Finding out I wasn’t genetically related to my father brought me closer to him
How a surprising discovery on 23andMe led to an even more surprising realization
Genetics
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Opinion My wife gave me a DNA test kit for Hanukkah. The family secrets it revealed changed my life
It should have been a relaxing summer lunch with my maternal first cousins and their spouses, but instead, my mind was racing. I needed to ask a question that had been on my mind for months and I could not wait any longer. Pushing aside my plate, I spoke. “I took an Ancestry DNA test…
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Culture The gay, Jewish scientist the Nazis left alone
The scientist Otto Warburg played a pivotal role in unlocking a central mystery of cancer. But how he was allowed to advance our understanding of the disease is a mystery unto itself. At the time of Hitler’s ascent, when his colleagues fled en masse or were stripped of their positions, Warburg, a gay man from…
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Sponsored Beating The Odds
Helene Karlin knew something wasn’t right. It was the early ‘90s, and at 7 weeks old, her third daughter, Lindsay, wasn’t developing the same as her older two daughters. Getting a diagnosis was frustrating; one doctor determined she was blind, another said she was deaf. It wasn’t until Lindsay was 6 months old when the…
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Sponsored The Miracle Of JScreen
Genetic carrier testing was just a formality for Katie Rosen and Matt Kurzmann when they decided they were ready to grow their family. Two Ashkenazi Jews, they knew it’s what you did to put your mind at ease. So they skipped the doctor and went online to order JScreen, a genetic screening kit, to be…
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Culture How Genetics Paint A Picture Of The Jewish Past
From the time of the Babylonian Exile, Jews have been spread far and wide, carrying with us mementos of our ancient past in our blood, spit and the microscopic double helix of our DNA. Among the best tools the Chosen People have for finding a link to antiquity is bleeding-edge technology that analyzes our genes…
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News With Marriage In Mind, Orthodox College Students Flock To DNA Test
It only takes two milliliters of spit — less than half a teaspoon — to map your DNA. But, as it turns out, that’s kind of a lot of spit. Last week, JScreen, a non-profit Jewish genetic testing service, visited Yeshiva University, hundreds of mostly Orthodox students came through to summon enough spit to ship…
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Opinion Israeli Rabbis Are Using DNA Testing To Police Civil Rights. This Shouldn’t Shock You.
On Tuesday, Judy Maltz reported in Haaretz that the Israeli Rabbinate, which controls conversion, marriage and divorce in Israel, is using DNA testing to verify a person’s Jewishness. Since a person who isn’t Jewish can’t marry a Jew in Israel, which has no civil marriage, the rabbinate is using the DNA test to deny people…
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Events
Haart to Haart
Virtual
Dec 7, 2022
7 pm ET ·
A conversation with Julia Haart and her son Shlomo, stars of Netflix's 'My Unorthodox Life,' about the new season and much more.