Last Hanukkah, Representative-Elect Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, a young woman of Puerto Rican descent, raised in the Church and a self-identified Catholic, went to a synagogue in Queens where she told the congregants, "A very, very long time ago…my family consisted of Sephardic Jews." The congregants were delighted that their popular new representative was making common bond with them. Ocasio-Cortez pointed to someone in the audience and said, "He's like: 'I told you! I knew it! I sensed it!'"
It is unclear what she thought he sensed. But following Senator Elizabeth Warren's unfortunate political mishap of claiming Native American ancestry with a genetic test, Representative Ocasio-Cortez is unlikely to make the same mistake. In fact, she wisely and immediately retreated from any notion that she believes that she is Jewish, tweeting, "Before anyone jumps on me—yes, culture isn't DNA."
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