List of Belarusian Jews explained

Presented below are lists of notable Belarusians of Jewish descent, Jewish people born on the territory of present-day Belarus or of full or partial Belarusian Jewish origin.

Scientists

• Zhores Alferov, physicist, Nobel Prize (2000), born in Viciebsk (Jewish mother)
• Yakov Zel'dovich, physicist
• Lev Vygotsky, psychologist
• Seymour Lubetzky, cataloging theorist
• Semyon Kosberg, Soviet aircraft and rocket engineer, born in Słucak
• Lera Boroditsky, Cognitive psychologist
• Noam Chomsky, linguist
• Paul Krugman, economist
• Paul B. Sigler, biochemist, parents from Miensk

Mathematicians

• Naum Akhiezer, mathematician, born in Čerykaŭ
• Issai Schur, German-Israeli mathematician, born in Mahiloŭ
• Oscar Zariski, Belarusian mathematician

Politicians

United States

• Leonard Adleman, Computer Scientist
• David Dubinsky, US labor leader, born in Bieraście

Canada

• David Lewis (Losz), ex-leader of the NDP

International

• Alexander Parvus, international revolutionary, born in Bierazino

Israel

• Shimon Peres, Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize winner (1994)
• Chaim Weizmann, first president of Israel, inventor of synthetic acetone, born in Motal
• Menachem Begin, Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize winner (1978), born in Brest
• Yitzhak Shamir, Israeli prime minister (1984–85 1988–90), born in Ruzhany
• Zerach Warhaftig, born in Vaukavysk
• Berl Katznelson, One of the intellectual founders of the Labor movement in Israel
• Kadish Luz, Israeli speaker of the Knesset, born in Bobruysk
• Yitzhak Rabin, Israeli prime minister, Nobel Prize winner (1994)

Russian Empire and the USSR and Russia

• Hesya Helfman, Russian revolutionary, member of Narodnaya Volya
• Valeriya Novodvorskaya, liberal Russian politician, Soviet dissident
• Joseph Schlossberg, labor activist
• Iosif Bleikhman, anarchist revolutionary

Belarus

• Viktor Sheiman, adviser to President Alexander Lukashenko, influential Belarusian politician (of partial Jewish descent)
• Mikola Abramchyk, president of the Council of the Belarusian Democratic Republic (of partial Jewish descent)

Writers

• Isaac Dov Berkowitz, Israeli writer
• Źmitrok Biadula, Belarusian poet
• Morris Raphael Cohen, philosopher
• Leon Kobrin
• Lazar Lagin
• Ayn Rand, father born in Brest-Litovsk
• David Pinski, American and Israeli writer, born in Mahiliou
• Ryhor Reles
• Mendele Mocher Sforim, writer
• Carlos Sherman, Belarusian-Uruguayan writer and translator (Jewish father)
• Immanuel Velikovsky, cosmology writer
• Celia Dropkin, American poet (Yiddish)
• Samuel Ornitz, American novelist and screenwriter

Journalists

• Larry King, of Belarusian-Jewish parents
• Eugene Lyons
• Andrew Patner, of Belarusian-Jewish grandparents

Historians

• Simon Dubnow, Jewish historian
• Lazar Gulkowitsch, Jewish Studies scholar
• Avraham Harkavi, historian
• S. Ansky, a scholar who documented Jewish folklore and mystical beliefs, born in Chashniki

Composers and musicians

• Modest Altschuler, cellist, orchestral conductor and composer
• Irving Berlin, American composer
• Arkadi Duchin, Israeli singer-songwriter and musical producer
• Mark Fradkin, Soviet composer

Artists

• Léon Bakst, painter and scene- and costume designer
• Marc Chagall, painter
• Ossip Zadkine, sculptor (Jewish father)
• Michel Kikoine, painter
• Naum Gabo, sculptor
• Antoine Pevsner, sculptor
• Pinchus Kremegne, painter
• Chaïm Soutine, painter
• Mark Rothko, painter
• El Lissitzky, painter ('greater' Belarus)

Businesspeople

• Michael Marks, co-founder of Marks and Spencers
• Louis B. Mayer, co-founder MGM
• Ralph Lauren, fashion designer, son of Belarusian-Jewish emigrants
• Ida Rosenthal, founder of Maidenform Brassieres, born in Minsk
• David Sarnoff, head of RCA
• Ruslan Kogan
• Gary Vaynerchuk
• Sheryl Sandberg, technology executive, her maternal ancestors came from Vidzy^[1]
• Jared Kushner, real estate developer, his paternal grandparents came from Navahrudak^{[2] [3]}
• Michael Bloomberg (founder of Bloomberg L.P.), whose maternal grandfather was an immigrant from what is present-day Belarus.
• Jacob Rutstein, businessman

Religious leaders

Rabbis

• Naftali Zvi Yehuda Berlin, yeshiva dean of Volozhin Yeshiva
• Eliezer Yehuda Finkel, yeshiva dean of Mir Yeshiva (Belarus)
• Shlomo Harkavy, spiritual dean of Grodno Yeshiva
• Yosef Yozel Horowitz, founder and dean of Novardok Yeshiva
• Yisrael Meir Kagan, author, yeshiva dean, and spiritual leader of world-Jewry
• Boruch Ber Leibowitz, yeshiva dean of Kaminetz Yeshiva
• Isser Zalman Meltzer, rabbi and yeshiva in Slutsk and Jerusalem
• Yisroel Yaakov Lubchansky, spiritual dean of Baranovich Yeshiva
• Aaron of Pinsk, rabbi in Pinsk
• Pesach Pruskin, rabbi and yeshiva dean in Kobrin
• David Rappoport, yeshiva dean of Baranovich Yeshiva
• Shimon Shkop, yeshiva dean of the Grodno Yeshiva
• Chaim Soloveitchik, rabbi in Brest
• Joseph Soloveitchik, rabbi and yeshiva dean in Boston and New York
• Yitzchok Zev Soloveitchik, rabbi in Brest
• Yosef Dov Soloveitchik (Beis Halevi), rabbi in Slutsk and Brest
• Chaim Leib Tiktinsky, yeshiva dean of Mir Yeshiva
• Naftoli Trop, yeshiva dean of Radin Yeshiva
• Chaim Volozhin, yeshiva dean of Volozhin Yeshiva
• Yitzchak Volozhin, yeshiva dean of Volozhin Yeshiva
• Elchonon Wasserman, yeshiva dean of Baranovich Yeshiva
• Shabsi Yogel, yeshiva dean in Slonim and Jerusalem

Hasidic rebbes

• Chaim Chaykl Levin, rebbe of Amdur
• Aharon Perlow (I), rebbe of Karlin
• Aharon Perlow (II), rebbe of Karlin
• Aharon Perlow of Koidanov, rebbe of Koidanov
• Menachem Mendel Schneersohn, rebbe of Chabad
• Elijah Horowitz-Winograd, scion of Nikolsburg dynasty; rabbi in Lida

Sportspeople

• Elena Altshul, draughts player
• Boris Gelfand, chess player
• Yuri Foreman, boxer
• Victor Mikhalevski, chess player
• Anna Smashnova, tennis player
• Alexandra Zaretsky/Roman Zaretsky, Israeli figure skaters

Military people

• Nahum Eitingon, Soviet spy and NKVD officer
• Tuvia Bielski and Asael Bielski, leaders of a Jewish partisan group (the Bielski partisans) in the World War II
• Yefim Fomin, Political Commissar of 86th Regiment, 6th Rifle Division of the Red Army. Executed without delay by Nazis after being identified as a communist, Jew and commissar upon capture.
• Grigoriy Plaskov, Soviet artillery lieutenant

Other

• Kirk Douglas, of Belarusian Jewish parents
• Jackie Mason, whose parents were Jewish emigrants from Smalyavichy in the Minsk Region
• Lisa Kudrow, her ancestors emigrated from Belarus
• Scarlett Johansson, actress and singer, maternal Jewish grandparents came from Minsk.
• Eliezer Ben-Yehuda, Israeli linguist, father of modern Hebrew language, born in Luzhki near Viciebsk
• Frank Gehry, an architect, his paternal grandmother came from Pinsk^[4]
• Harrison Ford, whose maternal grandfathers were Jewish emigrants from Minsk.
• Robert B.G. Horowitz, attorney, whose paternal grandparent were Jewish emigrants from Minsk.
• Sacha Baron Cohen, of Belarusian Jewish grandparents

See also

• List of Jews born in the former Russian Empire
• History of the Jews in Belarus
• Ashkenazi Jews
• Who is a Jew?

Notes and References

1. Web site: Finding Your Roots Season 5 Episode 4 . PBS.
2. Web site: What Does Trump's Presidency Mean for Belarus? . Rudnik . Alesia . Smok . Vadzim . November 18, 2016 . . https://archive.today/20180709183434/https://belarusdigest.com/story/what-does-trumps-presidency-mean-for-belarus/ . July 9, 2018 . live . July 9, 2018 .
3. Web site: The Young Trump: Jared Kushner's Rise to Unimaginable Power . Andrew . Rice . New York . January 8, 2017 . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20170115000329/http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2017/01/jared-kushner-trump-administration-power.html . January 15, 2017 .
4. Web site: Finding Your Roots Season 3 Episode 5 . PBS.