Genetic genealogy is in its infancy. The Human Genome Project was only completed in 2003. I believe it is an excellent idea to get tested and, especially, to ask older family members to be tested. For deep family research, such as undertaken by most Sephardic genealogists, the rewards may not immediate, but they will come. Others have privacy concerns. Julia Creet is a critic of DNA tests, and genealogy generally.
There are three types of commercial DNA test:
Y-DNA is passed from fathers to sons (only). Women can test their father, a brother or a male cousin on the patrilineal line. Y-DNA tests generally correspond with family surnames and can show whether two men share common ancestry. It can give you insight into where a distant male ancestor may have lived, but not what they believed. I am Jewish, but my Y-DNA is Iberian. The Avotaynu DNA Project is developing a library of Y-DNA from men descended from Jewish communities around the world. (https://avotaynuonline.com/avotaynu-foundation-dna-project/). FamilyTreeDNA offer Y-DNA tests.
Mitochondrial DNA (mDNA or mtDNA) is passed from women to children, male and female. It is less useful than Y-DNA both because mitochondrial DNA mutates at a slower rate and because historic records focus on men.
Autosomal DNA is the test most people take. Such tests are often marketed as ‘family finder’. Autosomal DNA is inherited from both parents, they from their parents, etc. Obviously, there is a limit to the total amount of DNA you can inherit, and you will not inherit precisely 25% from each grandparent. Siblings will not have identical DNA.
Amounts of inherited DNA dilutes each generation, and you may inherit no DNA from some relatively recent ancestors. This is why it can be a good idea to test multiple family members. You may be able to identify fifth or even sixth cousins through an autosomal (also sometimes called a ‘family finder’) test. An autosomal DNA test is not going to tell you anything about the ethnic origins or beliefs of distant ancestors. Such a test will not, for example, tell you that who you ancestors were in 1492, who they were or what they believed.
Genetics, and talk of haplogroups, is complex. DNA testing companies often give their clients an ‘ethnic’ breakdown of their DNA. This is best treated as fun rather than something serious, especially for low percentages. Blaine Bettinger (https://thegeneticgenealogist.com/) is a good explainer of genetic genealogy. His book, Guide to DNA Testing and Genetic Genealogy, is recommended.
Various of the DNA testing companies have tools to help with genetic genealogy. An excellent independent tool is DNA Painter (https://dnapainter.com/) which can help you identify which genes came from who. You can then work out how you relate to some DNA matches. However, this is hugely challenging for people with Ashkenazi ancestry, as Ashkenazim emerge from a relatively small gene pool so more distant relatives can appear closer than they are.
It is worth remembering that different countries have different rules for DNA testing. In most English-speaking countries it is easy to access DNA tests. In France, for example, DNA tests are only allowed in very specific situations. The situation in English-speaking countries is disparagingly dismissed as being a ‘Wild West. I am not sure of the situation in Portugal, Spain and most Mediterranean countries.
Also, be aware that a DNA test can sometimes deliver unpleasant news, for example there are cases of people discovering that their genetic father or grandfather was not who they believed.
Sephardic DNA Test?
Geneticists understand genetics. They are not necessarily experts on history. One notably study claimed that 20% of people in Spain and Portugal had Jewish origin. I think this derives from a poor understanding of the history, but there is now a small industry telling people they have Jewish ancestry. The figure seems to inflate every year. At the time of writing, it is being claimed that up to 200 million Latin Americans – about one in three – have Sephardic ancestry.
There is no DNA test for Sephardic ancestry, although some companies are refining their tests for some sub-communities. Sephardim (meaning Iberian Jews) descend from both Jewish migrants to what is now Spain and Portugal in Roman times, converts, inter-marriages, adoptions, non-paternity events, etc.
Ancient Jews in the Iberian peninsula may have had DNA indistinguishable from earlier Phoenician settlers, as well as the Phoenician-descended Carthaginians who rules the Iberian peninsula before the Romans. After the failure of the Jewish rebellions against Rome, many people in North Africa abandoned Judaism. Presumably, some of their descendants later arrived on the Iberian peninsula as Muslims. So, there will be families that have been Catholic for over a thousand years whose DNA may be from elsewhere, and families who have been Jewish even longer who have clearly Iberian origins. This is before we consider voluntary conversions in any direction, non-paternity events, etc.
The different experiences of the three Sephardic sub-groups – the Megorashim in Morocco and Algeria, the Eastern Sephardim of the Ottoman Empire, and the Western/Portuguese Sephardim – are reflected in their genetic make-up. Also, Mizrahi and any other non-Ashkenazi Jews put in the Sephardic category. Ascribing ethnic origins and distant familial beliefs from autosomal DNA is a waste of time. Finding distant relatives, though, can help unlock the family puzzle for recent generations.
Recently there has been a distasteful trend of claiming Sephardic ancestry due to having a BRAC genetic mutation that increases the chances of breast cancer. These claims seems to come from outside the community, and especially from groups in the southwest United States some of whom may Sephardic ancestry. If there is a higher propensity for breast cancer within the Sephardic community, nobody ever mentioned it to me.
The commercial genealogical testing companies include Ancestry.com, FamilyTreeDNA , MyHeritage and 23andMe. I believe that only FamilyTreeDNA test for Y-DNA and mtDNA. MyHeritage state they can identify five different varieties of ‘Sephardic’ DNA, but friends familiar with genetic genealogy are unimpressed. If you have an autosomal test, you can upload the results to GEDMatch, a site where you can import and compare autosomal DNA tests from different companies, but not Ancestry.
I think that genetic genealogy and research in archives can complement each other. A DNA test alone is not much help. Sometimes Ashkenazi Jews seek to explain a small percentage of ‘Iberian’, ‘Mediterranean’, ‘Italian’, etc DNA with a fanciful story of a Sephardic ancestor “fleeing the Inquisition”. Realistically, DNA from Sephardic ancestor hundreds of years ago is unlikely to have passed down the generation undiluted. Also, small percentages in the data can just be background noise.
I believe there is evidence of a couple of small settlements of Sephardim from the Ottoman Empire in 16th Century Poland, but they seem to have left. Also a very small group of Sephardim from Amsterdam were in Danzig/Gdansk during the 17th Century, but they left. It seems unlikely that a handful of Sephardim who MIGHT have stayed in eastern Europe spawned the huge number of Ashkenazim who believe they may have Sephardic ancestry. Some people claim there were migrations from Spain to Germany in 1492, but there is no archival or genetic evidence to support this claim. And why would Iberian Jews choose to enter hostile territory, having just escaped Spain with their lives? Hopefully DNA testing will eventually answer this riddle.
For those applying for Portuguese citizenship based on Sephardic ancestry, a DNA test is not admissible evidence.
Sephardic Y-DNA Test
Below is a video of a talk by Adam Brown of the Avotaynu DNA Project to the Sephardic World group in 2020. Avotaynu are partnering with FamilyTreeDNA.
A Sephardic World talk by Inês Pires Nogueiro on DNA evidence of Jews in Portugal.
A genetic census of the Sephardim. A second Sephardic World talk by Adam Brown.
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