Question about Ashkenazi Ancestry

[lizdanya]

Hello,

I am from Canada and I took a DNA test. My DNA test came back 100% European BUT advised I am 2% Ashkenazi Jewish. I am having a difficult time understanding this. The DNA test advised I most likely had a great grand parent that was 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. What does this mean? Is this meaning one of my ancestors left the Jewish homeland of Israel and moved to Europe?

Thank you so much!

Marie

[searchinmyroots]

Hello,

I am from Canada and I took a DNA test. My DNA test came back 100% European BUT advised I am 2% Ashkenazi Jewish. I am having a difficult time understanding this. The DNA test advised I most likely had a great grand parent that was 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. What does this mean? Is this meaning one of my ancestors left the Jewish homeland of Israel and moved to Europe?

Thank you so much!

Marie

Hello Marie and welcome to the forum.

Just tot let you know, the first 3 posts are moderated to help keep out spam and bots.

I'm not 100% convinced DNA testing is that accurate. And I'm not sure what being 2% Ashkenazi means. Most likely just a part of the world where they lived.

The basic rule is if your mother is Jewish, than you are!

You really can't be 2%!

[lizdanya]

Hello,

I am from Canada and I took a DNA test. My DNA test came back 100% European BUT advised I am 2% Ashkenazi Jewish. I am having a difficult time understanding this. The DNA test advised I most likely had a great grand parent that was 100% Ashkenazi Jewish. What does this mean? Is this meaning one of my ancestors left the Jewish homeland of Israel and moved to Europe?

Thank you so much!

Marie

Hello Marie and welcome to the forum.

Just tot let you know, the first 3 posts are moderated to help keep out spam and bots.

I'm not 100% convinced DNA testing is that accurate. And I'm not sure what being 2% Ashkenazi means. Most likely just a part of the world where they lived.

The basic rule is if your mother is Jewish, than you are!

You really can't be 2%!

Thanks so much for your reply.

My apologies if I have posted this in the wrong forum.

It seems you are correct, I have been looking into this for the past few days since my DNA test came back saying I am "2% European Jewish, the other company I took a DNA test through said the same "1.8% Ashkenazi Jewish", so there must be some authenticity to it; two different companies advising nearly the same amount.

I had no idea what this meant... I found this: Perhaps if anyone else is interested. I have posted to the whole article but the idea is:

"Ashkenazi, a Hebrew word that used to refer to Germany (can anyone confirm this is correct?) is used to describe the descendants of Jews who migrated from the Middle East through Europe". ---Link below

https://whoareyoumadeof.com/blog/what-is...an-jewish/

Thank you 

Th

[robrecht]

Yes. In the Bible, Ashkenaz (אַשְׁכֲּנַ֥ז) was the great-grandson of Noah. In the Talmud and other rabbinic literature, Gomer, the father of Ashkenaz, is sometimes rendered as Germania. Over time, Jews who settled around what is now Germany and spoke Yiddish, which is a Jewish low Germanic dialect, became known as Ashkenazi. Yiddish-speaking Jews moved into many Eastern European countries and elsewhere. Sounds like your great, great, great, great grandmother or grandfather was Jewish, perhaps no longer a practicing Jew after she or he intermarried. Here's a Wikipedia article on the Ashkenazi for more background.

[Chavak]

I don't hold a lot of stock in DNA testing. I took one out of curiosity and it said I had a percentage of native american (which I do not) and Egyptian (which I do not). As they compared it against an enlarging sample pool the native american part dropped out but the Egyptian part is still there. I suspect that will drop out too eventually. But if yours is accurate it just means somewhere down the line you have a European Jewish ancestor.