Designer Zac Posen and “Watch What Happens Live” host Andy Cohen learn about their Ashkenazi Jewish heritage this month on episodes of “Finding Your Roots with Henry Louis Gates, Jr.” Both knew little about their immigrant roots other than they originated in the Eastern European Pale of Settlement in greater Russia. But forensic genealogy research reveals several generations of ancestors and some unexpected surprises.
Posen discovers that the apparel business runs in his family: his paternal great-grandfather was a shoemaker and paternal great-grandfather was a tailor, as was his great-great-great grandfather. Cohen’s lineage is traced back six generations on his mother’s side, and he’s shown photographs of ancestors and the synagogue in their town, Bialystok in what is now Poland. “It gives me goosebumps,” he tells Gates. “It’s like you’re among these ghosts that paved the way for you.”
DNA tests confirm that both Posen and Cohen have 100% Ashkenazi roots, and in Cohen’s case, reveal a famous cousin. He’s elated to find out that he shares DNA with Scarlett Johansson, whose mother is Jewish.
Posen appears on the Jan. 12 “Coming to America” episode and Cohen on the Jan. 26 episode, “Against All Odds.”
