Genetic research and Jewish history

[davidfcooper]

According to a fascinating article in Reform Judaism Magazine most Ashkenazi Jews are the progeny of mixed marriages in the middle ages. So that's how I got my blue eyes!

Comments

[butterflymama3]

That article is fascinating! Thank you for posting it. I'm going to print it out and have my husband read it. Might even show it to Ben, our Rabbi.

[luckycee]

AHA!

[spasmsproject]

Now I know how I got gray eyes and auburn hair.

[hammercock]

I'm curious as to the implications of this research on such a matrilineal religion...

[davidfcooper]

See the Jewish sections of Wikipedia's matrilineality article. In Reform, Reconstructionist, and Humanistic Judaism bilineal descent is the rule, and 68% of Conservative Jews would like to adopt bilineal descent as well. Orthodox Judaism and the Conservative rabbinate still adhere to matrilineal descent, but when both parents agree to it, even in these more traditional movements, the work around is for children of a Jewish father and gentile mother to be converted at birth and raised as Jews.