Who Am I -- Will the DNA Tell Me?

I have been interested in my genealogy for several years.  Unfortunately, this interest started many years after my father died. My mother, already suffering from early signs of dementia, provided some details, but not many.  There were, and remain, many family secrets on my mother's side of the family.  She has passed and I have so many questions left unanswered.  These unanswered questions have created  many road blocks.  So many that my family tree is laden with missing persons.  My father's youngest brother, has helped me put pieces together on father's side.  But, only so much.

I learned about the Puerto Rican Mallorcan Jews Project this past summer.  My maternal grandfather was from Mallorca, Spain.  And so the question was raised, could there be a hidden Jewish identity in my family?  The thought intrigued me. I couldn't shake it loose.  One evening I decided to to email the project co-administrator to get some advice and feedback.  I have communicated with her several times since then. To me she is a kindred spirit researching her ancestral roots. 

After deliberating back and forth with my sister, getting encouragement from my daughter, and the assistance of  my brother, who provided the Y-DNA, we were on our way to determining the ancient ancestral roots on my father's side.

Dell Sanchez's last book, Out of Hiding, includes results of recent DNA research that confirms the Jewish ancestry of the Mexican/American men that participated in the research.  While our Y-DNA results were pending, I read and re-read Out of Hiding. I referred to the research results time and again.  He records the following haplogroup determinations for Sephardic Jews--the Jews of Spain:

The International Sephardim DNA Profile (ISDNAP)

I = 1%  /  Q = 2%  /  K = 3%*  /  R1a = 4%  /  E3b1 = 13%  /  G= 16%  /  R1b = 13%  /  J1 = 16%  /  J2 = 32%

*Haplogroup K has become T

(Out from Hiding, Evidences of Sephardic Roots Among Latinos by Dell F. Sanchez, Ph.D)

During the Spanish Inquisition, Jewish people were expelled from Spain.  Escape to the Spanish colonies of the New World, although not easy, was possible.  Spanish Jews were the first European settlers in Puerto Rico, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Mexico, and parts of Central and South America.

In Puerto Rico little is known of this ancestry.  The ancestral Jewish identity has seemed to vanish.  Although not practiced today, there is one custom that Puerto Rican women had that speaks of Jewish ancestry - an interpretation of Leviticus 12:4. 

After childbirth, women kept "cuarentena," they stayed in bed, rested, and ate a special diet.  I know this first hand because my mother did this for her first 3 children.  My grandmother was instrumental in making sure of this.  To this day, I have recollections of my grandmother caring for my mother after the birth of my sister.  It was only after coming to the States that my mother stopped this practice.
 
I'm sure that had we remained in Puerto Rico my ancestral search would be so much easier.  Truth be told, I have to dig deeper.  I have to take a trip to the town where I was born and check all the records that may provide clues to the origin of my family members on both sides.

I participate in a home base fellowship and the pastors are wonderful, caring people.  They are close and dear friends. They are filled with love, an immense love, for all people but especially the Latino / Hispanic people. When they made aliyah to Israel last year they did not anticipate the identity search that would follow their return home.  They too have embarked on a genealogy search.