Contemporary Jews are an aggregate of ethno-religious communities whose world-wide members identify with each other through shared religious, historical and cultural traditions. It is only recently that the genetic structure of the Jewish people has been addressed and elucidated using gene-array technology.

Nature in 1998(1) published an article entitled “Origins of Old Testament Priests” in which the authors examined the hypothesis that the Y chromosomes of present-day Cohanim and Leviim should be distinguishable from those of other Jews and derive from a common ancestral type no more recently than the Temple period. The authors also showed that although the Levite chromosomes are diverse, Cohen chromosomes are homogenous. 306 male Jews from Israel, Canada and the UK were involved in the study.

The methodology of this study, which is explained in detail in the paper, includes an estimation of time since the chromosomes were derived from the ancestral chromosome. The estimate is 106 generations, which for a generation time of 25 (30) years gives an estimate of 2,650 (3,180) years, dating the coalescence of the Cohanim chromosomes to between the Exodus and the destruction of the first Temple (586 BCE).

“The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people” by Doron Behar et al (2) reports on a study which compares genotypes of individuals from 14 Diaspora Jewish communities with individuals from adjacent non-Jewish communities and with individuals from non-Jewish populations from the Middle East and North Africa. Most Jewish samples clustered with Druze and Cypriot samples but not from other Levantine or paired Diaspora host populations. Indian and Ethiopian Jews clustered with their local host populations and the Bene Israel also showed a clear paternal link to the Levant.

The best explanation for these findings is a common genetic origin consistent with the historical formulation of the Jewish people as descending from ancient Hebrew and Israelite residents of the Levant. There is significant genetic continuity among most Jewish communities and contemporary non-Jewish Levantine  populations despite their long-term residence in diverse regions remote from the Levant and isolation from one another. In addition, most Jewish samples could be partitioned into Ashkenazi-north African-Sephardi, Caucasus-Middle Eastern and Yemenite subclusters.

In the paper “Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era…” by Gil Atzmon et al (3), the authors describe a genome-wide analysis and comparison with local populations for representatives of 3 major groups of the Jewish Diaspora; Eastern European Ashkenazim, Italian, Greek and Turkish Sephardim, and Iranian, Iraqi and Syrian Mizrahim. Data were generated from 237 unrelated individuals (51% female) from the 7 Jewish populations which were merged with selected data sets from the Human Genome Diversity Panel.

In this study, the most distant and differentiated of the Jewish populations were Iranian Jews followed by Iraqi Jews. Two major groups were identifiable that could be characterised as middle-eastern (Iranian and Iraqi) and European/Syrian Jews. The Druze, Palestinian, and Bedouin were on branches distinctive from the other populations. The Italian, Syrian, Iranian, and Iraqi Jews demonstrated the high levels of IBD(identity by descent) that  would be expected for extremely inbred populations.

In this study, Jewish populations from the 3 major Jewish Diaspora groups, Ashkenazi, Sephardi and Mizrahi, formed a distinctive population cluster, albeit related to European and Middle Eastern non-Jewish populations. Within the study, each of the Jewish populations formed its own cluster as part of the larger Jewish cluster. Each group demonstrated Middle Eastern ancestry and variable admixture with European populations. There was evidence of a split between Middle Eastern Iraqi and Iranian Jews and European/Syrian Jews compatible with the historical divide which occurred more than 2,500 years ago.

These studies demonstrate that over the past 3000 years, both the flow of genes and the flow of religious and cultural ideas have contributed to Jewishness.

(1) Origins of Old Testament Priests. Thomas MG, Skorecki K,et al. Nature 394 138-140, 1998.

(2) The genome-wide structure of the Jewish people. Behar DM, Yunusbayev B et al. Nature Letters 1-6 June 9, 2010.

(3) Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era. Atzmon G, Hao L, et al. The American Journal of Human Genetics 86, 850-859, 2010.

It’s a rare privilege to hear a Nobel Prize winner speak, and Professor Ada Yonath, the winner of the 2009 Nobel Prize in Chemistry, delighted all who heard her in Sydney today. 

She is the first Israeli woman to win a Nobel Prize and the 9^th Israeli prize winner including 3 in chemistry.   She grew up in a poor family in Jerusalem, but she had books at home, including an influential one about Marie Curie, the first woman Nobel Prize winner in Chemistry.   She conducted much of her lifetime work based on understanding the structure and function of the cell ribosome using crystallography. 

She worked at the Weizmann Institute in Rehovoth, and collaborated with the Max Planck Institute in Germany, elsewhere in Europe and the U.S, and arranged for some experiments in space with NASA. 

Her talk today was entitled “Everest, Polar Bears and Ribosomes” and she weaved the 3 themes together in a masterful way.  Everest represented the peaks and passion interspersed with the challenges, doubts and setbacks. The polar bear referred to her lateral thinking in realising that polar bears in their period of hibernation are able to pack their ribosomes in an orderly manner.  In a similar tangential way, she used her knowledge of the behaviour of specific bacteria in the Dead Sea to further her work.  A major breakthrough occurred when her experiments showed that ribosomes could be stabilised at very cold temperatures.   

Ribosomes are crucial cell factories in producing protein, and Prof Yonath used her work to understand how antibiotics can target ribosomes of bacteria.  She likened the specific targeting of antibiotics for ribosomes to the story of David’s pebble targeted at and striking Goliath’s forehead.  Her humour and sense of humanity and family shone throughout her talk… she proudly recalled that her granddaughter at the age of 5, invited her to kindergarten to explain about ribosomes. 

Prof Yonath described the direct relevance of her basic science work by pointing out that the earlier development of antibiotics may have saved the lives of those who died prematurely of infection, such as George Orwell, Franz Kafka, Mozart and Chopin. 

She closed with a quote from Henry Moore:  “The secret of life is to have a task, something you devote your entire life to, something you bring everything to, every minute of the day for the rest of your life. And the most important thing is, it must be something you cannot possibly do.”
 

Prof Yonath is an inspiration to people of all ages, and a wonderful ambassador for Israel and for science.

A remarkable conference will held in Israel on October 20-22.  Entitled The Israeli Presidential Conference 2009, Facing Tomorrow,  and conducted through the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, it is the second annual conference of this name initiated by President Shimon Peres. 

This article on the conference from the Jerusalem Post highlights 3 technologies - A biomass that could replace coal, a new type of engine that runs on a fifth of the gas of the internal combustion engine, and a smart faucet that saves water and energy. 

The photo from the article shows Tamarisk Trees, found in Israel, which the company Mihar Bio-Energy says could furnish a renewable energy source to replace coal.

  The panel on alternative energy links to a fascinating array of companies and ideas that will save our planet.  Speaking of energy,  the 86 year old (!!) President Shimon Peres is to be congratulated for his foresight and foreward thinking to establish this conference.  But the conference is also much than just scientific advances, as reflecting the breadth of interests and concerns of Peres. The introduction  states

The Conference focuses on our mutual tomorrow - investigating the trends that are shaping the future and exploring actions that could and should be undertaken towards the betterment of tomorrow for Israel, the Jewish people and the world at large.

As one example of the very impressive list of speakers, the official welcome session includes

The Zionist Federation meeting in Sydney last week (6^th September) provided an opportunity to hear three excellent Principals of Jewish Schools speak about important Jewish and Zionist related issues.  Joe Gerassi, Principal of Bialik College, Melbourne, discussed “Gen Y and my vision for Jewish Zionist Education for the Next Decade” showing vividly the way messages are being delivered to this generation - with audiovisuals and rap featuring.  Jeff Cohen, Principal of Middle School, Moriah College, Sydney’s topic was “Old Heads, Young Minds” which he illustrated by posing questions.

While all speakers were outstanding, the focus of this blog piece will be the presentation by Rabbi James Kennard, Principal of Mount Scopus, Melbourne  “Visits and Visions: Israel trips and the struggle for Jewish identity.” 

Rabbi Kennard began by commenting how the intermarriage rate provides a yardstick for the level of Jewish identity.  Ideally, youth should be provided with a Jewish identity and identification that enables them to appreciate that Judaism is desperately worth preserving,  and have a sense of why they should not intermarry, even if being Jewish  involves having to sacrifice and say no at some times. 

How might a trip to Israel help in providing a Jewish identity?  Since much time, resources and money is invested in trips to Israel, what are the critieria to judge success ie what should a trip to Israel provide?

Firstly, to understand what is a Jewish state. One might be a minority in Australia, but in Israel the majority are Jewish.  How does that Jewish presence influence society there.

Secondly, to provide a sense of history – that there is a chain going back and forward, and that each person is part of that chain;  something precious, with a richness and beauty in the historic links.

Thirdly, to witness the spririt of sacrifice.  Many people in Israel are prepared and have been prepared to make a sacrifice for the Jewish people, whether it is being on the front lines at risk or in their daily life, or whether it is passing up the opportunity to work in a Western country with higher economic standard of living. This provides a sense that we all may have to make a sacrifice to be Jewish.

Fourthly, that being Jewish is not something external;  each person has a part to play; the connection and love needs to be translated into action. While the action should be Aliya, an important second best is ongoing support and advocacy for Israel.

To the question, to what extent does fun on a trip to Israel play a role, the Rabbi mentioned that fun must be a means to an end, not an end in itself.  If fun is the goal, it leaves open the reply that outside Israel, one could have more fun or have better beaches or music.

In concluding, Rabbi Kennard suggested that to help in the fight against assimilation, trips to Israel will hopefully provide the sense that each person is not a passenger but a voyager, a traveller on their own journey but also a citizen of the global Jewish enterprise.

Rabbi Lau will be an honoured visitor to Sydney and Australia. His nephew, Amichai Lau-Lavie, in US and Israel, is carving a career in Torah but with a difference. It is called Storahtelling. 

As he says - “In the beginning, story mattered. Woven through the generations, sacred stories charted community courses and mapped individual life journeys. Today, many are denied access to the relevance and transformative power of their inherited legacies. The People of the Book often don’t know what’s in it. Bridging past and present, Storahtelling makes story matter again. Using an innovative fusion of scholarship, storytelling, performing arts and new media, the programs reclaim the narratives and traditions that define Jewish life yet have failed to adapt to modern times. Their goal is to add to the excitement of learning Torah and Jewish tradition.

AMICHAI LAU-LAVIE is the Founder, Executive and Artistic director of Storahtelling. An Israeli-born teacher of Jewish Literature and performance artist, he is described as “one of the most interesting thinkers in the Jewish world” by the NY Jewish Week, “iconoclastic mystic” by Time OUT NY, and “a Judaic Pied Piper who spins gold out of the inherent drama of biblical legends and scripture” by the Denver Westword. Amichai studied at various yeshivot, including the Shalom Hartman Institute and the Elul Center in Jerusalem. Between 1992 and 1996 he directed the summer programs at Melitz: the Jewish Zionist Centers in Jerusalem, focusing on the integration of Jewish education via the arts. His theatrical experience as a writer and performer includes the Theatre Company Jerusalem, The Acco Theatre Group in Israel and the Avodah Dance Ensemble in the U.S.

Read here to find out more about Storahtelling.

In most of our Jewish schools, Hebrew language courses will be mandatory for students at some stage of their life.  I would like to state from the outset that I think this is wonderful. 

But I would also like to pose the question: Is Hebrew so important that it should be made compulsory for students?  Students generally study Jewish Studies and Jewish History compulsorily as well.   Why then the need for Hebrew?  The majority of our students don’t have relatives living in Israel.  And even if you spend a semester or a year in Israel, you could live quite comfortable with only rudimentary Hebrew.   I therefore ask again; why should Hebrew be studied by Jewish students?

Jewish students demonstrate a wide array of proficiencies in and motivations for Hebrew language learning.  What can’t be denied is that Hebrew has a central place in Jewish heritage.   Jews worldwide are united by two forces; Israel and the Hebrew language.  Hebrew is more than just a language to be learnt for academic reasons or for future travel ambitions.  Hebrew is a Heritage Language.  Hebrew and Jewish identity are inextricable linked.

On Erev Pesach Jews around the world are united in their recitation of the Haggadah.  While most families read a combination of Hebrew and translation, it is the Hebrew text that unites Jews worldwide.  Even in Israel, where the majority of Jewish are secular, the Pesach Seder is the most widely observed Jewish tradition.

Research demonstrates that we allow students of heritage languages to reach their full potential, foster authentic cultural identities and even help students in their overall academic achievements, by connecting them to their heritage (Cho, 2000, Moses, 2000 & Lee, 2005).

Jewish identity and Jewish experience are enriched through knowledge of the Hebrew language.  Just imagine being able to read and understand the Haggadah, with all its nuances, in Hebrew.  And then think of the vast array of texts available to those fluent in Hebrew; Tanach, Halacha, liturgy, early Hebrew poetry, the essays of Ahad Ha’am, the novels of Amos Oz.  The list is endless.

If we want a vibrant Jewish community, then we need excellent Jewish education.  If we want students to have strong and lasting Jewish identities, they need to know about the festivals, the Holocaust and the Arab-Israeli conflict, but just as importantly – they need to have Hebrew.  Hebrew is part of their heritage and if want them to love that heritage and to want to pass on that heritage; then they need to live that heritage and the Hebrew language can bring their heritage to life!

Kol-Morah