What do Jews look like?

Answer 1

No one truly knows. They probably looked somewhat like Modern Syrians, Lebanese, Palestinians, and Jordanians who share a similar ancestry. Israelites often questioned the origins of themselves and of the people surrounding them. The table of nations mentioned in Genesis of The Bible shows how the Israelites felt that Arabs, Canaanites, and Aramaeans (now Syrians) were all cousins and of the same stock.

Most Anthropologists/Ethnologists can agree that the Ancient Israelites were of Semitic descent just like Arabs are and possessed Mediterranean Caucasian features- darker hair, ruddy/light brown skin, etc.

Answer 2

Scholars now say that the Hebrew people were actually Canaanites who left the coastal cities to settle in the hitherto sparsely populated mountainous hinterland, probably during the thirteenth century BCE. The Canaanites were therefore reacially identical to the Hebrews and would have looked much like Sephardic Jews or Palestinians of today.

Answer 3

They look like everyone else. Most are caucasian but some are black.

Answer:We are a Middle Eastern people, ranging from light (Caucasian-appearing, not genetically Caucasian), to dark (Yemenite Jews). The great majority are light to middle-range in pigmentation. See the attached Related Link for a photo of Jewish teens, showing a representative group of faces, mostly Israeli.

Answer 4

I'm assuming that you meant, "What do Jewish people look like," in which case there isn't a clear answer. First of all, Judaism is a religion, so it is already more diverse than a single ethnic group or race. But because of the small number of Jewish people in the world, you can pretty much put them into three main categories. Indian Jews, Sephardic Jews, and Ashkenazic Jews. Indian Jews look like normal Indians, and a lot of the population lives in Mumbai/Bombay. Sephardic Jews are Jewish people that originated southern Europe, (i.e. Spain and Portugal) And the Northern tip of Africa, (i.e. Morocco). They have more olive toned skin, rather than dark or light skin. The last group, Ashkenazic Jews, are from all over eastern Europe and Russia. This group has mostly white skin, and most of the stereotypes about Jewish people come from this group, probably because in their prime they lived in dozens of countries in the area, and so there were many subcategories with different genetic mutations and such. Now a days, A majority, if not most Jews, live in Israel, where the native Jews look most like Sephardic jews. In general, Jewish people are not know for being particularly tall, but there are exceptions to every rule.

Answer 5

The term "Hebraic" is a linguistic term, referring to the Hebrew language. All Jews are Hebraic, since this word refers to Jews. It's like saying 'Christian Catholics.'

In a great number of cases, Jews have no particular distinguishing marks or physical features, and to look at them, you would have no way of knowing that they are not the same as anyone else.

Answer 6

Just as today, Jews (Israelites) came in differing skin-tones, heights, and body-types. Our tradition is that the twelve sons of Jacob (the 12 Tribes) were not completely similar to each other in appearance, though none of them was really dark-skinned (Rashi commentary on Genesis 12:11).
Abraham himself came from Western Asia, and since Jews have intermarried very little in the last 3800 years, the answer is that he probably looked like Jews today.
DNA testing of Jewish communities worldwide has shown that they are all interrelated and of Middle Eastern genetics, comparable to the Sephardim today (not African or Egyptian). Our own ancient sources state that the Hebrews were not Black.

Answer 7

The Israelites are and were a Middle Eastern people, with pigmentation ranging from light to Mediterranean. Tradition tells us that Jacob's 12 sons had differing appearances, so the twelve tribes who descended from them didn't all look the same. They were, however, all good-looking as well as physically strong (Rashi commentary, Genesis 42:5).

Answer 8

Israelites come in differing skin-tones, heights, and body-types. Our tradition is that the twelve sons of Jacob (the 12 Tribes) were not completely similar to each other in appearance, though none of them was really dark-skinned (Rashi commentary on Genesis 12:11).

Abraham and Sarah came from southern Iraq and their wider family from northern Iraq. Since DNA tests have shown that Jews intermarried infrequently throughout history, Abraham and his Israelite descendants probably looked like Jews today.

DNA testing of Jewish communities worldwide has shown that they are all interrelated and of Middle Eastern genetics, comparable to the Sephardim today.

In 2000, the analysis of a report by Nicholas Wade "provided genetic witness that Jewish communities have, to a remarkable extent, retained their biological identity separate from their host populations, evidence of relatively little intermarriage or conversion into Judaism over the centuries. The results accord with Jewish history and tradition." (See: What race were the Israelites?)

Answer 9

Both Western and Eastern Jews have the same ancient Jewish genetic stock, identifying them as being of Middle Eastern origin. This has been conclusively demonstrated by DNA analysis of Jewish communities worldwide. Jews range from Caucasian appearance to olive-skinned. Just as today, the Israelites came in differing skin-tones, heights, and body-types. Our tradition is that the twelve sons of Jacob (the 12 Tribes) were not completely similar to each other in appearance, though none of them was really dark-skinned (Rashi commentary on Genesis 12:11).
Abraham and Sarah came from southern Iraq and their wider family from northern Iraq. Since DNA tests have shown that Jews intermarried infrequently throughout history, Abraham and his Israelite descendants probably looked like Jews today.
Link: Jewish origins

Answer 10

Jews do not have any one appearance as we come from all parts of the world.