Simanim Institute is leading a revolution in the identification of Jewishness, by drawing on advanced research and developing a model that assists people seeking to prove their Jewish roots
by the Simanim Institute
Last week the W. family completed the long and exhausting process of gaining the recognition of their Jewishness.
Their journey began in the 1930s in Ukraine. The family’s matriarch, Great-grandma Eve, married a Ukrainian boy. Eve survived the Holocaust by obliterating her Jewish identity in order to escape persecution, and raised her daughter K. as a Ukrainian in every way, without any hint of their Jewish roots.
K. married a Ukrainian and raised a family.
At some point in her adult life, K. somehow found out that she was Jewish, and tried to immigrate to Israel. She managed to obtain a precious immigration visa and made Aliyah about 20 years ago, and her family continued to grow.
In 2005 one of K.’s grandchildren applied to the Israeli Rabbinical Court for the recognition of the family’s Jewishness – his and all his siblings – but since all his grandmother’s documents showed only her Ukrainian citizenship and ethnicity, they could not be used as proof of the
grandchildren’s Jewishness.
Over the ensuing years, various family members tried unsuccessfully to find traces of their Jewishness in the Ukrainian archives. With the assistance of one of the Jewish organizations in Europe, they managed to obtain a document from the 1930s, proving that their great-grandmother Eve was indeed Jewish, but unfortunately, this was insufficient for the Israeli
Rabbinical Court.
All of K.’s grandchildren felt tremendous anguish and frustration, but there appeared to be no solution in sight. With each passing year and with each successive rejection of their applications for the recognition of the Jewishness, the grandchildren’s felt that the chance that the truth would come to light was slipping further and further from their grasp, and that they would never be recognized as Jewish.
A few months ago the family heard that the rabbinical courts would accept a DNA test as proof of Jewishness. K.’s grandchildren contacted Simanim Institute, which conducted genetic testing.
To everyone’s great joy, the results of the DNA test and the comparison conducted by Simanim Institute led the institute’s rabbis to the unequivocal conclusion that the family was indeed Jewish.
Within a few weeks, the family received the welcome news that their blood held clear proof of their Jewishness, and from that point onward the process of obtaining recognition from the Israeli Rabbinical Court was short and quick. Last week the long and arduous quest came to an end: the family received confirmation of their Jewishness! 12 Jewish souls – grandmother K., her children, and grandchildren were recognized as Jewish and returned to their Jewish roots.
If you believe that you are Jewish and have still not been recognized by the Jewish authorities, Simanim Institute invites you to come for genetic testing.
For more information contact the Simanim Institute.