It meN you probably have a third great grand parents or fourth great grandparent who was Jewish. It also depends on how genes are passes on to decendents as it can get weird between siblings too.
I found you because you compared the different tests out there...little did I know we would share some parallels...I was born in Brooklyn to an Ashkenazic Jewish family, I studied at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem for my Junior year.....I am looking to research my father's side of my family, so I was looking for a DNA test that covered the male line. I was always told we were "Levites" from the Tribe of Levi....this information was passed on in the male line...am I in fact a Levite? 2000 some odd years to hold this info.!.is it present in my genes...and who was my father's father? Apparently, he was alive when I was a kid...I don't think he was ever discussed, and there's a photo of him at my Bar Mitzvah...but he has no relatives here ..so siblings no cousins...he brought no one over from the "Old Country"...was he cast out? Was he in trouble with the law? Who knows? So, I wanted to track information down and at least discover what city/village he came from. So, that is my path to you...but after your very personal blog, I feel connected to and invested in your family and in your search and your path..I will look forward to seeing your evolution as more blogs come my way...... I wish you and your family...SHALOM
Thank you so much! Good luck with your search as well! Definitely look into Family Tree DNA and also look for Facebook groups for Jewish Ancestry/Heritage (if you haven't already). I've seen lots of folks out there trying to trace down their Jewish family origins there!
So...small follow-up..did a Y chromosome test...and YES! I am a Levite!!! How many generations are 2000 years...?! I was welcomed by the Levite Group (yes, apparently there is one..!) so, I will use "Halevy" (The Levite) as my middle name! Interesting..I wanted to find out about my mysterious grandfather...and all of a sudden I am catapulted backward 2 millennia! Strange world..no?!
Being Jewish is a blessing, it’s being connected to one of the most persistent peoples in the world! Thousands of years of oppression, and we’ve survived, and so has it’s connection through your father.
@ Because he's Jewish? Do you know that Jews live in many countries, especially the U.S? Only Israelis are involved in combat with Palestinians. Are all Christians responsible for the Holocaust? Are all Muslims responsible for 9/11? Or only those who participated in it? Try to see groups as not monolithic, but as composed of sometimes very different individuals.
You might be able to figure it out by a second 2nd or 3 rd cousin if you message your dna match and ask them who in their family it might be,2 nd cousin would mean you share a grandparent about
