Editing Jewish diaspora (section)

== Genetic studies ==
{{Main|Genetic studies on Jews}}
[[Y chromosome|Y DNA]] studies tend to imply a small number of founders in an old population whose members parted and followed different migration paths.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Hammer |first1=M. F. |last2=Redd |first2=A. J. |last3=Wood |first3=E. T. |last4=Bonner |first4=M. R. |last5=Jarjanazi |first5=H. |last6=Karafet |first6=T. |last7=Santachiara-Benerecetti |first7=S. |last8=Oppenheim |first8=A. |last9=Jobling |first9=M. A. |last10=Jenkins |first10=T. |last11=Ostrer |first11=H. |last12=Bonne-Tamir |first12=B. |title=Jewish and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations share a common pool of Y-chromosome biallelic haplotypes |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences |date=6 June 2000 |volume=97 |issue=12 |pages=6769–6774 |doi=10.1073/pnas.100115997 |pmid=10801975 |pmc=18733 |bibcode=2000PNAS...97.6769H |hdl=2381/362 |hdl-access=free |doi-access=free }}</ref> In most Jewish populations, these male line ancestors appear to have been mainly [[Middle East]]ern. For example, Ashkenazi Jews share more common paternal lineages with other Jewish and Middle Eastern groups than with non-Jewish populations in areas where Jews lived in [[Eastern Europe]], [[Germany]] and the French [[Rhine|Rhine Valley]]. This is consistent with Jewish traditions which place most Jewish paternal origins in the region of the Middle East.<ref name="Nebel 2001">{{cite journal|author1=Nebel Almut |author2=Filon Dvora |author3=Brinkmann Bernd |author4=Majumder Partha P. |author5=Faerman Marina |author6=Oppenheim Ariella |year=2001|title=The Y Chromosome Pool of Jews as Part of the Genetic Landscape of the Middle East|journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics|volume=69|issue=5| pages=1095–112|pmc=1274378|pmid=11573163|doi=10.1086/324070}}</ref><ref>Molecular Photofitting: Predicting Ancestry and Phenotype Using DNA by Tony Nick Frudakis P:383 [https://books.google.com/books?id=9vXeydpj7VkC&dq=ashkenazi+jews+middle+eastern+origin+bronze+age&pg=PA383]</ref>
Conversely, the maternal lineages of Jewish populations, studied by looking at [[mitochondrial DNA]], are generally more heterogeneous.<ref name="Behar Metspalu Kivisild et al 2008">{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Metspalu |first2=Ene |last3=Kivisild |first3=Toomas |last4=Rosset |first4=Saharon |last5=Tzur |first5=Shay |last6=Hadid |first6=Yarin |last7=Yudkovsky |first7=Guennady |last8=Rosengarten |first8=Dror |last9=Pereira |first9=Luisa |last10=Amorim |first10=Antonio |last11=Kutuev |first11=Ildus |last12=Gurwitz |first12=David |last13=Bonne-Tamir |first13=Batsheva |last14=Villems |first14=Richard |last15=Skorecki |first15=Karl |title=Counting the Founders: The Matrilineal Genetic Ancestry of the Jewish Diaspora |journal=PLOS ONE |date=30 April 2008 |volume=3 |issue=4 |pages=e2062 |doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0002062 |pmid=18446216 |pmc=2323359 |bibcode=2008PLoSO...3.2062B |doi-access=free }}</ref> Scholars such as [[Harry Ostrer]] and [[Raphael Falk (academic)|Raphael Falk]] believe this indicates that many Jewish males found new mates from European and other communities in the places where they migrated in the diaspora after fleeing ancient Israel.<ref name="Lewontin">{{cite magazine |last=Lewontin |first=Richard |author-link=Richard Lewontin |date=6 December 2012 |title=Is There a Jewish Gene? |url=http://www.nybooks.com/articles/2012/12/06/is-there-a-jewish-gene/ |magazine=New York Review of Books}}</ref> In contrast, Behar has found evidence that about 40% of Ashkenazi Jews originate maternally from just four female founders, who were of Middle Eastern origin. The populations of Sephardi and Mizrahi Jewish communities "showed no evidence for a narrow founder effect."<ref name="Behar Metspalu Kivisild et al 2008"/> Subsequent studies carried out by Feder et al. confirmed the large portion of the non-local maternal origin among Ashkenazi Jews. Reflecting on their findings related to the maternal origin of Ashkenazi Jews, the authors conclude "Clearly, the differences between Jews and non-Jews are far larger than those observed among the Jewish communities. Hence, differences between the Jewish communities can be overlooked when non-Jews are included in the comparisons."<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Atzmon |first1=Gil |last2=Hao |first2=Li |last3=Pe'er |first3=Itsik |last4=Velez |first4=Christopher |last5=Pearlman |first5=Alexander |last6=Palamara |first6=Pier Francesco |last7=Morrow |first7=Bernice |last8=Friedman |first8=Eitan |last9=Oddoux |first9=Carole |last10=Burns |first10=Edward |last11=Ostrer |first11=Harry |title=Abraham's Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry |journal=The American Journal of Human Genetics |date=June 2010 |volume=86 |issue=6 |pages=850–859 |doi=10.1016/j.ajhg.2010.04.015 |pmid=20560205 |pmc=3032072 }}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Feder |first1=Jeanette |last2=Ovadia |first2=Ofer |last3=Glaser |first3=Benjamin |last4=Mishmar |first4=Dan |title=Ashkenazi Jewish mtDNA haplogroup distribution varies among distinct subpopulations: lessons of population substructure in a closed group |journal=European Journal of Human Genetics |date=April 2007 |volume=15 |issue=4 |pages=498–500 |doi=10.1038/sj.ejhg.5201764 |pmid=17245410 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="Ostrer Skorecki 2013">{{cite journal |last1=Ostrer |first1=Harry |last2=Skorecki |first2=Karl |title=The population genetics of the Jewish people |journal=Human Genetics |date=February 2013 |volume=132 |issue=2 |pages=119–127 |doi=10.1007/s00439-012-1235-6 |pmid=23052947 |pmc=3543766 }}</ref>

Studies of [[Autosome|autosomal DNA]], which look at the entire DNA mixture, have become increasingly important as the technology develops. They show that Jewish populations have tended to form relatively closely related groups in independent communities, with most people in a community sharing significant ancestry in common.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Katsnelson |first1=Alla |title=Jews worldwide share genetic ties |journal=Nature |date=3 June 2010 |pages=news.2010.277 |doi=10.1038/news.2010.277 }}</ref> For Jewish populations of the diaspora, the genetic composition of [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]], [[Sephardi Jews|Sephardi]], and [[Mizrahi Jews|Mizrahi]] Jewish populations show a predominant amount of shared Middle Eastern ancestry. According to Behar, the most parsimonious explanation for this shared Middle Eastern ancestry is that it is "consistent with the historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient [[Hebrews|Hebrew]] and [[Israelites|Israelite]] residents of the [[Levant]]" and "the dispersion of the people of ancient Israel throughout the [[Old World]]".<ref name="Behar2010" /> [[North Africa]]n, [[Italian Peninsula|Italian]] and others of [[Iberian Peninsula|Iberian]] origin show variable frequencies of admixture with non-Jewish historical host populations among the maternal lines. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular [[Moroccan Jews]]), who are closely related, the source of non-Jewish admixture is mainly [[southern Europe]]an, while Mizrahi Jews show evidence of admixture with other Middle Eastern populations and [[Sub-Saharan Africa]]ns. Behar ''et al.'' have remarked on an especially close relationship of Ashkenazi Jews and modern [[Italians]].<ref name="Behar2010" /><ref name=zooss>{{cite journal|journal=Biol Direct |year=2010 |volume=5 |issue=57 |doi=10.1186/1745-6150-5-57 |title=The Origin of Eastern European Jews Revealed by Autosomal, Sex Chromosomal and mtDNA Polymorphisms |first=Avshalom |last=Zoossmann-Diskin |pmc=2964539 |pmid=20925954 |page=57 |doi-access=free }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|title=Did Modern Jews Originate in Italy?|url=https://www.science.org/content/article/did-modern-jews-originate-italy|access-date=21 October 2013|newspaper=[[Science (journal)|Science]]|date=8 October 2013}}</ref> Jews were found to be more closely related to groups in the north of the Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, and Armenians) than to Arabs.<ref>{{cite journal |pmid=11573163 | doi=10.1086/324070 | pmc=1274378 | volume=69 | issue=5 | title=The Y chromosome pool of Jews as part of the genetic landscape of the Middle East | date=November 2001 | journal=Am. J. Hum. Genet. | pages=1095–112 | last1 = Nebel | first1 = A | last2 = Filon | first2 = D | last3 = Brinkmann | first3 = B | last4 = Majumder | first4 = PP | last5 = Faerman | first5 = M | last6 = Oppenheim | first6 = A}}</ref>

The studies also show that persons of [[Sephardic Bnei Anusim]] origin (those who are descendants of the "[[anusim]]" who were [[Forced conversion|forced to convert]] to [[Catholicism]]) throughout today's [[Iberia]] ([[Spain]] and [[Portugal]]) and [[Ibero-America]] ([[Hispanic America]] and [[Brazil]]), estimated that up to 19.8% of the modern population of Iberia and at least 10% of the modern population of Ibero-America, has [[Sephardic Jew]]ish ancestry within the last few centuries. The [[Bene Israel]] and the [[Cochin Jews]] of [[India]], [[Beta Israel]] of [[Ethiopia]], and a portion of the [[Lemba people]] of [[Southern Africa]], meanwhile, despite more closely resembling the local populations of their native countries, also have some more remote ancient Jewish descent.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://forward.com/articles/155742/jews-are-a-race-genes-reveal/?p=all |title=Jews Are a 'Race,' Genes Reveal&nbsp;– |date=4 May 2012 |publisher=Forward.com |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref><ref>{{cite journal |last1=Behar |first1=Doron M. |last2=Yunusbayev |first2=Bayazit |last3=Metspalu |first3=Mait |last4=Metspalu |first4=Ene |last5=Rosset |first5=Saharon |last6=Parik |first6=Jüri |last7=Rootsi |first7=Siiri |last8=Chaubey |first8=Gyaneshwer |last9=Kutuev |first9=Ildus |last10=Yudkovsky |first10=Guennady |last11=Khusnutdinova |first11=Elza K. |last12=Balanovsky |first12=Oleg |last13=Semino |first13=Ornella |last14=Pereira |first14=Luisa |last15=Comas |first15=David |last16=Gurwitz |first16=David |last17=Bonne-Tamir |first17=Batsheva |last18=Parfitt |first18=Tudor |last19=Hammer |first19=Michael F. |last20=Skorecki |first20=Karl |last21=Villems |first21=Richard |title=The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people |journal=Nature |date=July 2010 |volume=466 |issue=7303 |pages=238–242 |doi=10.1038/nature09103 |pmid=20531471 |bibcode=2010Natur.466..238B |s2cid=4307824 }}</ref><ref name="in.reuters.com">{{cite news|last=Begley |first=Sharon |url=http://in.reuters.com/article/us-science-genetics-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806?mlt_click=Master+Sponsor+Logo%28Active%29_19_More+News_sec-col1-m1_News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108022931/http://in.reuters.com/article/us-science-genetics-jews-idINBRE8751EI20120806?mlt_click=Master+Sponsor+Logo%28Active%29_19_More+News_sec-col1-m1_News |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 8, 2016 |title=Genetic study offers clues to history of North Africa's Jews |date=6 August 2012 |agency=In.reuters.com |access-date=12 April 2013}}</ref><ref name="Ostrer Skorecki 2013"/>