As Jews, we may see our closest genetic relatives in other Semites, often the citizens of the Arab nations surrounding Israel, or in our Jewish cousins scattered across the world. By tracing genetic ancestry of sub-Saharan African peoples, Harvard researchers have determined that Jews are actually more closely linked to the rest of the world than we might have thought.
Perhaps surprisingly, research “found a distinct presence of African ancestry in Southern European, Middle Eastern, and Jewish populations.” While one might attribute a shared African ancestry to the origins of humanity on that continent millions of years ago, sub-Saharan ancestry found in Jews dates back 72 generations, on average—which comes out to about 2,094 years. However, only three to five percent of Jews tested in the study do boast sub-Saharan ancestry.
What are we to make of this information? Some use the diaspora to account for the African-Jewish cultural mixture that resulted in a diverse genealogy. On the other hand, such a small sample of Jews actually proved to be of sub-Saharan ancestry that this result might not be statistically significant. A limited sample of individuals was also tested within the study. Is study’s findings are not representative of the larger Jewish population at the time? Is there a lot of evidence that Jews and sub-Saharan African peoples did intermarry in antiquity?
Recently, some have claimed both Jewish and African blood. There are currently around 30,000 Jewish Nigerians. Other African nations, like Uganda and South Africa, also have growing communities of native-born Jews. Could these modern Jews trace their ancestry to distant Jewish ancestors in Africa? Many of these individuals self-identify as Israelites. Indeed, some sub-Saharan Jews claim descent from a secret son had by the Queen of Sheba and King Solomon. Whatever the reality of that relationship, perhaps some Jews did marry sub-Saharan Africans; it is possible that they had descendants that survive in African Jews.
Whatever the actual facts of the relationship between Jews and people of Africa in antiquity, the modern political implications of studies like this one are profound. By proving a relationship between Africans and Jews—even if this relationship is tenuous and only a small percentage of Jews show African ancestry—African peoples’ claims to be descendants of real Israelites gain some legitimacy. At the very least, it makes it possible that, somewhere, somehow, thousands of years ago, their ancestors were Jewish. The implications of such facts have affected real Jews in African nations who want to establish a more concrete relationship with Israel.
In several African nations, rabbis have begun to make strides in not only the local Jewish communities, but their countries’ politics. For example, one Ugandan rabbi recently ran for a seat in Parliament. By advocating for change in their home nations, these Jewish individuals have begun to make strides for their own communities to be accepted, both at home and internationally. Perhaps that is the legacy one can take from the often-quoted relationship between Solomon and the Queen of Sheba: nations should cooperate in appreciation of common causes and wisdom and value our similarities, not what divides us.
