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News Brief

May 11, 1999
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A tribe in southern Africa may be of Jewish ancestry, according to The New York Times. DNA tests reveal that males in the Lemba tribe carry a DNA sequence that is distinctive to the Jewish priestly class of Kohanim. The Lemba reportedly practice circumcision, keep one day a week holy and do not eat pork. A scholar says he has discovered that the Lemba, who currently live in South Africa and Zimbabwe, emigrated there from a Yemeni village that was once the site of Jewish communities.

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