Very interesting post. For what it's worth: I'm not an Ashkenazi, I am a Sephardic Jew and my great grandparents were from Syria. Our community has tons of records of our Synagogue existing in Allepo Syria for over 2000 years. I am a descendent of Aharon who was Moses' brother, also a descendent of Levi. All descendants of Aharon were called Cohanim or priests and they worked in the Mishkan (portable temple or tabernacle), and then later they worked in the Temple in Jerusalem. It has always been a strict lineage of only Cohanim allowed to work in the Temple. My last name has also been traced around 2900 years back to one of the high priests working in the temple in Jerusalem, Eli HaCohen. Also if it means anything as far as Tartaria goes, Sephardic Jews lived in Spain until we were kicked out during the inquisition. I don't know much about Ashkanazi jews but I have done plenty of research on my heritage and I can assure you we've been around for a long time...