Biblical Hebrew Forum

[MarianneLuban AT aol.com]

In a message dated 11/16/2004 5:45:27 PM Pacific Standard Time, 
krooger AT debian.org writes:


> The Kohanim and Samaritans intermarried with alien peoples to such a
> degree that comparing their DNA and blood types with that of the
> Israelites wouldn't be very informative.

Below is a recent study, for those who may be interested, with impressions of 
the paper by someone else and myself:

Peidong Shen, Tal Lavi, Toomas Kivisild, Vivian Chou, Deniz Sengun, Dov 
Gefel, Isaac Shpirer, Eilon Woolf, Jossi Hillel, Marcus W. Feldman, and Peter 
J. 
Oefner. "Reconstruction of Patrilineages and Matrilineages of Samaritans and 
Other Israeli Populations from Y-Chromosome and Mitochondrial DNA Sequence 
Variation." Human Mutation 24 (2004): 248-260. Excerpts:

> "Based on the close relationship of the Samaritan haplogroup J 
> six-microsatellite haplotypes with the Cohen modal haplotype, we speculate 
> that the 
> Samaritan M304 Y-chromosome lineages present a subgroup of the original 
> Jewish 
> Cohanim priesthood that did not go into exile when the Assyrians conquered 
> the 
> northern kingdom of Israel in 721 BC, but married Assyrian and female 
> exiles 
> relocated from other conquered lands, which was a typical Assyrian policy 
> to 
> obliterate national identities. This is in line with biblical texts that 
> emphasize a common heritage of Jews and Samaritans, but also record the 
> negative 
> attitude of Jews towards the Samaritans because of their association with 
> people that were not Jewish. Such a scenario could explain why Samaritan 
> Y-chromosome lineages cluster tightly with Jewish Y-lineages (Fig. 2A), 
> while their 
> mitochrondrial lineages are closest to Iraqi Jewish and Palestinian mtDNA 
> sequences (Fig. 2B)." 

12 Samaritan males were sampled for their DNA.  These came from four 
families, the  Joshua-Marhiv (haplotype J subgroup J1) and the Danfi and 
Tsedaka 
(haplotype J subgroup J2).  For another reason, these families are very 
closely 
related.  The Cohen family is another.  They are different and are not even 
characterized by the Haplotype J.  Now the Haplotype J is common among Jews 
but not 
restricted to them.  It is found in other eastern populations, too, and 
probably originated in the Fertile Crescent about 15,000 years ago.  Not even 
the 
Cohen modal haplotype is restricted to Jews completely, even though it was 
discovered that most men whose last name is Cohen today carry this haplotype 
and 
that is how it got its name.  It means that the Cohanim of today and 
yesterday 
probably all came from a single family.  Of the four Samaritan families 
tested, all the men carried the Cohen modal haplotype--except, ironically, 
the Cohen 
family men.  Of course, it is supposed to be that the priestly family died 
out among the Samaritans and that the Levites then took over the priestly 
office.  But, according to DNA, this is not true.  All of the 12 Samaritan 
men 
sampled come of the priestly line--except the Cohen family males.  This 
family can 
be traced to a single individual who entered the Samaritan community 250 
years 
ago.   Instead of haplotype J, which was common to all the other Samaritan 
males tested, the Cohen family males have E3b3, a haplotype group found in 
Ashkenazi, Lybian and Yemenite Jews--and Palestinians.  Maybe a couple of 
other 
populations, too, but the article did not have anything to say about them.  
There 
is one mutation in the Danfi family which is the Kurdish haplotype and is is 
closely related to the Cohen Modal haplotype.  On the mtDNA side, the side 
that comes from the mother, it is noticed some variation in foreign women who 
entered the community, but not varying very much so that the communities from 
which the women came were not very widespread.  Just four different 
populations.