I was pleasantly surprised when I did a DNA test late 2022 (Black Friday Special on Amazon!) and found out that I have 8% DNA from Levant! I did a little research online and found out even more that there were actually a lot of Jews in my parents and their family's area in the South Of Italy in Calabria. Now it makes sense to me why I know and write so much about spirituality, religion and the universe.
My Nonna, my mom's mother was a farmer and a good business woman. She purchased and owned her own land and farm. From that was able to pay for her husband and her 5 children's expenses. My mother told me that she was great at business and sold things she made at the market. I met her once and she was kind to me. She had olive skin and very tanned. She probably was outside a lot with her farm and all. Both my parents are olive skinned, and me as well too, but not as tanned. I don't like laying out in the sun, I have to be active doing something.
So my Nonna on my mom's side's family may have left Judea for Calabria because they were over taxed.
My Nonno on my dad's side was from Egypt. I have 2% dna from Egypt. Ancient Egyptians were olive skinned from Levant and Canaanites. I am still researching.
I also have some Greek from both sides of my parents, 19% from Greece, Cypress and Aegean Islands. Could have some Jewish in there too.
Calabria was over 50% Jews at one point until the evil and dark Roman Catholic Church forced Jews to convert or leave. Some had to stay because it was too expensive to leave so that's why my family is Christian now.
I'm going to Convert to Judaism and become a Jew for Jesus.
My Harmonious Order Writings are part of Judaism.
Some of the information I found online:
BY: Prof. Francesco Gallo
Legends state that Reggio Calabria was founded by Aschenez, a great grandchild of Noah. Italian Jews were the first Jews in the Diaspora, coming to Calabria in 167 BC during the time of the Macabbees. They the only Jews in the world who moved from place to place voluntarily and we are the Jews who came to the southern Italian shores from Judea during the time of the Maccabees.
They are a separate cultural group. In fact there are three distinct Jewish cultural groups: “Sephardim” (“Sepharad” means “Spain) in areas around the Mediterranean Sea, including Portugal, Spain, the Middle East and North Africa, “Ashkenazim” (“Aschenaz” means Germany) in central and eastern Europe and “Italkim” in Italy.
Many Jews emigrated to Calabria (thus, starting the “Jewish Diaspora”) after Roman Emperor Titus (30-81 AD), during the Jewish-Roman War in 70 AD, captured, sacked and destroyed Jerusalem and its Temple. When he devastated the Temple, he also looted all precious works of art and metals as can be seen on the relief sculptures of Rome’s Arch of Titus.
This treasure, was brought from Jerusalem to Rome that Alaric (370-410), King of Visigoths, occupied in 410 AD and on his way to Africa, he passed by Cosenza where he died from malaria. His body and the treasure are believed to been buried under the bed of where the Busento and Crati Rivers meet.
Other legends mention that it was the Hellenized Jews from Egypt who introduced the citrus fruit etrog (“cedro” in Italian) in Calabria before the Magna Graecia thirteen centuries BC. In fact, the prized etrog, known as the Diamante Citron, also known as the "Yanover Etrog”, is still grown in Calabria today. The Calabrian town of “Santa Maria del Cedro” still features their etrog heritage in its place name. It is believed by some Jews, especially the Chabad-Lubavitch, that Moses (1391-1271 BC) used a Calabrian etrog during the first holiday of Sukkot (“Feast of the Tabernacle” or “Festa della Capanna”) which commemorates the years that the Jews spent in the desert on their way to the Promised Land, and celebrates the way in which God protected them under difficult desert conditions.During the summers, many Rabbis come to the “Riviera of Cedars” from Tortora to Cetraro, in the province of Cosenza, to enjoy the climate but also to bring back the precious fruit.
More:
https://wetheitalians.com/from-italy/jewish-roots-calabria
The history of the Jews in Calabria reaches back over two millennia. Calabria (Hebrew: קלבריה) is at the very south of the Italian peninsula, to which it is connected by the Monte Pollino massif, while on the east, south and west it is surrounded by the Ionian and Tyrrhenian seas. Jews have had a presence in Calabria for at least 1600 years and possibly as much as 2300 years. Calabrian Jews have had notable influence on many areas of Jewish life and culture. The Jews of Calabria are virtually identical to the neighbouring Jews of Sicily but are considered separate. However, the Jews of Calabria and the Jews of Apulia are historically the same community, only today are considered separate. Occasionally, there is confusion with the southern Jewish community in Calabria and the northern Jewish community in Reggio Emilia. Both communities have always been entirely separate.
Early history
The history of the Jews in Calabria is presumed to date back several centuries before the common era. While there is evidence of Hellenized Jews living in the Greek colonies of Magna Graecia,[1] there is no direct evidence of a Jewish presence in Calabria, then known as Bruttium, until much later. However, legends state that many Jewish captive slaves were brought to Calabria after the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem in the year 70.[2] Other legends state that it was the Hellenized Jews from Egypt who introduced the Etrog to Calabria during the time of Magna Graecia. In fact, the prized Etrog known as the Diamante Citron also known as the, "Yanover Esrog", is still grown in Calabria to this day.[3] The Calabrian town of Santa Maria del Cedro still features their Etrog heritage in its place name. It is believed by some Jews, especially the Chabad-Lubavitch, that Moses used a Calabrian Etrog during the first holiday of Sukkot [4] A Kosher Liqueur made from Calabrian etrogim is commercially available.[5] Today in Israel, one of the most cultivated trees used for reforestation is known as the Calabrian Pine[6]
The Mishna, in the order of Moed, Eruvin 42-43, makes an undated reference to the ancient Calabrian settlement of Brindisi, also known as Plandarsin. It was in Brindisi/Plandarsin that Rabbis Gamliel, Akiva, and other Tannaim debate oral law concerning personal travel during Shabbat.[7]
The first dated mentioning of Jewish communities in Calabria were by Roman officials in the service of the Western Emperor Honorius in the year 398. [8] Some ancient towns known to have had a Jewish community were Reggio (Rhegion)[9] and Catanzaro (Katantheros).[10] Today some physical remnants of the ancient Calabrian Jewish community still survives. For example, the remains of the 4th century, Bova Marina Synagogue are located in the town of Bova Marina[11] Another example is an inscription that mentions Calabria in the Jewish catacombs of Monteverde in Rome. These catacombs were in use from the first to the 3rd century.[12][13]
Another popular legend states that after the Sack of Rome in 410, Gothic general Alaric carried his booty, including the Temple Treasure of Jerusalem, South with him on his way to Africa. When Alaric died suddenly while in Calabria, he was believed to have buried the Temple Treasure somewhere near the Calabria town of Consentia.[14][15]
In the year 925, an army of Fatimite Muslims, led by Ja'far ibn Ubaid, invaded Calabria which devastated the Jewish population.[16] It was during this time that Shabbethai Donnolo, was made captive. He would later become the Byzantine court physician in Calabria, and wrote many of his most famous works on medicine and theology while in Calabria.[17]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_Jews_in_Calabria
The South is very different from the rest of the Italian peninsula because of the Jewish presence that was brutally interrupted by the expulsion of 1510, as this is reflected in the rather small archaeological heritage.
In Calabria, Jews did not live in the isolation of ghettos, but in their own neighborhoods, the “Giudecche”. Near Vibo Valentia (formerly Monteleone), on the splendid Tyrrhenian coast, you’ll find the Jewish quarter of Nicotera, one of the largest in Calabria, founded by Emperor Frederick II in 1211, which is well worth a visit. A little further on, on the hills, you can marvel at the “Giudecca” of the charming village called Arena, and not far away the “Giudecca” of Soriano Calabro, where craftsmen and especially Jewish dyers thrived and where you can find the traditional cakes with ancient Hebraic recipes, the “mostaccioli”, made from flour, honey and almonds.
The Orthodox Jewish community today does not exist as such in Calabria, as there are few practising Jews and a few dozen are on their way back or converting to Judaism. For this reason, Calabria depends on the community of Naples, but it is rich in Jewish history. However, a new breath of fresh air has come from the United States thanks to a progressive Jewish woman, Rabbi Barbara Aiello, an American-Calabrian, who is determined to contribute to the resurgence of the anusim, the descendants of the Jews of the south who were forced to convert at the beginning of the 16th century. In 2007 she created the Ner Tamid (Eternal Light) synagogue in Serrastretta (province of Catanzaro), with the aim of reviving this Calabrian Judaism that has existed for centuries in a latent state and that was just asking for it under the southern Italian sun.
Of all this Calabrian history, we recall that Shabbetay Donnolo, a famous physician and philosopher, operated in Rossano around the year 1000; that in Reggio Calabria, on 5 February 1475, Rashi’s commentary on the Pentateuch was printed, the first work in Hebrew with the date indicated. Moreover, the parents of the great Kabbalist Hayim Vital, known as “il Calabrese”, came from the region.
It is worth noting that the 4th century synagogue of Bova Marina, rich in mosaics, the oldest in the West after that of Ostia Antica, bears witness to a flourishing community. Archaeological evidence of the Jewish diaspora can also be seen at the National Archaeological Museum of Reggio Calabria, at the Antiquarium Leucopetra di Lazzaro, a hamlet in Motta San Giovanni, in Vibo Valentia, and at the National Archaeological Museum of Scolacium in Roccelletta di Borgia.
On the Ionian coast, in Monasterace marina, near Riace marina, where the two bronze giants were found, you can visit the Library of the Agafray Cultural Association, which was opened by the sister of Agazio Fraietta, an enthusiast of Jewish culture who has passed away, to raise awareness among Calabrians of their cultural heritage, particularly Hebraic. It features a library with a wealth of documents on the region’s past, as well as recreational activities relating to the region’s artistic activities.
https://jguideeurope.org/en/region/italy/calabria/
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