Finding Myself

I remember stories about my ancestors told by my mom, even when the family would gather we would talk about family members no longer with us. I decided awhile back to do those ancestry DNA kits tests, did it with more than one company. It was a bit of a shocker because it turns out on my maternal side I have almost 30% Arab Jewish, though I have always known us to be Anglo Christian.

I decided I should connect and find out where the divergence happened, and why it happened. Were they persecuted for being Jewish? Maybe my grandfather Vencenzo Arbia, his ancestors may have fled due to persecution and perhaps to save themselves converted to Christianity.I become a member of an Italian Ancestry group, named of course Italian Ancestry. There someone reached out, Davide and thus my journey has begun. It will be interesting to find out where this change happened from Arab-Jewish to Anglo-Christian, as well as to see how the heck I am distantly related to Kind Richard the III, any coat of arms on the Arbia side. The decisions all these people made determined where I am at today, which is amazing to think about and the heritage, the Arab-Jewish heritage that I can reclaim in a sense is wow. This story in its’ entirety will give me a greater sense of identity, and where I fit in, and it might explain why I am so drawn to Judaism.

I will be sharing my journey along this path to finding out more about myself and what shaped me and my parents, her parents even.

When all is said and done I will have a family tree and much more that looks something like this: