List of Jews from the Arab world

From the Arab Expansion until the 1960s, Jews were a significant part of the population of Arab countries. Before 1948, an estimated 900,000 Jews lived in what are now Arab states. Here is a list of some prominent Jews from the Arab World, arranged by country of birth.

Al-Andalus

• Dunash ben Labrat, commentator, poet, and grammarian
• Mūsā ibn Maymūn, medieval philosopher and Torah scholar
• Abu Harun Musa bin Ya'acub ibn Ezra, philosopher and linguist
• Hasdai ibn Shaprut, scholar, physician, and diplomat

Algeria

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Algerian Jews.

• Isaac Alfasi, Talmudist and posek; best known for his work of halakha[1]
• Jacques Attali, economist, writer
• Cheb i Sabbah, famous club DJ[2]
• Lili Boniche, musician[3]
• Patrick Bruel, singer, actor
• Alain Chabat, actor
• Hélène Cixous, feminist writer[4]
• Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, physicist, Nobel prize (1997)[5]
• Jacques Derrida, deconstructionist philosopher[6]
• Alphonse Halimi, boxer; World Bantamweight champion[7]
• Roger Hanin, film actor and director[8]
• Bernard-Henri Lévy, French philosopher[9]
• Enrico Macias (Gaston Ghrenassia), French singer[10]
• Line Monty (Eliane Sarfati), Algerian singer[11]
• Reinette l'Oranaise, famous Algerian singer from Oran. Known as one of Oran's respected artists. Best known for Nhabek Nhabek and Mazal Haï Mazal[12]

Bahrain

• Menasheh Idafar, of Iraqi descent, former Bahraini/British racing driver with dual citizenship[13]
• Nancy Khedouri, of Iraqi descent, current member of parliament, of Iraqi origin[14][15]
• Ebrahim Daoud Nonoo, of Iraqi descent, former member of parliament[16]
• Houda Ezra Nonoo, of Iraqi descent, former member of parliament and former Ambassador of Bahrain to the US[17]
• Misha Nonoo, of British-Iraqi descent, US-based British-Bahraini fashion designer[18]

Egypt

• André Aciman, writer and academic[19]
• Guy Béart, French singer[20]
• Eli Cohen, celebrated Israeli spy[21]
• Sir Ronald Cohen, Egyptian-born businessman[22]
• Jacques Hassoun, psychoanalyst, writer
• Aura Herzog, widow of Chaim Herzog, sixth President of the State of Israel[23]
• Eric Hobsbawm, historian (Jewish-Polish and -German parents living in Cairo)[24]
• Isaac Israeli ben Solomon, physician and philosopher living in the Arab world
• Edmond Jabès, poet
• Paula Jacques, writer, journalist, radio show producer[25]
• Jacqueline Kahanoff, writer
• Ranan Lurie, political cartoonist[26]
• Moshe Marzouk, doctor[27]
• Togo Mizrahi, film director, actor, writer, and producer
• Roland Moreno, engineer, inventor of the Smart Card
• Layla Murad, singer
• Haim Saban, TV producer
• Saadia ben Yosef, rabbi
• Sylvain Sylvain (Sylvain Mizrahi), guitarist for New York Dolls
• Bat Ye'or, historian
• Avraham Yosef, rabbi
• Yaakov Yosef, rabbi
• Ahmed Zayat, entrepreneur and owner of Zayat Stables LLC

Iraq

Ovadia Yosef

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Iraqi Jews.

• Many Tannaim and Amoraim, including:
  • Abba Arika, "Rabh", amora
  • Shmuel Yarchina'ah, "Mar Samuel", or Samuel of Nehardea, amora
  • Rav Huna
  • Rav Chisda
  • Abaye, amora
  • Rav Papa, amora
  • Rav Ashi (Abana), rav, amora
• Anan ben David, founder of Qara'ism

• 

  Sir Sassoon Eskell

  Alan Yentob, television executive, broadcaster
• Avi Shlaim, Oxford Professor
• Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, politician
• Dodai ben Nahman, scholar
• Shlomo Hillel, diplomat and politician[28]
• Ya'qub Bilbul, poet
• Sir Sassoon Eskell, statesman and financier
• Marcus Samuel, 1st Viscount Bearsted, Lord Mayor of London, businessman
• Naeim Giladi, writer
• Sir Naim Dangoor, entrepreneur and philanthropist
• N.J. Dawood, translator of Koran
• Hakham Yosef Chayyim of Baghdad, "Ben Ish Chai"
• Yitzchak Kadouri, rabbi and kabbalist
• Yitzhak Yamin, painter and sculptor
• Hila Klein, member of American-Israeli husband and wife duo h3h3Productions, best known for their YouTube channel of the same name. Family is of mixed Libyan and Iraqi Jewish heritage
• Elie Kedourie, historian
• Jessica Meir, astronaut, physiologist
• Sami Michael^*, writer
• Shafiq Ades, wealthy businessman
• Samir Naqqash, novelist
• Selim Zilkha, entrepreneur
• Maurice and Charles Saatchi, advertising executives
• Yona Sabar, scholar, linguist and researcher
• David Sassoon, merchant, and Sassoon family
• Yaakov Chaim Sofer, rabbi
• Ovadia Yosef, rabbi

Kuwait

• Saleh and Daoud Al-Kuwaity, singers of Iranian-Iraqi descent[29]

Libya

• George Borba, footballer
• Hila Klein, member of American-Israeli husband and wife duo h3h3Productions, best known for their YouTube channel of the same name. Family is of mixed Libyan and Iraqi Jewish heritage[30]
• Moses Hacmon, Israeli artist and architect. Family is of mixed Libyan Jewish, Turkish Jewish and Iraqi Jewish heritage

Lebanon

• David Nahmad, backgammon champion and art dealer[31]
• Yfrah Neaman, violinist
• Gad Saad, evolutionary behavioral scientist[32][33]
• Edmond Safra, billionaire banker[34]
• Jacob Safra, founder of Jacob E. Safra Bank[35]
• Joseph Safra, chairman of all Safra companies[36]

Morocco

Rabbi Shlomo Amar

• Michel Abitbol, academic at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
• Amram Aburbeh, Sephardi Dayan, Scholar Chief Rabbi of Petah Tikva born in Tetouan. Best known of his work Netivei-Am
• Shlomo Amar, Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
• Robert Assaraf, historian and writer
• André Azoulay, advisor to Kings Hassan II and Mohammed VI
• Shlomo Ben-Ami, Israeli diplomat, politician and author born in Tangier
• Ralph Benmergui, Canadian media personality, born in Tangier
• Raphael Berdugo, dayan, scholar, and rabbi
• Salomon Berdugo, poet and rabbi from Meknes
• Frida Boccara, singer from Casablanca
• Aryeh Deri, Israeli politician, a former leader of Shas Party
• Edmond Amran El Maleh, writer
• André Elbaz, painter and filmmaker from El Jadida
• Gad Elmaleh, humorist, actor
• Serge Haroche, Nobel-winning physicist
• David Hassine, liturgic poet and rabbi
• Dunash ben Labrat, grammarian, poet
• David Levy, Israeli politician
• Nahum Ma'arabi, Hebrew poet and translator of the 13th century
• Chalom Messas, Grand Rabbi of Morocco until 2003
• David Messas, Grand Rabbi of Paris since 1995
• Amir Peretz, Israeli politician, leader of the Labor Party
• David Rebibo, congregational rabbi and Jewish day school dean in Phoenix, Arizona
• Baba Sali, rabbi
• Abraham Serfaty, political activist
• Meir Sheetrit, Israeli politician of Kadima
• Avi Toledano, singer who competed at the Eurovision Song Contest
• Mordechai Vanunu, Israeli dissident (converted to Christianity)

Arabia

• Samaw'al ibn 'Adiya (Samuel ibn 'Adiya), poet, warrior[37]
• David Reubeni, false messiah

Sudan

• Nessim Gaon, financier[38]

Syria

• Ezra Attiya, rabbi and rosh yeshiva[39]
• Émile Benveniste, linguist

Tunisia

For a more comprehensive list, see List of Tunisian Jews.

• Dove Attia, French-Tunisian musical television producer
• Max Azria, French-Tunisian fashion designer, founder of BCBG
• Roger Bismuth, Tunisian senator
• Alain Boublil, French musical theatre lyricist and librettist
• Michel Boujenah, French Tunisian comedian and humorist
• Paul Boujenah, French-Tunisian film director
• Dany Brillant, French singer
• Claude Challe, French club impresario and DJ
• Pierre Darmon, French tennis player
• Jacques Haïk, French producer
• Gisèle Halimi, Tunisian lawyer and essayist
• Élie Kakou, French actor and humorist
• Pierre Lellouche, French politician
• Albert Memmi, French novelist and sociologist
• Habiba Msika, Tunisian singer, dancer and actress
• Victor Perez, Tunisian boxing world champion
• Silvan Shalom, Israeli politician and former Foreign Minister of Israel
• René Trabelsi, Tunisian Politician
• Nissim Zvili, Israeli politician and diplomat

Yemen

• Rabbi Nethanel ben Isaiah[40][41]
• Rabbi Jacob ben Nathanael
• Shoshana Damari, was an Israeli singer.[42]
• Ofra Haza, famous Israeli singer[43]
• Rabbi Yosef Qafih rabbi and leader of Baladi Yemenite Jewish community
• Abdullah ibn Saba, converted to Islam (born Jewish)[44]
• Rabiah ibn Mudhar and Dhu Nuwas, kings of Himyarite
• Wahb bin Munabbih (?–732), converted to Islam (born Persian Jew)[45]
• Alrashed Sahoubah, rabbi and kabbalist
• Rabbi Shalom Shabazi, rabbi and poet[46]
• Rabbi Shalom Sharabi[47]
• Rabbi Yihya Yitzhak HaLevi
• Rabbi Shlomo Korah, chief rabbi of Bnei Brak.
• Rabbi Azarya Basis, chief rabbi of Rosh HaAyin.
• Rabbi Shimon Baadani, leading Sephardi rabbi and rosh kollel in Israel.
• Rabbi Avraham Al-Naddaf, one of the leaders of Yemenite Jews in Jerusalem and Israel.
• Rabbi Amnon Yitzhak

See also

• Arab Jews
• Jewish exodus from Arab lands
• Jewish refugees
• List of Jews
  • List of Asian Jews
  • List of South-East European Jews
• List of Egyptians
• List of Lebanese people
• List of Syrians
• List of Iraqis
• History of the Jews in Tunisia
• History of the Jews in Morocco
• History of the Jews in Algeria
• History of the Jews in Yemen

Footnotes

1. Leonard Levy, R. Yitzhaq Alfasi's application of principles of adjudication in Halakhot Rabbati, footnotes 11-27
2. Gaurav (April 21, 2002). "Cheb i Sabbah: 'Krishna Lila' and Everything Else". Asian Vibrations. Archived from the original on May 29, 2008. Retrieved September 13, 2007.
3. "BONICHE Eliaou". Retrieved 11 July 2020.
4. "Hélène Cixous". Jewish Women's Archive. Retrieved 2014-01-17.
5. "Claude Cohen-Tannoudji - French physicist". Retrieved 4 October 2018.
6. Peeters, Benoît (2012). Derrida: A Biography. Polity. pp. 12–13. Jackie was born at daybreak, on 15 July 1930, at El Biar, in the hilly suburbs of Algiers, in a holiday home. [...] The boy's main forename was probably chosen because of Jackie Coogan ... When he was circumcised, he was given a second forename, Elie, which was not entered on his birth certificate, unlike the equivalent names of his brother and sister. OCLC 980688411, 844437566, 818721033 See also Bennington, Geoffrey (1993). Jacques Derrida. The University of Chicago Press. p. 325. 1930 Birth of Jackie Derrida, July 15, in El-Biar (near Algiers, in a holiday house)..
7. "Alphonse Halimi". International Jewish Sports Hall of Fame.
8. Hal Erickson (2015). "Roger Hanin". Movies & TV Dept. The New York Times. Archived from the original on 13 February 2015. Retrieved 12 February 2015.
9. Kirsch, Jonathan. "Bernard-Henri Lévy bares his Jewish soul." Jewish Journal. 11 January 2017. 17 January 2017.
10. (in French) Le Malouf Constantinois Archived 28 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
11. Line Monty - La Française qui chante si bien l'arabe at jechantemagazine.net, retrieved May 10th 2019
12. Langlois, Tony (2015). Davis, Ruth F. (ed.). Musical Exodus: Al-Andalus and Its Jewish Diasporas. Scarecrow Press. p. 155. ISBN 978-0-8108-8176-1.
13. "Drivers". Official site of the British F3 International Series. Retrieved 15 January 2011.
14. Ismaeel Naar, Retracing Bahrain’s Jewish contributions to Gulf economics and politics, Alarabiya.net, 26 February 2017
15. Michael Slackman, In a Landscape of Tension, Bahrain Embraces Its Jews. All 36 of Them., Nytimes.com, 5 April 2009
16. בחריין: יהודיה תכהן בפרלמנט (in Hebrew). Walla!. 6 December 2006. Retrieved 2006-12-07.
17. Nora Boustany. "Barrier-Breaking Bahraini Masters Diplomatic Scene", The Washington Post, December 19, 2008.
18. Doherty, Rosa (28 November 2017). "Meet Misha Nonoo – the Jewish 'matchmaker' who brought Harry and Meghan together". The Jewish Chronicle. London. Retrieved 20 May 2018.
19. Baker, Zachary M. (2009). "Presidential Lectures: André Aciman". Stanford Presidential Lectures. Retrieved 5 September 2017.
20. Jon Henley (17 October 2007). "The kiss of death". The Guardian. UK. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
21. "Eli Cohen (1924–1965)". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 8 May 2019.
22. Mathiason, Nick (4 November 2007). "The high priest of money-making". The Observer. Retrieved 5 November 2015.
23. Cashman, Greer Fay (2012-04-25). "All in the Family". The Jerusalem Post. Retrieved 2017-09-09.
24. Palmer, Bryan D. (Spring 2020). "Hobsbawm's Century". Catalyst. 4 (1). Retrieved 8 July 2020.
25. Alan Astro (2009). Paula Jacques. Jewish Women: A Comprehensive Historical Encyclopedia
26. Cartoonews Archived June 11, 2013, at the Wayback Machine
27. Nash, Jay Robert (1997). Spies: A Narrative Encyclopedia of Dirty Tricks and Double Dealing from Biblical Times to Today. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 370. ISBN 0871317907.
28. "A Story of Successful Absorption : Aliyah from Iraq". www.wzo.org.il. Retrieved 2021-05-15.
29. Dudu Tassa & the Kuwaitis, official band website
30. [1], video discussing ancestry
31. Peter Aspden (December 21, 2012), Art dealer who bought and sold with immaculate timing Financial Times.
32. "Story Profile - Passages Canada". passagestocanada.com.
33. Jack Anderson (Sep 17, 1985). "Caught in the cross-fire". Lewiston Daily Sun. p. 3.
34. Edmond Safra (1954) and Edmond Safra (1954) information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Edmond Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org
35. Anthony, Andrew (2000). "The strange case of Edmond Safra". Theguardian.com.
36. Joseph Safra (1956) and Joseph Safra (1956), information from the National Archives, Rio de Janeiro. Scan of Joseph Safra's Brazilian entry visa on 1954 on familysearch.org
37. David Samuel Margoliouth, A poem attributed to Al-Samau’al, Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society: London, 1906
38. Mufson, Steve (July 19, 1984). "Nigerian Reverses Stun Commodities Trader". The Wall Street Journal.
39. "Remembering Harav Ezra Attiya, Rosh Yeshivas Porat Yosef". Binah Bunch, 11 May 2009.
40. "Eben Sappir," i. 67a, Lyck, 1866.
41. Steinschneider, "Verzeichnis," p. 62.
42. Encyclopedia of Jewish Women: Shoshana Damari
43. Satenstein, Liana (14 May 2020). "The Ancient Beauty of Yemenite Wedding Ceremonies, Up Close". Vogue. Retrieved November 22, 2020.
44. Anthony, Sean (2011-11-25). The Caliph and the Heretic: Ibn Saba' and the Origins of Shi'ism. BRILL. p. 71. ISBN 9789004209305. Equally impressive, perhaps, is the sobriety with which Imami sources confirm the heresiarch's Jewish identity, as well as how salient this datum persists through the heresiographical literature, and this despite Sunni polemics against Shi'ism as being polluted by Judaic beliefs. Indeed, of all the components of Ibn al-Sawda's identity proffered by Sayf, that he was a Jew enjoys the broadest attestation elsewhere by far.
45. Jacobs, Joseph. "WAHB IBN MUNABBIH (Abu 'Abd Allah al-Ṣana'ani al-Dhimari)". Jewish Encyclopedia.
46. Avraham al-Nadaf, Hoveret (Composition), Jerusalem 1928, p. 1; reprinted in Zekhor Le'Avraham, Jerusalem 1992, p. 1 of Part II (Hebrew); includes the author's note, where he adds concerning Shabazi's lineage: "Thus did R. Yefeth b. Saʻadia Sharʻabi tell me, may G-d keep him, who saw the said genealogy in a certain book belonging to our Rabbi Sholem in his house of study in the town of Taʻiz."
47. "Jewish History: Shevat 10". aishcom. 21 May 2009. Retrieved 2020-02-06.