A Case for Genetic Jewishness
Reviewing geneticist Harry Ostrer’s new book Legacy, The Tablet’s Ivan Oransky discusses the possibility “that there is, in fact, a biological basis for Jewishness.” Ostrer published a study “showing that Jews in three different geographical areas had certain collections of genes” indicating that they are “biologically similar to one another.” “‘The stakes in genetical analysis are high,’ he writes, noting that they touch ‘on the heart of Zionist claims for a Jewish homeland in Israel.’” With his studies, Ostrer tries to settle the debate “over whether Jewishness is biological or cultural,” a dispute that “has been almost Talmudic.”