Editing Levite (section)

===Levite Y-chromosome studies===
A 2003 study of the Y-chromosome by Behar et al. pointed to multiple origins for [[Ashkenazi Jews|Ashkenazi]] Levites, who comprise approximately 4% among the Ashkenazi Jews. It found that [[Haplogroup R1a1a]] (R-M17), uncommon in the Middle East or among [[Sephardic Jews]], is present in over 50% of Ashkenazi Levites, while the rest of Ashkenazi Levites' paternal lineage is of certain Middle Eastern origin, including Y-chromosome haplogroups E3b, J2, F, R1b, K, I, Q, N and L.<ref name="Behar2003"/> Haplogroup R1a1a is found at the highest levels among people of Eastern European descent, with 50 to 65% among [[Sorbs]], [[Polish people|Poles]], [[Russians]], and [[Ukrainians]].<ref>{{cite journal |pmc=2987245 |pmid=19888303 |doi=10.1038/ejhg.2009.194 |volume=18 |issue=4 |title=Separating the post-Glacial coancestry of European and Asian Y chromosomes within haplogroup R1a |year=2010 |journal=Eur. J. Hum. Genet. |pages=479–484 |last1=Underhill |first1=PA |last2=Myres |first2=NM |last3=Rootsi |first3=S |last4=Metspalu |first4=M |last5=Zhivotovsky |first5=LA |last6=King |first6=RJ |last7=Lin |first7=AA |last8=Chow |first8=CE |last9=Semino |first9=O |last10=Battaglia |first10=V |last11=Kutuev |first11=I |last12=Järve |first12=M |last13=Chaubey |first13=G |last14=Ayub |first14=Q |last15=Mohyuddin |first15=A |last16=Mehdi |first16=SQ |last17=Sengupta |first17=S |last18=Rogaev |first18=EI |last19=Khusnutdinova |first19=EK |last20=Pshenichnov |first20=A |last21=Balanovsky |first21=O |last22=Balanovska |first22=E |last23=Jeran |first23=N |last24=Augustin |first24=DH |last25=Baldovic |first25=M |last26=Herrera |first26=RJ |last27=Thangaraj |first27=K |last28=Singh |first28=V |last29=Singh |first29=L |last30=Majumder |first30=P |last31=Rudan |first31=P |last32=Primorac |first32=D |last33=Villems |first33=R |last34=Kivisild |first34=T}}</ref> In [[South Asia]], R1a1a has often been observed with high frequency in a number of demographic groups, reaching over 70% in [[Bengali Brahmin|West Bengal Brahmins]] in India and among the Mohani people in [[Sindh]], Pakistan.{{Citation needed|date=November 2023}} Behar's data suggested a founding event, involving an 'introgression' of anywhere from one to fifty non-Jewish European men, occurring at a time close to the initial formation and settlement of the Ashkenazi community as a possible explanation.<ref name="Behar2003">{{Cite journal |vauthors=Behar DM, Thomas MG, Skorecki K, etal |title=Multiple origins of Ashkenazi Levites: Y chromosome evidence for both Near Eastern and European ancestries |journal=American Journal of Human Genetics |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=768–779 |date=October 2003 |pmid=13680527|pmc=1180600 |doi=10.1086/378506}}</ref> As Nebel, Behar and Goldstein speculate:

{{blockquote|although neither the NRY haplogroup composition of the majority of Ashkenazi Jews nor the microsatellite haplotype composition of the R1a1 haplogroup within Ashkenazi Levites is consistent with a major Khazar or other European origin, as has been speculated by some authors (Baron 1957; Dunlop 1967; Ben-Sasson 1976; Keys 1999), one cannot rule out the important contribution of a single or a few founders among contemporary Ashkenazi Levites."<ref name="Goldstein2008">{{Cite book|author=Goldstein, David B. |title=Jacob's legacy: A genetic view of Jewish history |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2008 |pages=location 873 (Kindle for PC) |chapter=3|isbn=978-0-300-12583-2}}</ref>}}

A 2013 paper by Siiri Rootsi et al. confirmed a Near or Middle Eastern origin for all Ashkenazi Levites, including the R1a Y-chromosome carriers, and refuted the [[Khazar hypothesis of Ashkenazi ancestry]]:
{{blockquote|Previous Y-chromosome studies have demonstrated that Ashkenazi Levites, members of a paternally inherited Jewish Levite caste, display a distinctive founder event within R1a, the most prevalent Y-chromosome haplogroup in Eastern Europe. Here we report the analysis of 16 whole R1 sequences and show that a set of 19 unique nucleotide substitutions defines the Ashkenazi R1a lineage. While our survey of one of these, M582, in 2,834 R1a samples reveals its absence in 922 Eastern Europeans, we show it is present in all sampled R1a Ashkenazi Levites, as well as in 33.8% of other R1a Ashkenazi Jewish males and 5.9% of 303 R1a Near Eastern males, where it shows considerably higher diversity. Moreover, the M582 lineage also occurs at low frequencies in non-Ashkenazi Jewish populations. In contrast to the previously suggested Eastern European origin for Ashkenazi Levites, the current data are indicative of a geographic source of the Levite founder lineage in the Near East and its likely presence among pre-Diaspora Hebrews.<ref name="natu_Phyl">{{Cite journal| title = Phylogenetic applications of whole Y-chromosome sequences and the Near Eastern origin of Ashkenazi Levites |display-authors=4|author1=Siiri Rootsi|author2=Doron M. Behar|author3=Mari Järve|author4=Alice A. Lin|author5=Natalie M. Myres|author6=Ben Passarelli|author7=G. David Poznik|author8=Shay Tzur|author9=Hovhannes Sahakyan|author10=Ajai Kumar Pathak|author11=Saharon Rosset|author12=Mait Metspalu|author13=Viola Grugni|author14=Ornella Semino|author15=Ene Metspalu|author16=Carlos D. Bustamante|author17=Karl Skorecki|author18=Richard Villems|author19=Toomas Kivisild|author20=Peter A. Underhill |journal=Nature Communications |volume=4 |pages=2928 |date=2013 |doi=10.1038/ncomms3928 |pmid=24346185 |pmc=3905698 |bibcode=2013NatCo...4.2928R}}</ref>}}

In a later 2017 study Behar et al. revised their initially mitigated position, concluding that a "Middle Eastern origin of the Ashkenazi Levite lineage based on what was previously a relatively limited number of reported samples, can now be considered firmly validated", precising that a "rich variation of haplogroup R1a outside of Europe which is phylogenetically separate from the typically European R1a branches", referring to the R1a-Y2619 sub-clade.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>