Jewish communities in Europe and the Middle East share many genes
inherited from the ancestral Jewish population that lived in the Middle
East some 3,000 years ago, even though each community also carries genes
from other sources — usually the country in which it lives.
That is the conclusion of two new genetic surveys, the first to use
genome-wide scanning devices to compare many Jewish communities around
the world.
A major surprise from both surveys is the genetic closeness of the two
Jewish communities of Europe, the Ashkenazim and the Sephardim. The
Ashkenazim thrived in Northern and Eastern Europe until their
devastation by the Hitler regime, and now live mostly in the United States and Israel. The
Sephardim were exiled from Spain in 1492 and from Portugal in 1497 and
moved to theOttoman
Empire, North Africa and the Netherlands. Read More>>>>>>>>>>
