Press Room
DNA has the potential to be an exciting and essential genealogical tool. But many Eastern European Jewish testers find their DNA results completely overwhelming and unnavigable. So how do you uncover your family story?
On Thursday, October 28 at 5pm, the Center for Jewish History (CJH) will live stream a discussion, Family History Today: No, You Don’t Really Have 7,900 Fourth Cousins – Getting Started with Ashkenazi Jewish DNA
Jennifer Mendelsohn, an internationally renowned journalist and professional genealogist, will help those with Ashkenazi heritage learn how to make sense of their DNA results.
“While there’s a lot of buzz about taking a DNA test, there’s also a lot of confusion about what our test results mean. Jennifer has the expertise to cut through the noise and get to the heart of how DNA testing can and cannot add to your genealogy search,” said Moriah Amit, the senior reference services librarian at the Ackman & Ziff Family Genealogy Institute located in CJH.
Mendelsohn will go over the basics of DNA testing, including why match lists are so large, (hello, endogamy!) why all matches seem to match each other (endogamy, again!), and how to spot the meaningful matches and separate them from the faux ones. Using real-life examples of DNA success, she’ll teach techniques that will help you work effectively with DNA to expand your tree.
This program is funded, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.