Nadene Goldfoot
If anyone in the U.N. has ever read "Genesis" in what is typically called "The Old Testament" which is part of the Jewish "Five Books of Moses", or "Torah", they would have read the genealogy of mankind (Chapter 10) in that the people of the world were descended from the three sons of Noah and formed one huge family. The belief is that G-d is the Creator of the world and Father of all men. This is the beginning of the belief in the brotherhood of man. Now we know that we are all Homo Sapiens regardless of our color, and science proves this. In fact, science has even come up with the fact that some Europeans carry a few genes left over from Neanderthal Man. We all carry quite a mixture of genes.
The spirit of Judaism is the opposite of racial discrimination. Moses was the Jewish leader who developed the teachings of Judaism. He himself married a Cushite woman (Numbers 12) who was considered to be of Ethiopia and was a black woman. Moses's sister, Miriam and brother, Aaron complained about his choice and were chastised by G-d. Perhaps this is where Jews first learned not to be racists. They quickly learned that only marriage with someone of another faith was wrong, not the color of one's skin. The same had happened with ethnic differences. Once there was the law against the people of Ammon and Moab from converting to Judaism but this was abolished (Mishnah-Yadayim, 4:4). In fact, this very point of Moses having married a Black woman has been a point used by others for anti-semitism. We have been pointed out as a people of mixed black and white heritage. I for one am a very mixed person with a Jewish father and Gentile mother who converted to Judaism. My dna test shows me that I am 99.77% European and 0.23% Asian.
Jews are not a pure race, though many carry the J1 haplogroup which is found to come from Aaron and Moses. This is called the Cohen haplogroup because Aaron was the first Cohen. 15-23% of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews carry the J2 haplogroup. In the early days of Judaism, women of other beliefs married into the group and converted to Judaism. This has happened all through history. Today some Jewish women have been known to marry non-Jewish men. Most Jews are carrying non-Jewish genes as well as Jewish ones. Even the descendants of Khazaria, a people whose royal family had converted to Judaism, are such a mixture.
What is happening today is that a few Palestinians are being tested for their dna and are finding they also carry the J1 haplogroup genes. Then the story is coming out that they have been secretly practicing certain rituals found in Judaism. Many may have not even known that what they were doing came from Jewish practices. The history is that their ancestors were members of Jewish tribes in the Middle East who were conquered by the early Moslems and the whole tribe was converted under penalty of death. Of these, some are thinking of converting back to Judaism. . I imagine that these are already Israeli Arab citizens amongst the already 1.3 million Arabs in Israel. So these people are finding that they are not 100% Arabs as well. Kurds have also been found to be carrying the J1 haplogroup. Genetically they may be the closest people to the Jews.
The problem may lie in the fact that Jews are considered "The Chosen People." In Fiddler on the Roof", Tevia asks G-d if He couldn't choose someone else for a change as he was so tired of pograms. Moses wrote that Israel had been singled out as G-d's Covenant people. They out of all peoples had accepted his laws of the 10 commandments which continued to grow to 613. (Amos 3:2) You only have I known of all the families of the earth: Therefore I will visit upon you all your iniquities-(gross injustice, wickedness, sins.) Being G-d's chosen meant that Jews were to be the example of rightous living for all of mankind. If they were not perfect, they would pay the penalty. More was expected of them. It did not mean that they were better than others. Indeed, this was a very hard position to have accepted. They haven't waned for the 3,000 years they have been in existence as Judaism, first monotheistic religion, continues .
The U.N. made the charge in 1975 that Israel, with a 75% Jewish population is racist because they were created as a Jewish state. They compared this with South Africa's former apartheid position. Nothing could be further from the truth. How sad that such an elite body of nationhood can come up with such rulings without knowing a thing about a people. Their anti-semitic beliefs have fused into their critical thinking and shows in this decision.
Jews make up less than 1% of the world's population. They sit in an endangered species group being their neighbor, The Gaza Strip's Hamas terrorists' charter is to destroy them and Iran's beliefs are such that they are also set to exterminate them. Christianity has 2 billion people, Islam has 1.3 billion, Hinduism has 900 million, Buddhism has 360 million and Judaism has 14 million people. The Jews are divided almost equally between Israel and the United States with smatterings in other lands. Though they are the smallest of religious groups, they are able to offer the rest of the world the results of their creative talents which is abundant in the medical fields.
We have Jews from all the corners of the earth who come in all shades of colors from white Ashkenazis living in the cold countries of Eastern Europe to a darker mocha color from living in Arab lands to blacks from Ethiopia and other African countries to Orientals from China or somewhere along the Silk Route. More Jews are now being discovered and brought to Israel as they are found to be from our lost tribes of Israel. From what I've seen after living in Israel is that they all share one quality: they're all beautiful people. I just watched "Shalom Israel"'s AIPAC sponsored program on Demand TV of interviewing a beautiful 30 year old Ethiopian Israeli woman. Her beauty was remarkable and so much like the Ethiopians I saw living across the street from me on David Eleazar Street in Safed. No wonder King Solomon fell for the Queen of Sheba! Her intelligence shone as a great example of Israel's educational system. She had become an architect and had also served in Israel's air force. She came to Israel on one of the 3 airlifts at the age of 2 years. She feels no racial problems. That's Israel for you. The goals that Israel's forefathers had set about to aspire to are being fullfilled.
Judaism as a religion defines the roles of men and woman and demands more of the men's time to be in the synagogue than it does the women, but women and men are considered equally important in religious roles though they may serve differently. In Israel's army, women serve as well and men quite often find that their sergeant is a woman. From even before Israel's statehood of 1948, women have been fighting alongside men. Israel even had Golda Meir as the world's first female Prime Minister. Judaism has many faces and points of view, and women are even becoming rabbi's in the Reform movement.
While Israel exists as the only Jewish state in the world, Islam has 56 majority countries, Roman Catholics have 49, Protestants have 20, Eastern Orthodox have 12, and the Hindus have 4. Doesn't this make the U.N. guilty of racial and apartheid practices in being against Israel?
Research: Israel 101 from StandWithUs May 2007
What Does Judaism Say About...? by Louis Jacobs, 1973
http://jewishfactsfromportland.blogspot.com/ "What Haplogroup We Be" by Nadene Goldfoot
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