Sunday June 7th 2026
10:00 am PST | 11:00 am MST | 12:00 pm CST | 1:00 pm EST
JOIN US, Sunday June 7th, 2026
About the lecture:
Exploring the Hidden Past of Spain’s Gypsy Population: Join Dr. Douglas Schar in a compelling discussion about the surmised and actual origins of Spanish gypsies, also known as Gitanos, part of the Romani people. This culture had long been thought to originate from a single migration out of northwest India (Rajasthan) into Europe around the 12th–15th centuries. However, new genetic evidence from a comprehensive DNA study provides an unprecedented window into their ancestry. With unerring inquiry and clear indicators via DNA studies, Schar reveals a new understanding of their deep connection to diverse Jewish population suggesting that the Spanish Gypsies may descend from an itinerant international Jewish trading community rather than from a late-medieval Indian migrant group. SCJS Board member and frequent contributor to HaLapid, Douglas Schar is a popular genetic scientist with a worldwide following.
RESERVATIONS OPEN MAY 26th
Bio: Dr. Douglas Schar. BA. DipPhyt. MNIMH. PhD.
A former ethnobotanist and health journalist. Schar now dedicates himself to crypto-Jewish studies including those expelled from Spain, but also the forced converts of Northern Europe, Iran, North Africa, as well as the Afro-European Crypto Jews of the New World, Cape Verde, the Philippines, Indonesia, and Thailand. His website, www.HiddenJewishAncestry.com receives roughly 30,000 visitors a month. Many of the people who reach out have discovered they have Jewish ancestry by way of an ancestry DNA test. Following contact, he addresses their questions regarding their ancestry. A growing community of people are surprised to discover they have Jewish ancestry and would like to know more. This includes people from Sephardic backgrounds, but also Iranians whose ancestors converted en masse to Sufism in the 1890’s, Dutch Jews who disappeared in Indonesia, and more.
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