Bene Israel genetically descended from Jews, scientific study finds

The Bene Israel community in India has indeed Jewish roots, according to a Tel Aviv University study which found genetic evidence to support that claim.

The study the journal 'PLoS One'. It looked at the genomes of 18 Bene Israel community members and found that they were of Jewish and Indian ancestry. According to Bene Israel tradition, the community descended from a handful of Jewish shipwreck survivors on the Indian coast up to 2,000 years ago.

The Bene Israel live in Konkan, a region on India’s west coast. Only a few thousand remain there today from a community that once numbered as many as 20,000. The largest part was absorped by Israel since the state's establishment in 1948.

“Beyond vague oral history and speculations, there has been no independent support for Bene Israel claims of Jewish ancestry, claims that have remained shrouded in legend,” said Yedael Waldman, the study’s first author, in a press release. “We found that while Bene Israel individuals genetically resemble local Indian populations, they constitute a clearly separated and unique population in India.”

The study was based on data from the Jewish HapMap project at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, which studies the genetic history of Jewish Diaspora communities. It was done in conjunction with Cornell University and Albert Einstein College.