The Jewish Genealogical Society of Illinois encourages its membership to enhance research efforts through the use of DNA testing. Limited to JGSI members and their family only, our group can compare and share our results and discuss new research strategies. DNA testing includes individuals who order Y-DNA, mtDNA tests as well as the familyfinder test. Y-DNA tests reveal the father's line through his male descendants only. MtDNA tests identify your mothers line and is found in both sons and daughters. Our current recommendation is to order not less than a 37 marker test for the Y-DNA and/or an mtDNA Full Sequence test. These two levels of analysis provide more useful and genealogically significant information that can possibly be intergrated into our paternal or maternal lines research. The familyfinder test can identify relatives up to 5th generation back. Here's an article that appeared in the Chicago Cultural News by Alicia Barney | MEDILL NEWS SERVICE regarding DNA testing: a new tool in Jewish geneology. Published August 6, 2008. When a North suburban Jewish genealogy group began encouraging its members to undergo DNA tests to search for family connections, Mike Karsen said he did it because he's the group's president. Karsen, who has been researching his family's history since the mid-1990s, traced his roots to Eastern Europe. But his cheek swab solved a mystery for another man whose only known background was in the southern United States. Jack Kane, a Wisconsin computer programmer, completed the DNA test two years ago. His father, Gordon, was abandoned as a toddler in a New York City office building in 1926 and later adopted. Gordon Kane, now 82, had no information about his biological family until Jack made a strong match with Karsen two months ago. Karsen and the younger Kane are likely cousins, but testing can't determine how many generations back the connection was made. While Gordon Kane's family had guessed from his appearance that he was of Jewish background, he was really astounded when he heard the news of the match, according to his son. It gives me more of a sense of completion, Jack Kane said. My mother's from the South, and we know our heritage very well.But with my dad, it was always kind of a black hole. It gave me a sense of clarity, to say, Yes, that's the part of the world I'm from.