# Jewish Mystery 2 - red hair **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 28, 2003, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476 "2003-12-28T23:21:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Ryan\_Liam](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ryan_liam/32/3965_2.png) [@Ryan\_Liam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ryan_Liam)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2003, 8:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/21 "2003-12-29T20:18:33Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WeRSauron \* > \*\* > > **Ryan\_Liam** , could you educate me of other lands or areas (besides Europe) where one might find red hair? > > Thanks, guys. 🙂 > > WRS - who has not a strand of red hair \*\* Anywhere from the Scotland to Central Siberia. Its rumoured that the hair is red because of cannibalism, though there is not much evidence to back that up. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 12:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/22 "2003-12-30T00:54:51Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Themis00 \* > \*\*Yes, red and blonde is recessive. \*\* Actually, I’ve read that there’s a new theory that instead of being recessive, the gene for red hair is codominant. ---
**Author:** ![MsRobyn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/90ced4/32.png) [@MsRobyn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MsRobyn)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/23 "2003-12-30T04:39:08Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by elfkin477 \* > \*\*If he also has fair skin, your hubby looks like a lot of Irish folks do. There are far more of them than those of us with red hair, even in Ireland. \*\* Actually, he tans pretty easily and gets dark. His grandmother is Spanish and Argentine, so he gets that from her. Robin ---
**Author:** ![cmkeller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cmkeller/32/118_2.png) [@cmkeller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cmkeller)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 6:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/24 "2003-12-30T06:57:22Z")
There’s red hair in the Semitic gene pool going back at least to Isaac’s and Rebecca’s bearing Esau. And, as Noone Special mentioned, King David was said to be a redhead as well. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 7:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/25 "2003-12-30T07:21:42Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by cmkeller \* > \*\*There’s red hair in the Semitic gene pool going back at least to Isaac’s and Rebecca’s bearing Esau. And, as Noone Special mentioned, King David was said to be a redhead as well. \*\* He, good call. Esau certainly trumps David by a thousand years or so… 🙂 Dani ---
**Author:** ![\_ceQueen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/_/b9bd4f/32.png) [@\_ceQueen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_ceQueen)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 7:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/26 "2003-12-30T07:40:44Z")
I heard that black-haired Jews are of a higher “rank,” so interbreeding with red-haired Jews is (was?) frowned upon. And red hair, yes, I think comes from fathers’ lines. ---
**Author:** ![Nichol\_storm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Nichol\_storm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nichol_storm)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 8:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/27 "2003-12-30T08:44:07Z")
As an addendum to my earlier post, my half-Jewish cousins are both brown-haired and brown-eyed. I, who have no Jewish blood whatsoever that I know of, have dark blonde/red hair. Genetics is a funny thing. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/28 "2003-12-30T14:45:13Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by !ceQueen \* > **I heard that black-haired Jews are of a higher “rank,” so interbreeding with red-haired Jews is (was?) frowned upon.** No idea what you are talking about here, I’ve never heard anything like this. There are no “ranks” in Judism to speak of. ---
**Author:** ![Olentzero](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/90ced4/32.png) [@Olentzero](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Olentzero)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/29 "2003-12-30T15:42:09Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by !ceQueen \* > \*\* interbreeding with red-haired Jews is (was?) frowned upon._\* More for us goys, then. I loves me some red-headed Jewish women, yes I does… erm, sorry… back to the genetic thread. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [December 30, 2003, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476/30 "2003-12-30T19:12:29Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ryan\_Liam \* > \*\*Anywhere from the Scotland to Central Siberia. Its rumoured that the hair is red because of cannibalism, though there is not much evidence to back that up. \*\* I have never, ever heard this. Ever. I have also never heard that red hair comes from the father’s side, as was mentioned by **!ceQueen**. Have you got any sort of information on this? My red hair clearly comes from my mother’s family. Mom’s family is Icelandic and dad’s is Irish - both grandfathers had red hair, but there are no other redheads in Dad’s family. All of my grand aunts and uncles on my mom’s side were redheads. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/jewish-mystery-2-red-hair/221476.md?page=1)