Lemba
From Freepedia
The Lemba or Lembaa are a tribe of people in southern Africa. Although they speak Bantu languages similar to their neighbours, they have specific religious practices similar to those in Judaism, and a tradition of being a migrant people with clues pointing to an origin in the Middle East or North Africa.
The Lemba have restrictions on intermarriage with non-Lemba, with it being particularly difficult for male non-Lemba to become part of the tribe. The presence among the Lemba of a disproportionate number of men carrying a particular polymorphisms on the Y chromosome known as the Cohen modal haplotype suggests an ancestral link to the Jewish population. One sub-clan within the Lemba, the Buba clan, is considered by the Lemba to be their priestly clan. Among the Buba, fifty-two percent of males carry the Cohen modal haplotype, which is found among Jewish Kohanim, or priests.
The Lemba also have a large percent of genes often found in non-Arab Semites.
See also
External links
- "Y chromosomes traveling south" (abstract of a genetic paper on relationship between Jews and Lemba)
- "Webpage discussing the Lemba"(Shows the route the Lemba believe they took from Israel.)
