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How Can I Find Out Which Hebrew Tribe I'm From?


By Malkie Janowski

For the most part, tribal identities have been lost through the generations, and the majority of Jews do not know which tribe they are from.

There are a number of people whose families have passed down their identity as Kohanim (Priests) or Levites, which means they descend from the tribe of Levi. There are also a handful of non-Levite families who can trace their ancestry to a particular tribe, but these are few and far between.

When the Messiah comes, we will all find out which tribes we are from. So if this bit of information is important to you, do your best to hasten his arrival! For more on that, check out our Moshiach and the Future Redemption section.
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By Malkie Janowski   More articles...  |   RSS Listing of Newest Articles by this Author
Malkie Janowski is an accomplished educator who lives in Coral Springs, Florida. Mrs. Janowski is also a responder on Chabad.org's Ask the Rabbi team.

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Reader Comments
Latest Comments:
Posted: Nov 16, 2011
I was wondering...
I was just wondering what tribe the name David comes from.
Posted By BDavid, Sydney, NSW

Posted: Sep 12, 2011
tribe
I would like to find out wich tribe my family is from.
Posted By Anonymous, hermitage, mo

Posted: Aug 16, 2011
@Karen Joyce
Bergman = miner in German. Goldman = golden man. Some Ashkenazi Jewish names in the U.S. are German in origin; many more are Polish or Russian.
King Friedrich II of Prussia "emancipated" the Jews, but demanded that all families take on a surname. This service was not free of charge. The more one paid the better the name. So the poor ones got names such as "Achselschweiz" (lit. arm-pit sweat), rich people got nice sounding name such animal names or flower names, Fuchs, Maus, Blumenthal, etc. People who lent money got the name of a city in which they lived and were called Berliner, etc.
Later on many Jews changed their names to very German names such Müller, Meier, Schulz, etc. Jews converted to Christianity or married out and took along their names. Thus, you can have people with a Jewish sounding surname who aren’t Jews and Jews with a German sounding surname who are. Don’t let the surname mislead you.
There’s a good text written by Esther Bauer Ph.D "German Genealogy Translations"
Posted By J.R. Frankfurt, Frankfurt, Germany

Posted: Aug 14, 2011
Daniel, thank you.
I never knew what Bergman/Berkman meant. Wow. I am wondering if it appears to many of you responding to this blog if many American Jewish names are actually German or with a German derivative. How about Goldman?
Posted By Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell, Riverside, CA, USA

Posted: Aug 12, 2011
Schwarz = Black
The german word "Schwarz" literally means nothing but black.

"Schwartz" is only an old variant of the word "Schwarz". in germany you will find many families with this name, and they are not sephardic.

"Bergman(n)" or "Berkman" is also a german name. Literally translated, it means "mountain man".
Posted By Daniel W, Frankfurt , Hessen, Germany

Posted: Feb 3, 2011
Just guessing, but...
Schwartz sounds like shvartz, which means dark skinned. I imagine that would mean you are a Sephardic Jew, but I don't know the tribe. I am Ashkenazi.
Posted By Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell, Riverside, CA, USA

Posted: Jan 31, 2011
tracing family history
Iv'e just discovered that I have Jewish ancestry via my great grandmother who was a German Jew with the surname Schwartz.I would like to know , if possible, from which tribe she may have descended from.
Regards
Posted By Sharon, Timaru, South Island

Posted: Oct 18, 2010
Interesting about genetic studies.
The one I had previously read said that only the Levites had been studied and found genetic links. I wonder what tribe "Kleinman" was from. It means "little man", but that sounds as if it was German given. What about "Bergman" or Berkmann? I wonder. With Jewish inbreeding (not marrying outside of Judaism), the Levites seem to have kept their name more than any other tribe. Levine, Lefkovitz, etc, all probably are Levites.
Posted By Karen Joyce Chaya Fradle Kleinman Bell, Riverside, CA, USA

Posted: Sep 6, 2010
Jewish Genes -- Jewish Tribe
Dear Mozel Tech,
please read the following article "Abraham’s Children in the Genome Era: Major Jewish Diaspora Populations Comprise Distinct Genetic Clusters with Shared Middle Eastern Ancestry" that was published in the The American Journal of Human Genetics 86, 1–10, June 11, 2010.

This will clarify that all Jews have a common origin in the Middle East 3000 years ago and that the different main groups, the Askenazim, the Sephardim, and the Mizrahim have had different admixtures over the centuries.

This proves that all the legends that were propagated by historians such as Schlomo Sand simply belong into the realm of fantasy.
Posted By J. R., Frankfurt am Main, Germany

Posted: June 19, 2009
last name
I wonder if one of the surnames passed down is "Nunes", does that refer to the tribe of Zebulun? or , "Josiah, son of NUN"..does anyone have any idea?
Posted By Anonymous, Toronto, Ontario



 


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