will discover that there is no such thing. This group does not exist only in the head of those preaching hatred hoping to fool the gullible into believing there is an enemy. There are groups existing of fanatic and devout Jews but those are small communities scattered all over the world, living in closed communities. But you find those among all kinds of religions all over the world across all continents- from China to Argentina. The Jews as a group exist as do Catholics as a group - with many if not most being totally non religious. Very simple. That is why anti-Semitism is such a crazy concept . Why? because there is nothing to be anti about. There is no common thread. Although Israel is thought to be, many Jews don´t have any feeling with this ´pile of dry hot sand´. Above all, Israel is a secular state with thousands of non jews streaming into the country as we speak. Jewishness stands for nothing you can get a hold of. You will find - and sooner than you think - that there is nothing to be against and there is nothing to take away from this group.This because " The Jews" as a group is non-existing.

Answer 5

Well, several have already answered your question, and I will try to add my own expertise to it.

Like many have already stated, Judaism is a religion, not a race. There are black Baptists, as well as white. Their are Chinese Buddhists, while there are Eastern European ones, too.

Since I am a history major, I will offer you this, if no one already has done so. The Jewish faith began in what is today's Middle East / North Africa. Their religion dates back to the original worshippers of God.

Migration of groups of people over many years, decades, centuries and millenia are the direct result of natural disasters, famine, war, overpopulations, plague (like the Bubonic Plague), imperialistic ideals of the ruling class and several other factors.

Today, like many other groups of people, Jewish people can be found in almost every area of the globe. Keep in mind some of the following events: King Ferdinand & Queen Isabella expelled the entire Jewish population to present day Portugal. Adolf Hitler attempted to send his country's Jewish poplulation to Russia, but was turned down, so his inner circle decided that since we can't send them away, we should exterminate them. Royalty, serfs and almost everyone in between blamed the Jews for the Black Death, a.k.a. the Bubonic Plague. Most Jews in Europe at the time lived in towns and villages away from the coast, while those who were victimized by it lived along the coast. The real cause of the pandemic? Since you are a biology major, you can appreciate this . . . . . a virus was carried by fleas, who lived on rats, who hid on the merchant and naval vessels coming and going from all the ports of coastal Europe. When the ships were in port, the rats came off, came into contact with humans, the fleas bit the people and caused imminent death. Yet, the population blamed the Jews, because many of them weren't dying from the invisible killer. No, the Jews weren't guilty. They were just smart to live inland. Because of the threat to their lives, most of the Jewish population headed to the East, North or South. So as of today, that is why there is a large Jewish population in Russia, the former Soviet bloc countries (the former Yugoslavia, the Czech Republic, Poland, Estonia, Latvia and several others), and Spain.

Sorry if I got a little off the tangent. It's the teacher in me. Hopefully that answered some of your question or made it a little clearer. As for your thesis, you may want to consider some of the following question: Why do so many retirees go to somewhere like Florida? But, there is a high retiree population in Colorado, a traditionally cold state. Even though you are a biology major, you definitely should research some antropology to answer your thesis, if this is the topic you are going to pursue. Race, religion, income, status, education, gender, marital / family status, age, health, mental capacity, personality (intovert / extrovert) are all factors in determining where and when a person retires, whether it is in a sunny, hot, dry, humid, cold, rainy, snowy, moutainous, suburban, rural or wooded area. Best of luck to ya.

Answer 6

Lots of Jews are actually Hazards (nation related to Mongols).
They lived on the north shore of Black sea.
They accepted Judaism and after the fall of their empire they spread across Europe and mixed with Slavs (Russians,Ukrainians, Poles, Slovaks, Serbs..), Germans, etc..
Jews from middle east suffered the same faith.
Today, there is not a single pure blooded nation in the world!!
(maybe Eskimos...)
You can see a black man with green eyes, and that is not a characteristic of Africans...
So, we're getting closer to become one nation, one people!
We're already there, there is not a single medical evidence
that proves differences between races (except,off course,
colors of skin, hair, eyes...and that is off course an effect of different climate conditions, or genetic mutations)!

Answer 7

The variance of their skin pigment in Europe notwithstanding, the Jewish heritage is Middle Eastern. As you see, Abraham immigrated from lower Iraq or where Kuwait is now.

Understand that many peoples of their respective countries do not necessarily look like the stereotype.

Answer 8

Good question, somewhat simple answer. There are actually two types of Jews, as i'm sure you'll discover. Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardic Jews (Sephardic comes from the Hebrew word for Spain - phonetically "spharad"). My best friend is a Turkish Jew and his skin is so dark that he is commonly mistaken for a black guy. Look up the different types of jews and i'm sure your view will be clarified.

Answer 9

probably asiatic
Also, I believe Jewish is a reference to the religion. A Jew could be from Ireland or Columbia. The name of the race is semite.

If you look at a lot of American Jews (and particularly their grandparents or great grandparents who emigrated), they actually look Russian, with high cheekbones, etc.

Answer 10

All comes down to exposure of the sun. Jesus Christ was probably about as black as a car tire- I mean he spent 33 years outside as a stone mason and as a carpenter. You take Jacob Goldman, CPA who works in downtown, USA who's only light is a 60 watt lightbulb and a computer system is going to be pastey white- 2 days of sunlight exposure for a whole year means you're going to almost glow in the dark