בדיקת דנ"א כדי לגלות קשר לעם ישראל, הבעד והנגד / DNA Testing to Discover Ones Connection to Israel, Pros and Cons

י״ט לחודש השנים עשר ב׳ תשפ״ד

English follows the Hebrew.

הסיפור המדהים של הניאו-נאצי שהפך ליהודי שומר תורה ומצוות
נאצי שישב בכלא עבר שינוי דרמטי לאחר מפגש עם אפרו אמריקאים. לאחרונה הוא חשף טוויסט מדהים
יענקי פרבר י"ז אדר ב' התשפ"ד 27.03.24

ניאו-נאצי לשעבר חשף כי הוא כעת יהודי שומר מצוות לאחר שעשה מהפך בחייו - וגילה את מורשתו באמצעות בדיקות די אן איי.

פרנק מיינק, בן 48, הפך למנהיג של קבוצת ימין קיצונית אלימה בתחילת שנות ה-90.

פרנק היה אנטישמי עם צלב קרס מקועקע על צווארו, הוא התמרמר נגד מה שכינה "ממשלת הכיבוש הציוני" והאמין שהיהודים הם "שורש כל הרוע".

מיינק החל להשתנות והחליף את דעותיו הגזעניות לאחר שרקם חברות עם אסירים אפרו אמריקנים בכלא בארה"ב. הטוויסט הגיע לאחרונה כאשר מינק חשף ל"ניו יורק פוסט" את העובדה שהוא יהודי.

הרבה אחרי שעזב את הניאו-נאציזם וניסה לתקן את עברו, הוא גילה שהוא ממוצא יהודי לאחר בדיקת די אן איי, וכעת אימץ את מורשתו היהודית.

הוא עשה את הבדיקה בהערה מקרית של חבר שאמר לו שהוא "נראה יהודי".

"רק רציתי לראות אם זה נכון, רציתי לראות אם זה אמיתי", אמר מיינק לעיתון. הבדיקה גילתה כי הסבתא מצד אמו, הייתה יהודייה ולכן גם הוא יהודי. מיינק אימץ את היהדות בהתלהבות.

הוא החל להתפלל שלוש תפילות ביום, הולך לשלושה שיעורי תורה בשבוע ושומר שבת וכשרות. (ללחוץ כאן כדי לקרוא את המשך המאמר)

עשר אגורות (2¢):
אפשר לצפות את סרטון באנגלית שבו פרנק מיינק מספר על המסע האישי שלו מלהיות ניו-נאצי לדרך חשיפות שהוא יהודי ואז שומר תורה ומצוות ב-X (טויטר לשעבר) של מכון לימודי יהדות רוהר.

"רק רציתי לראות אם זה נכון, רציתי לראות אם זה אמיתי", אמר מיינק לעיתון. הבדיקה גילתה כי הסבתא מצד אמו, הייתה יהודייה ולכן גם הוא יהודי. מיינק אימץ את היהדות בהתלהבות.

זה לא כל-כך ברור. יכול להיות שבדיקת דנ״א שחשפה לפרנק מיינק שהוא 2.4 אחוז יהודי אשכנזי פשוט עודדה אותו לחקור את מורשתו כפי שכתוב במאמר המקורי באנגלית (להלן). ותוצאת החקירה היא שסבתא רבה שלו יהודייה. ולכן הוא גם יהודי.

כן אפשר לבדוק את שושלת יחסין מצד האם באמצעות דנ״א קשור למיטוכונדרים כיחתיכת הדנ״א הזו עוברת לילדים רק מהאם.

להיות ישראל אינו גנטי בלבד. אלא עם ישראל הוא עם אתנו-רוחני. גר צדק הוא מוגדר כישראל. גם יש לגר הזכות / המצווה להתגורר בארץ ישראל.

בצד השני יש נוצרים מנצלים בדיקות דנ״א, כדי למצוא דרכים חדשות וחדשניות לקבל אזרחות ישראלית. ב״ה הרבנים נזהרים ביישום ראיות DNA בחשיפת קשרים לעם ישראל. להיות יהודי כלומר להיות מישראל הוא דין הלכתי, ולא מבוסס על ראיות גנטיות בלבד. הנוצרים מאמינים שארץ ישראל היא שלהם למרות שעל פי הלכה אין להם שום זכות לה בכלל.

השימוש של פרנק מיינק בבדיקות דנ״א כדי לעודד אותו לחקור, ובסופו של דבר, לגלות את זהותו היהודית הוא סיבה מצויינת להיות בעד בדיקת דנ״א.

ניצול בדיקת דנ״א על ידי הנוצרים, וככל הנראה חקירת שושלת יחסין צד האב כדי להשיג חניה בבקרקע של ארץ ישראל, וניצול בדיקת דנ״א על ידי הערב רב כדי לקבל עוד גויים כאזרחים, לעודד נישואי תערובת, ולהוסיף מצביעים למפלגות שלהם הנוגדות לתורה הם סיבות ברורות להיות נגד בדיקת דנ״א למטרת קביעת חיבור לישראל.

New York Post: Neo-Nazi who inspired Edward Norton’s ‘American History X’ skinhead is now an observant Jew thanks to DNA discovery
James Liddell, March 26, 2024

The neo-Nazi who inspired Edward Norton’s skinhead character in “American History X” has revealed he is now an observant Jew after turning his life around — and discovering his heritage through DNA testing.

Frank Meeink, 48, became a leader of a violent ultra-right group in the early 1990s, torturing enemies who stood in the way of his attempt to foment a race war.

Intensely anti-semitic and flaunting a flaming swastika tattooed on his neck, he railed against what he called the “Zionist occupation government” and believed the Jews were “the root of all evil.”

In 1998’s “American History X,” Norton’s Derek Vinyard character was based, in part, on Meeink’s road to redemption as he began to ditch his racist views after kindling friendships with black inmates in prison.

But now Meeink has revealed to The Post an astonishing twist: he is Jewish.

Long after quitting neo-Nazism and attempting to make amends for his past, he took a 23andMe test and discovered that he has Jewish ancestry — and has now embraced his heritage.

He was prompted to take the test by a chance remark from a friend that he “looked Jewish.”

“I just wanted to see if it was true, I wanted to see if it was real,” Meeink said.

“I found out by a beautiful gift from God that I was Jewish through DNA.”

The test showed his ancestry composition is 2.4% Ashkenazi Jewish. The small proportion belied its importance: his mother’s maternal great, great grandmother Elizabeth Zellman Rementer was Jewish — meaning that, according to the tradition of matrilineal descent, he is too.

Although not all Jewish scholars would accept that definition, many do — and Meeink has enthusiastically embraced Judaism.

He prays three times daily wearing the tallit and tefillin of observant Jews, attends synagogue, goes to three Torah study classes a week and keeps kosher.

Meeink grew up in an Irish-Catholic enclave in southwest Philadelphia with his mother and abusive step-father, surrounded by black families.

Escaping his fractured home life at his aunt and uncle’s farm near Lancaster, PA, in the summer of 1988, the 13-year-old was greeted by his neo-Nazi cousin who had a mural of Hitler in his bedroom.

Meeink feared drugs and black people, and his cousin’s skinhead crew “justified all my fears,” he said.

After returning home, he travelled the US, meeting prominent neo-Nazis including David Duke.

“I grabbed onto this information that was being fed to me,” he said. “I wanted to make this movement bigger.”

Aged 15, he had already joined – and been booted from – the Ku Klux Klan before deciding to form his own group with his cousin, called Strikeforce.

Meeink used the Bible to preach hate, “just like Hamas does with the Koran” and started his own public-access cable TV show in Springfield, Illinois, called “The Reich” full of racist “skits and jokes.”

Strikeforce particularly despised the anti-facist Skinheads Against Racial Prejudice (Sharp).

Meeink, who had “Sharp Killer” tattooed inside his lower lip, invited a member of the group to a party on Christmas Eve, 1992, then held him captive and tortured him.

“So we kidnapped him, used firearms — we had guns and s–t. We had him stay in the apartment and tortured him for hours with no remorse, no empathy, no nothing,” he recalled.

Aged 17, Meeink was sentenced to three years for aggravated kidnapping. In the custody of the Illinois Department of Corrections he quickly became part of a crew of Aryan “farm boys and bikers.”

But unexpectedly, he bonded with two black inmates nicknamed Jello and G over games of football and cards in the prison yard, and began a slow journey out of neo-Nazism, which helped inspire Norton’s character.

He got out of prison in just over a year and still went to neo-Nazi rallies where he scoffed at their racism towards black people — but not their anti-semitism.

“I would hear them say all black people are this way,” he said, thinking “That’s not true.” But his anti-semitism meant, “I’m still gonna preach against the Jews.”

In 1994, jobless and a drunk at just 19, he was offered work in an antiques store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, by its owner, Keith Brookstein, even though Brookstein was Jewish.

“‘Did you tell him about me — the swastika?’,” Meeink said he tentatively asked his friend who got him the job.

“Keith doesn’t give a rat’s a-s what you believe, just don’t break his furniture,” he replied.

Brookstein’s kindness, compassion and willingness to forgive resonated deeply with Meeink.  (cont.)

Esser Agaroth (2¢):
First of all, I would like to say thanks to James Lidell for writing this piece, and to Frank Meeink for his willingness to share his story.

Now, I must point out one grave error in Lidell's piece, ALL Jewish scholars hold to matrilineal descent. If they do not, then they are not scholars but rather they are pundits, wannabe heretics, neo-Karaites, or non-Jews, pushing an agenda. 

Yes, that sounds subjective, even patronizing, but I'm sticking to it. For now I presume that Lidell does not have any agenda here, other than objectivity and a desire to be inclusive from a non-Jewish perspective. If Lidell is not Jewish, I can understand, even appreciate, why he would not want to wade into Jewish issues.

On the other hand, perhaps Lidell was referring to the challenges involved in confirming the status Meeink's great-grandmother. In this is the case, I could not argue with it. Meeink has rabbis in his life. I have no doubt that they have addressed this with him, and the matter has been closed.

Also I believe that Brookstein's giving Meeink a job is what we might call a bdi'avad situation, roughly ex post facto, in this case something that worked out after the fact, but not a good idea to do, in the first place. With respect to Torah Law, a mitzvah (commandment) ideally must be carried out in specific manner. But if it was not, it still might acceptable the way it ended up being carried out,... after the fact.

I personally do not believe it was a good idea for Brookstein to give Meeink a job. But, as it it turns out, thank goodness that he did. Maybe Brookstein has a good intuition about people. Or maybe The Holy One, Blessed Be He was in charge (He is always in charge), and it was Meeinks turn for a break, what most people might call luck. Others might call it hashgahah pratith (The Almighty taking care of someone in an apparently direct way).

I am glad that Lidell wrote this piece, and recommend that you read it in its entirety. It is important information, and who knows? Regardless of Lidell's intentions, maybe one (or two or ten) more Jews will find their way back, like Meeink did.

You can see a video of Frank Meeink talking about his journey on the Rohr Jewish Learning Institute's X (formerly twitter) account.

And now for the main point I want to address here: DNA evidence. I do not believe the DNA testing did not prove, support, nor indicate in anyway that Meeink was Jewish. It seems that it inspired him to investigate his heritage further.

Mitochondrial DNA [mtDNA] is a piece of DNA which is passed on to children only from their mother, and can be traced. In other words, it can theoretically be used to trace matrilineal decent. However, this does not account for converts, who in many, if not most, cases are not genetically related to most other Jews.

Being a member of the Jewish People is not a solely genetic litmus test. Rather we are an ethno-spiritual people. Converts are by definition, members of the People of Israel, the promise of residing in the Land of Israel included.

As I write this, Christians exploit DNA testing, in order to find new and innovative ways toward a path to Israeli citizenship. This is one of the many reasons why the Rabbis have been very careful in the application of DNA evidence in determining Jewishness. Being Jewish is a halakhic (Torah legal) status, and not a genetic one.

Christians are one of the groups historically in opposition to the validity of the halakhah (Torah Law), not to mention how it excludes them. By extension this includes the laws of conversion. The bases of halakhah is not something made up out of the blue by rabbis, in order to push an agenda, as many, both Jews and non-Jews, would love for you to believe. Rather its basis has been handed down to us through the rabbis throughout the generations.

Halakhah is one of the Christians' biggest obstacles to gaining a foothold within the Land of Israel they believe to be theirs by right. Yet, they have no rights to it whatsoever.

Frank Meeink's use of DNA testing to prompt him to investigate, and eventually discover his Jewish identity is an example of an obvious pro.

Christians exploiting a genetic, and most probably patrilineal set of genetics markers to gain a foothold in the Land of Israel, the Erev Rav (Jews destroying us from within) who want to apply DNA testing to open our borders, and encourage intermarriage, and add otherwise add voters for their anti-Israel political parties are obvious cons.