Alanis Morissette's Journey: Discovering Her Jewish Roots

International singer Alanis Morissette made a moving revelation: during a popular program called "Finding Your Roots" aired on PBS, the singer shared the turbulence she felt at age 28 when she discovered her mother was Jewish.

"Until then, I had grown up in a completely Catholic home," she recalls, revealing that the reason lay in the fact that her grandmothers were Holocaust survivors. Morissette talked about her mother and grandmother who kept their Judaism a deeply held secret, so much so that even the children were unaware of their true heritage. "There was terror in their bones," Morissette says. "They protected us from antisemitism, shielded us from the darkness around, and the thought is chilling. I was 28 when I found out part of my family is Jewish, and now I understand them. I believe that 'the muscle of disconnection' allowed my mother to cope with a lot of loss."

During the program, which aired overnight (Wednesday), the hosts provided Morissette with details she had never known about her mother's family - Georgia Mary Ann Feuerstein. "I found out she was born in Hungary to parents who were Holocaust survivors, and that my grandfather, Emory Feuerstein, was searching for his two brothers in 1949 after losing all contact with them."

The show's researchers examined documents from "Yad Vashem" and discovered that the grandfather's brothers, Georgie and Sandor Feuerstein, were killed in a labor camp in Russia during the war years. Morissette also expressed great amazement when she first learned about her great-grandfather, Israel Blumenkranz, who was born in Drohobych, Galicia in 1845.

"I had no idea how Jewish I am," Morissette said with eyes sparkling from excitement at the end of the program. "I feel embraced by a community I've always been in love with. I've always been in love with Judaism - and now I understand why."

Some of the touching images shown on the program: