We Were Jews by DNA Ary Rotman, a Soviet Jew who emigrated to Boston in the 1970s, does not think of himself or other Jews from the Former Soviet Union as members of a religious group. He repeatedly insists, “We were not Jews by religion but by DNA.” Rights Creative Commons (attribution) Narrator Ary Rotman Related contentSoviet Jewry: Ary RotmanWomen Rabbis: The Decision to Emigrate