O pinion
Three DNA Bombshells Upended My Life
BY SAMUEL BURKE
CONFUSION. DISBELIEF.

Denial. Those were the emotions
cutting through me as I looked
at my dad’s DNA results. We
come from a small Phoenix
Jewish family, but this at-home
test was showing a big discovery
none of us could explain.

“Dad, it says you’re Mormon.”
Words I never thought I’d utter.

My father’s response shocked me
even more.

“I know,” he said as my eyes
widened. “I saw that when the
results came in. But it’s so prepos-
terous that I just ignored it.”
You can ignore DNA results,
but that doesn’t make them
go away. The test classifies my
dad (and by extension me) as
“Mountain West Mormon
Pioneers.” We had no idea
a scientific test could tell if
someone comes from a relative-
ly-new proselytizing religion like
the Church of Latter Day Saints.

I was determined to solve
this mystery, but the deeper I
dove into it the more I realized
our lives would never be the
same again. When I finally
untangled the web, my heart
broke as I watched the DNA
test steal a part of my dad and
his identity. We’re still Jewish,
but my father’s paternal lineage
was not at all who or what he’d
always believed.

“It changed my whole
perspective on who I was,” my
dad admitted, referring to his
identity in the past tense.

At-home DNA testing has
become commonplace in the
United States and this nearly
$10 billion market is now
taking off around the world.

But there’s a secret side to these
kits which the DNA industry
doesn’t like to talk about.

Experts find that as many as
11% of people who take a DNA
test discover that one of their
parents is not their biolog-
ical parent, according to the
American Journal of Physical
Anthropology. This sounded
ridiculous to me — until it
happened twice in my very
own family.

The advertising for DNA
testing focuses on positive stories
of people who were seeking
out answers about their ethnic
backgrounds. They don’t spotlight
families like mine whose lives are
turned upside down by a simple
swab of the cheek.

For my family, the DNA
test wasn’t just adding a new
chapter in our lives. It seemed
as though it was rewriting our
life story. After my mom sent
in her sample, we received a
cryptic email from a woman
whose family also attended
Congregation Beth Israel. As
I read the stranger’s email, I
realized the woman was insin-
uating she and my mom are
sisters. When I found a picture
of the woman, my jaw literally
dropped. My mom took one
look at the photo and made a
blunt proclamation.

“Well, we don’t need a DNA
test. She’s obviously my sister,”
she said as she stared at her new
younger sister in amazement.

A third DNA shock brought
my family closure to the
case of a missing cousin who
disappeared in the late ’80s.

We believed he had died from
AIDS, but learned he had met
a different fate.

The DNA test began adding
and subtracting the people
I called “family” so quickly
that I started questioning the
very meaning of the word. Are
family the people who you are
raised with? Or the people
you’re related to?
I began documenting my
family’s own journey as well as a
dozen other families around the
world whose lives were torn apart
and put back together by DNA
testing. Two years of listening in
on these families’ roller-coaster
journeys is now a podcast called
“Suddenly Family.”
Infidelity. Blackmail.

Murder mysteries. Kidnapping.

Clandestine artificial insem-
ination. These families have
experienced it all. Their DNA
plots sound more like block-
buster thrillers, but behind that
are the emotional firsthand
accounts of people who’ve had
to pick up the pieces of their
lives and start all over again.

What type of relationship
do you owe a relative stranger
you had never met before the
DNA test? What happens to
the close family you no longer
share a bloodline with?
These were the questions
I needed answered and the
families who let me listen in
on their most intimate DNA
moments truly provided them.

I learned more about what
the family I’ve had all my
life means to me after devel-
oping relationships with my
newly-discovered family.

Now that the dust has
settled, my dad summarizes
what this gut-wrenching DNA
experience has meant to him:
“It’s now just a matter of fact,”
he said. “It’s not good. It’s not
bad. It just is.” l
Samuel Burke is a three-time
Emmy Award-winning news
correspondent, Arizona State
University graduate and Phoenix
native. He now lives in London
and is the host of the podcast
“Suddenly Family.”
What Jewish Comedians Thought of SNL’s Israel Dig
BY ANDREW SILOW-CARROLL
AT THE TIME of this writing,
it’s almost Purim, which means
I am busy writing jokes that
poke fun at the stuff we do and
obsess about as Jews without
offending too many people. Not
always easy, and that’s when I
am writing for an audience that
14 MARCH 4, 2021
I know extremely well.

Now imagine writing Jewish
jokes outside the bubble. “Saturday
Night Live” found out the hard
way after a joke about Israel went
viral for the wrong reasons. Here’s
the joke Michael Che told on the
Feb. 20 show: “Israel is reporting
that they’ve vaccinated half of
their population, and I’m going to
guess it’s the Jewish half.”
David Harris of the American
Jewish Committee said the joke
“accuses Israel of vaccinating
only Jews” and “spreading an
anti-Semitic lie.” The Reform
movement’s Rabbi Rick Jacobs
said that the joke “was in poor
taste” and that “Israel is a world
leader in COVID vaccinations,
protecting Jewish and Arab
citizens alike.” Gilad Erdan,
Israel’s ambassador to the U.S.,
demanded an apology, tweeting
that “perpetuating anti-Semitism
is just not funny.”
I heard the joke as a comic
riff on the idea that any ethnic
state would of course take care
of its own before others. But
clannishness can be seen as
an anti-Semitic trope: When
the Anti-Defamation League
surveys anti-Semitic attitudes,
it includes “Jews stick together
more than other Americans” as
an anti-Jewish stereotype. I don’t
know if Che or whoever wrote
the joke was aware of this trope,
but that doesn’t absolve them.

The other possibility is that
the joke is about an actual
controversy: accusations that
Israel hasn’t done enough to
JEWISH EXPONENT
get vaccines to Palestinian non-
citizens living in the West Bank
or Gaza. In which case the
joke may be harsh and inaccu-
rate criticism of Israel, but is
it anti-Semitic? A lot of Israelis
have criticized Israel for not
getting more vaccines to the
Palestinian Authority.

Che’s defender’s say the joke
is fair criticism of a country that
recently passed a nation-state
law that privileges its Jewish
population over other groups;
a Haaretz columnist writes the
joke was “a humorous exagger-
ation of Israel’s open and
systemic discrimination against
non-Jews.” Ilana Glazer, the
co-star and co-creator of “Broad
City,” praised Che, retweeting
activists who said the joke told
the truth about the “separate
and unequal treatment” of
Palestinians under occupation.

My hunch is that “SNL” wasn’t
aware of any of this discourse,
and Jews are attaching their own
agendas to a throwaway joke.

To me it sounds like a one-liner
written by a roomful of writers
who live and work in a city with
the world’s largest population of
Jews outside Israel. It is a joke Jews
and even Israelis might tell each
other, but which becomes uncom-
fortable and even anti-Jewish
when released into the wild.

But that is just me. For a
gut check, I reached out to
comedians and entertainers who
specialize in Jewish material or
See Silow-Carroll, Page 19
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM



O pinion
KVETCH ’N’ KVELL
Inclusion Is Urgent Matter
BY EFRAT STERN AND ORLY FRUCHTER
IN FEBRUARY, Jewish commu-
nities across North America and
Israel marked Jewish Disabilities
Awareness & Inclusion Month.

It was heartening that JDAIM
gave voice to millions of Jews
with disabilities and highlighted
disabilities inclusion achieve-
ments, but it was not enough.

Now that February has come
and gone, we must continue
to work urgently to ensure our
communities are welcoming and
empowering throughout the year.

Today there are around 1
billion people with disabil-
ities worldwide. They’re part
of our families and circles
of loved ones, members of
our day schools, summer
camps, synagogues and social
networks. Despite this, they
often live on the margins and
live even more precariously
during times of crises.

COVID-19 has dispropor-
tionately affected people with
disabilities, upending the
support, services and efforts
at accessibility and community
integration that have been key
to their progress. The signifi-
cant gains made on disabilities
issues over the years are in
danger of being lost.

People with disabilities have
once again been largely absent
from public discourse on
pandemic needs. This absence,
and the media’s reliance on old
stereotypes, made it that much
harder for them to retain their
hard-fought place in society.

People with disabilities have
faced outsized pandemic-re-
lated challenges. They have
JEWISHEXPONENT.COM higher rates of unemployment
and loneliness and isolation.

The suspension of in-person
gatherings is further exacer-
bated by the lower rates of
digital literacy in this popula-
tion, cutting them off from
vitally important activities and
medical information.

For many years, we have
worked with people with
disabilities to strengthen and
promote their broader partic-
ipation in society. There are
three important objectives that
can help Jewish leaders and
institutions mitigate losses and
advance self-empowerment.

First, to be inclusive, people
with disabilities need to lead,
be seen and be heard. People
with disabilities must be
central to discussions about
needs and creation of services.

They must have lead roles in
setting community agendas.

Truly inclusive communi-
ties are shaped by people with
disabilities. Second, embrace indepen-
dent living. It’s a cost
effective, safe and rewarding
path to inclusive societies.

People with
disabilities having homes of their own
is an important step toward
achieving full acceptance. As
a society, we need to re-en-
vision self-management skills,
social connections, support
networks, civic responsibility
and create person-centered
services that are financially
sustainable. Israel Unlimited, JDC’s
strategic partnership with the
Israeli government and the
Ruderman Family Foundation,
initiated a supported housing
program with support from the
Azrieli Foundation to empower
people with disabilities to live
in their own apartments, be
involved in the community and
receive support and guidance
from a care coordinator and
mentor. The program assisted
400 people with disabilities in
37 cities across Israel. Research
shows that living in the
community is 30% more cost
effective than an institution.

Third, people with disabil-
ities need increased resources
for better living as they age.

Although the pandemic shone
a spotlight on the outsized
risks faced by the elderly,
there has been little focus on
the growing demographic of
people with disabilities who
are living longer now. On
average, people with disabili-
ties start aging 10 to 15 years
earlier than those without
earlier diagnosed disabilities.

With life expectancy rising,
we must engage in research,
policy and programs to
address the needs of older
adults with disabilities.

Jewish philanthropists and
government bodies in Israel
and North America can be
leaders in this space and build
on their successful history
of creating and supporting
services for seniors. JDC has
launched a comprehensive
study in Israel aiming to build
a strategic map and practical
options for support. We hope
this will become a model.

The current crisis provides
new opportunities to realize
the dream of people with
disabilities to be fully valued
members of our communities.

It’s not just a matter of basic
human justice, but an essential
condition for socioeconomic
advancement and a strong
and resilient social fabric.

When Jewish communities
and Israel partner with people
with disabilities to fulfill this
promise, we give new meaning
to an old and much-cherished
Jewish concept of self-actual-
ization: “If you will it, it is no
dream.” l
Efrat Stern is the director of the
American Jewish Joint Distribution
Committee’s Israel Unlimited and
Orly Fruchter is the manager of
Neurodiverse Initiatives for the
Azrieli Foundation Canada. This
piece was originally published by
eJewishPhilanthropy.com. JEWISH EXPONENT
Thank You From Schoolteacher
AS A RETIRED EDUCATOR from the Philadelphia public
schools who is also a member of the Alliance for Philadelphia
Public Schools (grassroots organization dedicated to preserving
public schools), I was interested in reading Sophie Panzer’s
article on “Jewish Teachers Express Concern about Schools
District’s Reopening Plans” (Feb. 18).

I was so appreciative of her research on the environmental
issues in the buildings, the teachers interviewed for the article
and the history of the labor movement including the importance
of teacher labor leader Karen Lewis who recently died. It was one
of the most in-depth articles on the current problems of teaching
and reopening during the pandemic that I’ve read. Thank you so
much for your coverage of a topic I deeply care about.

Ilene Blitzstein Poses | Philadelphia
Student Is Right to Be Concerned
Thank you, Sophia Rodney (“I’m a Student and I’m Afraid of
Where My Party Is Headed,” Jan. 28). Being concerned about
anti-Semitism on campuses across the country and by certain
congresswomen promoting anti-Israel BDS is commendable and
should be supported by your fellow classmates, not criticized as
“Trumpianism.” These congresswomen — Omar, Tlaib, Ocasio-Cortez —
should be ostracized for their blatant anti-Semitism.

Kathleen M. Levin | Philadelphia
Overcoming Willful Blindness
When Donald Trump began his run for president in 2015, he was
characterized by Sen. Ted Cruz as a pathological liar. Soon Cruz
and millions of others ignored the lies and Trump won the election.

Needlessly, the endless lying continued throughout his presidency.

Rabbi Janine Jankovitz is right in condemning those who turned a
blind eye to his behavior (“The Question of Unity,” Jan. 28).

Over the years, the SPLC and the ADL have provided our
security services with data that has supplemented their own
noting that the biggest threat to our democracy is from white
supremacy. Yet Trump invoked his Orwellian mantra about the
election (I won, it was stolen) in spite of the evidence against it.

The result was the riotous insurrection led by white supremacists.

As of this writing, there are many in the media and in
Congress who are downplaying the seriousness of the revolt
and the part white supremacists played. Lest we forget, white
supremacists hate Jews as much as any other race, color or
creed. Once again, willful blindness plagues our body politic.

Though anti-Semitism may not end in our lifetime, parading
and preaching it ought to be a hate crime punishable by law or
we will continue to see T-shirts emblazoned ‘Camp Auschwitz’
and worse. l
Nathan Farbman | Philadelphia
STATEMENT FROM THE PUBLISHER
We are a diverse community. The views expressed in the signed opinion columns and let-
ters to the editor published in the Jewish Exponent are those of the authors. They do
not necessarily reflect the views of the officers and boards of the Jewish Publishing
Group, the Jewish Federation of Greater Philadelphia or the Jewish Exponent. Send
letters to letters@jewishexponent.com or fax to 215-569-3389. Letters should be a
maximum of 200 words and may be edited for clarity and brevity. Unsigned letters will not be
published. MARCH 4, 2021
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