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Presenter: Jeffrey Paull

Y-DNA analysis has proven to be a valuable a tool in the genealogical research of Jewish paternal lineages. However, Y-DNA results for Jewish descendants who share the same surname do not always match, even though their paper trails indicate descent from the same common ancestor. Sometimes results are at odds with yichus claims which leave descendants of that lineage searching for answers. Drawing upon our experience conducting numerous Y-DNA research studies of rabbinical lineages, we present ten major explanations for these confounding and unexpected results. Each explanation is illustrated by specific examples derived from our research. They include the possibility that Jewish surname laws in the Russian Empire resulted in closely-related family members adopting different surnames; Jewish men who married into prestigious rabbinical lineages often took their father-in-law's surname; oral histories are often unreliable and inaccurate, and lineage mistakes occur in rabbinical texts, family trees, and other sources.