History Does Matter
On our trip to Montana which I have written about over the last three weeks, I watched a TV documentary about an African American family whose parents were from Jamaica. While the father was of African descent, the mother was Chinese. However, because their children have dark skin, and the family grew up in Harlem, they were considered Black not Chinese. In the Jewish Orthodox tradition, if the mother is Jewish, regardless of the color of her skin, the children are considered Jewish (some Jews follow the tradition where religion or race is defined by the father’s lineage.
I am bringing this up because we made some friends in Montana, who have an interesting racial mix. The wife is of Scandinavian descent, while her husband is the product of a mixed marriage, with twist on his heritage.
His father came from Estonia, a small country on the Baltic coast bordering Latvia, where I was born. His mother was born in Turkey, from Jewish parents. Jews are divided into two ethnic groups – Ashkenazi who are usually of northern and eastern European descent and Sephardim, who are originally from Sepharad-Spain.
In 1942, the Jews who were not forcefully converted into Christianity were expelled from Spain. Many of them ended up in Portugal, only to be expelled again five years later. Some travelled to Turkey, which in the 15thCentury was part of the Ottoman Empire.
This information has a direct connection with today’s world and our friends. 500 years after the expulsion, Spain and Portugal offered citizenship to the descendants of the Sephardic Jews, which included our friend’s mother, her son and her grand-daughter. This in turn offers an opportunity for one to get Spanish or Portuguese citizenship (The U.S allows dual citizenship), and since those countries are part of the European Union (The E.U.), their daughter, who likes to travel, can get a free college education in any of the European countries in the European Union, after receiving her Spanish citizenship.
Throughout history people have moved from country to country and by intermarrying, created new pools of DNA. This in turn can help to establish historical relevance for many families and perhaps a better understanding and tolerance of each other. Among dogs, mixed breeds are called mutts. Some consider mutts to be smarter than pure breeds. How about people?
P.S – Next week I will write about a dog shelter in San Francisco for senior dogs, called Matville. Meanwhile, enjoy these four images of mutts, and pre-order “42 Encounters for Dog Lovers” from www.encounterspublishing.com. Money back guaranteed.
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