Fact-Checking the Torah: clearing up a lot of ignorance Part 4

If the only thing you know about Jews is Fiddler on the Roof or some other form of entertainment, boy have you got a lot to learn.

The feature item for this post is the "go back to Poland" thing. 

As I posted some time ago, Jews have lived in the Holy Land for nearly 36 centuries.

Sephardic Jews from around the Mediterranean (especially Italy and the marranos of Spain and Portugal) live in a number of places, including Israel. The national radio station hosts programs in the Ladino language of Spain.

The Jews of Kaifeng China are natives and have been there for a thousand years. 

After 1492, Spanish and Portuguese Jews who fled the Inquisition wound up in the Spanish Netherlands or Brazil, and the Brazilians moved to New Amsterdam, which is now New York City. The earliest synagogues in the US, such as the Touro synagogue, were Sephardic. 

Marranos came to the Americas with Cortes and other conquerors. Their blood flows in their descendants. 

All of the Arabic nations expelled their Jews after 1948. Where did they go? Three guesses and the first two don't count.

Soon after 1948 Operation Solomon airlifted Ethiopian Jews to Israel.

After 1948, the Bene Israel of India came to Israel.

In 1966 a tribe of Inca converted to Judaism. Some of the Bnei Moshe moved to Israel. One was serving in the IDF on October 7 2023 and was killed defending his nation. 

While the LDS Book of Mormon claims the Native Americans were descended from the Ten Tribes (which is false), some Native Americans have converted to Judaism. 

African-Americans with a Jewish mother are counted as Jews. There are also African-American converts to Judaism. I remember seeing a photo of a black couple at their wedding, the man wearing a Chassidic shtreiml, but I can't find it on Google. I think it was in a Jewish calendar.

And then, Ashkenazic Jews may inherit the m33c mtDNA gene from China, which moved west along the Silk Road. I have ancestors who came from Hungary and, depending on how many generations the Kleins lived there, I might have it.

Genetic Jewishness comes through the mother, except for kohanim who inherit a specific Y chromosome unit. But with both men and women converting to Judaism for 35 centuries, there is no telling which of your acquaintances is Jewish. King Ferdinand of Aragon, who promoted the Inquisition's autos da fe, had a Jewish grandmother. So once again, curb your ignorance. And if you really want to help, use this post to bust the chops of the Jew-haters who say "go back".