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Lemba

13 May 2018
Anthropology

At www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/lemba-tribe-in-southern-africa-has-j… … genetic studies are said to have shown a connection between the Lemba tribe of Zimbabwe and the Jews. This apparently supports the theory of Robin Brown-Lowe in his book, 'The City of Solomon' (Sutton Publishing:2003). The World Jewish Congress article goes back to 2010 and a report of the story broadcast by the BBC. The Lemba live in central Zimbabwe and northern South Africa, about 80,000 strong. They have customs that have attracted attention in the past, most notably by Tudor Parfitt, an anthropologist. Quite how you distinguish between Jewish genes and those of any other Near Eastern people is a point of scepticism to bear in mind as it is the Near Eastern genes in Jews that show they originate from that part of the world.

See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lemba_people … which quotes Parfitt. In Lemba tradition they are said to have left Judah 2500 years ago and settled in Senna (in the Yemen). Much later, they migrated into Africa and took African wives etc. Interesting story but his link is also sceptical of the Jewish genetic connection.

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