Are Sarah Palins ancestors Jewish

[Sparky]

Yes, of course, there are Jewish looks. Jewish people have the same DNA. I am not so good at telling Sefardic Jews apart from other similar looking people (a good rule of thumb though is if you are not sure whether thia is a Jew or an Arab, look in their eyes: Jews' eyes look intelligent  ), but Ashkenazi Jews are easier for me to recognze.

Jews are not a race, they come in every shape and form.

fat, skinny, tall, short, blue eyed, brown eyed, green eyed, blonde haired, brown haired, white skin, olive skin, green skin

Jews sure are a race. They are as much of a race (or ethnicity, if you will) as the English, the French, the Danes, the Poles, etc., etc... There have been NUMEROUS DNA studies proving this. In fact, Jews are even more homogeneous than other ethnicities. They come from the same stock of male genes, just as the Bible tells us, with a somewhat wider variety of the female genes. Please google this if you don't believe me. For example, the Oppenheim studies. Jewish common genetic ancestry is today proven to be a scientific fact. Blue eyes and fair hair are a part of the original Jewish phenotype as much as the much more common brown hair and eyes. The reason that there are more fair Jews in some regions than others, also the reason Sefardic Jews look somewhat different (darker) than the Ashkenazi Jews is the natural selection phenomenon called "genetic drift." Google it as well.

I agree with you completely Masha.  Jews are a race.  Even Chaim has said you just can't one day say you're not Jewish anymore than an Asian could say he's not Asian. And just like any other race, Jews have common traits and behaviors.  Of course there are exceptions, but there's some truth behind stereotypes...good and bad.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

Arguing that the Jewish people are not genetically related is highly preposterous and antisemitic.

Arguing that Jews are a race is highly preposterous and anti-Semitic. There are white, African, Arab, Persian, Latino, and even Asian Jews (and I am probably leaving out several other ethnic/racial subgroups). Likewise, I don't see the grounds to assert that Sarah Palin "looks Jewish". It's absurd, and I have to be very skeptical and leery of you saying such a thing considering how much you don't like her. I'm keeping an eye on your posts, Masha.

[Lewinsky Stinks, Dr. Brennan Rocks]

There are genetic diseases which only affect Ashkenazic Jews.

Ashkenazim are only one part of world Jewry, and Ashkenazim are not a homogenous race either. Russian Jews, German Jews, and British Jews are all ethnically and racially distinct--one is Slavic, one Teutonic, and one Anglo.

[Rubystars]

There are genetic diseases which only affect Ashkenazic Jews.

Ashkenazim are only one part of world Jewry, and Ashkenazim are not a homogenous race either. Russian Jews, German Jews, and British Jews are all ethnically and racially distinct--one is Slavic, one Teutonic, and one Anglo.

There are genetic links between all the different groups of world Jewry. Ashkenazi and Sephardic share some genetics. Remember too C.F. that the Cohanim have to be literally descended from Aaron, so there has to be an actual direct line of descent there among each community from the ancient Jewish people.

[NRAJ]

Just to get back on topic a bit,I found this: http://www.wargs.com/political/heath.html

[q_q_]

because people can convert, the phrase we use is

jewish PEOPLE.

we are not concerned with "race".

[Masha]

Arguing that the Jewish people are not genetically related is highly preposterous and antisemitic.

Arguing that Jews are a race is highly preposterous and anti-Semitic. There are white, African, Arab, Persian, Latino, and even Asian Jews (and I am probably leaving out several other ethnic/racial subgroups). Likewise, I don't see the grounds to assert that Sarah Palin "looks Jewish". It's absurd, and I have to be very skeptical and leery of you saying such a thing considering how much you don't like her. I'm keeping an eye on your posts, Masha.

Are you? O-o-o-o-h, I am very scared! 

Seriously, C.F., I like you and I think your heart is at the right place, but you have NO IDEA what you are talking about. You have been infected by the postmodern "anti-essentiaist virus." It's the liberals who brought this disease upon us and infected even the conservatives, so that even conservatives are terrified of being called essentialists. Everything is "social construction" these days. Even gender is social construction. See, I am not really a woman, I am this undefined joissance of signifiers that is neither here nor there. It's my parents who decided that I'm going to be a girl and indoctrinated me while I was very young. Otherwise I might as well be a man. 

In this morass of anti-essentialist madness, genetical science is actually our friend. Geneticists tell us unequivocally: Jews are the same biological group of people. To deny this is IMMORAL. It is UNBIBLICAL. It supports those who tell us, Jews, that we have no right to Israel. This is an immoral idea invented by Jew-haters and self-hating Jews, and you, C.F., are falling into their trap. We, Jews, are a people. We are not some proposition nation - what a prepostorous idea! The deep tree roots of forests in Galilee are nurtured by the blood and bones of MY ANCESTORS. The literal blood and bones of real people, my physical progenitors, who connect the genealogical dots between Abraham-Isaac-Jacob and my own birth. These are not some bloodless and gutless "symbols" or "ideas" or what you may call this. No, this is the real writing by my creator etched in my DNA. And I can prove it. We already know this from our Torah, but for all of those of little faith, the genetic scientists have confirmed what the Torah has been telling us all along.

I also detect a note of resentment in this argument that Jews are a separate race. A note that says: well, if they are separate and special then we will never be able to become them. But this is not how it is. Judishness is not exclusive. One who is not Jewish cannot become a Jew genetically. But he can join his destiny with that of the Jewish race by converting. Having converted, he will be considered a ger (sp?), and will be limited in carrying out certain rituals. I don't remember what these are. You'll have to ask the orthodox members of this forum - they'll know exactly. But his descendents will be fully Jewish. And this is as it should be. Just as you can join a nation through immigration and citizenship (which is always connected with some difficulties), so you can join the Jewish nation by converting into Judaism, which is basically a right to citizenship.

[Masha]

But anyway, I was actually told that the rumors of Sarah Palin's Jewish background is a hoax. Has anyone heard the same?