YNET: Can ‘Jewishness’ be proven with a simple saliva test?

One of the things that Adolf Hitler admired about Jews was their commitment to blood purity.

From YNET:

A group of experts on genetics and Halacha (Jewish religious law), who are studying the so-called “Jewish gene,” are claiming that the gene can help prove one’s “Jewishness” in line with Jewish religious law.

“This could be a significant breakthrough,” explained Rabbi Yosef Carmel, head of the Gazit rabbinical court and the Eretz Hemdah Institute for Advanced Jewish Studies. According to Carmel, “Using a simple sample of saliva can save a long and difficult conversion process.”

Any person who wishes to be recognized as a Jew—for example, in order to get married in the State of Israel, which can only be done through the Chief Rabbinate—is required to prove their Jewish roots. In Jewish religious law, only those born to Jewish mothers are considered Jewish. Those who wish to be recognized as Jews have to provide proof of Judaism several generations back in the form of documents—such as birth and marriage certificates.

The Lubavitcher Rebbe along with many other Orthodox rabbis thought it was a terrible idea for Jews to adopt non-Jews children. Genetics are the raw material out of which we fashion our destiny.

I’m glad to see that even if it is politically incorrect, Jews will pursue that which strengthens them. Wouldst that other nations did likewise.

When I read about the Nazis commitment to blood purity, it reminds me of Judaism (sure, Judaism accepts converts, but they are statistically insignificant).

Comments at Steve Sailer:

* The first time I went to the 23andMe website, I began to suspect that it was essentially just a Jewish eugenics program fronting as an ancestry resource. Of the 30-odd genetic diseases they test for, a disproportionately high number of them mainly afflict the Ashkenazi. For example, they test for Gaucher’s disease (mostly Ashkenazi) but not for hemochromatosis (mostly Northern European).

You can’t get away with openly discussing eugenics these days though, not even if you’re Jewish. So the whole program was very carefully packaged and sold as part of the ancestry craze.

* A few years ago, Thilo Sarrazin was supposed to be a very bad man for saying that Jews have a gene that distinguishes them from non-Jews.

* At least in the New York ultraorthodox community there has been a long-standing eugenics program. This is the first thing I found on Google. Essentially before a match is made there is a genetic test and the doctors tell the rabbi if both are carriers of some dread disease. If so, the rabbi says he has a bad feeling about the match so everyone is off the hook. No divorce, no return of bride prices etc. It is a good thing.

My sisters did the 23 and Me tests and we all carry some disease that retains too much iron in our blood. This is not an askenazi trait. A lot of the early work in genetic diseases we’re concentrated in Jews because of the prevalence of genetic diseases and the fact that lots of researchers are Jews.

* Israeli marriage law is quite interesting… Israel only marries Jews [and allows non-Jewish groups to operate their own religious marriages], and Israel does not perform gay marriage.

Yet the Jewish hippies Ben and Jerry have refused to allow their ice cream stores to serve two scoops of the same flavor ice cream until Australia legalizes gay marriage.

* How does one say Institut für Erbbiologie und Rassenhygiene in Hebrew?

* Israel recognizes all foreign marriages, except where they’re explicitly banned under Israeli law (e.g. polygamy).

* Perhaps because of Holocaust considerations, Jews are allowed a few Indulgences from the normal strictures of political correctness.

* The claim is made thus: “We use a genetic test, but we have other, non-biological tests as well. This simply widens the definition of Jewishness, it doesn’t replace any previous definitions.”

* How is this different from the Germans Aryan-marriage only stuff of the 1930s and 1940s? If I recall correctly they had to document Aryan heritage back a few generations to get married.

We grew up learning this was very, very bad.

Now not so much.

In fairness Israeli is likely the least likely nation to attempt some sort of a holocaust on anybody, I am not equating them with the Nazis, but one can hardly critique the marriage portion of the 1935 Nuremburg laws if Israeli has the same thing.

* What’s clearly needed is a breed standard, as with dogs. This will help them refine the breed, ahem, traits of the ethnoreligious adherents over time. E.g. “We aspire to the ethics of Stephen Miller and the looks of Jared Kushner. But if you’ve got the looks of Stephen Miller and the ethics of Jared Kushner, well, close enough.”

* As an alt-right half-jew in Australia, I have a front-row seat to this Jewish cognitive-dissonance. The most progressive and liberal millennials I know suddenly turn into hardcore nationalists and traditionalists when it comes to Israel and Judaism. They’d rather spend Friday night with their grandparents for Shabbat dinner than go to an Ariana Grande concert and do all of the other degenerate things that liberal millennials do on a Friday night. They love talking about Israel and being Jewish. It doesn’t matter what the conversation is about, somehow Larry David and Jerry Seinfeld always come up: “Oh, that reminds me of a Larry David Episode, when he did such and such.” Or my favourite, whenever they’re telling me about someone, if that someone happens to be Jewish, they’ll make a point of saying his last name: “So, yesterday I went to see Michael GOLDSTEIN.” Or: “My Dentist, Larry ROSENBERG…”

* Most Americans have a view of Israel as a Western-style democratic society with freedom of speech, a free press, freedom of religion and a vibrant parliamentary democracy.

For Jewish Israelis there is a large element of truth in this perception, except when it comes to religion, where the state-supported Orthodox rabbinate holds a monopoly of power. Non-Orthodox rabbis, for example, cannot perform weddings, funerals or conversions in Israel. In fact, there is less freedom for non-Orthodox Jews in Israel than anyplace in the Western world.

About Luke Ford

I've written five books (see Amazon.com). My work has been covered in the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, and on 60 Minutes. I teach Alexander Technique in Beverly Hills (Alexander90210.com).
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