Bone Deep: The role of Bone Marrow Registries in Jewish Identity Formation and Israeli
Citizenship

How did you come to this work, and what resonated with you as you conducted your research?

In a country of just over 9 million people, the Israeli Ezer Mizion Bone Marrow Registry includes over 1 million potential donors, making it the fifth largest bone marrow registry in the world, and the world’s largest Jewish bone marrow registry. Through an examination of the emergence and development of bone marrow registries my work explores how the state of Israel manages and mobilizes its genetic data. Additionally, this study takes a comparative look at the development of bone marrow registries in the American Jewish community and how this project intersected with its Israeli counterpart, and its role in generating and maintaining particular narratives around Jewish and Zionist identities. Genetic information has long played a central role in Jewish identity and has been one way for Jews and non-Jews alike to define Jewish peoplehood. An examination of how this massive repository of Jewish genetic data is being mobilized and understood is therefore vital to understanding the construction of Jewish identity in the 21st century. This is part of a larger dissertation project that examines how disease phenomena among Jews has shaped Jewish identity. I am particularly interested in questions about the racial status of Jews, as well as those related to American Jewry and the transnational connections forged by disease concepts between the United States and Israel.
I first became curious about this topic a few years ago when my family underwent genetic testing to trace a BRCA mutation in our family tree and determine which members were affected. A genetic counselor informed me that the mutation we were carrying was one of the “Jewish” BRCA mutations, which led me to question what exactly made a mutation Jewish. I then encountered scholarship which covered the various conditions which had been labeled as Jewish (the list is long!) and how these conceptions had shifted over time. One part of this project that I have found particularly meaningful has been the opportunity to conduct oral histories with individuals of various backgrounds. I have found it rewarding to build relationships with the people I am writing about and to benefit from their generosity in sharing with me their stories.

Do you plan on continuing this work? If so, in what way?

This work will ultimately be incorporated into the last chapter of my dissertation, which traces a longer history of Jewish disease in the United States from the mid 19th to the early 21st century, in addition to investigating how 21st genetic technologies deployed in Israel has shaped these conceptions and have been mobilized by the Jewish state. While there are still more individuals, I am interested in interviewing who are specifically involved in Jewish bone marrow registries, most of the remaining work on this last chapter will pertain to other state sponsored genetic initiatives (so stay tuned!).