Ashkenazi genetic convergence over time

Reality

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 3:55 pm

It is very interesting but I can't read it passed the first couple of lines Sad

Dr. Henry Abramson posted about this. Fascinating how Ashkenazi Jews have so much Italian DNA.

Reality

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 4:07 pm

If you want to learn more, here is the link for Dr. Abramson's 15 minute video on this study. He includes a lot more info than this article.

https://youtu.be/89D2RDgzLLE

Java

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 4:15 pm

Congresswoman wrote:

I find it discomforting that the Jewish gene pool is growing smaller.

I mean, it does make sense since we mostly only marry each other lol
But it definitely underlines the need for dor yeshorim, jscreen etc

Congresswoman

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 4:17 pm

Java wrote:

I mean, it does make sense since we mostly only marry each other lol
But it definitely underlines the need for dor yeshorim, jscreen etc

But for how many generations is it sustainable?

Java

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 4:20 pm

Congresswoman wrote:

But for how many generations is it sustainable?

I don't know...
I guess we have to make more sefardi shidduchim Laugh

Amarante

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 5:02 pm

It is fascinating in terms of how it sheds light on the early origins of the Ashkenazi Eastern Europeans.

However, the small Ashkenazi gene pool is well documented. I did my DNA with ancestry.com and I have thousands of second and third cousins that keep popping up. I have no idea who any of them are as they are completely outside my known family tree so they must somehow go back to great great grandparents.

Laiya

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 6:24 pm

It sounds like Jews used to marry within their own communities, which we know. Now our "community" is much larger, so it makes sense that our genetics would be more uniform.

giftedmom

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 6:29 pm

Amarante wrote:

Second cousins means you share a great-grandparent. Not far at all. Maybe there are branches of your family you don’t know about.

EstyEF

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:03 pm

Thank you to all the righteous gerim out there for your help in this matter.

Last edited by EstyEF on Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:09 pm; edited 1 time in total

mushkamothers

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:08 pm

Congresswoman wrote:

I find it discomforting that the Jewish gene pool is growing smaller.

I'm not surprised. The holocaust wiped out so many lines and pools of people as did intermarriage in the early USA

mushkamothers

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:09 pm

EstyEF wrote:

Thank you to all the gerim out there for your help in this matter.

Many purely Ashkenazic jews have 1% results in their DNA that are non Jewish in lineage. We don't know how many girls were raped in pogroms...

Amarante

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:38 pm

giftedmom wrote:

Second cousins means you share a great-grandparent. Not far at all. Maybe there are branches of your family you don’t know about.

They would be very distant branches because so far as I know everyone except the my parents parents were killed in the Holocaust - their parents had immigrated prior to WW II but their families stayed behind and there were no survivors.

My DNA is 99% European Jew and 1% Baltic. Would a DNA chart be enough to authentic someone as Jewish if they had no other records authenticating them?

Persevere

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:50 pm

Amarante wrote:

Perhaps there were other survivors that your family doesn't know about. Have you contacted any of the cousins that were discovered?

zohar

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:51 pm

Amarante wrote:

I'm not sure how accurate this is, but I heard that since the Ashkenazi Gene pool is so small, didn't relatives show up as more closely related, like second and third cousins, when they are more like fifth cousins.

Amarante

Thu, Dec 01 2022, 9:59 pm

Persevere wrote:

Perhaps there were other survivors that your family doesn't know about. Have you contacted any of the cousins that were discovered?

A few of them have contacted me and whatever common ancestor we have is lost in the mists of time.

I don't know if anyone else has done this kind of DNA test but I must have at least a thousand if not more - none of the surnames are familiar to me at all as none of them have the surnames of my known cousins so they aren't the children of the males who would have the same surname - if that makes sense.

I think the results are accurate because the children of a cousin I know about are on there but they are the only relatives that have any known relationship to me except for shared DNA in some percentage.