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RESEARCH INTO THE ORIGINS AND MIGRATIONS OF THE JEWISH PEOPLE

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About Adam Brown

Adam Brown is the founder and director of the Avotaynu DNA Project, an academic multi-disciplinary study of the origins and migrations of the Jewish people with over 12,000 participants.

Adam is a lawyer is a graduate of the University of Michigan and the University of Chicago Law School, and serves on numerous government, scientific research, and academic non-profit boards and commissions.

He has spoken widely on the subject of Jewish history and migrations at conferences, in publications, and online. He was the Co-Chair of the 2017 Conference of the International Association of Jewish Genealogical Societies (IAJGS) in Orlando.

Adam worked two seasons at a remote field camp deep in the interior of Antarctica. He returned to the region during 2016 as part of a multi-national scientific expedition that traveled 5,800 miles by sea to and from ice-covered yet volcanic Heard Island, a rarely visited pristine habitat in the stormy Southern Indian Ocean halfway between Australia and South Africa.

Adam lives seasonally in Englewood NJ and on Martha's Vineyard Island.

The Genetic Origins of the Jews of Kaifeng, China: Preliminary Findings

Filed Under DNA Studies By Adam Brown, Michael Waas, Harold Rhode, Myrna Gabbay, Danil Shimonov, Aaron Pinkhasov, Bennett Greenspan, Wim Penninx and Raquel Levy-Toledano on July 15, 2024

[This subject matter of this announcement is presently in the pre-publication process and will be published in full with accompanying data following peer review.] The Avotaynu DNA Project is pleased to announce that its advanced genetic testing of men from […]

Avotaynu DNA Project Discovers ~11,000 Year Old Neolithic Lineage

Filed Under Collaboration, DNA Studies By Adam Brown, Raquel Levy-Toledano, Wim Penninx, Bennett Greenspan and Michael Waas on June 18, 2024

The Neolithic yDNA Haplogroup J-P58 has been a topic of research interest since its discovery over 15 years ago (Hammer & Behar, et al, 2009[1]; Chiaroni, et al, 2010[2]; Sahakyn, et al, 2021[3]). Amplified by a little understood population bottleneck […]

The Surprising Origins of the Coryell Family of Colonial New Jersey

Filed Under Collaboration, DNA Studies, New World, Portugal By Lea Coryell, Michael Waas and Adam Brown on January 15, 2023

[The following article is reprinted by permission of the New England Historic Genealogical Society. The article originally appeared in the Winter 2023 edition of AMERICAN ANCESTORS on pages 27-31. For more information about AMERICAN ANCESTORS magazine and the New England […]

Genealo-J Days – Paris 11/19-20/2022

Filed Under Conferences, DNA Studies, Français, Mediterranean By Adam Brown on November 12, 2022

The Cercle de Généalogie Juive is pleased to invite you November 19 and 20, 2022, from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Genealo-J Days.to be held at Musée d’Art et d’Histoire du Judaïsme, 71 rue du Temple – Paris […]

À la rencontre de nos ancêtres Juifs Marocains et Algériens : NAJMA, la nouvelle association de généalogie dédiée aux juifs du Maroc et d’Algérie.

Filed Under Algerie الجزائر‎, Collaboration, DNA Studies, Maroc المغرب‎, Mediterranean, Uncategorized By Adam Brown on December 21, 2021

La présence de Juifs au Maroc et en Algérie est attestée dès le IIe siècle de l’ère moderne. Arrivés avec les Phéniciens, les Romains, les Arabes, ou à la suite des expulsions d’Espagne et du Portugal, ils forment un patchwork […]

JGSLA

Filed Under Uncategorized By Adam Brown on August 30, 2021

Slides from Adam Brown’s talk to the Jewish Genealogical Society of Los Angeles on August 29, 2021: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1FgFQ-sk9YBQCyJ_yeXwL30JDHFiv6-xm/view?usp=sharing

IAJGS 2021

Filed Under Uncategorized By Adam Brown on August 3, 2021

The Genomic History of the BronzeAge Southern Levant, by Lily Agranat-Tamir et al. We are posting here references cited today during Adam Brown’s talk today on the Genetic Origins of the Jewish People: The Genomic History of the Bronze Age […]

Avotaynu DNA Lecture Materials

Filed Under Uncategorized By Adam Brown on December 3, 2020

Jewish Gen Lecture December 2, 2020 To view a recording of Adam Brown’s lecture to JewishGen viewers on , visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QafFMkGDgVw Skip ahead 4 minutes to catch the beginning of the talk! To examine Adam’s slides, visit here (warning: file […]

Étude du Chromosome Y des Hommes Juifs Marocains

Filed Under Français, Maroc المغرب‎ By Raquel Levy-Toledano and Adam Brown on August 6, 2020

Résumé : Cette étude, réalisée sous l’égide de l’Université de Haïfa et du Technion, fait partie intégrante de l’étude génétique globale des hommes Juifs sépharades et des juifs du Levant, non ashkénazes. Elle est menée sur une cohorte d’hommes d’ascendance paternelle […]

Principes directeurs du projet Avotaynu

Filed Under Algerie الجزائر‎, Français, France, Maroc المغرب‎, Tunisie By Raquel Levy-Toledano and Adam Brown on May 20, 2020

Le projet Avotaynu a pour objectif d’étudier les origines et les migrations du peuple juif à travers les âges en s’aidant de l’ADN. Il est dirigé par une équipe multidisciplinaire, principalement universitaire, constituée de scientifiques, de généalogistes et d’historiens. Au […]

Étude Génétique des Hommes Juifs Sefardes et Mizrahi

Filed Under Algerie الجزائر‎, Français, France, Maroc المغرب‎, Tunisie By Adam Brown on May 11, 2020

Résumé: Une étude sur des hommes qui ont prouvé leur ascendance paternelle parmi les membres des communautés séfarades et autres communautés non-ashkénazes du monde entier. Des signatures détaillées des séquences d’ADN du chromosome Y seront obtenues à partir de la […]

The Avotaynu DNA Global Census of the Jewish People – March 2020 Update

Filed Under Academia, Collaboration, DNA Studies, Medical Studies By Adam Brown on March 29, 2020

For three years the Avotaynu DNA Project has been spearheading a collaborative international DNA project that includes academics at leading institutions such as the Technion, New York University Winthrop Hospital, the University of Colorado, the University of Haifa and others […]

Avotaynu DNA Seeks Sephardi & Mizrahi Study Participants!

Filed Under DNA Studies By Adam Brown on March 27, 2020

The Avotaynu DNA Project seeks male participants for a study of  Sephardi and Mizrahi paternal DNA lineages. The project, led by pioneering genetic genealogist Dr. Karl Skorecki of the Technion, aims to shed light on the origins of the Sephardim […]

Guiding Principles of the Avotaynu DNA Project

Filed Under Carribean, Collaboration, DNA Studies, Mediterranean, Mexico, Mizrachim By Adam Brown on January 8, 2020

The AvotaynuDNA-sponsored Genetic Census of the Jewish People enters its third year with active DNA testing being carried out within Jewish communities on six continents. As described previously in the pages of AVOTAYNU, the purpose of the project is to […]

DNA Testing for Newbies

Filed Under DNA Studies By Adam Brown on February 15, 2018

So, you have made a lot of progress on your family tree and you ask, “What can DNA testing do for me?”  In this short essay, I won’t answer your question by delving into the fascinating details of DNA testing, […]

Sephardi Tombstones found in Suriname – Index of Surnames

Filed Under Carribean, DNA Studies, Mediterranean By Adam Brown on January 13, 2018

For the benefit of the genealogical community, AvotaynuDNA team member Rachel Brown has compiled an alphabetized index of all surnames found in the outstanding volume Remnant Stones: the Jewish Cemeteries of Suriname: Epitaphs by Aviva Ben-Ur and Rachel Frankel, available […]

The Avotaynu DNA Project Advances to Its Second Phase

Filed Under Collaboration, DNA Studies, Mediterranean, Mizrachim By Adam Brown on October 18, 2016

One year ago we announced the new Avotaynu DNA Project AVOTAYNU, Fall 2016), an initiative managed by Adam Brown, Raquel Levy-Toledano and Michael Waas of the Avotaynu Research Partnership LLC that intends to compile a database comprising the DNA test […]

Avotaynu Plans A Sephardi Y-DNA Study at the Seattle IAJGS Conference

Filed Under Collaboration, DNA Studies, Mediterranean, Türkiye, Ελλάδα By Adam Brown on August 5, 2016

The Avotaynu DNA Project managed by Adam Brown, Raquel Levy-Toledano and Michael Waas of the non-profit Avotaynu Research Partnership LLC has entered its second phase and now seeks male participants for a study of Eastern Sephardi paternal yDNA lineages, specifically […]

Announcing the Avotaynu DNA Project!

Filed Under DNA Studies, Methods By Adam Brown on December 3, 2015

DNA testing is an unparalleled genealogical resource, yet 15 years after the inception of genetic genealogy many genealogists and family historians remain unclear about its use. As a result, DNA testing is underutilized and potential knowledge goes unrealized. To remedy […]

Updated: Future Developments in Jewish Family History Research

Filed Under Collaboration, Crowdsourcing, Indexing Projects, Methods, Online Trees By Adam Brown on March 30, 2015

As amply documented by Avotaynu over the last three decades, members of the Jewish genealogical community have made important contributions to the field of online genealogy with innovations such as the Jewish Genealogical Family Finder, the Daitch-Mokotoff Soundex, JewishGen, and […]

Announcing Avotaynu Online!

Filed Under Collaboration By Adam Brown, Gary Mokotoff and Sallyann Sack-Pikus on March 23, 2015

We are pleased to announce the founding of Avotaynu Online, an exciting new venture intended to stimulate collaboration among genealogists and historians in all its forms, with a particular focus on Jewish genealogy. This includes coverage of conferences and meetings, DNA […]

Interactive website Brings Our Family Tree to Life

Filed Under Online Trees By Adam Brown on July 1, 2009

  Genealogists Adam and Jacob Brown describe the genealogical breakthroughs achieved via the Geni.com genealogical platform.

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