Cracking the Code  

When a well-known Swiss entertainer decided to take one of the many newly-popular and affordable DNA tests, he was so enthusiastic about discovering his family history that he opted to announce the results live on his television show. While his parents emigrated from Turkey 50 years ago and he identifies with his Turkish-Muslim ancestry, he was in for a shock: When he opened the envelope in front of a live audience, the results showed that although he’s 15/16 Turkish-Muslim, he’s also 1/16 Jewish. And not just Jewish, but Ashkenazi Jewish. That means the Jewish strain in his family went back just four generations.

His identity might have been seriously upended, but today, the ability to authenticate Jewish ancestry has taken on a new urgency, especially among the Eastern-European immigrant community in the Holy Land. In Israel, the Law of Return grants near-automatic citizenship to immigrants with at least one Jewish grandparent, but the chief rabbinate only recognizes them as Jews if they have a Jewish mother. These two differing qualifications leave many immigrants in limbo: According to the State, they are considered Jewish and are listed as such on government forms. But according to the Rabbinate, they cannot marry in Israel or be buried in a Jewish cemetery unless their halachic Jewishness is confirmed.

For the many immigrants who did not arrive from established Jewish communities that could attest to their members’ Jewishness, obtaining authentication is often impossible. Additionally, often the documents presented are either smudged originals, blurry photocopies, or forgeries. The result is often frustration, pain, dashed hopes, and no little resentment.

But in these days of sophisticated DNA research, is there an easier way of corroborating family ties than sifting through dusty prewar archives? What if a Jewish connection, and more specifically, a maternal one, could be verified with a simple cheek swab?