That's Arabic, not Hebrew, though it does have a Hebrew cognate (cherem; and in one rare instance, charoum). In the Hebrew Bible, the 3-letter root is never vowelized as charam (kharam).

In Arabic, it means something that is forbidden.

There is no easy way to settle that answer; arguments have been made that maternal lineage to establish Jewish identity existed from the time of the law of Moses, that it was in fact Moses himself, who established that. However, the problem with that sentiment, is that Moses established the mother only law because too many Hebrew men were taking Canaanite wives and letting them worship their old gods. In other words the maternal rule, according to the Karaites, was not to establish identity but to preserve the religion; it has been psychologically proven, that even though most children take after the father genetically (the "blue print"), they have a stronger emotional bond with the mother, than with the father.

In human reproduction, the way it works is that the man provides the blue prints, but the woman, provides the building material. All that is contained in the X or Y chromosome of man's sperm, is design specs, that is really all that is in there, instructions on "how to form" a human being. True to Biblical and native American sentiments though most of your flesh does indeed come from your mother. Again; the man provides the blue prints, but the woman provides the building material. Imagine, you had two separate providers of building materials; the building materials of one company are blue, while the building materials of another company are red. Say that in the area there is only one engineering firm, and they only follow one design plan; whether the plans and engineers are given to the blue or red building material companies, although the resulting buildings will be a different color, they will have the same shape, and the same design. Absolute maternal supremacy, where the father has zero influence on what a child will look or act like, is a myth. I hate to say this to all ashkenazi Jews or mestizos out there but, we are all our father's sons or daughters.

Building material is still important, but the shape and character of a building, is ultimately determined by how it is designed. Why does Barack Obama have slightly lighter skin? He was made from white building material, and, sometimes the "design instructions" are so strong, that even with that "building material" they were "instructed" to produce a much darker skin tone. In Psychology studies, it has also been shown that people have a tendency to pair off with individuals similar in appearance to them, ranging from face structure, to color scheme, to hair structure. However because obviously it is the woman who carries the child, there is a tendency the world over to always look for greater similarity to the mother than to the father, and when you have white/Asian, or Asian/something else crosses, because Asian people have such a distinct appearance, there is a tendency for people to look for what makes such hybrid children different from the father or mother who is non-Asian when, if you look carefully enough, you always know for sure one of the parents is not Asian.

Why is this stuff important? The majority of mestizos in latin America, look like Spaniard stock white guys with a tan; take a given Spaniard from anywhere in Spain, and give him a tan, what you get is someone from Mexico. Most of the Mexicans who cross the border, tend to be paternally descended from native Americans, that is why they are so dirt poor. Additionally, wave after wave of Sephardic Jews crossed the Atlantic to live in Latin America, its part of the reason why in many cases a lot of latinos are indistinguishable from Mizrahi Israelis. The "Jew nose" is very common in latin America.

If you want a straight answer, however, that would be the Talmudic period, when the very authority of the Torah took a back seat. The Talmud was written to grant greater authority to the temple priests, and later on the Rabbis. Allegedly, they felt it was necessary because in the absence of the temple, something had to take its place regarding what granted authority to the Rabbis. You could make a very solid case, that the Talmud, is a sort of portable Solomon's Temple; in the absense of the Temple of Solomon, lime stone, granite, brick works, and marble, are replaced by a multi volume interpretation religious work namely the Talmud. Hence to religious Jews the Talmud is a portable temple, that is the reason its authority is greater than that of the Torah.

Without the temple, the laws carried no meaning, and no authority, hence in place of the temple something else had to give authority to the Torah in absence of both the temple, and any prophets. In ancient times, authority was given to the Torah by God himself, through his prophets, in Kingdom and Babylonian exile times etc, etc, authority was given by the temple itself, and whoever its head was, a descendant of Aaron, Aaron having highly likely murdered Moses so that HE would have the power. In the absence of the temple, the Talmud has granted authority to the Torah ever since. Now, to religious Jews the problem the Talmud has, is not its authority or even its ethics, but, because Talmuds exist in every single Jewish community in the world, then, who is the head priest? The Talmud has been at once a source of comfort and identity for many Jews, but at the same time something that prevents any unification, which is a bit ironic because, its the same Talmud regardless of community, with the exception of the Yemeni Jewish one. The Yemeni Jews follow the Palestinian Talmud, or the Temple Period Talmud, because they left ancient Israel BEFORE the destruction of the second temple.

Conclusive rules as to "who is a Jew," is given in the Talmud, in fact I think there is an entire chapter dedicated to it. If I recall some of that stuff correctly, I think it goes as follows;

1) If your mother is Jewish, then you are a Jew, however, "automatic" Jewish identity owing to maternal bloodlines I think only last so many generations. Somewhere in the Talmud there is a rule, that if your family has not been Jewish for this many generations, it does not matter if your mother has Jewish ancestry you are still not a Jew. That is the reason the largest bulk of the population in Andalucia in Spain, is not considered Jewish, despite their olive skin and mediterranean ancestry, much of that "mediterranean" ancestry in fact being Hebrew.

2) The Talmud does PREFER, that on a Jewish woman, that the father of her baby be Jewish. Say you have a Jew in a given Jewish community, and he's a lecher; left and right he makes 16 year old girls pregnant. Because he is a Jew, the babies he has fathered, are all Jewish. However, if a Jewish girl gets pregnant by a non-Jew who is not married to her, then, the child is not Jewish, he or she is a "bastard," the religious Hebrew term for it whatever it is. Additionally, a Jewish wedding ceremony, at least I don't think, does not require the groom to be Jewish. Long story short; if a Jewess gets married in a Christian Church, or a Buddhist temple, then, any resulting offspring are not Jews, however, if a Jewess marries a non-Jew in a synagogue, and they are married off by a Rabbi, then the kids are Jews. The mother rule isn't that simple; additionally, if you are a religious cherem, that is a secular Jew or an outright atheist, by the authority dictated by the ancient temple priests quoted by Rabbis today, the identity of your descendants is only "protected" for I think two or three generations. Its like this; say you have a couple that gets married in a synagogue, a Jewish woman and some "goyim" man. They have kids who all say "to hell with religion." Because they were conceived within wedlock to a couple married within a synagogue, by a Rabbi, their identity is protected by roughly 3 to 4 generations, after that, if none of their children and grand children attend synagogue regularly, then they can not be considered Jews. We getting headaches yet?

3) If your father is Jewish, that only frees you from the requirement of having to study the Torah, and passing an oral exam, in order to convert to Judaism. Having paternal Jewish ancestry only frees you from the exam requirement, everyone else though has to study, however if your mother is Jewish, in accordance to the dictums discussed above, then, you're Jewish. No studying, no converting; the Talmud says you're Jewish. I repeat; all paternal ancestry does, is free you from the "entrance exam," but that's it, you still have to undergo the formal ritual. To convert to Islam, all you need to do is make the declaration "there is one God, and Muhamad is his prophet" from your heart, and be taught how to pray 5 times a day. Then there are also the 5 pillars, etc, etc, etc. However, with Judaism, if you are a goyim, you have to undergo years of study, Orthodox Jews require that you learn Hebrew, they won't accept any native language study of the Torah. You are looking at long, horrifically boring and tedious hours of study, and an exhaustive and exacting oral exam administered by a Rabbi; you fail the test you can take it however many times you are willing to continue studying. After you pass the test, I believe you need to appear before a Beit Din (A Rabbinical court or council) which will then evaluate your behavior as a person, and declare whether or not you are fit to be a Jew. If your father is Jewish but your mother isn't, then, you only have to appear before the Beit Din and that's it; it is actually very easy for paternal Jews to officially become Jews, however some hold how "its automatic for mother only" Jews to be "unfair." There have even been talks regarding the crypto Jews of latin America and Spain; you don't need to do genealogical research, or DNA testing on them, regarding some Spaniards, southern Italians, and many upper class latin Americans, you can tell they have Jewish ancestry just by looking at them. However they are a controversial subject; yes, many descend from Jacob himself, and its plainly obvious, however when they caved in to the inquisition and converted to Christianity they became cherem, and the forgiveness of heressy which led to cherem, is a complex and exhaustive legal matter for the Rabinical courts. They need to look at the circumstances for one, they need to do a character evaluation and so on and so forth; while the near east itself may in fact have tens of thousands of men and women who descend from David and Solomon, having all of them granted their Jewish identity again, is a logistical legal nightmare for Beit Din courts.

A genetic condition peculiar only to Hebrews, at least in the middle east, is hemolytic anemia, a genetic disorder that depending on severity causes the destruction of red blood cells. In extremely severe cases, which affect mostly Iraqi Jews, babies born with the condition will die within a few hours of being born, in some cases the babies are stillborn (born dead). Milder cases, involve an individual who will need either medication, or a rigorous diet to maintain a healthy level of red blood cells, for the rest of his life. I use the word "his" because, it only affects males, it doesn't affect females nevertheless females can be carriers. Hemolytic anemia, in the middle east, is by far most aggressive among Iraqi Jews, and it is nearly as aggressive, against 50% of Kurdish males who I am told, roughly half of all Kurds have a semitic appearance.

Hemolytic anemia, is restricted to the eastern hemisphere, at least prior to Colombus; within the Jewish communities in Muslim countries, cases were reported by Arab doctors. I think the first documented case of hemolytic anemia, was first written down by an Arab who treated an Iraqi Jewish boy during the golden age of Islam. The disease was known, but it was not officially observed by a doctor, until that time. What separates Jews from Arabs, at least semitic Jews, is that genetic disorder; the Hebrew people, the descendants of Jacob suffer from it, where the Arabs don't. Give aspirin to an Arab, and nothing happens, give aspirin to an Iraqi Jew, and he'll start getting sick. The disease also occurs in the area between the tropic of cancer, and the tropic of Capricorn, throughout the eastern hemisphere. In other words it occurs in a minority of the population of sub saharan Africa, it occurs in southern India (again, also a minority, and mostly among the so dark they're practically blue Tamil Indians), throughout southeast Asia, Malaysia, the Philipines, and southern China. However in the non-near eastern populations, the highest reported cases only go to about 10 to 20%.

Additionally, hemolytic anemia is X linked recessive; that means that the gene has a greater chance of becoming active if the mother is also a carrier. However if the father doesn't carry it, but the mother does, then, the gene won't become active. Nevertheless, if a male carrier of the gene has a son with a female who isn't a carrier, the gene can still become active. Among Europeans, specifically speaking TRUE Europeans, namely people of Celtic, Slavic, and Teutonic (various Germanic peoples) ancestry, hemolytic anemia pretty much doesn't exist. In other words those stories you heard about some Iraqi Jews being R1b are a load of crap; if they carried a European Y chromosome, cases of red blood cell anemia wouldn't be nearly so aggressive among them. Yes you only carry it if you have pure Hebrew blood.

Hemolytic anemia, occurs, also, among roughly 10% of Saudi males, counting only the semitic sufferers (remember, black people can suffer from it too, and Saudi Arabia has had black people since ancient times), 13% of Palestinian males, and 50% of Kurdish males, if you count the female relatives of all those males that means that in the middle east alone, the Biblical patriarch Jacob, has 35 million descendants. Keep in mind that all 10 of his sons, excluding Levi and Simeon whom Leah likely had with another man, had more than one wife, and they all, additionally, kept concubines. The true numbers of the Hebrew people, may in fact be much higher. Didn't these people mix a lot with the Persians, other semitic peoples, and perhaps Arabs you're saying? Not likely; middle eastern society has always been stratified, social position determines everything, including who you marry, and social position is determined by family name.

In the semitic world "everybody descends from Shem," so there is no "greatness" from that. Among the Arabs, a family only has a "good name" if it CONSISTENTLY produces outstanding people. Because among the Arabs "everyone comes from Ishmael," just descending from Ishmael doesn't make you anything special; you have to accomplish something, stand out, give your family a good name. Families and tribes who consistently produce scholars, or leaders, or outstanding warriors etc, THOSE tribes develop a "good name." The lost tribes of Israel, having been slaves, became the dregs and outcasts of near eastern society, so in all likelihood their only choice of mates, was each other, hence, the majority of those 35 million people are as Hebrew, as the people in the Bible. The irony being, it was the very stratification, and tribalism of the middle east, which has acted as a cultural force to preserve the blood of Jacob, not merely "ancestry" like with Italy, southern Spain, or latin America I am talking full or near full blooded Hebrew people here.

The dregs of Arab society, the "nameless," "the wretches," the "parentless," chances are all those people, are in fact Hebrew. To be labeled "parentless" in Arab society is a deep insult; it means you can lay no claim to any lineage.

If you are Jewish, and one of the few "J2's" out there among the ashkenazi, don't despair; the Hebrew people, in fact may number 35 million, God may have kept his word after all. If a charismatic man where ever to be born to not only help them reclaim their heritage, but also unite them, Jacob's lost children could become a very powerful force in the middle east, in fact THE most powerful. Take over the middle east, and you take over the world; not only does the near east have oil, but, according to calculations estimated regarding the size of Solomon's treasure, somewhere in Israel there is a fortune worth roughly 400 trillion Euros. No one believes it, because the size of said treasure is to say the least, ludicrous.

Anyone who controlled both that treasure, as well as the oil reserves of the near east, would rule the world. The Jewish messiah prophecy, hypothetically speaking, can in fact be very real, someday in the future.

The only people on this earth who were better soldiers than the Hebrews, are the native Americans, and far as I know they have no quarrel with us.

The white people are no match for us; look at the geography of ancient Israel, and the numbers the likes of David and Solomon had to deal with in an indifensible location. God destroyed our kingdom, because we had become arrogant, and abusive of our blessings. The ancient Hebrews were formidable warriors; even in a weakened state, we inflicted a heavy death toll on all armies that marched on our lands.

The west does not get it, and in the future, it will be too late before they get it; God has not protected the Hebrew people, from whites and Arabs, its the other way around. God is protecting YOU, from US.

No offense but, regarding your overall abilities, you whites overestimate yourselves. Thirty five million Hebrews are all the numbers a charismatic leader would need, to take on the entire western and semitic world. Keep in mind that King David of ancient Israel faced similar numbers.

Read the Bible, and remember the physical strength of the patriarchs, not to mention, most notably, the strength of Samson. Why are ashkenazi Jews so weak physically then? Why are Jews generally stereotyped as uncoordinated and unathletic? The simple answer to that question, is all the noble blood they absorbed from Europe; European nobility, some of them were made into nobles, because they were so brainy (e.g. nerdy), others were made into nobles because they were good fighters. Hence Europe has two species of nobility where the males are concerned; a "jock" noble, and a "nerd" noble. Richard the Lionhearted of England is an example of a "jock" noble.

In other words you can not unfairly stereotype ashkenazi Jews, athletically some of them are dangerous, and the only reason they don't compete in sports, is because they have nothing to prove. Europe's nobility, in many cases, sometimes produced warriors worth 10 men in a battle. No they were not as strong as 10 men; what was meant was, they were so cunning, so athletic, so coordinated, having a natural sense for timing, natural agression and all that, that it took 10 men, to finally exhaust them, or, bring them down outright IF, they could bring them down at all. While neither of them look like it, both Prince William and Harry of Britain, were outstanding athletes during their college years. Many British nobles are so good at sports, the only thing that stops them from competing professionally, is their birth; among the British aristocracy, for a royal, or person of noble background to compete professionally would be seen as an insult to their social class.

Most of the ashkenazi Jews who competed professionally athletically, often had European paternal background, specifically speaking noble blood. Again an ashkenazi Jew will either be pathetically uncoordinated, or monstrously athletic, there tends to be no middle ground. What about what few descendants of Jacob there are among ashkenazi Jews? The majority of those people don't even take up sports; however I have heard that "arabid" looking ashkenazi have a vice-like handshake. Again that's just, POSSIBLY the blood of Jacob.

I can not emphasize this enough; the children of Jacob are strong, all of us, much stronger than other peoples with the exception of the native Americans. I am talking pound for pound strength here, also, strength relative to one's size, not absolute strength. Obviously if a Chinese or Indian man is, oh, 260 lbs of solid muscle standing at 5'7, and 7% body fat, I don't care if you are 110% pure Jacob blood, you are going to get your bones grinded into dust if you fight that guy.

If Arabid ashkenazi Jews are physically strong relative to their build, then, they do descend from Jacob after all, however if they are weak, assuming no genetic disease, malnutrition etc, then, they don't descend from Jacob. Again read your bible; crude as this sounds, the gold standard for whether or not someone descends from Jacob is physical strength. It even says so in the book of Psalms, paraphrasing, David is quoted as saying;

"God has punished us, for he gave us everything, yet we spat on his commandments. God gave us plenty of food, and water, he gave us beautiful women, and yet we spat on his commandments. God also gave us strong bodies, gifted us above our neighbors and yet we spat on his commandments."

David himself said, that what separated the Hebrews from other semites, was raw physical strength. If a Jew is not strong, then, they do not descend from Jacob, its as simple as that.