- 6/13/2025
At the heart of Jewish tradition lies the haunting mystery of the Lost Tribes of Israel. Ever since their defeat and banishment by the Assyrians in 722 BC., the Lost Tribes fate has inspired countless claims to Jewish ancestry by groups scattered on every continent. But now, surprisingly, new advances in genetics are dispelling myth and fantasy, and raising a curtain on the forgotten reality of the dispersal that happened so many centuries ago. This story will follow the first attempt to use the new tests to investigate a seemingly improbable African candidate for a Lost Tribe. It will dramatize a scientific quest that leads from the gene labs of London to the remote bush country of Zimbabwe and the lunar-like desert wilderness of southern Yemen.
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TVTranscript
00:01During the following program, look for NOVA's web markers, which lead you to more information at our website.
00:07The Western Wall in Jerusalem.
00:30Devout Jews come to worship, much as their ancestors did centuries ago.
00:46The time-honored traditions live on, the wearing of prayer shawls and head coverings, the wail
00:52of the shofar made of ram's horn.
01:06Four thousand miles from Israel, in southern Africa, a people known as the Lembo also heed
01:12the call of the shofar.
01:17They have believed for generations that they are Jews, direct descendants of the Biblical
01:22patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.
01:30However unlikely the Lembo's claims may seem, modern science is finding a way to test them.
01:41The ever-growing understanding of human genetics is revealing connections between peoples that
01:47have never been seen before, opening new windows into the past.
01:58Tonight we travel across continents and seas and into the microscopic world of the human
02:04genome, to unravel the mysteries of the Lembo, a people who believe themselves to be a lost
02:14tribe of Israel.
02:21Major funding for NOVA is provided by the Park Foundation, dedicated to education and quality television.
02:48and quality television.
02:54This program is funded in part by Northwestern Mutual Life, which has been protecting families
02:59and businesses for generations.
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03:03Northwestern Mutual Life.
03:04Northwestern Mutual Life.
03:05Northwestern Mutual Life.
03:09CNET.com helping you choose the right technology product.
03:22And by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
03:25By contributions to your PBS station from viewers like you.
03:32A voice of the
03:53On a hot summer afternoon in South Africa,
03:59anthropologist Tudor Parfit takes the next step
04:02in his quest to solve the riddle of the Lemba.
04:09A quest that had begun a dozen years earlier
04:11following a lecture he'd given in Johannesburg.
04:17After the lecture, I saw these people at the back of the hall
04:20wearing yamlkas, black, local black people,
04:24I thought, wearing yamlkas, Jewish skull caps.
04:30They said, actually, that they were Jews
04:32and that they'd come from the Middle East centuries,
04:35if not millennia before.
04:37I found this rather intriguing but very difficult to believe.
04:41You're called the Black Jews.
04:44Do you really think you are Black Jews?
04:46I believe that I'm a Black Jew
04:48because we don't eat pork
04:52and the Jews also doesn't eat pork.
04:55There was these marriages,
04:56we didn't have intermarriage
04:57to marry a different nationality.
05:00It must be of a Lemba, tribe.
05:03And whenever we slaughter,
05:05we wash our hands, we clean our utensils.
05:08That's what the Jews do.
05:09They do everything, whatever they do,
05:12doing kosher food.
05:14And that means everything is clean.
05:15You're the great descendants
05:21of the great ancestor Abraham,
05:26the origin where your forefathers come from.
05:30From Abraham,
05:32you came up to Isaac,
05:34one of our ancestors,
05:36the son and the rightful heir
05:38of Abraham's estate.
05:40The Lemba believe they descend
05:43from the ancient tribes
05:44that lived in the land of Israel
05:453,000 years ago.
05:50According to the Bible,
05:51the tribes were united and powerful
05:53under King David and King Solomon.
05:56But when Solomon died around 900 B.C.,
05:59the confederation of tribes weakened.
06:01According to the biblical record,
06:05after the death of Solomon,
06:06the kingdom split into two.
06:08There was a rebellion
06:09and the Davidic line
06:11became the kings only of the southern kingdom
06:14in Jerusalem.
06:15And the northern kingdom
06:16was established by rebels
06:18against the Davidic line
06:19who established a monarchy
06:21which lasted until the year 722 B.C.
06:24when the kingdom was conquered
06:26by the Assyrians.
06:37The northern tribes
06:38were then carried off into exile
06:40to points further east.
06:42And at that point,
06:43the mystery of the lost tribes begins
06:45because we don't know
06:47what happened to them.
06:51Most scholars agree
06:53that the ten lost tribes
06:54were scattered across the Middle East
06:56and assimilated
06:57into local populations.
07:06But throughout history,
07:08people from as far as Japan,
07:13India,
07:16and Ethiopia
07:17have been thought by some
07:19to be descendants
07:20of those long-lost tribes.
07:23It seems to me
07:26the simplest way
07:27to understand these claims
07:28is that Westerners
07:30come across
07:31long-lost peoples,
07:33native peoples,
07:34in far-flung places
07:36across the globe,
07:37and they see them.
07:38And they try to interpret them
07:39in terms with which
07:41they are familiar.
07:42And their terms are familiar
07:44from the Hebrew Bible.
07:46For example,
07:47if an explorer
07:48or a missionary
07:49finds that a native people
07:51eat some kind of unleavened bread
07:53in the springtime
07:54or circumcise
07:56their sons,
07:57for example,
07:58or they don't eat pork,
08:00for example,
08:00or they don't do work
08:02on a given day of the week,
08:04they will automatically
08:05interpret that
08:06in terms of the Hebrew Bible.
08:07and you were told
08:10in those laws
08:11that God
08:12forbids you
08:13to eat pork,
08:16which is the meat
08:16coming from
08:17a pig.
08:18I must say,
08:19I didn't really believe
08:20this whole Jewish thing.
08:22I didn't believe
08:23that a group of Jews
08:24had left the Middle East,
08:25you know,
08:26centuries before
08:27and come to the middle
08:28of black Africa.
08:29That didn't seem likely.
08:32There's been far better
08:33explanations
08:34of the fact
08:35that they thought
08:36they were Jewish
08:37than this.
08:37One is that
08:38somehow
08:39their Jewish identity
08:42had been imposed
08:43from the outside
08:43by missionaries
08:45for whom
08:45nothing is sweeter
08:47than the idea
08:47of discovering
08:48lost tribes somewhere
08:49that you can work on.
08:51But on the other hand,
08:52there was something
08:53Semitic about them.
08:55They circumcise.
08:57There's a whole range
08:58of animals
08:59that they will not eat,
09:01including anything
09:03which is even
09:04remotely pig-like.
09:06The other thing
09:07was the extraordinary
09:08importance
09:09that they placed
09:10upon ritual slaughter
09:11of animals.
09:12A ritual slaughter
09:13of animals
09:13is not an African
09:14thing at all.
09:16Of course,
09:17it's Islamic
09:17as well as Judaic,
09:19but it's certainly
09:20from the Middle East
09:21it's not African.
09:22And the fact
09:23that every lad
09:24is given a knife
09:25with which he did
09:27his ritual slaughter
09:28throughout his life
09:29and he took
09:30to his grave
09:31with him,
09:31that seemed to me
09:32to be very remarkably,
09:35tangibly Semitic
09:37and Middle Eastern.
09:45Until recently,
09:46there has been
09:47no way to test
09:48the Lemba's belief
09:49in a Jewish heritage.
09:51But now,
09:52a new key
09:53has been discovered
09:54that may unlock
09:55ancient mysteries,
09:57a key as basic
09:58as blood and bone
09:59and infallible
10:01as a fingerprint.
10:03Genetic markers
10:04that may confirm
10:05an age-old Jewish belief.
10:07The Hebrew Bible says
10:17that Aaron,
10:18the brother of Moses,
10:20was chosen by God
10:21to begin a family line
10:22of priests
10:23to serve in the temple.
10:25Priest in Hebrew
10:26is Kohen,
10:28plural,
10:29Kohanim.
10:30And to this day,
10:32a small percentage
10:33of Jews
10:34identify themselves
10:35as Kohanim
10:36and believe
10:37that they are
10:37descended from Aaron.
10:41According to the Bible,
10:43God selected
10:43the tribe of Levi
10:44to be the priestly tribe.
10:47And this tribe,
10:48in turn,
10:48was split into two.
10:50One line,
10:51from Aaron,
10:52provided the priests.
10:54Another line,
10:55through Moses,
10:56provided the Levites,
10:57who would serve
10:58as assistants
10:59in the central sanctuary.
11:00The crucial point
11:02is that the priestly line
11:03is tribal
11:05in the sense
11:06that it is transmitted
11:07from father to son.
11:11I, for example,
11:12am a priest.
11:14My last name is Kohen
11:15or Kohen in Hebrew.
11:17And I am a Kohen
11:19because my father
11:20said that I am.
11:22His name was Kohen
11:24or Kohen.
11:25And he said
11:26that I
11:27and my brother,
11:28we are Kohanim.
11:30One cannot join
11:33the priestly line.
11:35One cannot be appointed
11:36to the priestly line.
11:37You don't take an exam
11:38to be accepted
11:39into the priestly line.
11:40You don't have to pass
11:41qualifications
11:42to be in the priestly line.
11:44The only thing that matters
11:45is your heredity.
11:50Another Kohen,
11:52Professor Carl Skorecki
11:53and his colleague
11:54Neil Bradman,
11:56each had the idea
11:57that Kohanim inheritance
11:58might be able
11:59to be confirmed genetically.
12:01One day,
12:02sitting in synagogue,
12:04my mind was drifting
12:05perhaps from some
12:06of the liturgy and prayers.
12:08And during the synagogue ceremony,
12:11members of the priest tribe
12:14or Kohanim
12:15are called up
12:16for particular
12:16contributions to the service.
12:19So I was sitting there
12:20and another member
12:22of the congregation
12:22was called up
12:23as a Kohen
12:24or Jewish priest
12:26and his origin
12:28was from North Africa
12:29and my origin
12:31in terms of where
12:32my parents came from
12:33is from Eastern Europe
12:34and Poland
12:35and we were both
12:36Kohanim or priests.
12:37So I thought to myself
12:38at the time,
12:39well,
12:40what might we have
12:40in common
12:41other than the fact,
12:42other than this tradition
12:43that we have?
12:44So this led to the notion
12:45that perhaps
12:46we could find
12:47somewhere in the human genome
12:48a similarity.
12:50Well,
12:50the part of the human genome
12:51that's also passed
12:52from father to son
12:53is, of course,
12:53the white chromosome.
12:58Inside every human cell
13:00are 23 pairs of chromosomes
13:02made up of DNA.
13:05One half of each pair
13:06comes from the mother,
13:08the other half
13:08from the father.
13:09One of those pairs
13:12determines a person's sex.
13:15Women generally have
13:16a pair of similar chromosomes
13:17called XX.
13:19Men have XY.
13:24If the father contributes
13:25his X to the offspring,
13:27it will be a girl.
13:28If he contributes his Y,
13:30it will be a boy.
13:33It's the Y chromosome
13:34that determines maleness
13:35and the Y
13:37doesn't exchange
13:38much genetic material
13:39with its partner, X.
13:41So a father passes
13:42his Y chromosome
13:43onto his son
13:44virtually unchanged.
13:48To understand
13:49why we can use
13:50the Y chromosome
13:51to test the oral tradition
13:53surrounding the priesthood,
13:54let's imagine
13:56for a minute
13:56that the oral tradition
13:58is largely accurate.
14:00So what that means
14:00is that at some point
14:02in the past,
14:03there was a priest
14:04that founded
14:05the priestly line.
14:07This individual
14:07had a number of sons
14:09and his sons had sons
14:11and so on,
14:11and the priests of today
14:13are all the descendants
14:15just through the paternal line
14:17of that original
14:19founding priest.
14:21If that's in fact the case,
14:23or something very much
14:24like that is the case,
14:26then all the individuals today
14:27that consider themselves
14:29co-anime
14:30in fact have copies
14:32in some sense
14:33of the Y chromosome
14:35that was carried
14:36by that original
14:37founding priest.
14:41To test this hypothesis,
14:44researchers went
14:44to a beach in Israel
14:46to collect DNA
14:47from dozens
14:47of young Jewish men.
14:50We obtain the DNA
14:51by taking a mouth swab,
14:54a little cotton barge
14:56around the inside
14:57of the mouth,
14:57and then the cells
14:59are broken down
15:00and the DNA
15:00is extracted
15:01back in the lab.
15:03We take this DNA
15:04from individuals
15:06who are self-identifying
15:09Jews,
15:10in other words,
15:11they say that they're Jews,
15:12and they say
15:13that so far as
15:14they believe,
15:15they are either
15:16a priest,
15:18a cohen,
15:19or they're not a priest,
15:21a lay Jew.
15:22The samples are analyzed
15:26at University College London.
15:31Liquid from test tubes
15:33containing the mouth swabs
15:34is treated with enzymes
15:35and spun in a centrifuge
15:37to separate out the DNA.
15:41The amount of DNA
15:43obtained from each person
15:44is so minute
15:45that in order to be analyzed,
15:48it must first be amplified,
15:50reproduced millions of times
15:52using a process called
15:53polymerase chain reaction,
15:56PCR.
16:03During PCR,
16:05the DNA is heated
16:06until its double strand
16:07splits into two single strands.
16:10Then the temperature
16:11is lowered,
16:12and each single strand
16:14makes a new partner
16:15using chemicals
16:16that have been added
16:17to the liquid.
16:19The machine heats up again
16:21until these new
16:23double strands
16:23split apart.
16:25This process continues
16:27for a few hours,
16:28a chain reaction,
16:30doubling the available DNA
16:31with every cycle.
16:37Meanwhile,
16:38a researcher prepares
16:39a special gel
16:40to receive the amplified DNA.
16:41a liquid is carefully injected
16:48between two sheets of glass
16:49and spreads out
16:50to form a thin membrane.
16:52Once the gel is set,
17:04it is mounted vertically,
17:06so the DNA,
17:07which has an electrical charge,
17:08can migrate down through it
17:10when a current
17:10is applied to the gel.
17:16A sample,
17:17dyed blue,
17:18from one individual
17:19is injected into the gel.
17:20then another DNA sample
17:22next to it,
17:23and so on down the row.
17:30DNA is made up
17:31of four chemical bases,
17:33thymine,
17:34adenine,
17:35guanine,
17:36and cytosine,
17:38known by their initials,
17:39T and A,
17:41G and C.
17:42The specific arrangement
17:48of these bases
17:49on the Y chromosome
17:50is passed on
17:51almost intact
17:52from father to son.
17:54But small differences
17:55caused by genetic mutation
17:57allow scientists
17:58to tell chromosomes apart.
18:03One way
18:04in which you can tell
18:05one Y chromosome
18:06from another Y chromosome
18:07is that in a particular place
18:10the T
18:11may have changed
18:12to an A.
18:14That happens
18:15very, very rarely.
18:17Perhaps only once
18:18in the course
18:19of human evolution
18:20it would have occurred
18:20at the same place.
18:23Another type of change
18:25is where
18:26some of these letters,
18:28for example,
18:29GATA,
18:30appear as repeats
18:32GATA,
18:33GATA,
18:34GATA.
18:36That may change
18:37a little bit more frequently
18:38to be,
18:41say,
18:42nine repeats,
18:43it may reduce
18:44to eight repeats,
18:45or it may go up
18:46to ten repeats.
18:48And the combination
18:49of these letter changes
18:51and repeats
18:53together
18:54will enable us
18:57to differentiate
18:59one Y chromosome
19:00from another Y chromosome.
19:06Each vertical line
19:07of colored dots
19:08represents a piece
19:10of DNA
19:10from the Y chromosome
19:11of one individual.
19:14The rate at which
19:15the DNA moves
19:16through the gel
19:17depends on its precise
19:19chemical makeup,
19:20the order and number
19:21of its A's,
19:22T's,
19:23G's,
19:23and C's.
19:25DNA with the same
19:26chemical makeup
19:27will display
19:28the same colors
19:29at the same places
19:30along the vertical lines.
19:35These lines
19:36can also be displayed
19:37as graphs
19:38which highlight
19:39the differences
19:39and similarities
19:40between Y chromosomes.
19:46The results
19:47are stunning.
19:49A group
19:49of genetic markers,
19:51a distinctive
19:52combination
19:52of letter changes
19:53and repeats,
19:54dubbed the
19:55Cohen modal haplotype,
19:56is seen in about
19:5810% of the general
19:59Jewish population
20:00and in over 50%
20:03of the Kohanim.
20:06The long-held Jewish belief
20:09that priestly status
20:10is passed from father
20:12to son
20:12over the centuries
20:13seems to be confirmed
20:15in the genes.
20:16What it appears
20:23is that that particular
20:24chromosomal type
20:26was a component
20:27of the ancestral
20:29Hebrew population
20:30and because it was
20:32a component
20:32of that population
20:33it got into
20:35the major Jewish,
20:37the major contemporary
20:38Jewish communities
20:38and also got into
20:40the priestly line.
20:43And because that
20:44chromosomal type
20:45is hard to find
20:45in non-Jewish populations,
20:47its presence
20:49in a population
20:50would be suggestive
20:52of Jewish ancestry.
20:58The Kohanim study
21:00has far-reaching
21:01implications
21:02for Tudor Parfit.
21:03If the Cohen modal
21:04haplotype
21:05is found among
21:06a significant percentage
21:07of the lemba,
21:08their claim
21:09to Jewish ancestry
21:10will suddenly
21:11become more credible.
21:15I got very intrigued
21:18by the possibilities
21:19of genetics
21:21when I met
21:21Neil Bradman.
21:23He wanted me
21:23to join in
21:25his research
21:25because in some ways
21:26we had things
21:27in common.
21:28I was interested
21:29in scattered
21:30Jewish communities
21:30for one reason
21:32and he was interested
21:33in scattered Jewish
21:34communities for another.
21:36But it did occur
21:37to me that
21:38here was the most
21:39extraordinary tool
21:40for really solving
21:43the lemba problem.
21:46Samuel,
21:46could you be
21:46the next one?
21:48I'm just going
21:49to put these gloves on.
21:51I don't want my
21:52Welsh Y chromosomes
21:55getting mixed up
21:56with your
21:56lemba Y chromosome.
21:59Open up.
22:00Professor Mativa.
22:16The lemba
22:17are divided
22:17into clans.
22:19Parfit records
22:20each man's clan
22:21along with his sample.
22:23I'm just going
22:23to take a photograph.
22:25Professor Mativa
22:26belongs to the
22:27Buba clan.
22:28descendants of
22:30an ancient leader
22:30who according
22:31to the oral tradition
22:32brought the lemba
22:34out of Judea
22:35and eventually
22:36to Africa.
22:40We're now going
22:41north from
22:43South Africa
22:43trying to get
22:44to the
22:45heartlands
22:46of the lemba
22:47because of the
22:50nature of
22:52the traditional
22:53leadership.
22:53We have to get
22:54permission
22:54to do this
22:56DNA testing
22:57and that
22:59will certainly
23:00go through
23:00a number
23:00of very
23:01complex
23:02channels
23:03and I simply
23:04hope that
23:04works out
23:05well.
23:07Parfit's
23:07destination
23:08is the
23:09village of
23:09Chigato
23:10where he
23:11has heard
23:11lemba
23:11traditions
23:12are
23:12particularly
23:13strong.
23:13we'll have
23:21to go
23:22and see
23:22the
23:22chief
23:22this
23:23evening
23:23I think.
23:23yes we
23:31must go
23:31there
23:31we plan
23:32to go
23:32there
23:32in fact
23:33but we
23:33wanted
23:33to come
23:34to
23:34Sevius
23:34first.
23:35he says
23:43that's
23:43very
23:43good.
23:44great
23:44so that
23:45will
23:45be
23:46marvellous.
23:52It is
23:53morning
23:53before
23:54Parfit
23:54finally
23:55gets
23:55permission
23:55to take
23:56genetic
23:56samples.
23:58It's
23:59an
23:59important
23:59day
24:00in the
24:00village.
24:01There
24:01is
24:02to
24:02be
24:02a
24:02circumcision
24:02ceremony
24:03and a
24:04feast
24:04to
24:04honor
24:04the
24:05ancestors.
24:08These
24:08practices
24:09include
24:09elements
24:10of
24:10Jewish
24:10ritual
24:11but
24:12could
24:12have
24:12evolved
24:12from
24:12other
24:13sources.
24:19Circumcision
24:19is a
24:20widespread
24:20African
24:21custom.
24:22Some
24:23scholars
24:23believe
24:23the
24:24lemba
24:24were
24:24the
24:24first
24:25to
24:25introduce
24:25it
24:25to
24:25the
24:26southern
24:26continent.
24:29But
24:30Jewish
24:30custom
24:31requires
24:31that
24:31circumcision
24:32take
24:32place
24:33when a
24:33boy
24:33is
24:33eight
24:34days
24:34old.
24:35And
24:35these
24:35youths
24:36are
24:36between
24:36seven
24:37and
24:37fifteen
24:37years
24:37old.
24:39That's
24:40a feature
24:40of
24:40Muslim
24:41tradition.
24:50That
24:51afternoon
24:51the
24:52lemba
24:52men
24:53gather
24:53in
24:53a
24:53hut
24:53for
24:54Parfit
24:54to
24:54collect
24:54genetic
24:55samples.
24:57Despite
24:57the
24:57formalities
24:58involved
24:58in
24:59obtaining
24:59the
24:59chief's
24:59permission,
25:01the
25:01villagers
25:01themselves
25:02are
25:02anxious
25:03to
25:03cooperate.
25:05There
25:05has never
25:06been any
25:06difficulty
25:06with
25:07the
25:07lemba
25:07taking
25:08their
25:08samples
25:08because
25:09they
25:09were
25:09so
25:09keen
25:10to
25:10get
25:10some
25:10definitive
25:11proof
25:12that
25:12they
25:12were
25:13Jews.
25:14After
25:14all,
25:14for
25:14years,
25:15the
25:16white
25:16Jewish
25:17community
25:18of
25:18South
25:18Africa
25:18had
25:19refused
25:20to
25:20believe
25:20any
25:20of
25:20their
25:21stories
25:21and
25:22they
25:22really
25:22felt
25:22that
25:22here
25:23they
25:23might
25:23have
25:24the
25:24proof
25:24that
25:25they
25:25have
25:25been
25:25looking
25:25for.
25:25the
25:26place
25:26of
25:26your
25:26birth
25:27and
25:29your
25:34cultural
25:34identity
25:35Ah yes,
25:41that's
25:41something
25:42I forgot
25:42to put
25:42down
25:43on the
25:44others.
25:45So your
25:45clan
25:45is
25:45Sadiki.
25:48Many
25:48of the
25:49lemba's
25:49clan
25:49names
25:50sound
25:50similar
25:50to
25:51words
25:51in
25:51Arabic
25:51or
25:52Hebrew.
25:53Names
25:53like
25:53Hamisi,
25:54Sadiki,
25:56Sulamani.
26:00Parfit
26:01is
26:01convinced
26:01the
26:02lemba
26:02must
26:03have
26:03Semitic
26:03ancestors.
26:05But
26:06were
26:06they
26:06Jews?
26:08The
26:08DNA
26:09analysis
26:09may
26:10yield
26:10a
26:10clue.
26:20In
26:21London,
26:22scientists
26:22anxiously
26:23await the
26:23package
26:24from
26:24Africa.
26:27Samples
26:28from
26:28dozens
26:29of
26:29lemba
26:29men
26:29representing
26:30six
26:31different
26:31clans
26:31from
26:32towns
26:32and
26:32villages
26:33throughout
26:33the
26:33southern
26:34continent.
26:35They'll
26:41soon
26:41know
26:41if
26:42there's
26:42any
26:42hard
26:43evidence
26:43behind
26:44the
26:44lemba
26:44oral
26:45tradition
26:45of
26:46Jewish
26:46ancestry.
26:47when we
26:54analyzed
26:55the
26:56Y
26:56chromosomes
26:56of
26:57the
26:57lemba
26:58what
26:58we
26:58noticed
26:59was
27:00that
27:00amongst
27:01these
27:02Semitic
27:02Y
27:03chromosomes
27:04there was
27:05a high
27:06frequency
27:07of
27:08Cohen
27:09chromosomes
27:10what's
27:11technically
27:11called
27:12the
27:12Cohen
27:12modal
27:13haplotype.
27:13another
27:16stunning
27:17result.
27:18The
27:18distinctive
27:19Kohanim
27:19markers
27:20appear in
27:21the
27:21lemba
27:21at the
27:22same
27:22frequency
27:23as they
27:23do
27:23in
27:24the
27:24general
27:24Jewish
27:25population
27:25far
27:27more
27:27frequently
27:27than
27:28in
27:28any
27:28non-Jewish
27:29population
27:29tested.
27:33Something
27:34just under
27:34one out
27:35of
27:35every
27:3510
27:35lemba
27:36that
27:36we
27:36looked
27:36at
27:36in
27:37fact
27:37had
27:37this
27:37particular
27:38Y
27:38chromosomal
27:39type
27:39that
27:40appears
27:40to be
27:41a
27:41signature
27:41of
27:42Jewish
27:42ancestry.
27:43Perhaps
27:44even
27:44more
27:44striking
27:45than
27:45that
27:45there
27:45was
27:45in
27:46fact
27:46an
27:46association
27:47between
27:48that
27:49particular
27:49Y
27:50chromosome
27:51type
27:52and
27:52one
27:53of
27:53the
27:53lemba
27:54clans.
27:55There
27:55was
27:55one
27:55particular
27:56clan
27:57the
27:57buba
27:58which
28:00is
28:00we
28:01understand
28:01the
28:02premier
28:02clan
28:03amongst
28:04the
28:04lemba
28:04where
28:06the
28:06frequency
28:07of
28:07the
28:08Y
28:08chromosome
28:09was
28:10very
28:10high
28:10in
28:11fact
28:11almost
28:1150%.
28:13The
28:13fact
28:13that
28:13we
28:14found
28:14this
28:14in
28:14such
28:15high
28:16concentrations
28:17in
28:18one
28:18of
28:18the
28:18lemba
28:19sub
28:19clans
28:19much
28:20higher
28:21than
28:21the
28:21general
28:21Jewish
28:22population
28:22incidentally
28:23seemed
28:24finally
28:25to
28:26provide
28:27a
28:28real
28:28link
28:29a
28:30really
28:31usable
28:32link
28:33between
28:34the
28:35lemba
28:36and
28:37Jews
28:37and
28:38that
28:38was
28:38really
28:38the
28:38first
28:39hard
28:41piece
28:41of
28:41evidence
28:42that
28:42we
28:42got.
28:50The
28:50Kohen Y
28:51chromosome
28:51type
28:52shows up
28:52in the
28:52buba
28:53clan
28:53about
28:53as
28:53often
28:54as
28:54in
28:54the
28:54Kohanim
28:55in
28:55about
28:56half
28:56the
28:56men.
28:58Does
28:59that
28:59imply
28:59the
29:00buba
29:00are
29:01Kohanim?
29:03what
29:07else
29:07might
29:07explain
29:07the
29:07frequency
29:08of
29:08these
29:08genetic
29:09markers
29:09in
29:09the
29:10lemba
29:10leadership
29:10clan?
29:13Perhaps
29:13Jewish
29:14traders
29:14including
29:15members
29:15of
29:15the
29:16priestly
29:16class
29:16interbred
29:17with
29:17buba
29:18women
29:18in
29:18Africa
29:19though
29:20men
29:20from
29:20the
29:21outside
29:21have
29:21never
29:21been
29:21welcome
29:22into
29:22the
29:22lemba
29:22tribe
29:23especially
29:24among
29:24the
29:24buba
29:25no
29:27man
29:27could
29:28in
29:28fact
29:28ever
29:28become
29:29a
29:29lemba
29:29could
29:29no
29:29no
29:30men
29:30can
29:30ever
29:30become
29:31a
29:31lemba
29:31only
29:33women
29:34could
29:34qualify
29:35to
29:35become
29:35a
29:35lemba
29:36after
29:36going
29:36through
29:37a
29:37process
29:38of
29:38initiation
29:39and
29:39acceptance
29:40exactly
29:43how
29:43and when
29:44the
29:44lemba
29:44came
29:44to
29:44carry
29:45the
29:45Kohanim
29:45markers
29:46remains
29:47uncertain
29:47but
29:48locating
29:49their
29:49place
29:49of
29:49origin
29:50might
29:50help
29:51fill
29:51in
29:51the
29:51picture
29:52Parfit
29:53has
29:53promised
29:53to
29:53find
29:54the
29:54long
29:54lost
29:55lemba
29:55homeland
29:55a
29:56city
29:56somewhere
29:57to
29:57the
29:57north
29:57called
29:58Senna
29:58where
29:59the
29:59lemba
29:59say
30:00they
30:00lived
30:00before
30:00coming
30:01to
30:01Africa
30:01Professor
30:03Mativa
30:04specifically
30:05asked me
30:06on one
30:06occasion
30:06to
30:07go
30:07and
30:07find
30:08Senna
30:09which
30:09acts
30:10as
30:10place
30:11of
30:11origin
30:11but
30:11also
30:12the
30:12place
30:13to
30:13which
30:13they
30:13go
30:14they
30:14refer
30:15to
30:15Senna
30:15in
30:15the
30:16same
30:16way
30:16that
30:16we
30:16would
30:16refer
30:17to
30:17paradise
30:17or
30:18heaven
30:19and
30:19say
30:20we'll
30:20they
30:20say
30:21we'll
30:21meet
30:21we'll
30:22meet
30:22again
30:22in Senna
30:23and
30:23this
30:23kind
30:23of
30:24thing
30:24it
30:24seemed
30:24to
30:25me
30:25that
30:25the
30:25whole
30:25tradition
30:26the
30:26whole
30:26story
30:28was
30:28magical
30:29and
30:31their
30:31lack
30:32of this
30:32information
30:33which
30:33they
30:34act
30:35out
30:35through
30:35plays
30:36and
30:36songs
30:36is
30:37one
30:37of
30:37the
30:37most
30:38haunting
30:38and
30:39poignant
30:39features
30:40I think
30:40of their
30:41current
30:41practice
30:42this
30:45is
30:46extraordinary
30:46what's
30:48as well
30:49it's
30:50what
30:51they
30:51teach
30:52their
30:53children
30:53not
30:53to
30:53forget
30:54it's
30:56a
30:57sad
30:57sad
30:59reminder
31:01that
31:02when
31:02they
31:02lose
31:03their
31:04customs
31:04and
31:04everything
31:05they
31:07will
31:07not
31:07be
31:08people
31:08at
31:08all
31:09and
31:12therefore
31:12if
31:13they
31:13live
31:13among
31:14strangers
31:14they
31:15must
31:15never
31:16forget
31:16who
31:17they
31:17are
31:19then
31:23he
31:23says
31:23my
31:24grandchildren
31:25stick
31:26to
31:27what
31:27I'm
31:27telling
31:27you
31:28you
31:30see
31:30here
31:30that's
31:33where
31:33we
31:33come
31:34from
31:34that's
31:37where
31:37our
31:37ruins
31:37are
31:38come
31:40near
31:41you
31:43see
31:44the
31:44graveyard
31:44there
31:47lies
31:47your
31:47grandfather
31:48who
31:51begot
31:51me
31:51your
31:52father
31:52so
31:55don't
31:55cry
31:55let's
31:58kneel
31:58down
31:59that's
32:00why
32:00he's
32:01talking
32:01to
32:01the
32:01ancestor
32:02here
32:02to
32:03show
32:04them
32:04the
32:04way
32:04the
32:05way
32:06to
32:06senna
32:06parfit may uncover more clues to the lemba's origins if he can find senna
32:16the jewish populations lived there in the past and today's inhabitants have any genetic similarities to the lemba or the kohanim
32:37his next stop is the village of senna to visit a local expert on lemba history william messala
32:47william what proof is there that the senna that you talk of the people of senna that you talk of are connected in any way with the people of israel
32:58is in the bible
33:04it's in the bible
33:06in the bible
33:06in the bible
33:07yes
33:08where
33:09in nehemiah 7
33:11verse 38
33:12oh this is talking about the children of israel coming back from babylon is that right
33:18that's right yes
33:20and there's a reference to senna and there's a reference to senna there
33:22yes
33:23yes in the bible
33:25the children of senna
33:28three thousand nine hundred and thirty
33:32now you talk about senna
33:37yes
33:38where is
33:39where is senna
33:40uh this book tells us that uh senna is in in jericho in jericho in israel in palestine actually
33:52it's part of the palestine authority
33:53yes jericho or near jerusalem
33:57based on his biblical dictionary william messala places senna near jerusalem
34:03but the lemba oral tradition is much less specific
34:06what they essentially say is that they came from the north
34:11they came from possibly judea
34:15they subsequently went to a place called senna
34:19then they crossed from senna
34:23to africa via pusela we don't we don't know what that is and they don't know what that is
34:28but they say we crossed pusela we came to africa and then they say we rebuilt
34:36senna
34:37and then we went inland
34:39and had something to do with the construction of a great stone
34:43city
34:44at that point we broke the
34:49law of god
34:51and we ate mice which were not ritually fit
34:56for lemba consumption
34:58and at that point they were scattered as they put it among the nations in africa
35:03i was very moved by by william he was um clearly very uh convinced by his story and he's genuine in his
35:13belief that he's uh that he's jewish and his people are of jewish extraction
35:18and it's interesting he keeps talking about this uh this senna this senna myth this senna legend
35:24uh but it's still quite unclear where it is or what it is
35:30the town of senna or perhaps senna is mentioned only three times in the entire hebrew bible
35:38all three passages are in the books of ezra nehemiah
35:42these books ezra nehemiah describe the return of the jews from babylonia
35:47to judea in the sixth and fifth centuries bce
35:51and we have a list of families and clans that joined in the return from babylonia to judea
35:58sometimes the lists give us names of clans
36:01sometimes the lists give us the numbers of people who come from a certain town
36:05and among these towns that are listed towns in the land of israel whose native sons returned back
36:12to israel are the sons of senna or the sons of senna
36:18the sons of senna were among thousands of jews freed by cyrus king of persia
36:41and allowed to return to jerusalem starting in 538 bc to rebuild the temple the babylonians had
36:47destroyed it may be no more than coincidence that this biblical town had the same name as the lemba
36:55homeland but if the lemba did come from the middle east why did they leave and migrate down into africa
37:03perhaps their motivation was trade centered in the great stone city of their oral tradition
37:09between the lemba heartland and africa's east coast lie the ruins of an ancient civilization called great zimbabwe
37:25lemba legend holds that they built this place before moving on to other parts of africa
37:29zimbabwe
37:32zimbabwe means great house of stone
37:35and is the largest ancient ruin in sub-saharan africa
37:39its walls are up to 20 feet thick and 36 feet high
37:43made of over a million blocks hewn from local granite
37:46great zimbabwe great zimbabwe is central to lemba belief about themselves they claim that one of their
38:00tribes the tovakari were the actual builders of zimbabwe
38:06and everything that we can construct about their history indicates that they played something of
38:16a role in this stone building civilization at its height great zimbabwe is thought to
38:23have had 18 000 inhabitants spread over three square miles a bustling center of trade
38:30the essence of this trade was importing stuff from the arab coast and then exporting gold ivory and
38:38so on probably slaves as well so the very uh fact of this trade implies a meeting of the semitic
38:47and the african world europeans first described these ruins in detail in the late 19th century
38:56influenced by the racist attitudes of the day they couldn't imagine that such magnificent
39:01structures had been built by black africans explorers had long dreamed of discovering a lost
39:07white civilization in darkest africa and this they thought must be it
39:14there was an extraordinary character called karl malch who got here in 1871
39:19after traveling throughout africa for several years in a continuous journey
39:23and when he got here the first thing that he assumed as he wrote his diary that evening
39:30was that this place was nothing more or less than the palace of the queen of sheba built
39:39perhaps by king solomon and all kinds of small things within the structure from the wooden lintels
39:47which he thought probably came from lebanon where cedar of lebanon was used in the construction of the temple
39:54to all kinds of other features he'd been told that day in fact by some local tribesmen
40:02that um the great enclosure was in fact the temple of the great woman
40:07and he assumed that the great woman was the queen of sheba
40:15the legend of the light-skinned african queen joining forces with the last great king of israel
40:21suited the preconceptions of white colonialists
40:23the great zimbabwe was built not in biblical times but between the 13th and 15th centuries
40:44subsequent research leaves no doubt that africans
40:47built great zimbabwe as the center of a thriving civilization based upon wealth from cattle ivory and gold
40:59the lemba belief that these builders were their ancestors is impossible to prove
41:05but the story of their exodus from senna could be connected to this great ruin
41:10and to the ancient trade routes that once flowed with african gold spices from india porcelain from china
41:17it was this route linking the great civilizations of the indian ocean with this place that certainly
41:27would have been the route that they would have chosen to to enter the country so from here i think
41:32what we should be doing is following the route of the lemba in reverse and taking the uh road they
41:41certainly would have taken from wherever their center was from the coast and inland into zimbabwe
41:57harfit heads east from great zimbabwe through mozambique to the coast
42:03if the lemba came from the north by sea the prevailing winds would have brought them here
42:11so the lemba would have been served by ports that served the traffic between arabia and africa
42:23because one part of the year there are winds that whiz you right down the african coast
42:28and then for the rest of the year there are winds that whiz you back so it really was a kind of super
42:33highway this uh this piece of water
42:35uh 500 years ago arabian vessels plied the indian ocean part of a vast trading empire
42:45the monsoon winds were the critical factor in controlling the flow of trade
42:50during monsoon season the winds blew down the coast of africa and for the rest of the year
42:56the winds reversed perhaps senna lay at the northern end of the trade route in the yemen
43:05the yemen has a rich and complex past
43:32according to legend sanna the capital was founded by a son of noah after the great flood
43:41jewish communities flourished here for several centuries before the rise of islam
43:51today we think of yemen as a heartland of arabs and islam but we often forget that until recently
44:00yemen was home to a very large very important jewish community in modern times almost all yemeni jews
44:08have gone to land of israel but until very recently throughout the whole middle ages and well back into
44:14antiquity the jewish community of yemen was a community to reckon with
44:24could this city sanah be the lemba's senna the lemba may have roots in the community of jewish traders
44:31who left here for africa but parfait thinks it's unlikely for this bustling city has never had strong
44:38traditions of emigration unlike other parts of the yemen
44:42this forbidding desert valley southeast of the capital is called the hadramut which means courts of
44:57death the harsh cycles of drought here often force people to abandon the land head for the coast and
45:04ultimately leave for africa was senna an ancient village somewhere in this rugged desert
45:17at one end of the valley stands the town of sayun and a famous islamic library here tudor parfit has
45:24arranged to see a noted local scholar mohammed al-sakaaf and enlist his help in the search for senna
45:31he found him in africa sama national states kyan
45:34kibba saka al-saka hamay have been found aš na shah namaga
45:39isna ham and him sara moham my imi sana
45:50keyim ken hadah saiyum saiyoun saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyoon saiyon saiyon saiyon
45:54bahair saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon saiyon sea
45:57Al-Sakhaf is familiar with a city called Sena.
46:27Not shown on most maps.
46:30It's in an ancient and undeveloped region of the Hadramut Valley.
46:36Encouraged by this new information, Parfit asks if the Lemba clan names
46:41sounded all like family names here in the Yemen.
46:57This is really very exciting to discover that there really is
47:00a place called Sena in the Hadramut,
47:03which for a number of rather convincing reasons
47:20is connected, probably, with Lemba.
47:21This is really very exciting to discover that there really is
47:25a place called Sena in the Hadramut,
47:29which for a number of rather convincing reasons
47:31is connected, probably, with Lemba.
47:34The road to Sena passes through desolate, dangerous country.
47:55The scene of several kidnappings in recent months,
47:58Parfit has arranged for an armed escort.
48:00The road winds out past a shrine to a pre-Islamic prophet called Hud.
48:17The shrine is a visible link to Yemen's Jewish past.
48:25Although Hud holds a place of honor in Islam,
48:28the prophet himself had Jewish ties.
48:31The name Hud derives from Yahud,
48:33the Arabic word for Jew.
48:35Even at the beginning of Islam, there were Jews in Arabia.
48:43There are references in the Islamic texts
48:46of Jews living here at the time of Muhammad.
48:48In this area, there was a Jewish kingdom
48:54under the legendary king, Du Noas,
48:58who fought against the Ethiopians
49:01and died driving his charger into the Red Sea.
49:05So the whole place is redolent with Jewish history.
49:08The following day, Parfit continues on
49:14to what he hopes will be
49:15the legendary homeland of the Lemba, Sena.
49:29Today, Sena is dusty and dry.
49:32Not the sort of place one would think of as paradise.
49:34But according to local legend,
49:40the city once was lush and teeming with life
49:42until its great stone dam cracked,
49:45leaving the town without proper irrigation.
49:50About a thousand years ago,
49:52people began to leave in great numbers,
49:54including perhaps the Lemba.
50:00It was a very exciting moment
50:02when all of these pieces seem to come together.
50:08There are tribal names in that area
50:10which are identical to the tribal names of the Lemba.
50:15In addition to that,
50:17the way of getting from Sena to the sea
50:20is via a valley called the Masila,
50:23which sounds rather like the Pusela of the Lemba legend.
50:27And then, in addition to that,
50:29once you get to the sea,
50:31it's actually very easy to get to Africa.
50:43Once shrouded in mystery,
50:45the Lemba's past is becoming clearer.
50:50Parfit seems convinced he has found Sena,
50:52the ancient homeland of their oral tradition.
50:57And the startling genetic discoveries
51:00make a plausible case
51:01for the Lemba's claim to Jewish ancestry.
51:09But the genes cannot tell us
51:10exactly when the Lemba
51:12left the Middle East for Africa,
51:14nor when they acquired
51:15the distinctive Kohanim markers.
51:23The one certainty
51:23is that the Priestly line of Kohanim
51:25began in antiquity,
51:28somewhere between 600 and 5,000 years ago.
51:31This is revealed through a biological clock
51:34calibrated by the slow accumulation
51:36of genetic changes, or mutations.
51:38If we have an estimate
51:41of how frequently mutations occur
51:45from one generation to the next,
51:48then essentially what we can do
51:49is look at the amount of differences
51:52that we see
51:53among the Y chromosomes
51:55carried by the Kohanim,
51:57and we can relate that
51:58to how many generations have gone by
52:01since the founding of the line.
52:03And when we do that,
52:08the estimated time that we get
52:10is about 3,000 years
52:12before the present.
52:14And that's, of course,
52:15a number that generates
52:16a lot of interest.
52:18But I need to emphasize
52:21that that's an estimated time,
52:24and it has a great deal
52:26of statistical uncertainty
52:27associated with it.
52:29But what we can say
52:30with some confidence
52:31is that it was not founded recently.
52:50Modern genetics
52:52seems to confirm
52:53the age-old Jewish belief
52:54that a paternally inherited line of priests,
52:57the Kohanim,
52:59began centuries ago,
53:00possibly even in Biblical times.
53:07Other long-held beliefs, however,
53:10are beyond the reach of science.
53:12The fate of the 10 lost tribes of Israel,
53:16expelled from Judea
53:17nearly 3,000 years ago,
53:19is so obscured by myth
53:20it may never be known,
53:23let alone be connected
53:24to a group of living people.
53:26But ongoing detective work,
53:33both in the lab
53:34and in the remote reaches
53:35of Africa and the Middle East,
53:37will continue to reveal
53:38unexpected truths
53:40in the legends
53:41of ancient peoples.
53:42What happened to the 10 lost tribes of Israel?
54:01On NOVA's website,
54:03follow the captivating story
54:04of several tribal groups
54:05from Ethiopia to Japan,
54:07who today claim descent
54:09from the lost Israelites.
54:12To order this show
54:29or any other NOVA program
54:31for $19.95 plus shipping and handling,
54:34call WGBH Boston Video
54:36at 1-800-255-9424.
54:40NOVA is a production
54:58of WGBH Boston.
55:00Major funding for NOVA
55:06is provided by
55:08The Park Foundation,
55:10dedicated to education
55:11and quality television.
55:13CNET.com, helping you
55:28find the right technology products.
55:31This program is funded in part
55:34by Northwestern Mutual Life,
55:36which has been protecting families
55:37and businesses for generations.
55:40Have you heard from The Quiet Company?
55:41Northwestern Mutual Life.
55:45And by
55:45The Corporation for Public Broadcasting,
55:48and by contributions
55:49to your PBS station
55:50from viewers like you.
55:58This is PBS.
55:59Hi, I'm Chris Jussel.
56:07Welcome back to Antiques Roadshow
56:09and another exciting season
56:10of discoveries.
56:11The fork is from the Hindenburg
56:13the night that it exploded
56:14at Lakehurst, New Jersey.
56:15Hey!
56:16Are we on TV or are we not?
56:18No, we're not.
56:19Oh, how wonderful.
56:21What do you think there were?
56:22I have no idea.
56:23I knew you were going to say that.
56:24Of course you did.
56:25Around $4,000 to $6,000.
56:27Oh my gosh!
56:29Wow.
56:29That's amazing.
56:31Congratulations.
56:34That's Antiques Roadshow
56:35only on PBS.
56:37Don't miss it.
56:38Yes!
56:38Yes, yes, yes.
56:40Yes, yes.
56:40Yes, yes, yes, yes.
56:41Yes, yes, yes.
56:42Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
56:46Oh, my God.
56:51Yes, yes, yes, yes.
56:53Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes.
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