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Aug 3, 2022Liked by Sarah Einstein

I am fascinated by this question and have been for most of my life. I haven't taken the Ancestry test but I asked my Jewish dad to take it after we were contacted by a probable cousin who I was drawn to. I had a surprisingly strong emotional reaction to seeing his results, that nice full yellow circle: 100% Ashkenazi Jew. Throughout my life I have been strongly put off by any notion of ethnic or racial purity, of any kind of purity, really, and yet I felt deeply proud of that result. For one thing, it was a big fuck you to Nazis who tried to obliterate the Jews including my relatives who I have been learning more about and feeling more connected to. But also, that DNA result proves I'm at least a whole half of something, in some way, despite having been raised with virtually no traditions or overt cultural connections and being Jewish through my father's side.

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Aug 3, 2022Liked by Sarah Einstein

The man that i know and love as my dad, is not my biological contributor. I never knew that person, not his name nor what he looked like. Mom and I "married" Dad when I was two and he adopted me. (I'd had my mother's maiden name before the adoption)

So for most of my life I only knew of my Irish/Swedish genes. But every time I started with a new doctor, i was reminded that I did NOT know about "who" the other half of me was. And after age 50, i was concerned about what sort of unknown family history illnesses were lurking and waiting to pounce.

So I did the 23& Me earlier this year. Fortunately, it hasn't uncovered any medical disasters waiting to happen 😊 What I DID find, was a sister, nine years younger than me living in Pittsburgh. And a brother, one year younger than me and half Puerto Rican living in Atlanta. They were not complete surprises given that I knew absolutely nothing from the start.

I am in touch with my sister often even though we haven't yet met in person. My brother is hesitant. His experience trying to reconnect with his birth mother didn't go well. I let him know that I am always here, always his sister, unconditionally. My sister has been able to give me more medical history and pictures of my biological other. He passed in 2019, and I'm ok with not knowing him personally because my fatherly needs have always been completely filled by my Dad ❤️

I think my sister got the short end of the stick because her mother dated that man for 30 years. So he was in her life to a degree, but made it clear that he wasn't into kids and didn't want them.

I was in the right frame of mind to have undertaken this. I think a lot of people should receive some counseling prior to taking the jump, because they truly aren't prepared for what they may find. I've also seen some really beautiful stories come out of this. And those stories are not to be discounted. I applaud you for the research you are doing. But no matter what you find, you are still the one and only Sarah Einstein. The same person you have always been. And you should not let this information change you to the point of being someone else 🙏🏽❤️😘

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Sarah,

I've done the AncestryDNA test and sure, there were some surprises, including a new first cousin who was adopted and a second cousin whose mother was 100 percent Irish but is still a second cousin in some way I don't yet understand. There's some sort of Irish connection I don't understand. Yet, through DNA I have found new third cousins, a new branch of my Krasner family, etc. I have yet to take the 23andMe test, but I plan to do that sometime soon.

Barbara

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Aug 23, 2022Liked by Sarah Einstein

I wonder about the Mormon influence in building of Ancestry.com. They have told both me, my brother and sister we are either 100 or 98 per cent Eastern European Jewish. What the heck does that mean??? We know Jews migrated widely through their history. I saw a minsicule Iberian Peninsula reference in my sister's chart. If Jewish is not a "race" how can Ancestry report this as where I'm from??? Seems lazy at best.

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founding

I presume that I am parent 2?

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