List of Belarusian Jews

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 Slutsk
• Lera Boroditsky, Cognitive psychologist
• Noam Chomsky, linguist
• Paul Krugman, economist
• Paul B. Sigler, biochemist, parents from Minsk

Mathematicians

• Naum Akhiezer, mathematician, born in Cherykaw
• Issai Schur, German-Israeli mathematician, born in Mahiliou
• Oscar Zariski, Belarusian mathematician

Politicians

United States

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

Canada

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

International

• Alexander Parvus, international revolutionary, born in Berezyna

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

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)

Journalists

• Larry King, of Belarusian-Jewish parents
• Eugene Lyons

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
• Chaim 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.

Religious leaders

• Aaron of Pinsk, rabbi
• Joseph Soloveitchik, rabbi

Sportspeople

Yuri Foreman

• 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

Other

• Kirk Douglas, of Belarusian Jewish parents
• Lisa Kudrow, her ancestors emigrated from Belarus
• 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.

See also

• List of Jews born in the former Russian Empire
• History of the Jews in Belarus

References

1. "Finding Your Roots Season 5 Episode 4". PBS.
2. Rudnik, Alesia; Smok, Vadzim (November 18, 2016). "What Does Trump's Presidency Mean for Belarus?". Belarus Digest. Archived from the original on July 9, 2018. Retrieved July 9, 2018.
3. Rice, Andrew (January 8, 2017). "The Young Trump: Jared Kushner's Rise to Unimaginable Power". New York. Archived from the original on January 15, 2017.
4. "Finding Your Roots Season 3 Episode 5". PBS.