Genetic studies have been used to investigate the origins of diverse Jewish ethnic subgroups, and assess shared ancestry between Jewish and non-Jewish populations. The medical genetics of Jews is a subset of this research, that focuses on population-specific diseases and on genetic conditions shared with other ethnic groups.
Studies on Jewish populations have been principally conducted using all three types of genealogical DNA tests: autosomal (atDNA), mitochondrial (mtDNA), and Y-chromosome (Y-DNA). Autosomal testing, which looks at the largest sets of genes within peoples' DNA, shows that Jewish populations tend to form genetic isolates – relatively closely related groups in independent communities with most in a community sharing significant ancestry. The Ashkenazi Jews form the largest such group. Mitochondrial and Y-DNA tests look at maternal and paternal ancestry respectively, via two small groups of genes transmitted only via female or male ancestors.
Studies on the genetic composition of Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jewish populations of the Jewish diaspora show significant amounts of shared Middle Eastern ancestry, as well as admixture from local populations.Jews living in the North African, Italian, and Iberian regions show variable frequencies of genetic overlap with the historical non-Jewish population along the maternal lines. In the case of Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews (in particular Moroccan Jews), who are closely related, the source of non-Middle-Eastern admixture is mainly Southern European. Some researchers have remarked on an especially close relationship between Ashkenazi Jews and modern Italians, Greeks, and other Southern Europeans. Bene Israel and the Cochin Jews of India, and Beta Israel of Ethiopia, resemble their local populations but also may have some admixture.
Religious, historical, and genetic perspectives on Jewish identity
Jewish identity and Jewish peoplehood are multifaceted, and there are multiple theories on the ethnic origins of Jews. According to one Israeli rabbi, David Hartman, "One of the salient features of modern Jewry is the lack of consensus about what constitutes membership in the Jewish people." Jewishness can be placed at the intersection of ethnicity, nationality, religion and race, extending beyond the specifics of religious observance. The traditional belief is that Jews descended from the ancient Israelites,Weitzman 2019 pp. 1-3. without implying that all Jews are biological descendants, since conversion has always been part of Judaism. Genetic evidence corroborating this biblical-based account has been disputed.'He (Steven Weitzman) finds all of the proposed theories wanting, either because of the insufficiency of data or, more commonly, because of methodological imprecision. Many of the proposed explanations tell us more about the beliefs and perspectives of the storytellers than about the alleged origins of the Jews... . Genetic science has not yet given us a firm basis on which to build our notions of Jewish origins.' Shaye J.D. Cohen, 'Book Review: The Origin of the Jews: The Quest for Roots in a Rootless Age by Steven Weitzman,' Moment Magazine 24 May 2017
The advent of modern genetic research methods has led to extensive genetic studies on the topic. Such research has identified genotypic common denominators of Jewish people, but while certain detectable Middle Eastern genetic components exist in numerous Jewish communities, there is no single definitive Jewish prototype.
Genomic research has found that most Jewish populations share genetic commonalities with each other, and are distinguishable from non-Jewish groups.:"...a certain number of people who currently identify themselves as Jews have certain genetic variants that indicate a high likelihood that they are descended from populations that likely inhabited the Levant some 2,000 years ago. These variants are not necessarily exclusive to people who identify as Jews, nor are they present in all people who currently identify themselves as Jews. Even Jews who do have these variants likely have ancestors from other parts of the globe. Nonetheless, it is not unreasonable to assert that, based on current genetic testing technologies and theories of genetic variation, there is a high likelihood that many contemporary Jews have at least one ancestral lineage that leads back to the Levant. In fact, contemporary genetic studies, including recent studies of the whole genome ... agree on a much greater level of genetic sharing and continuity among Jewish populations than would be evident from only a single shared lineage. This does not make Jews a race any more than shared ancestry makes Italians or Basques or Finns a race." Several studies have found genetic continuity with studied medieval individuals from before the 14th century, indicating that one or more genetic bottlenecks predates that timeframe. Some of them were thought to have been victims of pogroms or antisemitic violence, were identifiably Jewish, but had important differences from modern populations, with an increase in homogeneity seen today.
Autosomal DNA These studies focus upon autosomal chromosomes, the 22 homologous or autosomes (non-sex chromosomes)
Summary Autosomal DNA studies show high levels of genetic relatedness among Ashkenazi, Sephardi, and Mizrahi Jews, corresponding to a shared Middle Eastern ancestry with variations in regional admixture. Autosomal DNA evidence supports the historical narrative of Jewish populations originating from the ancient Levant, with genetic diversity shaped by migrations, admixture, and isolation over millennia. Note, however, that the modern population of Southern Europe, often used as the European reference population in such studies, itself contains substantial ancient Middle Eastern ancestry, while present-day populations of the Levant exhibit considerable recent Sub-Saharan African ancestry, leading to an underestimation of the Levantine component of the Ashkenazi Jewish genome.
+ Ashkenazi Jews ancestry proportions estimates Study Tool / method Middle Eastern European Lerga-Jaso et al., 2025 Orchestra / LAI 23.8% (16.6% Levantine, 7.2% ICT) 72.1% (68% Italian, 2.4% Greek, 1.7% Eastern Europe) Waldman et al., 2022 QpAdm 19% 81%: 65% Southern Italian, 16% Eastern Europe 43%57%: 37% North Italian, 20% Eastern Europe32%68%: 51% Greek, 17% Eastern EuropeAgranat-Tamir et al., 2020 LINADMIX, PHCP 59% (MLBA Levant and chalcolithic Iran) 41% (Late Neolithic and Bronze Age Europe) Xue et al., 2017 GLOBETROTTER 30% (Levantine) 70% (55% Southern European, 10% Eastern European, 5% Western European)RFMix / LAI47% (mostly Levantine)53%
Ashkenazi Jews share genetic similarities with Southern Europeans, such as Italians and Greeks, while exhibiting unique markers distinguishing them from non-Jewish groups. Similarly, North African Jews also exhibit proximity to European and Middle Eastern groups, reflecting their historical migration pattern. Other studies also reveal significant regional genetic diversity, such as the Berber admixture in Libyan Jews, or Ethiopian Jews' local ancestry combined with Middle Eastern links.
In autosomal analyses, the Iraqi Jews, Iranian Jews, Bukharian Jews, Kurdish Jews, Mountain Jews, and Georgian Jews form a close genetic cluster. When examined at a more detailed level, the groups can be separated from each other. This cluster plots between Levantine and Northern West Asian populations. Syrian and North African Jews are separate from it and closer to the Sephardi Jews. Yemenite Jews are distinct from other Jewish groups and cluster with the non-Jewish population of the Arabian Peninsula.
2017–present In 2022, a three-year-long study that analyzed the DNA from the remains of 38 individuals from an excavated Jewish cemetery in Erfurt dating to the 14th century found that the medieval Erfurt Ashkenazi community was more genetically diverse than modern Ashkenazi Jews. The medieval Erfurt community was found to consist of two groups, one which had more Eastern European ancestry than modern Ashkenazi Jews and another with more Middle Eastern ancestry which was also genetically close to German and French Ashkenazi Jews and Turkish Sephardi Jews. The groups also had different levels of oxygen isotopes in their teeth, suggesting they used water sources from different areas in childhood, indicating that one of these groups migrated to Erfurt. These results seem to back up historical research which has suggested that medieval Ashkenazi Jewry was culturally divided between Western Jews, who originally lived in the Rhineland (and who may be the group with more Middle Eastern ancestry), and Eastern Jews, who originally lived in eastern Germany, Austria, Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia (and who may be the group with more European ancestry). Erfurt lay at the boundary of these communities. The study also found evidence of the historic founder effect of Ashkenazi Jewry, with a third of the individuals sampled found to descend from a single woman along the maternal line. The genome of modern Ashkenazi Jewry was found to appear as a near-even mixture between the two groups, with about 60% of modern Ashkenazi DNA found to come from the group with more Middle Eastern ancestry and 40% found to come from the group with more Eastern European ancestry, suggesting that they eventually merged into a single Ashkenazi culture. The study's admixture models for Erfurt Ashkenazi Jews (EAJ) varied, but the authors concluded that "Under the extensive set of models we studied, the ME [Middle Eastern] ancestry in EAJ is estimated in the range 19%–43% and the Mediterranean European ancestry in the range 37%–65% [the remainder of the European ancestry being Eastern European]. However, the true ancestry proportions could be higher or lower than implied by these ranges." They continued, "Our results therefore should only be interpreted to suggest that AJ ancestral sources have links to populations living in Mediterranean Europe and the Middle East today."
A 2020 genetic study on Bronze Age and Iron Age southern Levantine (Canaanite) remains found evidence of large-scale migration of populations related to those of the Zagros or Caucasus into the southern Levant by the Bronze Age and increasing over time (resulting in a Canaanite population descended from both those migrants and earlier Neolithic Levantine peoples). The findings were found to be consistent with modern-day non-Jewish Arabic-speaking Levantine populations (such as Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, and Druze) and Jewish groups (such as Moroccan Sephardi Jews, Ashkenazi Jews, and Iranian Jews), "having 50% or more of their ancestry from people related to groups who lived in the Bronze Age Levant and the Chalcolithic Zagros." Ashkenazi Jews were found to have 41% European admixture and Moroccan Jews were found to have 31% European admixture (using modern English and Tuscan populations as proxies). Ethiopian Jews were found to derive 80% of their ancestry from an East African or Horn African component but also carried some Canaanite-like and Zagros-like ancestry. This does not necessarily mean that any these present-day groups bear direct ancestry from people who lived in the Middle to Late Bronze Age Levant or in Chalcolithic Zagros; rather, it indicates that they have ancestries from populations whose ancient proxy can be related to the Middle East.
A 2017 study by Xue et al., running different tests on Ashkenazi Jewish genomes, found an approximately even mixture of Middle Eastern and European ancestry. They concluded that the true fraction of European ancestry was possibly about 60%, with the remaining 40% being Middle Eastern. The authors estimated the Levant as the most likely source of Middle Eastern ancestry in Ashkenazi Jews, and also estimated that between 60% and 80% of the European ancestry was Southern European, "with the rest being likely Eastern European."
2011–2016