Jewish DNA says 100% European but I am 50% Sephardic

[Anonymous]

Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

+1

If you know your mom's family was Sephardic, why do you need a test to confirm that?

[Anonymous]

I see this from Wikipedia:

"Sephardic Jews are closely genetically related to their Ashkenazi Jewish counterparts and studies have shown that they have mainly a mixed Middle Eastern (Levantine) and Southern European ancestry."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sephardi_Jews#Relations_with_Ashkenazim

Maybe your mom has southern European DNA, but not Middle Eastern. Seems she could still be Sephardic AND 100% European that way.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

+1

If you know your mom's family was Sephardic, why do you need a test to confirm that?

I didn't take a test to confirm that. I took a test and then was a bit surprised that it wasn't confirmed, which left me shaken up.

My reason for taking the test was to find long-lost relatives. My parents didn't think anyone survived the holocaust. I have found distant cousins through this so that part was good. As one example, my great grandaunt was presumed to have died, but actually made it separately to Canada and I have connected with her great grandchildren via Ancestry. No one even knew that for almost 100 years so that entire family was lost. I expect that there are some family that made it to Israel, too, but no one has taken the Ancestry.com test so I cannot find those relatives. And, according to Ancestry, I have hundreds of relatives that are 4th, 5th, and 6th cousins, too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

+1

If you know your mom's family was Sephardic, why do you need a test to confirm that?

Because she suspects her mom is not her mom?

If so - I think you'd have better luck starting out asking her rather than having her take a test to prove her maternity.

But -- irrespective of the maps on your genetic tests -- both Spain and Russia are in "Europe" and both Sephardic and Ashkenazi jews are European.

Please get over this Africa thing -- you're simply off-base abut that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

+1

If you know your mom's family was Sephardic, why do you need a test to confirm that?

I didn't take a test to confirm that. I took a test and then was a bit surprised that it wasn't confirmed, which left me shaken up.

My reason for taking the test was to find long-lost relatives. My parents didn't think anyone survived the holocaust. I have found distant cousins through this so that part was good. As one example, my great grandaunt was presumed to have died, but actually made it separately to Canada and I have connected with her great grandchildren via Ancestry. No one even knew that for almost 100 years so that entire family was lost. I expect that there are some family that made it to Israel, too, but no one has taken the Ancestry.com test so I cannot find those relatives. And, according to Ancestry, I have hundreds of relatives that are 4th, 5th, and 6th cousins, too.

I’m not following OP’s train of thought here. For 100 years you thought the family was lost? The Holocaust was less than 80 years ago.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

+1

If you know your mom's family was Sephardic, why do you need a test to confirm that?

I didn't take a test to confirm that. I took a test and then was a bit surprised that it wasn't confirmed, which left me shaken up.

My reason for taking the test was to find long-lost relatives. My parents didn't think anyone survived the holocaust. I have found distant cousins through this so that part was good. As one example, my great grandaunt was presumed to have died, but actually made it separately to Canada and I have connected with her great grandchildren via Ancestry. No one even knew that for almost 100 years so that entire family was lost. I expect that there are some family that made it to Israel, too, but no one has taken the Ancestry.com test so I cannot find those relatives. And, according to Ancestry, I have hundreds of relatives that are 4th, 5th, and 6th cousins, too.

I’m not following OP’s train of thought here. For 100 years you thought the family was lost? The Holocaust was less than 80 years ago.

She said almost 100... give her a break. OP- these responders aren’t Jewish and don’t get it. My husband and older son have olive skin and dark hair as did my mother in law and we suspect there is some Sephardim in them somewhere but the only family we know of were from Eastern Europe. I’d love to see his 23andme but he doesn’t want to try it. It does sound like the company can’t identify Sephardic genetics as you have clear proof that your family is Sephardic. I grew up in Philly and I don’t remember ever meeting a Sephardic Jew until I went to israel in my 20s. Everyone I knew looked and practiced Ashkenazi.

[Anonymous]

OP, they probably don’t have as many samples of the DNA from certain kinds of European Jews as they do for the non-Jewish population, so the test only can tell right now that you are “European Jewish”without getting more precise. As another poster said, as they get more samples they may eventually be able to be more precise. There also may have been little to no intermarriage with your anscestors, so even though they may have moved a lot to avoid persecution, genetically they remained the same.

My family is Sicilian, and has darker skin, so I expected that we’d come back with some African or Middle Eastern DNA. Nope. In fact, there was some Northern European and Celtic DNA in there which we have no idea at all how that happened.

[Anonymous]

I wouldn't sell my DNA to any of these companies.

[Anonymous]

OP clearly wrote, for 100 years THAT family was lost, clearly to her and her immediate family.
Are you people being dese on purpose? There were pogroms and persecution of Jews before WWI, interwar period, nonstop in fact over the centuries.
However, op, you also do not understand how this test works. You ought to test your mom, but many groups are clumped together. And you have no proof that they were in North Africa, correct? Call the test people and ask them how many differentiations they have for your ethnic group.

[Anonymous]

Let go of the fear about your mother.
--someone with a similar history and similar DNA results who also lost family members in Holocaust.

Check out some of the family tree apps online - we've found long lost relatives and family info that way, easier than DNA tests in fact.

[Anonymous]

How can France, Italy, and Switzerland be "excluded" from Europe?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP, they probably don’t have as many samples of the DNA from certain kinds of European Jews as they do for the non-Jewish population, so the test only can tell right now that you are “European Jewish”without getting more precise. As another poster said, as they get more samples they may eventually be able to be more precise. There also may have been little to no intermarriage with your anscestors, so even though they may have moved a lot to avoid persecution, genetically they remained the same.

My family is Sicilian, and has darker skin, so I expected that we’d come back with some African or Middle Eastern DNA. Nope. In fact, there was some Northern European and Celtic DNA in there which we have no idea at all how that happened.

In Sicily, there are many light skinned, light haired people, who are called "Normani" meaning they had Norman blood from the Norman invasion in 999 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_conquest_of_southern_Italy

Normans were from Normandy in France, who had originally come from Scandanavia - hence the fair features.

[Anonymous]

Maybe a dna test like https://mytrueancestry.com/

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why does this matter if you have such a strong knowledge of where your parents came from?

+1

If you know your mom's family was Sephardic, why do you need a test to confirm that?

I didn't take a test to confirm that. I took a test and then was a bit surprised that it wasn't confirmed, which left me shaken up.

My reason for taking the test was to find long-lost relatives. My parents didn't think anyone survived the holocaust. I have found distant cousins through this so that part was good. As one example, my great grandaunt was presumed to have died, but actually made it separately to Canada and I have connected with her great grandchildren via Ancestry. No one even knew that for almost 100 years so that entire family was lost. I expect that there are some family that made it to Israel, too, but no one has taken the Ancestry.com test so I cannot find those relatives. And, according to Ancestry, I have hundreds of relatives that are 4th, 5th, and 6th cousins, too.

I’m not following OP’s train of thought here. For 100 years you thought the family was lost? The Holocaust was less than 80 years ago.

She said almost 100... give her a break. OP- these responders aren’t Jewish and don’t get it. My husband and older son have olive skin and dark hair as did my mother in law and we suspect there is some Sephardim in them somewhere but the only family we know of were from Eastern Europe. I’d love to see his 23andme but he doesn’t want to try it. It does sound like the company can’t identify Sephardic genetics as you have clear proof that your family is Sephardic. I grew up in Philly and I don’t remember ever meeting a Sephardic Jew until I went to israel in my 20s. Everyone I knew looked and practiced Ashkenazi.

You really can’t go based on appearance. My husband’s family are so very dark. Olive skin, dark brown hair, very dark eyes. They’re ashkenazi from Poland. We even know the town. On the other hand my family on both sides, also ashkenazi from Poland and Russia, are very fair. Pale skin, blue or green eyes, hair ranging from blond to true black (even though pale skinned). Just appearance tells you nothing.