40% European Jewish. Specifically, Ashkenazi Jew. Seriously? I guess the data doesn't lie, but who ever would have thought??
What is most amazing about this is that when I was first diagnosed with breast cancer, my oncologist specifically asked me if I was of Ashkenazi Jewish descent. I said "no, of western European descent". Which was a kinda dumb answer cause I really didn't know the answer since I'd not done the DNA test. Turns out the kind of breast cancer I had was prevalent in the African American and Ashkenazi Jewish populations. I'm 1% African American. 40% European Jewish. Go figure.
Talk about knocking my socks off. For real.
Not that I have a single thing against being of Jewish descent. But golly...I come from a long long long line of Baptist preachers and moonshiners. There wasn't a Jew in the bunch, far as I knew.
Looks like there was. A Jew in the bunch. How cool!
European Jews were primarily found in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, Russia, Hungary and Israel with a smattering in Lithuania, Slovakia, Czech, Romania, Bosnia, Serbia and Estonia.
Ashkenazi Jews made up more than 2/3 of the souls killed in the Holocaust. Albert Einstein was an Ashkenazi Jew. Genetic testing is highly recommended for folks descended from the Ashkenazi. They are prone to Tay-Sacks Disease, Breast Cancer, Parkinson's and all sorts of other horrid illnesses.
Lucky us.
Now I need to figure out what to do with the results. I attending an introductory DNA workshop over the weekend. It was about 75% over my head. The other 25% was very helpful. Hopefully, I can use my test results to connect with lots and lots of cousins who are rich in family information and pictures! Keeping my fingers crossed.
