There is no Sephardic category for Ancestry as not enough unique genetic markers were developed. My parents, who are both 88-90%+ Jewish, both have rumblings of Sephardism in family lore. My dad had a test where one line of his family had a haplogroup that started in northern Spain. When I put their DNA into GedMatch, both in a few models got Spanish and Portuguese and both got tons of North African matches. The results never said anything more than "European Jewish" on tests like Ancestry.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DNA test results came out. It says 100% European Jew. That makes sense on my dad's side.

But I know my mom's family came through Spain/Morocco due to strong Sephardic traditions and pronunciations that they kept in her ultra-Orthodox family growing up. Her last name is Levy, which is even a Sephardic last name, and she looks Spanish with olive skin and dark hair, so it even makes sense. They did live in Europe when they escaped the Holocaust but they were a small handful of Sephardic Jews living in Europe.

So why doesn't my DNA say Spanish/Northern Africa or ANYTHING that I would expect?

Or is this a sign that my mom isn't my mom?

I just am trying to digest this information and I cannot find anything helpful on a google search.

Please help.

Technically you can be It says 100% European Jew because! Spain IS an European country and because even if they ended up in different regions they are still called Sephradic becuase of being associated with Spanish roots.

The descendants of Jews who left Spain or Portugal after the 1492 expulsion are referred to as Sephardim. The word “Sephardim” comes from the Hebrew word for Spain, Sepharad, that is stated in the Bible.


It is believed that Jews have lived in Spain since the era of King Solomon (c.965-930 B.C.E.). Little information can be found on these Jews until the beginning of the first century. We do know that in 305 C.E., the Council of Toledo passed an edict forbidding Jews from blessing the crops of non-Jews and prohibiting Jews and non-Jews from eating together.



https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sephardim

You have to read the rest of the thread. It's explained that Jewish Europe carves out Spain.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Op.

Thanks all.

I'm not going to probably come back to the conversation again. I think I know how to proceed now.

For those who don't understand how/why Ancestry.com excludes France, Spain, Italy, England, Greece, Switzerland from "Europe", it's hard to explain it. But they kind of show you the boundaries in Europe of where your DNA is from and for my "Western European" DNA, the farthest west is Germany (it's actually on a map and highlighted). For my "Eastern European" DNA, the farthest east is Poland/Ukraine. You really need to see the map to understand.

If my DNA had come back as European, I would have got it because it would have included Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, too -- but it specifically excluded those areas for me. That's what was confusing.

From my experience, I would highly caution against these DNA tests. I think they are emotional rollercoasters and I do think just the tree would be better.

Ancestry.com lists France as part of it's Western European category: https://www.ancestry.com/dna/ethnicity/europe-west.

But not it's Jewish western European category.

Anonymous wrote:DNA test results came out. It says 100% European Jew. That makes sense on my dad's side.

But I know my mom's family came through Spain/Morocco due to strong Sephardic traditions and pronunciations that they kept in her ultra-Orthodox family growing up. Her last name is Levy, which is even a Sephardic last name, and she looks Spanish with olive skin and dark hair, so it even makes sense. They did live in Europe when they escaped the Holocaust but they were a small handful of Sephardic Jews living in Europe.

So why doesn't my DNA say Spanish/Northern Africa or ANYTHING that I would expect?

Or is this a sign that my mom isn't my mom?

I just am trying to digest this information and I cannot find anything helpful on a google search.

Please help.

Technically you can be It says 100% European Jew because! Spain IS an European country and because even if they ended up in different regions they are still called Sephradic becuase of being associated with Spanish roots.

The descendants of Jews who left Spain or Portugal after the 1492 expulsion are referred to as Sephardim. The word “Sephardim” comes from the Hebrew word for Spain, Sepharad, that is stated in the Bible.


It is believed that Jews have lived in Spain since the era of King Solomon (c.965-930 B.C.E.). Little information can be found on these Jews until the beginning of the first century. We do know that in 305 C.E., the Council of Toledo passed an edict forbidding Jews from blessing the crops of non-Jews and prohibiting Jews and non-Jews from eating together.



https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/sephardim

OP, the test is not bringing back the results you want. It's kind of like a Covid test: you can prefer to be positive or negative, but you get what you get, and there are some false results sometimes. The tests aren't perfect and are still evolving.

It sounds like you wanted a "perfect" test to line up with your paper genealogy trail. That really does not exist. Most people are using the test the exact opposite way: they have no idea what part or most of their genetic heritage is, and they want to use the test to help them develop a paper trail.

In addition to the tests still evolving, there are also people who might look "dark" or "light" from migration that occurred hundreds and hundreds of years ago. There was a lot more migration than many suspect, as other pps have mentioned.

For example I have one ancestor from an unexpected ethnicity who ended up in Virginia. I'm not going to say which one, because everyone who studies colonial Virginia will know exactly who it is. I ended up with two of his very distinctive physical traits, even though we only share 1% DNA. If he was just one or two generations back, the ethnicity wouldn't even show up on the DNA test.

OP, I have found that these dna companies are influenced by racial politics. They are aware of the fact that people just don't want to see that they are part african or part sephardic or whatever. So they don't report that dna. I know from personal experience.

There are Sefardim in the Netherlands, too.

If you are from the Balkans, some tests say "Balkan." Some are differentiating now. SO, a bunch of Croats to results that they are Serbs! And there is a Bosnian Muslim on youtube bemoaning his results as he can't possibly be a Serb.
Some say part Slav, part Balkans.
Some idiots took the name Balkan to mean indigenous population, and here is the proof! That they are Vinca culture or some famed Pelasgians!
That is like claiming that I am a dinosaur!

They found similar DNA in regions they told you about. In the present day, not God knows when.
They include the genes of people who did the test. Did they find matches for you in Isreal?

From reading this thread, it seems clear that ignorance of history is a big stumbling block to understanding genetic makeup.

Like OP who didn't know that some Spanish (Sephardic) Jews fled to Africa to avoid the Inquisition and the Sicilian who didn't know about the Norman invasion there that has resulted in some present day Sicilians having fair complexions.

Anonymous wrote:https://www.jweekly.com/2019/11/29/who-is-a-jew-dna-home-testing-trend-adds-new-wrinkle-to-age-old-debate/


But what about Sephardic Jews looking to get a quantitative peek at their heritage? They’re out of luck. 23andMe communications coordinator Aushawna Collins said that the company hasn’t collected enough data on those populations yet to be able to pinpoint what makes them unique in terms of genes. Risch said it’s because genetically they are not distinct enough from other Mediterranean peoples.

Right -- religion - which people choose, or have forced on them --- needn't be determinative of genetic makeup

https://www.jweekly.com/2019/11/29/who-is-a-jew-dna-home-testing-trend-adds-new-wrinkle-to-age-old-debate/


But what about Sephardic Jews looking to get a quantitative peek at their heritage? They’re out of luck. 23andMe communications coordinator Aushawna Collins said that the company hasn’t collected enough data on those populations yet to be able to pinpoint what makes them unique in terms of genes. Risch said it’s because genetically they are not distinct enough from other Mediterranean peoples.

Anonymous wrote:Op.

Thanks all.

I'm not going to probably come back to the conversation again. I think I know how to proceed now.

For those who don't understand how/why Ancestry.com excludes France, Spain, Italy, England, Greece, Switzerland from "Europe", it's hard to explain it. But they kind of show you the boundaries in Europe of where your DNA is from and for my "Western European" DNA, the farthest west is Germany (it's actually on a map and highlighted). For my "Eastern European" DNA, the farthest east is Poland/Ukraine. You really need to see the map to understand.

If my DNA had come back as European, I would have got it because it would have included Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, too -- but it specifically excluded those areas for me. That's what was confusing.

From my experience, I would highly caution against these DNA tests. I think they are emotional rollercoasters and I do think just the tree would be better.

Ancestry.com lists France as part of it's Western European category: https://www.ancestry.com/dna/ethnicity/europe-west.

Op.

Thanks all.

I'm not going to probably come back to the conversation again. I think I know how to proceed now.

For those who don't understand how/why Ancestry.com excludes France, Spain, Italy, England, Greece, Switzerland from "Europe", it's hard to explain it. But they kind of show you the boundaries in Europe of where your DNA is from and for my "Western European" DNA, the farthest west is Germany (it's actually on a map and highlighted). For my "Eastern European" DNA, the farthest east is Poland/Ukraine. You really need to see the map to understand.

If my DNA had come back as European, I would have got it because it would have included Spain, Italy, Greece, Turkey, too -- but it specifically excluded those areas for me. That's what was confusing.

From my experience, I would highly caution against these DNA tests. I think they are emotional rollercoasters and I do think just the tree would be better.

These tests are not an exact science yet OP. It's mostly just an estimate, and people I know who tested early have had ethnicity results that change over time due to expanded testing.

I mean, it says you are 100% Jewish, as you expected? more accuracy will come in time, if more people are tested.

I would concentrate more on why you took the test in the first place, to connect with relatives you had no idea existed.