Heritage Album - How can we be sure the Jews are indeed Jews?

How can we be sure the Jews are indeed Jews?

If the genealogies were destroyed at or around 70 AD, how can we know that the current people occupying Israel are indeed Jews? Is there any way (evidencially or logically) to prove they are indeed Jews? Or must we simply believe that each family maintained their identity and heritage through 1900 years? BTW, there is no agenda here, though this may sound like I'm trying to disprove their claim. I AM NOT. I believe they are Jews... but I need good reason to believe so. TY.

Public Comments

some jews are Cohen which means their ancestry CAN be traced back to moses's brother Aaron. They share a common gene or something. maybe chromosome? lol.
I've always found this interesting as well- and you will hear many different responses. There is a user on here who insists they are not the descendants of the original- (I tend to agree) but, DNA through the Y chromosome does not change. So, my question is, what do they link it to? how do they know for sure? and what makes *you* so sure?
if someone says they're jewish then that means they're jewish.
Some Jewish people are the descendants of the first Jews but not all are since anybody can convert to Judaism and thus become Jewish.
technically they arnt ancient jews the are hebrews,they had a name change when they entered Jerusalem,god ordained it,the nation was to be called Israel,the Hebrews were one of the twelve tribes of Israel,plus if you ever see a man with a circumcised penis he is probably a jew,who would do that except people who god told to do it.
People live in Israel are called Israelis, not Jews.
cause their jewish
that's a good question, its true that not many can prove their 'jewish-ness". Look at some of what Israel says considers Jewish, You need to prove your lineage through the mother, deny Jesus Christ. Two things that bother many people of Jewish descendant. I'm of sephardic jewish descendant, and my Jewish-ness comes from my fathers, but if u was to try to become Israeli, i would have trouble doing so. Being Israeli and Jewish are consider two different but similar things also by Jews. Many Israelis are not even Jewish. Israel was recreated by the Allies. Just remember this promise God made to Abraham. Your descendants will be count-less as the stars and the grains of sand. Jews and people of Jewish blood are everywhere.
because they have genes that only belong to jewish people. read this article about their DNA testing. it clearly states that they relate to one another more than their current populations and are closer to palestinians and other middle easterns than they are to other groups. http://www.aish.com/societywork/sciencenature/Jewish_Genes.asp http://www.pnas.org/content/97/12/6769 also, ashkenazi people have their own unique disease that no one else has ever contracted. http://www.khazaria.com/genetics/abstracts.html by the way, there are still some who claim to be the real jews, such as european israelis, but they have less ancestry to them than their middle eastern counterparts. african and asian jews have even much less ancestry. some can also be only converts to the religion and have no genetic trace to jews.
Many people mistakenly believe that Jews are a nation of people, but a Jew is in fact a follower of the religion Judaism, hence any person from any race can be a Jew. The people currently occupying the Israeli State originate from the European country, Kazakhstan. Because of persecution they fled to other European countries such as Germany, Poland, Russia etc. After WW2 none of the European countries wanted them and so the British decided to send them to Palestine - which according to Christian doctrine, was the promised land where the Jews were from. Also, according to Christian doctrine, the Jews were said to be God's chosen people. Because of this false belief European Khazaks were sent to a land their ancestors had not originated from, which is why Muslims object to the Israeli State being in their land. In conclusion, the Khazaks are Europeans and that is their identity. They are not God's chosen people. The Israelites were and still are God's chosen people and the promised land is in Africa. The promised land suffered from famine, drought and sandstorms. King David killed a lion and a bear, King Solomon was rich with gold silver and precious stones. The Israelite army fought with spears, swords, bows and arrows. God's people are an African race. They were sold into slavery and scattered into other lands due to their disobedience to God's commandments and laws. The Israelites today are the descendants of the African slaves living in the Caribbean, North and South America, Europe and Asia. For proof of who God's people truly are, read Deuteronomy chapter 28. Khazaks are successful, the Israelites are not.
Well, you could just ask them if they have Hannukah. Because that kind of happens alot when you're Jewish.
many people convert so i don't know. many non-jewish people might have jewish blood in their family that they don't know about.
Actually many Jews share common genes. This does not apply to fresh converts, but those whose grandparents converted most likely have by now a share of the common genes. ,