List of Israeli Ashkenazi Jews

This is a list of notable Israeli Ashkenazi Jews, including both original immigrants who obtained Israeli citizenship and their Israeli descendants.

Although traditionally the term "Ashkenazi Jews" was used as an all-encompassing term referring to the Jews descended from the Jewish communities of Europe, due to the melting pot effect of Israeli society the term "Ashkenazi Jews" gradually becomes more vague as many of the Israeli descendants of the Ashkenazi Jewish immigrants gradually adopted the characteristics of Israeli culture and as more descendants intermarry with descendants of other Jewish communities.

The list is ordered by category of human endeavor. Persons with significant contributions in two of these are listed in both of them, to facilitate easy lookup.

Notice: On Oct. 1, 2023, a hacker known as “Golem” claimed to have stolen DNA data from 23andMe and according, to the complaint, “As proof… published the alleged data of one million users of Jewish Ashkenazi descent.

Politicians

 * Shulamit Aloni – former minister
 * Ehud Barak – prime minister (1999–01)
 * Menachem Begin – prime minister (1977–83); Nobel Peace Prize (1978)
 * Yossi Beilin – leader of the Meretz-Yachad party and peace negotiator
 * David Ben-Gurion – first Prime Minister of Israel (1948–54, 1955–63)
 * Yitzhak Ben-Zvi – first elected/second president President of Israel (1952–63)
 * Gilad Erdan
 * Levi Eshkol – prime minister (1963–69)
 * Miriam Feirberg
 * Yael German
 * Teddy Kollek – former mayor of Jerusalem
 * Yosef Lapid – former leader of the Shinui party
 * Golda Meir – prime minister (1969–74)
 * Benjamin Netanyahu – prime minister (1996–99, 2009–2021); was minister of finance; Likud party chairman
 * Ehud Olmert – prime minister (2006–09); former mayor of Jerusalem
 * Shimon Peres – President of Israel (2007–); prime minister (1984–86, 1995–96); Nobel Peace Prize (1994)
 * Yitzhak Rabin – prime minister (1974–77, 1992–95); Nobel Peace Prize (1994) (assassinated November 1995)
 * Yitzhak Shamir – prime minister (1983–84, 1986–92)
 * Moshe Sharett – prime minister (1954–55)
 * Ariel Sharon – prime minister (2001–06)
 * Chaim Weizmann – first President of Israel (1949–52)
 * Rehavam Zeevi – founder of the Moledet party (assassinated October 2001)
 * Shelly Yachimovich – former leader of the opposition.

Military

 * Yigal Allon – politician, a commander of the Palmach, and a general in the IDF
 * Haim Bar-Lev – former Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces
 * Moshe Dayan – military leader
 * Giora Epstein – combat pilot, modern-day "ace of aces"
 * Uziel Gal – designer of the Uzi submachine gun
 * Benny Gantz – former Chief of General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces
 * Wolfgang Lotz – spy
 * Tzvi Malkhin – Mossad agent, captured Adolf Eichmann
 * Yonatan Netanyahu – Sayeret Matkal commando, leader of Operation Entebbe
 * Yitzhak Rabin – military leader and fifth Prime Minister of Israel
 * Ilan Ramon – astronaut on Columbia flight STS-107
 * Gilad Shalit – kidnapped soldier held in Gaza
 * Yael Rom – first female to graduate from a full military flight course in the Western world; first woman to graduate from the Israeli Air Force

Religious-rabbis

 * David Hartman
 * Avraham Yitzchak Kook (1865–1935) – pre-state Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of the Land of Israel,
 * Israel Meir Lau – Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel (1993–2003), Chief Rabbi of Netanya (1978–88), (1937–)
 * Aharon Lichtenstein
 * Yona Metzger – Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Israel
 * Shlomo Riskin – Ashkenazic Chief Rabbi of Efrat

Haredi rabbis

 * Yaakov Aryeh Alter – Gerrer Rebbe
 * Shlomo Zalman Auerbach
 * Yaakov Blau
 * Yisroel Moshe Dushinsky – second Dushinsky rebbe and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
 * Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky – first Dushinsky rebbe and Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
 * Yosef Tzvi Dushinsky – third Dushinsky rebbe
 * Yosef Sholom Eliashiv
 * Issamar Ginzberg – Nadvorna-Kechnia Rebbe
 * Chaim Kanievsky
 * Avraham Yeshayeh Karelitz (1878–1953) – Chazon Ish
 * Nissim Karelitz – Head Justice of Rabbinical Court of Bnei Brak
 * Meir Kessler – Chief Rabbi of Modi'in Illit
 * Zundel Kroizer (1924–2014) – author of Ohr Hachamah
 * Dov Landau – rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka yeshiva of Bnei Brak
 * Yissachar Dov Rokeach – Belzer rebbe
 * Yitzchok Scheiner (born 1922) – rosh yeshiva of the Kamenitz yeshiva of Jerusalem
 * Elazar Menachem Shach (1899–2001) – Rav Shach
 * Moshe Shmuel Shapira – rosh yeshiva of Beer Yaakov
 * Dovid Shmidel – Chairman of Asra Kadisha
 * Yosef Chaim Sonnenfeld – Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
 * Yitzchok Tuvia Weiss – Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem (Edah HaChareidis)
 * Amram Zaks (1926–2012) – rosh yeshiva of the Slabodka yeshiva of Bnei Brak
 * Uri Zohar – former film director, actor, and comedian who left the entertainment world to become a rabbi

Activists

 * Uri Avnery – peace activist, Gush Shalom
 * Yael Dayan – writer, politician, activist
 * Michael Dorfman – Russian-Israeli essayist and human rights activist
 * Uzi Even – gay rights activist
 * Yehuda Glick – Israeli activist and rabbi who campaigned for expanding Jewish access to the Temple Mount
 * Daphni Leef – Israeli activist; in 2011 sparked one of the largest waves of mass protest in Israel's history
 * Rudy Rochman – Jewish, Zionist activist
 * Uri Savir – peace negotiator, Peres Center for Peace
 * Israel Shahak – political activist
 * Natan Sharansky – Soviet-era human rights activist

Artists

 * Yaacov Agam – kinetic artist
 * Yitzhak Danziger – sculptor
 * Uri Fink – comic book artist and writer
 * Dudu Geva – artist and comic-strip illustrator
 * Nachum Gutman – painter
 * Israel Hershberg – realist painter
 * Shimshon Holzman – painter

Models

 * Yael Bar Zohar – model
 * Michaela Bercu – model
 * Nina Brosh – model
 * Anat Elimelech – model and actress; murdered in 1997 by her partner
 * Gal Gadot – model and actress
 * Esti Ginzborg – model
 * Heli Goldenberg – former model and actress
 * Yael Goldman – model
 * Galit Gutmann – model
 * Adi Himmelbleu – model
 * Mor Katzir
 * Rina Mor – model
 * Hilla Nachshon – model
 * Bar Refaeli – model
 * Shiraz Tal – model
 * Pnina Rosenblum – former model

Physics and chemistry

 * Albert Einstein – physicist; Nobel Prize winner, discoverer of the special theory of relativity
 * Yakir Aharonov – physicist, Aharonov–Bohm effect and winner of the 1998 Wolf Prize in Physics
 * Jacob Bekenstein – black hole thermodynamics
 * David Deutsch – quantum computing pioneer; 1998 Paul Dirac Prize winner
 * Richard Feynman – path integral formation, quantum theory, superfluidity; winner of 1965 Nobel Prize in Physics
 * Josef Imry – physicist
 * Joshua Jortner – molecular energy; 1988 winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry
 * Aaron Katzir – physical chemistry
 * Ephraim Katzir – immobilized enzymes; Japan Prize (1985) and the fourth President of Israel
 * Rafi Levine – molecular energy; 1988 winner of the Wolf Prize in Chemistry
 * Zvi Lipkin – physicist
 * Mordehai Milgrom – modified Newtonian dynamics (MOND)
 * Yuval Ne'eman – the "Eightfold way"
 * Asher Peres – quantum theory
 * Alexander Pines – nuclear magnetic resonance; Wolf Prize in Chemistry Laureate (1991)
 * Giulio Racah – spectroscopy
 * Nathan Rosen – EPR paradox
 * Nathan Seiberg – string theory
 * Dan Shechtman – chemist; winner of the 1999 Wolf Prize in Physics and Winner of the 2011 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for "the discovery of quasicrystals"
 * Igal Talmi – particle physics
 * Reshef Tenne – discovered inorganic fullerenes and non-carbon nanotubes
 * Arieh Warshel – chemist, winner of the 2013 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and contributed to the development of multiscale models for complex chemical systems"
 * Chaim Weizmann – acetone production

Biology and medicine

 * Ruth Arnon – developed Copaxone; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1998)
 * Aaron Ciechanover – ubiquitin system; Lasker Award (2000), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004)
 * Moshe Feldenkrais – invented Feldenkrais method used in movement therapy
 * Lior Gepstein – received American College of Cardiology's Zipes Award for his development of heart cells and pacemakers from stem cells
 * Eyal Gur – selected by Newsweek as one of the world's top microsurgeons
 * Avram Hershko – ubiquitin system; Lasker Award (2000), Nobel Prize in Chemistry (2004)
 * Gavriel Iddan – inventor of capsule endoscopy
 * Benjamin Kahn – marine biologist, defender of the Red Sea reef
 * Yona Kosashvili – orthopedic surgeon and Chess Grandmaster
 * Andy Lehrer – entomologist
 * Shulamit Levenberg – inventor of a muscle tissue which isn't rejected by the body after transplant; selected by Scientific American as one of the 50 leading scientists in the world
 * Alexander Levitzki – cancer research; Wolf Prize in Medicine (2005)
 * Gideon Mer – malaria control
 * Saul Merin – ophthalmologist, author of Inherited Eye Diseases
 * Leo Sachs – blood cell research; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1980)
 * Michael Sela – developed Copaxone; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1998)
 * Joel Sussman – 3D structure of acetylcholinesterase, Elkeles Prize for Research in Medicine (2005)
 * Meir Wilchek – affinity chromatography; Wolf Prize in Medicine (1987)
 * Ada Yonath – structure of ribosome; 2009 winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry
 * Amotz Zahavi – proposed the Handicap Principle

Social sciences

 * Yehuda Bauer – historian
 * Daniel Elazar – political scientist
 * Haim Ginott – psychologist, child psychology
 * Eliyahu Goldratt – business consultant, Theory of Constraints
 * Louis Guttman – sociologist
 * Elhanan Helpman – economist, international trade
 * Daniel Kahneman – behavioural scientist, prospect theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2002)
 * Smadar Lavie – anthropologist
 * Amihai Mazar – archaeologist
 * Benjamin Mazar – archaeologist
 * Eilat Mazar – archaeologist
 * Benny Morris – historians, New Historians
 * Erich Neumann – analytical psychologist, development, consciousness
 * Nurit Peled-Elhanan – educator
 * Renee Rabinowitz – psychologist and lawyer
 * Anat Rafaeli – organisational behaviour researcher.
 * Ariel Rubinstein – economist
 * Amos Tversky – behavioral scientist, prospect theory with Daniel Kahneman
 * Yigael Yadin – archaeologist

Computing and mathematics

 * Ron Aharoni – mathematician, working in finite and infinite combinatorics
 * Noga Alon – mathematician, computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize (2005)
 * Shimshon Amitsur – mathematician, ring theory abstract algebra
 * Robert Aumann – mathematical game theory; Nobel Prize in Economics (2005)
 * Amir Ban – computer programmer; one of the main programmers of the Junior chess program
 * Moshe Bar – computer programmer and creator and main developer of openMosix
 * Yehoshua Bar-Hillel – philosopher, mathematician, and linguist, best known for his pioneering work in machine translation and formal linguistics
 * Joseph Bernstein – mathematician; works in algebraic geometry, representation theory, and number theory
 * Eli Biham – cryptographer and cryptanalyst, specializing in differential cryptanalysis
 * Shay Bushinsky – computer programmer; one of the main programmers of the Junior chess program
 * Aryeh Dvoretzky – mathematician, eighth president of the Weizmann Institute of Science
 * Uriel Feige – computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize (2001)
 * Abraham Fraenkel – mathematician, known for his contributions to axiomatic set theory and the ZF set theory
 * Hillel Furstenberg – mathematician; Wolf Prize in Mathematics (2006/7)
 * Shafi Goldwasser – computer scientist, winner of the Gödel Prize (1993 and 2001)
 * David Harel – computer scientist; Israel Prize (2004)
 * Abraham Lempel – LZW compression; IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (2007 and 1995)
 * Elon Lindenstrauss – mathematician; known in the area of dynamics, particularly in the area of ergodic theory and its applications in number theory; Fields Medal recipient (2010)
 * Joram Lindenstrauss – mathematician, known for the Johnson–Lindenstrauss lemma
 * Michel Loève – probabilist
 * Joel Moses – MIT provost and writer of Macsyma
 * Yoram Moses – computer scientist, winner of the 2000 Gödel Prize in theoretical computer science and the 2009 Dijkstra Prize in distributed computing
 * Judea Pearl – computer scientist and philosopher; known for championing the probabilistic approach to artificial intelligence and the development of Bayesian networks (see the article on belief propagation); Turing Award winner (2011)
 * Ilya Piatetski-Shapiro – mathematician; representation theory; Wolf Prize in Mathematics winner (1990)
 * Amir Pnueli – temporal logic; Turing Award (1996)
 * Michael O. Rabin – nondeterminism, primality testing; Turing Award (1976)
 * Sheizaf Rafaeli – computer scientist, scholar of computer-mediated communication
 * Shmuel Safra – computer scientist, winner of the (2001) Gödel Prize
 * Adi Shamir – computer scientist; RSA encryption, differential cryptanalysis; Turing Award winner (2002)
 * Nir Shavit – computer scientist, winner of the (2001) Gödel Prize
 * Saharon Shelah – mathematician, well known for logic; Wolf Prize in Mathematics winner (2001)
 * Ehud Shapiro – computer scientist; Concurrent Prolog, DNA computing pioneer
 * Moshe Y. Vardi – computer scientist; Godel Prize winner (2000)
 * Avi Wigderson – mathematician, known for randomized algorithms; Nevanlinna Prize winner (1994)
 * Doron Zeilberger – mathematician, known for his contributions to combinatorics
 * Jacob Ziv – LZW compression; IEEE Richard W. Hamming Medal (2007 and 1995)

Engineering

 * David Faiman – solar engineer and director of the National Solar Energy Center
 * Liviu Librescu – Professor of Engineering Science and Mechanics at Virginia Tech; killed in the Virginia Tech massacre
 * Moshe Zakai – electrical engineering
 * Jacob Ziv – electrical engineering

Philosophy

 * Martin Buber – philosopher
 * Yeshayahu Leibowitz – philosopher
 * Avishai Margalit – philosopher
 * Joseph Raz – philosopher
 * Gershom Scholem (1897–1982) – philosopher, historian

Humanities

 * Shmuel Ben-Artzi – Bible scholar; father of psychologist Sara Netanyahu and father-in-law of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu
 * Noam Chomsky – linguist
 * Aharon Dolgopolsky – linguist, Nostratic
 * Moshe Goshen-Gottstein – Bible scholar
 * Michael Oren – historian, educator, writer, and Israeli ambassador to the US>
 * Hans Jakob Polotsky – linguist
 * Chaim Rabin – Bible scholar
 * Alice Shalvi – English literature, educator.
 * Gershon Shaked – Hebrew literature
 * Shemaryahu Talmon – Bible scholar
 * Emanuel Tov – Bible scholar

Architecture

 * Richard Kauffmann – architect
 * Neri Oxman – architect

Technology

 * Amnon Amir – co-founder of Mirabilis (developer of ICQ)
 * Moshe Bar – founder of XenSource, Qumranet
 * Naftali Bennett – founder of Cyota, current Member of the Knesset and leader of The Jewish Home political party
 * Safra Catz – president of Oracle
 * Yair Goldfinger – co-founder of Mirabilis (developer of ICQ)
 * Yossi Gross – recipient of almost 600 patents; founder of 27 medical technology companies in Israel; Chief Technology Office officer of Rainbow Medical
 * Andi Gutmans – co-founder of Zend Technologies (developer of PHP)
 * Daniel M. Lewin – founder of Akamai Technologies
 * Bob Rosenschein – founder of Kivun Computers, Accent Software, GuruNet, Answers.com, Curiyo (Israeli-based)
 * Gil Schwed – founder of Check Point
 * Zeev Suraski – co-founder of Zend Technologies (developer of PHP)
 * Ariki and Yossi Vardi – co-founder of Mirabilis (developer of ICQ)
 * Sefi Vigiser – co-founder of Mirabilis (developer of ICQ)

Other industries

 * Ted, Micky and Shari Arison – founder and owners of Carnival Corporation
 * Amir Gal-Or
 * Jamie Geller – celebrity chef and founder of the Kosher Media Network
 * Eival Gilady
 * Eli Hurvitz – head of Teva Pharmaceuticals
 * Mordecai Meirowitz – inventor of the Mastermind board game
 * Arnon Milchan – Hollywood film producer & founder of Regency Enterprises.
 * Sammy Ofer – shipping magnate
 * Yuli Ofer – real estate mogul
 * Guy Oseary – talent agent, businessman, investor, and music manager; founder of Maverick Records; personal music manager of American entertainer Madonna
 * Stef Wertheimer – manufacturing industrialist
 * Josh Reinstein – director of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus
 * Eyal Ofer – real estate and shipping magnate
 * Moris Kahn – billionaire, entrepreneur

Association football

 * Eyal Berkovic – midfielder (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Southampton, West Ham United, Celtic, Manchester City, Portsmouth
 * Ronnie Rosenthal – left winger/striker (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Liverpool, Tottenham, Watford
 * Giora Spiegel – midfielder (national team), Maccabi Tel Aviv
 * Mordechai Spiegler – Soviet Union/Israel – striker (Israel national team), manager
 * Nahum Stelmach – striker (national team)
 * Yochanan Vollach – defender (national team), Maccabi Haifa, Hapoel Haifa, HKFC; current president of Maccabi Haifa

Basketball

 * Miki Berkovich – Maccabi Tel Aviv
 * David Blu (formerly "Bluthenthal") – US and Israel, Euroleague 6' 7" forward (Maccabi Tel Aviv)
 * Tal Brody – US and Israel, Euroleague 6' 2" shooting guard, Maccabi Tel Aviv
 * Tal Burstein – Maccabi Tel Aviv
 * Tanhum Cohen-Mintz – Latvian-born Israeli, 6' 8" center; two-time Euroleague All-Star
 * Shay Doron – Israel and US, WNBA 5' 9" guard, University of Maryland (New York Liberty)
 * Tamir Goodman – US and Israel, 6' 3" shooting guard
 * Yotam Halperin – 6' 5" guard, drafted in 2006 NBA draft by Seattle SuperSonics (Olympiacos)
 * Gal Mekel – former point guard in NBA team Dallas Mavericks
 * Amit Tamir – 6' 10" center/forward, University of California, PAOK Thessaloniki (Hapoel Jerusalem)

Boxing

 * Hagar Finer – WIBF bantamweight champion
 * Yuri Foreman – Belarusian-born Israeli US middleweight and World Boxing Association super welterweight champion
 * Roman Greenberg – International Boxing Organization's Intercontinental heavyweight champion; "The Lion from Zion"

Fencing

 * Boaz Ellis – foil, five-time Israeli champion
 * Lydia Hatoel-Zuckerman – foil, six-time Israeli champion
 * Andre Spitzer – killed by terrorists

Figure skating

 * Alexei Beletski – Ukrainian-born Israeli ice dancer, Olympian
 * Galit Chait – ice dancer; World Championship bronze 2002
 * Natalia Gudina – Ukrainian-born Israeli figure skater, Olympian
 * Tamar Katz – US-born Israeli figure skater
 * Lionel Rumi – ice dancer
 * Sergei Sakhnovsky – ice dancer, World Championship bronze 2002
 * Michael Shmerkin – Soviet-born Israeli figure skater
 * Alexandra Zaretski – Belarusian-born Israeli; ice dancer, Olympian
 * Roman Zaretski – Belarusian-born Israeli ice dancer, Olympian

Sailing

 * Zefania Carmel – yachtsman, world champion (420 class)
 * Gal Fridman – windsurfer (Olympic gold: 2004 (Israel's first gold medalist), bronze: 1996 (Mistral class); world champion: 2002)
 * Lydia Lazarov – yachting world champion (420 class)

Swimming

 * Vadim Alexeev – Kazakhstan-born Israeli swimmer, breaststroke
 * Guy Barnea – swimmer who participated in the 2008 Summer Olympics
 * Adi Bichman – 400-m and 800-m freestyle, 400-m medley
 * Yoav Bruck – 50-m freestyle and 100-m freestyle
 * Eran Groumi – 100 and 200 m backstroke, 100-m butterfly
 * Judith Haspel (born "Judith Deutsch") – Austrian-born Israeli; held every Austrian women's middle- and long-distance freestyle record in 1935; refused to represent Austria at the 1936 Summer Olympics, protesting Hitler, stating, "I refuse to enter a contest in a land which so shamefully persecutes my people"
 * Dan Kutler – US-born Israeli; 100-m butterfly, 4×100-m medley relay
 * Keren Leibovitch – Paralympic swimmer, four-time gold medal-winner, 100-m backstroke, 50- and 100-m freestyle, 200-m individual medley
 * Tal Stricker – 100- and 200-m breaststroke, 4×100-m medley relay
 * Eithan Urbach – backstroke swimmer, European championship silver and bronze; 100-m backstroke

Tennis

 * Noam Behr
 * Ilana Berger
 * Gilad Bloom
 * Jonathan Erlich – 6 doubles titles, 6 doubles finals; won 2008 Australian Open Men's Doubles (w/Andy Ram), highest world doubles ranking No. 5
 * Shlomo Glickstein – highest world singles ranking No. 22, highest world doubles ranking No. 28
 * Julia Glushko
 * Amos Mansdorf – highest world singles ranking No. 18
 * Shahar Pe'er – three WTA career titles; highest world singles ranking No. 11, highest world doubles ranking No. 21

Other

 * Alex Averbukh – pole vaulter (European champion: 2002, 2006)
 * Artem Dolgopyat - artistic gymnast, 2020 Olympic champion on floor exercise
 * Boris Gelfand – chess Grandmaster; ~2700 peak Elo rating
 * Michael Kolganov – Soviet-born Israeli, sprint canoer/kayak paddler, world champion, Olympic bronze 2000 (K-1 500-meter)
 * Marina Kravchenko – Ukrainian-born Israeli table tennis player, Soviet and Israeli national teams
 * Sofia Polgar – Hungarian-born Israeli chess Grandmaster; sister of chess grandmasters Susan Polgar and Judith Polgar
 * Ilya Smirin – chess Grandmaster; ~2700 peak Elo rating
 * Emil Sutovsky – chess Grandmaster; ~2700 peak Elo rating

Criminals

 * Hanan Goldblatt – actor, comedian and singer; was convicted in 2008 of perpetrating acts of rape and other sex offenses against women in his acting class
 * Baruch Goldstein – massacred 29 Arabs in the Cave of the Patriarchs in 1994
 * Avraham Hirschson – politician who was among other things the former Israeli Minister of Finance; convicted of stealing close to 2 million NIS from the National Workers Labor Federation while he was its chairman
 * Zeev Rosenstein – mob boss and drug trafficker
 * Gonen Segev – former Israeli member of Knesset and government minister; convicted for an attempt of drug smuggling, for forgery and electronic commerce fraud
 * Ehud Tenenbaum – computer hacker also known as "The Analyzer" who became famous in 1998 when he was caught by the FBI after hacking into the computers of NASA, the Pentagon, the Knesset and the US Army, and after installing trojan horse software on some of those computers
 * Dudu Topaz – TV personality, comedian, actor, screenwriter, playwright, author and radio and television host; committed suicide in August 2009 after being charged with inciting violence against national media figures