It's actually pretty cheeky of him or her to post it, considering there is so much here saying we don't like Autism speaks or what it stands for. I also believed it was settled that vaccinations don't cause autism but no doubt many parents still have the perception that it does.

Mathlete: I have usually held a mathematics lead over verbal which has evened out over the years.  590 math SAT and 450 English SAT, and 660 math GRE and 620 English GRE

I think I pretty much debunked the questionaire earlier in this thread, since it has no way to choose "Jewish" and this is a thread about genetics and Jews!  Strange oversight!

I also want to add a comment about European versus Middle Eastern Jews (what people here called the "gypsy strain" -- a term no Jew I know ever uses.  We call them Mizrachis -- with a gutteral CH as in German ACH -- which means "Easterners" in Hebrew.  They are not, AFAIK, related to the Romani or gypsies.)  

There is a book going around called "The Thirteenth Tribe" trying to claim that all European Jews are descended from the Khazars, a group of Europeans that converted to Judaism in the Middle Ages.  This is bunk -- although Khazars converted, they then intermarried with Middle Eastern Jews who were already in Europe.  There had also been migration back and forth along the trade routes for centuries before the Khazars.  

If you look at a map you will see how the Black Sea connects Eastern Europe with Turkey and Iran.   Also, Jews were active in trade all along the Mediterranean coast for millennia.  So therec was plent of travel back and forth.  Jews also reached as far east as India.  There is a very old community there, many of whom claim to be descended from Jews who fled the Romans at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  This community was one of the trade connections for caravans coming from Europe to trade for spices, etc.

In fact, one reason Ferdinand and Isabella financed Columbus (who had been asking for funding for 10 years and was repeatedly turned down) was because after Spain expelled all the Jews and Muslims n 1492 with the Inquisition, the Turks retaliated by closing the trade routes to Spanish caravans.  With nobody to take their goods across the desert, suddenly Columbus's idea of going by sea looked pretty good.  And I doubt Queen Isabellsa really sold her jewels to do it -- more likely Columbus was financed with the wealth that the king confiscated from the fleeing Jews and Muslims (who left with nothing but the clothes on their back.)

At the same time, Bayazid II, Sultan of Turkey, opened his borders and took in the Jewish and Muslim refugees -- to the benefit of his own kingdom, sice he got a lot of very skilled people.  The Spanish economy, on the other hand, collapsed for lack of merchants and middle class artisans -- many of whom were Jews and Muslims. (Moral: Expelling whole populations is VERY BAD policy!)

The Jews who fled Spain became what are known today as the Sephardim.  They also intermarried with Turkish Jews and Jews from  other areas in the Near East.  At later dates some of these Sephardim went back to Europe.  Etc.  So there really are no "pure" strains of European and Middle Eastern Jews -- because a Jew is a Jew, there are no barriers to marriage among us.

The "Thirteenth Tribe" book, BTW, is seen by many Jews as a political ploy to disenfranchise Israelis from having the State of Israel.  The claim being, that if they are descended from Europeans, then they were never in the Middle East originally so have no rgiht to be there vnow.  However, the majority of Israeli Jews are NOT of European descent -- most are Mizrachis who fled persecution in Arab countries in the late 1940s and 50s after Israel was founded in 1948.  Less that 3000 Jews came from Europe after WWII.   On the other hand, over 150,000 fled Iran, equally huge numbers came from Iraq, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, etc.  So really, the majority of Israelis are of Middle Eastern descent.   Plus there were already Jewish communities in the Holy Land for centuries before the State of Israel.  The only time Jerusalem was ever "Jew free" (sarcasm) was during the Crusades when the Crusaders wiped them out.   But when the Crusader conquest fell, Jews returned and have been there ever since.

My point being, that you cannot so easily divide Jews into "European" and "Middle Eastern" or whatever because there have been so many migartions, expulsions, immigrations, marriages, etc. 

I am also hyperlexic. I used to have poor maths ability and a very sophisticated vocabulary. I could spell encyclopedia at age 6. I was always good at spelling, but a few years ago (probably because of a lack of practice) I began to lose a few words. My mum's dyslexic and bad at maths. She taught me to spell even though she was dyslexic. I learned grammar rather later than this.
I also have a high reading speed, so I find it hard to read out loud. I stutter if I have to do this, because my eyes are on the other page or a few lines ahead of where I'm up to.

Just for clarity here.  Pika is referring to a questionnaire in a post which has now been deleted, not to the poll posted at the top of the page by Joel.

What happened to Joel, anyway?

They make some damn fine cakes...

Ah yes --and baklava!   And delicious dolmahs (stuffed grape leaves) too!  What people typically think of as "Jewish food"  (matzoh balls, farfel, kugel, etc.) are Eastern European foods but the Sephardim and Mizrachis have their own cuisine -- all kosher, of course.

I was thinking of a particularly delicious kosher-for-Passover orange and almond cake in Claudia Roden's Book of Middle Eastern Food (her definition of the Middle East includes North Africa). Oranges boiled whole, pulverised in the blender (peel, pith and all) and combined with eggs, ground almonds and sugar. Moist without being sticky and counts as one of your five-a-day portions of fruit and veg (probably ). My mum had exactly the same cake once in a café in Lisbon.

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  Jews also reached as far east as India.  There is a very old community there, many of whom claim to be descended from Jews who fled the Romans at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  This community was one of the trade connections for caravans coming from Europe to trade for spices, etc.

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It is my understanding that the assyrians took most of the lost tribes of Israel to Kashmir, where DNA has proved a link of the current natives with Isreal. It is my belief that this is where Jesus returned after his failed crucifixion, so he could continue his ministry to the tribes of Israel. He was also there as a child, during that time he was known as Issa.

ATM: It is important to remember that the Torah never defines "Israel" as a race.  It is a Covenant.  Egyptians and others were free to join the Israelite people.  The enemies of the Jews invented the term "Anti-Semitism," publishing the "Journal of Anti-Semitism," which really means that they are against Shem because he had the courage to overthrow Nimrod.  These enemies were really against Monotheism itself, and sought to impose idolatry on all.

The claim that Khazar or any other conversion somehow discredits the people-hood of Israel would mean that Norwegians who have lived in Minnesota for generations are not "American" because their ancestors did not fight the Revolutionary War.  The funny thing is; the colonists thought of themselves as British until very late.  Nation-hood is a process more than an origin. An Israelite is someone who follows the 613 Laws and not merely the 7 Laws of Noah.  As such, a person willing to do this may be inducted in to the Nation, with all privileges (and responsibilities) afforded.  King David was himself the grandson of such a person.

I am not a big fan of Reformed Judaism because it seeks to circumvent all of this. It is a product of nineteenth century liberal nationalism.  It has nothing deep to offer.  Only the Real Thing suffices.  So, I do not really think of a Reformed Conversion as genuine.  The Khazars, however, converted correctly.

pikajedi3 Wrote:
Please disregard the questionnaire above, it is being spammed upon us and is unauthorised research.

also, it's linked to Autism Speaks.

ATM: Pikajedi3, I find that disconcerting.  The links between Autism Speaks and eugenics are too close for me to find the whole question anything but disconcerting.  Social Darwinism has revived, and has now booted out environmentalist views from biology.  The focus on Jews from geneticists rings too much of the old fixations, which never really died down as much as went underground.  A few decades ago, "superior races" were considered scientifically factual, and people suffered greatly for it.

What is it any business of Autism Speaks to be coming on this forum anyway? (Of course, I invaded their forum, but that is another story...(-

pikajedi3 Wrote:
Please disregard the questionnaire above, it is being spammed upon us and is unauthorised research.

also, it's linked to Autism Speaks.

ATM: Pikajedi3, I find that disconcerting.  The links between Autism Speaks and eugenics are too close for me to find the whole question anything but disconcerting.  Social Darwinism has revived, and has now booted out environmentalist views from biology.  The focus on Jews from geneticists rings too much of the old fixations, which never really died down as much as went underground.  A few decades ago, "superior races" were considered scientifically factual, and people suffered greatly for it.

What is it any business of Autism Speaks to be coming on this forum anyway? (Of course, I invaded their forum, but that is another story...(-

I was referring to a post which has since been deleted - it was spammed on several threads.

 

  Jews also reached as far east as India.  There is a very old community there, many of whom claim to be descended from Jews who fled the Romans at the time of the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD.  This community was one of the trade connections for caravans coming from Europe to trade for spices, etc.

[/quote]

It is my understanding that the assyrians took most of the lost tribes of Israel to Kashmir, where DNA has proved a link of the current natives with Isreal. It is my belief that this is where Jesus returned after his failed crucifixion, so he could continue his ministry to the tribes of Israel. He was also there as a child, during that time he was known as Issa.
[/quote]

I don't know about Jesus, but I do know that although SOME Jews were carried off into slavery by the Assyrians and the Babylonians, it was not ALL the Jews.  The farmers & peasants were left behind to work the land for the conquerors.  The Samaritans were descendants of Jews who were NOT taken captive into exile.  That is why their descendants today do not accept the writings of the biblical Prophets, which were written during the Babylonian Captivity.

Also relevant to the Jesus issue is that when Jesus & Mary fled into Egypt, there was already a HUGE Jewish community in Alexandria.  So he was not going to study with the Pharoahs, he was probably educated by fellow Jews, where he may have learned Jewish mysticism concepts and techniques in existence in that community.

what the hell? nazi jews?

"Askenazi" means European Jews.  It is no reference to the National Socialists of Germany (quite the contrary).