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marble falls's JournalUncovering ancient Ashkenaz - the birthplace of Yiddish speakers
Uncovering ancient Ashkenaz – the birthplace of Yiddish speakers
May 6, 2016 7.09am EDT
Author
Eran Elhaik
Lecturer in population, medical and evolutionary genomics, University of Sheffield
https://theconversation.com/uncovering-ancient-ashkenaz-the-birthplace-of-yiddish-speakers-58355
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At 1,000 years, the search for the location of Ashkenaz – thought to be the birthplace of Ashkanazic Jews and the Yiddish language – is one of the longest quests in human history. It is perhaps second only in length to the search for Noah’s Ark which began in the 3rd century AD.
The place name Ashkenaz occurs three times in the Bible, but by the Middle Ages the exact origin of Ashkenaz was forgotten. Because of the migration of the Ashkenazic Jews it later became associated with Germany. This led to all German Jews being considered “Ashkenazic”, a term which was then applied to central and eastern European Jews who follow Ashkenazic religious customs and who speak Yiddish.
The Yiddish language – which consists of Hebrew, German, Slavic elements and is written in Aramaic – has been spoken at least since the 9th century AD, but its origins have been debated by linguists for several centuries. While some have suggested a German origin, others believe a more complex beginning for the language, starting in Slavic lands in Khazaria – the Middle Age Khazar Empire that covered present-day southern Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, and parts of the Caucasus – and followed by Ukraine, and finally Germany. Although the language adopted a German vocabulary it retained its Slavic grammar – which is why Yiddish is often referred to as “bad German”.
The inability of linguists to reach a consensus have led some to decry that the mystery of where Yiddish came from will never be solved. But now for the first time a pioneering tool that converts genome data into ancestral coordinates, is helping to pinpoint the DNA of Yiddish speakers.
In the largest genomic study of Ashkenazic Jews, and the first one to study Yiddish speakers, we applied our Geographic Population Structure (GPS) tool – which operates in a similar way to the sat nav in your car – to the genomes of more than 360 Yiddish and non-Yiddish speaking
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Surprisingly, our GPS homed in on north-east Turkey, where we found four primeval villages, one of which was abandoned in the mid-7th century AD.
These ancient villages identified by the GPS tool are clustered close to the Silk Road – the ancient network of trade routes – and are named Iskenaz, Eskenaz, Ashanaz, and Ashkuz. And it is likely that these are the villages that mark the location of the lost lands of Ashkenaz.
The history of a people
Located on the cross roads of ancient trade routes, this region suggests that the Yiddish language was developed by Iranian and Ashkenazic Jews as they traded on the Silk Road from the first centuries AD to around the 9th century when they arrived in Slavic lands.
Putting together evidence from linguistic, history, and genetics, we concluded that the ancient Ashkenazic Jews were merchants who developed Yiddish as a secret language – with 251 words for “buy” and “sell” – to maintain their monopoly. They were known to trade in everything from fur to slaves.
By the 8th century the words “Jew” and “merchant” were practically synonymous, and it was around this time that Ashkenazic Jews began relocating from ancient Ashkenaz to the Khazar Empire to expand their mercantile operations.
Two Jewish merchants in medieval dress. Claudine Van Massenhove/Shutterstock
This Jewish migration led to some of the Turkic Khazar rulers and numerous eastern Slavs living within the Khazar Empire to convert to Judaism so they didn’t miss out on the lucrative Silk Road trade between Germany and China.
But the demise of Khazaria due to continued invasions and finally the Black Death devastated this last Jewish Empire of Khazaria. This led to the Ashkenazic Jews splitting into two groups – some remaining in the Caucasus and others migrating into eastern Europe and Germany.
The two groups still called themselves Ashkenazic Jews, however the name Ashkenaz became more strongly associated with Germany and the the European group – for whom Yiddish became their primary language.
Since north-east Turkey is the only place in the world where the place names of Iskenaz, Eskenaz, Ashanaz, and Ashkuz exist this strongly implies that Yiddish was established around the first millennium at a time when Jewish traders moved goods from Asia to Europe. This was done by developing the language of Yiddish, which very few can speak or understand other than Jews.
Further evidence to the origin of Ashkenazic Jews can be found in many customs – such as the breaking of a glass at a wedding ceremony and placing stones over tombstones, which were probably introduced by Slavic converts to Judaism.
By studying the origin of Yiddish using our GPS technology, combined with a citizen science approach, we were able to shed light on one of the most forgotten chapters of history and demonstrate the use of bio-geographical genetic tools to study the origin of languages. For Ashkanazic Jews these are the ties that bind their history, culture, behaviour, and identity.
Sarah Cooper for the win ...
Sarah Cooper
@sarahcpr
Breaking news: Jared Kushner seen entering the West Wing carrying a notepad and a dvd of Weekend at Bernie’s
12:17 PM · Oct 3, 2020·Twitter for iPhone
16.8K
https://twitter.com/sarahcpr/status/1312441613503799296
Proud Boy is arrested on 6 violent felonies the morning after Trump asks the group to "stand by"
Proud Boy is arrested on 6 violent felonies the morning after Trump asks the group to “stand by”
September 30, 2020
Vinnie Longobardo
https://occupydemocrats.com/2020/09/30/proud-boy-is-arrested-on-6-violent-felonies-the-morning-after-trump-asks-the-group-to-stand-by-1/
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Alissa Azar, an independent journalist in Portland, Oregon — where the Proud Boys have been a long-standing disruptive presence at the protests against police violence and the unequal application of justice — posted to Twitter the details of the arrest by the Multnomah County Sheriff’s Office this morning of Alan Swinney, a member of the disreputable group that Trump asked to “stand by,” presumably to rise up once the president discovers that the election results are not to his liking.
Swinney was charged with six felonies and six misdemeanors related to violent assault, unlawful use of weapons, and teargas, menacing in relation to acts he has allegedly committed during the clashes at Portland’s protests. He was held on $535,000 bail.
Proud boy Alan Swinney was arrested this morning. 6 misdemeanors, 6 felonies and $535,000 bail. All his chargers are for acts of violence. Stand back and stand by! pic.twitter.com/h1mTlzEtJt
— Alissa Azar (@R3volutionDaddy) September 30, 2020
That’s not the only trouble that Swinney finds himself in.
Four plaintiffs, including a former congressional candidate, a photojournalist, and two protestors, filed a $1.2 million lawsuit against Swinney and two other Proud Boys, Corey Wyatt and David Willis, accusing them of firing paintballs at them at close range and spraying them with bear mace during demonstrations in mid-August.
A Trump tweet encouraging Obama to contract Ebola has come back to haunt him
A Trump tweet encouraging Obama to contract Ebola has come back to haunt him
October 2, 2020
https://occupydemocrats.com/2020/10/02/a-trump-tweet-encouraging-obama-to-contract-ebola-has-come-back-to-haunt-him/
The President of the United States—a man who misled the American public about the risks of the coronavirus pandemic, who mocked the wearing of masks, and who directly caused the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans through sheer apathy and incompetence—has COVID-19. Trump made the announcement on Twitter last night, adding that First Lady Melania has also contracted the oft-deadly virus.
Republicans, always eager to engage in bad faith discussions given the opportunity, immediately began scolding liberals, saying that we should all be wishing the president well. The same president who speculated that a political enemy was in hell shortly after his death is now entitled to unconditional sympathy according to the GOP.
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That said, genuine sympathy cannot be expected, especially when one considers this president’s behavior. Imagine for a moment the kind of oblique gloating Trump would be engaged in right now if it was Joe Biden who had COVID-19. His surrogates would be hammering the Democratic nominee, claiming that the virus means he is too physically weak to assume office. Recall the manner in which they harped on and on about Hillary Clinton’s health in the leadup to the 2016 election.
In fact, there’s no need to speculate how Trump would discuss a political enemy’s health in a similar situation because there’s a tweet. In 2014, Trump tweeted that President Obama had a “personal responsibility to visit & embrace” every American who contracted Ebola. In other words, Trump publicly fantasized about Obama catching Ebola. Can we please stop pretending this man deserves anything but our disdain?
President Obama has a personal responsibility to visit & embrace all people in the US who contract Ebola!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2014
https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/522394479429689344?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw
Harvey Weinstein Faces Six Additional Sexual Assault Charges in Los Angeles
Harvey Weinstein Faces Six Additional Sexual Assault Charges in Los Angeles
Prosecutors said they would seek Mr. Weinstein’s extradition from prison in New York to face the charges, which now include four counts of forcible rape.
Harvey Weinstein was charged with six additional counts of forcible sexual assault in Los Angeles on Friday.
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/02/us/harvey-weinstein-sexual-assault-charges.html
By Michael Levenson
Oct. 2, 2020, 3:24 p.m. ET
Harvey Weinstein, the once powerful movie mogul who was sentenced in March to 23 years in prison for sex crimes, has been charged with six additional counts of forcible sexual assault in Los Angeles, the authorities said on Friday.
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The charges announced on Friday relate to an incident that happened between September 2004 and September 2005 when, prosecutors said, Mr. Weinstein raped a woman at a hotel in Beverly Hills. The charges also accuse Mr. Weinstein of raping a woman on two separate occasions in November 2009 and November 2010 at a hotel in Beverly Hills.
Mr. Weinstein, 68, now faces a total of four counts each of forcible rape and forcible oral copulation, two counts of sexual battery by restraint and one count of sexual penetration by use of force, involving five victims for crimes dating from 2004 to 2013.
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Prosecutors said they were seeking to extradite Mr. Weinstein from New York, where he has been imprisoned. An extradition hearing has been set for Dec. 11 in Buffalo.
Judge Finds DOJ Violated Federal Law with Certain Mueller Report Redactions; Orders Pages Released
Judge Finds DOJ Violated Federal Law with Certain Mueller Report Redactions; Orders Pages Released Before Election
Jerry LambeOct 1st, 2020, 1:14 pm
https://www.cbs17.com/news/local-news/wake-county-news/garner-man-named-companies-after-game-of-thrones-characters-in-covid-relief-fraud-scheme-feds-say/
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Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie B. Walton, a George W. Bush appointee who previously read the entire Mueller report and ordered the DOJ to answer a spreadsheet full of questions about the report’s publicly hidden contents, reasoned that the DOJ improperly redacted sections of the report pursuant to the deliberative process privilege contained in Exemption 5 of the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).
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Exemption 5—which has also been used to withhold a memo outlining DOJ’s legal position against charging President Donald Trump with obstruction—allows for the withholding of, among other things, information relating to the “deliberative process.” The DOJ invoked the privilege to withhold documents it said would have revealed “criminal charges considered but not pursued against certain named individuals under investigation.”
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“The Department has withheld information regarding decisions that were already final, rendering the withheld information as information that was ‘made after the decision and designed to explain it,’ which the Supreme Court has held is not privileged,” Walton wrote, citing to a 1975 U.S. Supreme Court case which stated that the “distinction between predecisional communications, which are privileged, and communications made after the decision and designed to explain it, which are not.”
“As the Department candidly indicates, the information withheld reflects Special Counsel Mueller’s deliberations about decisions not to prosecute—information that falls within the latter category that the Supreme Court has held is not privileged,” Walton continued. “Accordingly, the Court denies the Department’s motion for summary judgment as to this information and grants the plaintiffs’ motions for summary judgment for its production, and concludes that the Department must disclose the information redacted pursuant to Exemption 5, unless such information has been properly withheld pursuant to another exemption.”
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Read the full decision at link.
I love Joe talking directly to the camera, to the people, its brilliant.
2 White Men Accused of Chasing Down, Shooting at Black Teens Riding ATVs
2 White Men Accused of Chasing Down, Shooting at Black Teens Riding ATVs
By Jocelyn Grzeszczak On 9/29/20 at 4:22 PM EDT
https://www.newsweek.com/2-white-men-accused-chasing-down-shooting-black-teens-riding-atvs-1535094
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Wade Twiner, 48, and his 22-year-old son Lane were arrested Sunday by Warren County sheriff's deputies on three counts of aggravated assault each, according to inmate records. If convicted of the felony crime, they could both face up to 20 years in prison, according to state law.
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The teen described how he could still hear the gunshots and feel the moment the Twiners' truck allegedly hit his ATV. At one point, the teen said he could see a man shooting at him from the driver's side and the other shooting at him across the truck's roof from the passenger side.
Yazoo County Sheriff Jacob Sheriff confirmed the teen's account, telling WLBT: "Wade Oscar Twiner and his son Lane Twiner pursued them and tried to stop them and to shoot them and bump them with the four wheeler, so they were charged with aggravated assault."
The Twiners reportedly told authorities that they owned land on both sides of Judkins Road and paid taxes, and therefore shouldn't have to deal with people riding ATVs on the road because it's against the law, Sheriff said.
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