>>6733379Imagine you're a jew in some town in Europe in 1500. You'd have a hard time finding a woman to marry whose family would accept her converting to judaism. At the same time your religion tells you you're only a real jew if your mother is jewish.
So what do you do? You go to your local makeshift synagogue in some attic above a store and ask your rabbi who's also your uncle if there are any jewish women in your community available for marriage.
Unfortunately your community consists of five families and the only unmarried option is your cousin.
Now repeat the process over several centuries and you get your average ashkenazi jew.
