Latest news with #AshkenaziJews
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Who do we think we are, anyway? DNA testing is rewriting national histories
Family histories are notoriously prone to works of artistic falsehood. Shows like Who Do You Think You Are? work by showing people what lies behind half-remembered stories and occasional dubious paternity cases. National stories, however, are solid. We might be uncertain about our precise roots as individuals, but we know who we are as a nation. At least, that's what I thought. But just as cheap DNA testing has blown up fondly-held family tales – none of my ancestors were Huguenot, and one ancestor in Cork may have had to explain to Saint Peter how the Iberian ended up in my genome – it's also rewriting how we think about history. Some stories turn out to be true. King Alfred succeeded in fighting back the Danish Vikings, who left 'no obvious genetic signature'. Neither, for that matter, did the Romans: the white English as an ethnic group are essentially German, and the Welsh really are closer to the pre-Saxon people of Britain than everyone else. Other results are less expected. Ashkenazi Jews draw part of their ancestry from Levantine populations, but may draw even more from Italy. The people who built Stonehenge were replaced by the people of the Beaker culture almost entirely, leaving their fate an unpleasant mystery, and raising the uncomfortable thought that prehistory may have been a bloodier place than we like to think. And while black Americans can learn more about their African roots, they also learn about their European heritage; the descendants of slaves are also the descendants of slave-owners. It's fascinating, and it's a delight and a privilege to live in a time where we can lift some of the veil over our collective history to catch a distant glimpse of the people who made us. But does it have any real world impact? Perhaps not. I can't see the Balkans engaging in a festival of brotherly unity on realising Serbs and Croats are pretty much the same people. Even leaving aside methodological disputes – I could have written this piece claiming the English are actually Danes – there's a reason we forgot these population movements. The point of national myths isn't that they're true, but that they give us something to cohere around. They tell us who we are and how we relate to each other with such strength that other ties are forgotten. DNA may rewrite ancient history, but for better or worse – the present is here to stay. Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Telegraph
4 days ago
- General
- Telegraph
Who do we think we are, anyway? DNA testing is rewriting national histories
Family histories are notoriously prone to works of artistic falsehood. Shows like Who Do You Think You Are? work by showing people what lies behind half-remembered stories and occasional dubious paternity cases. National stories, however, are solid. We might be uncertain about our precise roots as individuals, but we know who we are as a nation. At least, that's what I thought. But just as cheap DNA testing has blown up fondly-held family tales – none of my ancestors were Huguenot, and one ancestor in Cork may have had to explain to Saint Peter how the Iberian ended up in my genome – it's also rewriting how we think about history. Some stories turn out to be true. King Alfred succeeded in fighting back the Danish Vikings, who left 'no obvious genetic signature'. Neither, for that matter, did the Romans: the white English as an ethnic group are essentially German, and the Welsh really are closer to the pre-Saxon people of Britain than everyone else. Other results are less expected. Ashkenazi Jews draw part of their ancestry from Levantine populations, but may draw even more from Italy. The people who built Stonehenge were replaced by the people of the Beaker culture almost entirely, leaving their fate an unpleasant mystery, and raising the uncomfortable thought that prehistory may have been a bloodier place than we like to think. And while black Americans can learn more about their African roots, they also learn about their European heritage; the descendants of slaves are also the descendants of slave-owners. It's fascinating, and it's a delight and a privilege to live in a time where we can lift some of the veil over our collective history to catch a distant glimpse of the people who made us. But does it have any real world impact? Perhaps not. I can't see the Balkans engaging in a festival of brotherly unity on realising Serbs and Croats are pretty much the same people. Even leaving aside methodological disputes – I could have written this piece claiming the English are actually Danes – there's a reason we forgot these population movements. The point of national myths isn't that they're true, but that they give us something to cohere around. They tell us who we are and how we relate to each other with such strength that other ties are forgotten. DNA may rewrite ancient history, but for better or worse – the present is here to stay.
Daily Mail
5 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Must-know signs you have the deadly gene that almost guarantees cancer - as Kara Tointon announces double mastectomy
Former EastEnders star Kara Tointon has revealed that she has undergone a double mastectomy, following a genetic test which confirmed she carries the deadly BRCA mutation. While cancer is not usually inherited, some types—including breast, ovarian, pancreatic and prostate cancer—can be strongly influenced by genes. The majority of hereditary breast cancers are due to mutations in two genes, BRCA1 and BRCA2, which give you between 45-85 per cent chance of developing cancer in your lifetime. Those with a faulty BRCA gene also have a 50 per cent chance of passing it on to their children, meaning that cancer can sometimes run in families. So how do you know if you're at risk? The first sign you may be a BRCA carrier is having a close family member who developed one of three cancers under the age of 50, according to the National Cancer Institute. This includes breast, ovarian, male breast and pancreatic cancer. The relative affected must be a first or second degree relation—such as parent, sibling, grandparent, aunt, uncle, niece or nephew. Similarly, if you have one of these relatives with prostate cancer before the age of 80, it may be a red flag. About 62 per cent of those with harmful changes in BRCA genes will get prostate cancer by age 80, studies show. Another risk factor is having jewish ancestry. According to the NHS, one in 40 Ashkenazi jews have a faulty BRCA gene, compared to around 1 in 250 individuals in the UK general population. Sephardi jews are also at increased risk, with 1 in 140 having a mutated gene. Ms Tointon, 41, is now urging other women to look out for the signs that they could carry the gene—putting them at a very high risk of cancer. In a video posted to Instagram that has so far been viewed over 521,000 times, the mother-of-two said: 'You may have heard of the BRCA genes 1 and 2 and as a carrier it means I am at a greater risk of both breast and ovarian cancer.' 'There is a history of both cancers in my family on my mother's side but for various reasons, including generational trauma, we hadn't looked into [genetic testing] until that point.' In 2018, the soap star was given the option to take a genetic test when her mother Carol, was undergoing treatment for ovarian cancer, which affects up to 58 per cent of women who inherit a faulty BRCA1 gene. 'It was put to us, we took the test and it was confirmed that my mum and I both carried the gene', Ms Tointon explained. Her mother died just a year later in 2019. Now, after having her second son in 2021, Ms Tointon has revealed that she underwent two preventative surgeries, including a double a mastectomy and the removal of her fallopian tubes. 'They believe that ovarian cancer begins in the fallopian tubes, so by removing them first, checking them out, you then remove the ovaries later, and closer to menopause', the EastEnders star explained. Hollywood star Angelina Jolie underwent the same procedure after she discovered she carried the BRCA1 gene, in 2013, raising greater awareness of the defect. She was told at the time that her risk of developing breast cancer was 87 per cent. Around one in 1,000 women in the UK are thought to have the BRCA1 variant, but most breast and ovarian cancers occur due to genetic damage that accumulates over time. This can be caused by too much ultraviolet radiation from the sun, which can damage DNA in your skin cells causing skin cancer. In some cases, patients with the faulty genes may be offered risk-reducing surgery, which removes tissue such as breasts or ovaries, that could become cancerous. This is because while having one 'normal' copy of either gene is usually enough to protect cells from becoming cancerous, , this normal gene can change during a person's lifetime—in a process known as somatic alteration—increasing the risk of cancer. The NHS warns that while genetic testing can help people take steps to manage their risk of developing cancer—including lifestyle changes, regular screening and preventative treatments—a positive result can cause permanent anxiety. This comes as new research has highlighted a drug that could help women with the so-called Angelina Jolie cancer gene to avoid surgery. Currently, women who carry a BRCA gene mutation are a much higher risk of breast and ovarian cancer, with many opting for preventative treatments such as a mastectomy. But new research by the University of Cambridge indicates that giving drugs usually administered in the late stages of breast cancer to healthy people carrying the mutated BRCA genes could prevent them from developing the disease.
Epoch Times
07-05-2025
- Politics
- Epoch Times
House Panel Questions More University Presidents on Campus Anti-Semitism
The House Education and Workforce Committee on May 7 pressed the presidents of Haverford College, California Polytechnic State University, and DePaul University on their response to anti-Semitism on their campuses. During the hearing, Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) asked Haverford College President Wendy Raymond what, if any, disciplinary action was taken against a student group that allegedly called for the 'complete dismantling of the apartheid settler colonial state of Israel by all means necessary.' While Raymond said the alleged statement is 'repugnant' and indefensible, she did not answer as to whether any disciplinary action had been taken against students making such remarks. 'I will not be talking about individual cases here,' she said, before Stefanik interjected with, 'So have there been any disciplinary actions taken by Haverford related to anti-Semitism? Any?' Raymond said that there has been some disciplinary action taken. House GOP Conference Chairwoman Lisa McClain (R-Mich.) asked DePaul University President Robert Manuel about the pro-Palestinian encampment on the quad of the Chicago school. It was one of numerous encampments protesting Israel's military response in Gaza following Hamas's terrorist attack on Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Related Stories 5/1/2024 1/10/2024 McClain asked Manuel why DePaul allowed it to stay in place for more than two weeks. McClain cited the university's policy prohibiting people from moving around campus or carrying out violence and endangering the safety of students and faculty. The policy also does not allow for interfering with the business of the school. 'Our immediate instinct was to work with our students,' Manuel said. McClain pressed Manuel on why DePaul did not immediately clear the encampment. Manuel said that the university worked with the Chicago Police Department to do so. However, McClain criticized Manuel for taking six days to coordinate with the police department a plan to remove the encampment. Manuel said it was unacceptable that it took that long. McClain also repeatedly asked Manuel whether there were consequences for administrators who allowed the encampment to remain. Manuel did not directly answer the question and said that the university had reviewed the incident. Rep. Greg Casar (D-Texas) targeted the Trump administration during the hearing, noting that Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said before his current role that COVID-19 was ethnically targeted and that Ashkenazi Jews and Chinese were the ethnicities most immune to COVID-19. Casar also said that Trump pardoned a rioter who took part in the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol who allegedly 'praised Hitler and encouraged more killing of Jewish people.' The hearing was the latest that the House Education and Workforce Committee has held with university presidents over campus anti-Semitism. It has conducted hearings with the presidents of Harvard, MIT, Columbia, the University of Pennsylvania, and Rutgers, all of whom have since stepped down except for MIT President Sally Kornbluth. The Trump administration has taken a hardline stance against institutions of higher education that it says have not done enough or failed to respond to anti-Semitism on their campuses. This has included withholding federal funding from Columbia and Harvard, the latter of which will also lose its tax-exempt status, Trump announced this past week.
Forbes
24-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Good Shabbos, Bad Shabbos: A Dark Comedy Movie
Gut Shabbos is the universal greeting of the Ashkenazi Jews wishing a good day of rest for the sabbath, kind of like saying, 'have a good weekend' or used as a greeting on the actual Jewish Sabbath of Friday evening or Saturday day. Over the years American Jews of all stripes have adopted the saying as Good Shabbos. Bad Shabbos, is the name of a new film, a dark comedy, currently showing at your local movie theater. It has laugh-out-loud moments, and if seen with a sympathetic audience (alright, let's call it a haimish group), the laughs are sure to be infectious. Directed by Daniel Robbins and written by Robbins and Zack Wiener, the film raises the stakes on what could possibly go wrong at a Sabbath dinner where the male lead (Jon Bass) brings his studying-to-convert fiancée (Morgan Leathers) to his parents' home for a dinner to meet her Wisconsin church-going parents who are not happy about their daughter abandoning their religion to become Jewish. What could go wrong? What if the lead's Klonopin popping younger brother (Theo Taplitz) plays a prank which results in his sister's boyfriend's death? How about the Black doorman (played by Method Man who steals the movie) saving the day. The supporting cast are experienced pros, including the Jewish parents, played by David Paymer and Kyra Sedgwick (who doesn't get to play Jewish as often as her Jewish heritage might allow). Milana Vayntrub. who is world famous as the face of AT&T Cellular's commercials, plays the sister; Josh Mostel has a cameo, as does Gary Greengrass, scion of the Upper West Side deli mecca Barney Greengrass. Does the movie indulge in Jewish stereotypes? Of course. Is some of the comedy forced? Naturlicht. But here's the thing: These are tough times. Whether you are worried about your 201K or the state of the world, country by country, a laugh is hard to come by. You don't have to love a Bad Shabbos, you just should go and laugh.
