Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Ashkenazi Jews, a major Jewish diasporic ethnic group native to Europe.
Ashkenazi Jews
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Fast Forward US Task Force: Ashkenazi Jewish Women Should Test For Breast Cancer Genes
(JTA) — Ashkenazi Jewish women should be screened for the BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes linked to breast cancer. That’s the recommendation by a U.S. task force announced in an editorial this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association. One in 40 Ashkenazi Jews have a BRCA1 or BRCA2 mutation, compared with one in…
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Opinion How Did Ashkenazi Jews End Up With Famous Non-Jewish Last Names?
It’s a fact: Ashkenazi Jews often bear surnames also used by Christians. What, if anything, does that tell us? Surnames used by a population often contain clues about the historical, linguistic and cultural past of the group. Certain names reveal migration patterns, others provide clues about the occupations of the ancestors and some names provide…
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Opinion Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s Sephardic Story Is One Forgotten By White Jews
It happens at least once every semester: a student learns that I teach courses in Jewish studies at my university here in southeast Texas and comes to visit me during my office hours. In most cases, I have never met this student before, and at first, the conversation is hesitant, as if the student lacks…
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Community Anti-Semitism Is Real — And So Are White Jews
I am a white American Jew. If I look at my family tree for many generations back on either side, I will see white Europeans who look just like me. My mother’s family has been in the US for several generations. She has roots in Eastern Europe, but her parents, grandparents and great-grandparents were born…
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News Ashkenazi Jews Have A Nickname. Or Is It A Slur?
In 2018, brevity is the soul not of wit, but of identity politics. Feminine is “femme.” Masculine is “masc.” And Ashkenazi is “Ashki.” The term, sometimes a dig and sometimes a diminutive, is popping up more frequently on social media. Like other internet-era terms for Jewish sub-groups — “ortho” for Orthdoox, “OTD” for those who…
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Opinion Have Your Say: Are Ashkenazi Jews White?
Have Your Say is your chance to tell us what you think. Comment below or on Facebook and let us know what you think about the question posed in the headline.
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News 23andMe’s World Cup Campaign Leaves Ashkenazi Jews A Bit Nowhere
In the wake of the United States’ failure to qualify for the World Cup, which will be held in Russia, 23andMe has announced a new partnership with FOX Sports that will try to get fans pumped up by encouraging them to root for the country of their ancestors. It sure is nice to feel genetic…
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Fast Forward Family Needs Help To Fund Gene Therapy For Disease Prevalent in Ashkenazi Jews
Jennie Landsman first noticed something was wrong when her 6-month-old son Benny was still unable to hold up his head. She and her husband Gary took him to multiple specialists. It took months, and the birth of another son, Josh, before finally receiving a devastating answer last August. Their two youngest sons were diagnosed with…
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Opinion My ancestors left their homelands to escape antisemitism. Will my son have to leave the U.S. because he’s trans?
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Fast Forward Netflix’s ‘Apple Cider Vinegar’ features a Jewish-run ‘cancer clinic.’ What is it?
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Looking Forward What will you do if ICE shows up at your synagogue?
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