Two short comments. First, I’m a Hutterite and so I want to correct you on one point. Hutterites are a separate branch of Anabaptist and sprung up in a different area of Germany then did the Mennonites. Menno Simon started his movement in 1536ish while the Hutterite movement started in 1531 under the leadership of a man by the name of Jakob Wiedemann. In 1533 a young man named Jakob Hutter (a hat maker by trade) who was later destined to become the first elder of the “Hutter”ite church. The reason for the confusion is that the Hutterites and the Mennonites have very similar doctrines. The only major difference being that Hutterites live communal lives (some Mennonites do to). But, during the years of persecution, the Hutterites and Mennonites often bumped into each other as they were fleeing. They often settled right next to each other and even taught in each others churches.

As for your reference to your family name. I have run across the Kurz/Kurtz name in Pennsylvania. There is a community group in that area known as the Bruderhof and there are people there that have that family name. They originated from Sannerz Germany and later moved to the Rhön Mountains and from there eventually, the USA.

Wow, by looking at your photo, I would guess you were either of jewish, mennonite or amish descent. Anyway you definitely look like family to me. Yes, there are a lot odd connections, more than you have mentioned here, check out this link and you will understand why…
http://www.mennoniteisrael.org/images/pdf_files/mi-w-i-w.pdf

This will tell you the true history of the mennonite, amish and hutterite people as it is taken from ancient sources. History is continuously rewritten and with all the persecution the Anabaptists faced, this is understandable.

You could also make genetic connections too,there are a lot of odd genetic diseases that ashkenazi jews share with…. guess who? the amish, the hutterite and the old order mennonites. And these 4 groups are the most researched by geneticists because they are homogenous and keep good genealogy records.

Then there is the food issue, a lot of similar dishes. Several years ago one of my friends was like, are you making matzah ball soup? I said what is matzah ball soup? She said , that looks like matzah ball soup to me.

And you mentioned the german dialect, it is not old, it is ANCIENT! It is based on german that was OBSOLETE by the middle ages. It would be comparable to coming across english speaking communities still speaking, not King James English, but the precursor of Old English. This means the jews and anabaptists have been solid communities at least going back to the origin of the germanic dialect they speak. It would be hard for outsiders to intermarry and join the community if they can’t speak the language or learn it anywhere. This also debunks the lie that the ” Anabaptists” arose in the 1500′s, their language dates them many centuries before that.

You should know that historically the Anabaptists did not celebrate christmas or easter as they were pagan holidays. They did not celebrate communion either. Once a year, at the time of passover they did the Lord’s supper. One of my Mexican friend’s had a Jewish grandmother who was close to the old order mennonites of Mexico in Chihuahua by Cuahtemoc. They celebrated Passover and closed their communities for several days each year. They allowed her grandmother to teach their young “lehrers” ( german for teacher) who would later become the spiritual leaders in their communities. They told her grandmother that if the Mexican government ever found out they were Jewish, they would face great persecution. The government had told them to keep their mennonite religion to themselves and their communities. Now the modern Mennonite denomination is very different from the old order faith.

As for the earlier commentor stating Hutterites originated in Germany… that is false. My mother’s ancestry is hutterite and mennonite( because several mennonite women and several mennonite families joined the Hutterite colonies in Russia before coming to the US) and I can tell you they never lived in Germany at any time. They moved from country to country following the same migration patterns as the Jews.They called themselve germans as they spoke a german dialect.Once one of my Hutterite cousins attempted to speak “german” to someone from Germany who laughed at him and said you are speaking Yiddish. Actually the Canadian census shows the Mennonites changing their ethnicity depending on what was politically correct at the time, german, dutch, polish, russian, whatever. Most Jews call themselves Ashkenazi which is the Hebrew word for the land of Germany, even though many never lived in Germany, it is because throughout many centuries in Europe the germanic language was dominant in many of the European states. Ashkenazi is a linguistic term originally.

The Anabaptists did not decide to call themselves anabaptists, hutterites, mennonites or amish. These names were given to them by their enemies. They had many different names throughout history. The later names were given due to prominent leaders in the movements, but these people existed as a ethnic religious group prior to Jakob Hutter, Menno Simmons and Joseph Amman. Jakob and Menno actually converted and joined these groups, were so zealous that they were very instrumentally in reorganizing the communities, but they should not be credited with starting the faith. Your relative is right, these people all trace back to the Alps, primarily the Italian Alps/Piedmont where the most common name they were called historically was the Waldensians, however the modern day Waldensians in Italy are neither of the same religious or ethnic descent. It has been said by many ancient church historians that no people have had so much in common with the Jews as the Waldensians had, even sharing in the sufferings and persecutions. There is an ancient book still being reprinted called “Israel in the Alps” that is about the Waldensian people. You see, Jesus had brothers and sisters, so did his disciples and other followers, they all had families that through the generations kept the original faith which is what the Waldensian professed. The Waldensians claimed to be the physical and spiritual descendants of the congregation at Jerusalem. The Catholic church was started by pagans people for political reasons and persecuted the true followers of Jesus.

You also mentioned the similarity in surnames. I did research about 8 years ago and found that 98% of all amish, hutterite and mennonite names are either exclusively, predominantly or commonly used by Ashkenazi jews however most are not used by Germans. The other 2% I couldn’t trace the origin or meaning of. I found several names denoting Cohen or Rabbinical lineage in the Mennonites also, which leads me to believe there were Rabbinical Jews joining these communities.

Then you have the first names used by Anabaptists. Every family has a Jacob. It must have a Jacob. Half of all men in my mother’s ancestry are Jacob and I can trace my mother’s ancestry any which way I want to as we have community records. Those that aren’t Jacob are Abraham or Johannan for the most part. Naming patterns for the Jews, Catholics and Protestants were distinctly different from the 1500′s to 1800′s and the Anabaptists were most similar to the Jews.

One of my mennonite acquaintenances took this information I gave him and made aliyah to Israel based on the Right of Return. The second rabbi he saw approved when he looked at his “mennonite” genealogy. He has been an Israeli citizen for about 4 years now. He is also messianic and had a Jewish style wedding where he and the bride are lifted up on chairs after the ceremony. This is a long standing Jewish custom. His elderly mother came up to him, surprised and explained that is an old order mennonite custom, however if they didn’t have chairs, they lifted up the couple on the pews.

The old order Mennonites also spend one week after the wedding eating their meals at different relatives homes, this is their version of the honey moon, and guess what ? The ultra orthdox Jews do the same thing.

Another one of my mennonite acquaintenances who was not a pacifist, but fought in WWII was suddenly called before his superiors along w/2 other Jewish soldiers, cursed at because they were a “bunch of damned Jews” and dismissed without explanation from service. His whole life he has been “accused” of being Jewish, because of his name/looks and his mennonite ancestry can be traced for at least 500 years.

Another friend of mine looked so much like family I had to find out her heritage, she said it was PA dutch. I said , Amish? She didn’t know. I said well, PA dutch means you are Amish, and if you are Amish, well you are Jewish. She said she had always identified herself as a “spiritual Jew” and she knew as much about Jews/judaism as if she grew up with it and had a real love and respect for the people. Finally she spoke to her mother about their roots, her mother was raised in an Amish community and was told by her family that they were from the tribe of Levi.

I met another lady at a messianic congregation that looked either Jewish or Mennonite, I couldn’t tell which, so I asked her. She said her family was Amish and they were from the tribe of Levi.

A hutterite genealogist admitted to me that the Stahl name ( there are only about a dozen hutterite surnames today) was introduced as the records say, by a young 14-15 dark curly haired swarthy skinned Jewish boy who joined by himself.

A couple of my aunts keep close ties w/Hutterite colonies in their area and my mother is starting to also. One of my aunts in WA asked the Hutterite communty about being Jewish, their response was, oh yah, yah. ( hutterite for yes)

Another striking similarity is the Hutterite colony life compared to the Kibbutz’s in Israel.Or the old order Mennonite and Amish co-operative farming communities and the Moshav’s in Israel. Historically, the Jews and the Anabaptists were accused of being “socialists” because of these types of communities.

I read an article on how Mennonite groups were sending missionaries back to Siberia and Russia to get their people who were abandoned there since the time of WWII. This was a missionary outreach in the 90′s. They were persecuted by the Russians as the outcry was , the Jews have returned, the Jews have returned.

There are legitimate reason’s why the Amish, Hutterite, and Mennonites would not go around proclaiming they are Jews, for many centuries that was asking for the death sentence. The Jews were after all, accused of “killing God” and considered to be the most evil vile people on earth. Also from a modern Jewish perspective, if you believe in Jesus, you are no longer Jewish according to their definition of Jewish.

It is more than just coincidence my friends. Have you ever wondered by the founders of both the Mennonites (Simons) and the Amish (Amman) have Jewish names? Being a Jew carried a death sentence in many parts of Europe. This history goes way back into the Hapsburg Dynasty and beyond into the Babylonian Exhilarchs. Aargau Canton Switzerland was a sanctuary for Jews and at times in history the only place they could live.

Rest assured the roots of the Mennonites and Amish are the “Old Families” meaning the Jews. The more you research the more you will find.

To further confound your thinking in regard to Jewish ancestry consider that all Jews are Israelites but the reverse is definitely untrue! Recall, the lengthy plot line of Joseph, is rejection and being sold into slavery by his brothers (from another mother). His rise to Vizier of Egypt, his forgiving his brothers and bringing Jacob whose name was also Israel, down to Egypt in the time of the famine. Recall again the special blessings given to Joseph and to his two sons Ephraim and Manasseh by Jacob.
Their was a brief period of the United Kingdom of Israel and Judah under the Davidic Dynasty. But, after the death of David’s son, Solomon, the Northern Kingdom which was referred to as “Israel” rebelled from Solomon’s son, Rehoboam. The Northern Kingdom was called by several names; Israel, Joseph, Ephraim, Samaria. “Israel” because they were the vast majority of the tribes. (The Southern Kingdom retained the Davidic Dynasty and Jerusalem and was made up predominantly by the tribe of Judah, Benjamin those Levites who had lived in the Southern Kingdom (probably the majority of Levites, since they were the Temple operators and their sub tribe the Kohanim were priests. Also Simeon was scattered in the midst of Judah.) Just as Judah was the dominant tribe of the Southern Kingdom, Joseph was the dominant tribe of the Northern Kingdom. Ephraim, the younger son of Joseph was blessed by Jacob to be greater than his elder brother Manasseh. The capital city of the Northern Kingdom was Samaria; therefore in Biblical history and prophecy the use of any of these terms: Israel, Joseph, Ephraim and Samaria refer to the Northern Kingdom.
Great prophecies were made about the future of Ephraim and Manasseh and Jewish tradition dismisses them as being fulfilled in some episodes in Judges. Rabbinic Judaism has claimed the birthright of Joseph! But read in the end of Genesis yourself, and realize that nothing like these prophecies have ever occurred to the Jewish People.
The Northern Kingdom; Israel; Ephraim, Samaria, committed apostasies and idolatry despite Prophetic warnings. Finally The LORD whistled for Assyria, and used their power to punish Israel and to exile them from the Land and from history! These are the Lost Tribes. They weren’t killed. They probably merged with the Assyrian and other northern mesopotamian peoples who were at the time beginning their migrations into western asia and Europe. I believe they kept some tribal cohesiveness despite forgetting their identity, their God, their language.
When Yeshua claimed He came for the Lost Sheep of Israel and then sends his disciples to the ends of he earth many readers either ignore the internal contradiction or just don’t even notice it. But the LORD said that though He scatter Israel like sand throughout the nations he will like a sieve regather every single one. And it is no contradiction that as the Apostles and Missionaries spread through Europe some of the Pagan “barbarians” quickly converted. Like sheep who recognize the sound of their shepherd’s voice, these Lost Israelites THROUGH Yeshua were reacquainted with the God Of Israel. And that was a major part of Yeshua’s mission. A happy by-product was the crumbs from the table that allowed non-Israelites to become engrafted into the Tree of Israel.
To summarize many truly confessing Christians ( and not those who mutter the sinner’s prayer as they continue to sin) are not merely wild branches engrafted, but are in fact actual branches of Israel reunited with the God Of Israel!
Mainstream Rabbinic Jewish scholars scoff at any of this, of course. They claim that the term “Jew” is synonymous with “Israel”. They claim many of the other tribes fled south at the time of the Assyrian captivity and became incorporated with the Kingdom of Judah, which of course is the origin of the word”Jews”. No doubt many individuals with affiliation with the Tribes of the Northern Kingdom in fact did flee south and merged into the Jewish people. But, the Tribes as tribes, and with their individual prophesied futures yet to be fulfilled were exiled into mystery.
One more thought. The Moon has always been seen by Jews as a symbol for Israel. The Holy-days are based on the Lunar calender. The Gematria (numerology) of the Hebrew for David is 14. And incidentally, the genealogy of Yeshua is listed in 14′s. The haftara read on the eve of the new moon 1 Samuel 20:18-42 reveals David hiding from Saul during the New Moon. There is a palindromic component that is too complicated for now, but clearly Israel is The Moon. I suggest that Judah is the full moon, and Israel (Joseph) is the side unseen from earth; the so-called dark side of the moon.
And when Judah and Israel are reunited by the second coming of Yeshua the world will be shocked at the culmination of all of God’s plans within plans! Soon, please Yeshua!

wow this is so interesting. Ok i’m Russian but i moved to US several years ago. I have some Jewish blood from mothers’ side.I had not heard much about Amish or Mennonites before I came to US.
I have recently started to hang out with some Mennonites.And I think they are very cool. I come to their church sometimes and it’s very interesting. It lasts forever though( like 3 hours)And i just love the relationship in their families. they respect each other and put family on the first place. Another fascinating thing about is that they dont have much( material things) and they are pretty happy with what they have. When we” outsiders” have everything and still are not satisfied with life. I’m amazed with their simplicity of living .)))) I think jewish culture is very interesting too)))))))))))))))

Dear Rebecca,
I have the same sneaking suspicion as do you regarding our origins. I also have Mennonite ancestors. I think there is something Jewish in my background. Loooking for proof of it. Good luck to you, Andrea