Bubu’s DNA

When the northern part of the land of Canaan was conquered by the Assyrians in 721 B.C., the people of the ten tribes of Israel were either eliminated, assimilated, or exiled. Many modern-day groups, including the Mormons of the United States and the Falasha of Ethiopia, claim to be descendants of these “ten lost tribes.” DNA testing, however, has failed to substantiate most of these claims. The Mormons, for example, are clearly of Western European descent, whereas the Falasha show typical African DNA markers. There is one group. however, for whom DNA analysis has provided a direct link to the Jews of biblical times.

These are the Lemba, a southern African tribe who inhabit present-day South Africa and Zimbabwe. They speak Bantu and are black as any other Africans. But there are certain cultural oddities of the Lemba: Like practicing Jews, they strictly observe a Sabbath day, they circumcise their little boys, and they do not eat any shellfish, pork, or porklike meats such as hippopotamus.

The Lemba believe they are descended from an ancient group of Jews who were led out of Israel by a prophet named Bubu. According to legend, they traveled first to the city of Senna, on the Gulf of Aden in what is now Yemen, and then on to their present location in the south of Africa. They were led by the descendants of Buba, a clan that is still given deference in modern Lemba society.

Until recently, most anthropologists and biblical scholars believed that the Lemba were just one more group who derived their folklore and customs through the zeal of early Christian missionaries rather than any real genetic inheritance. But Tudor Parfitt, director of the Center for Jewish Studies at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London, thought the Lemba just might be right about their history. He has actually located what he believes that it is possible to account for the long journey to South Africa by the fact that a sailboat can make it from the port of Sayhut on the Gulf of Aden to the south of Africa in as little as nine days if the winds are just right.

When Parfitt heard about David Goldstein’s discovery of a genetic signature from teh Cohanim, he knew just what to do. He promptly collected DNA samples from the Lemba. He explained to the villagers that their DNA, extracted from swabs of cheek cells, contained “the footprints of your ancestors.” Then he sent the DNA up to Oxford for analysis.

The results were remarkable. The Lemba people carry the genetic signature of the Jewish Cohanim. About 10 percent of the Lemba men had the telltale pattern of nine DNA variations that constitute the CMH, a figure as high as for lay Jews living in the Middle East and Europe. By contrast, none of the surrounding African peoples had this set of markers.

Even more incredible, fully 53 percent of the members of the Buba clan, the hereditary priestly cast of the Lemba, carried the DNA signature. That is as high a percentage as is found in the Cohanim of Jerusalem or Tel Aviv. The Y-chromosome DNA of the Buba clan is the same as the Y-chromosome DNA of the Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu. It is a remarkable testament to the power of religion that the Lemba Jews – descendents of a tiny tribe of people, born into a a poor and arid land, trapped between two rich and powerful kingdoms, and dispersed against their will to the four corners of the globe – have maintained both their culture and their DNA despite thousands of years of exile from the holy land.

Just one of the many interesting antecdotes in Dean Hamer’s book w Faith is Hardwired into Our Genes – my first read of the year. Last year I had promised to keep a log of all the books I had read as part of the RealityFuel 50 Book Challenge.

I lost track half way through though. (I blame Bobby who lost a book I was really enjoying in Bangkok … I then didn’t know whether to put the book on the list or not and decided to wait until I finished it, but it’s always checked out at the library and my second hand bookstore doesn’t have it … and where is my Fountainhead Bobbo?)

Anyway, just got an email from the RealityFuel folks this morning and they’re having the challenge again this year and I’m gonna try to keep better track. Because I do like to see what others are reading and 40 years down the road I’d like to be able to look back and see what books I’ve read and what I’ve thought about them.