Why do people think of Ashkenazi Jews as light?

[Sikeliot]

I know many Ashkenazim and on average they look exactly like Sicilians and far southern Italians (with both groups looking more alike than either looks to say, Germans, Poles, Spaniards or Greeks). Blonde hair and blue eyes are rarer than people think among them. They do not look like Bar Rafaeli or Barbra Streisand on average, nor do they look fully Levantine.

Why do people find it surprising where they cluster genetically?

[Heather Duval]

Obs Michelle Trachtenberg is fully ashkenazi

[Tooting Carmen]

Compared to not only Southern Italians but also Spaniards and Greeks, they seem to have more individuals who are both very light and very dark, reflecting their highly varied ancestry.

[Anglojew]

I think there are actually a few different Ashkenazi populations for instance I believe Hungarian populations are different from Polish etc. In my extensive experience of Ashkenazi Jews they have Middle-Eastern phenotypes rare in Northern European phenotypes (Armenid, Assyrid, Arabid etc) but they range into entirely Northern European phenotypes. In my extensive experience somewhere over 30% are blue-eyed, a large percentage are green-eyed and around half brown-eyed. True blondes are rarer than Nothern European populations more common than other Med populations (except for some Slavic groups). Overall around 25% look fully Northern European in my opinion, probably a similar amount Levantine etc & the bulk Southern & pan-European etc.

[Sikeliot]

Compared to not only Southern Italians but also Spaniards and Greeks, they seem to have more individuals who are both very light and very dark, reflecting their highly varied ancestry.

Yes, but their features are close to southern Italians.

[Iltirbas]

Ashkenazi Jews have recent Northern/Eastern European genetic input lacking in other Levantine or Mediterranean populations. Many non-observant AJ's living in the US have been marrying European-Americans for a while now as well, which adds up to the former point.

[Mortimer]

many are mixed though, like scarlett johannson and people think they are just "jews" when they are mixed then there are some light individuals who are famous the average ashkenazi looks like kasparov dark hair and brown eyes or einstein but 20% are light

[Tooting Carmen]

Some people have even posted David Beckham as an example of a light jew, even though he is only at most 25% Jewish.

[RN97]

many are mixed though, like scarlett johannson and people think they are just "jews" when they are mixed then there are some light individuals who are famous the average ashkenazi looks like kasparov dark hair and brown eyes or einstein but 20% are light

Kasparov is half-Armenian lol

[Mortimer]

Kasparov is half-Armenian lol

*sorry didnt know that