Place of Birth: Haifa, Israel
Date of Birth: 25 March, 1972
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
Naftali Bennett is an Israeli politician. He has been Minister of Economy, and Minister of Religious Services, from 2013 to 2015, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, from 2013 to 2019, Minister of Education, from 2015 to 2019, and Minister of Defense, from 2019 to 2020. As of 2020, he leads the Yamina party.
Naftali is the son of Myrna Lea (Lefko) and James Steven “Jim” Bennett, who was a real estate broker and real estate entrepreneur. His parents are American Jews, both born in San Francisco, who moved to Israel in 1967. Naftali is a Modern Orthodox Jew. He is married to Gilat Einav, with whom he has four children.
Three of Naftali’s grandparents were of Polish Jewish/Russian Jewish/Belarusian Jewish descent, with his paternal grandfather being the son of immigrants, and maternal grandparents moving to the U.S. c. the 1920s. His paternal grandmother had deeper roots in the U.S., going back to the mid 1850s, and descended from emigrants from Germany and the Netherlands, some of whose ancestors had also lived in Poland, Belarus, Ukraine, and Austria.
Naftali’s roots in the Netherlands can be traced to at least the 1630s.
Naftali’s parents were Modern Orthodox, and during his childhood lived at kibbutz Dafna, then the Ahuza neighborhood of Haifa, as well as spending several years in Montréal, Québec, Canada, and New Jersey, U.S.
Naftali’s paternal grandfather was Samuel Bennett (the son of Stefan Bennett and Frieda Cohn). Samuel was born in New York, to Polish Jewish parents, a father born in Gmina Wieluń, Łódź, and a mother born in Gmina Żerków. Frieda was the daughter of Benjamin Solomon Asher Zelig.
Naftali’s paternal grandmother was Shirley Eve Solmonson (the daughter of Julian Kaskel Solomonson and Clara Vivian Hirsch). Shirley was born in San Francisco, California. Julian was born in Little Rock, Arkansas. Julian’s father, Solomon Solomonson, was the son of Jewish emigrants, his father from Posen, Poznań, and his mother from Sępólno Krajeńskie, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship. Julian’s mother, Naftali’s great-great-grandmother Sarah van Ronkel, was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Dutch Jewish parents, Joseph/Jojada van Ronkel, from Groningen, and Eva van Heiligers, from Rotterdam. Naftali’s great-grandmother Clara was born in San Francisco, the daughter of a German Jewish father, Salomon Joseph Hirsch, from Frankfurt, Darmstadt, Hesse, and of Nettie J. Bissinger, who was born in Louisville, Kentucky, to German Jewish parents, Henry/Heinrich Bissinger, from Ichenhausen, Bavarian Swabia, and Helena Frank, from Oldenburg, Lower Saxony.
Through his paternal grandmother, Naftali is descended from the Rappaport rabbinic family, and, evidently, medieval Biblical commentator Rashi.
Naftali’s maternal grandfather was named Irvin Lewkowicz/Lefko (the son of Joseph Lewkowicz and Hanna). Irvin was born in Smolensk, Smolensk Oblast, Russia, to parents from Ostrołęka, Masovian Voivodeship, Poland. Joseph was the son of Aharon Lewkowicz.
Naftali’s maternal grandmother was Mildred Sylvia Shaff/Szewc (the daughter of Leiser-Eliezer Borishanski-Szewc and Minnaleah Leah Chertok). Mildred was born in Nielub, Wąbrzeźno County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland. Leiser was born in Vselyub, Hrodna, Belarus, the son of Michael-Yechiel Szewc-Borishanski/Schaff and Finkel Udellovitz. Minnaleah was born in Nyesotich, Belarus, the daughter of Nachum Zvi Chertok and Sheine Sura Borishanski.
Source: Genealogy of Naftali Bennett – https://www.geni.com
The post Naftali Bennett appeared first on Ethnicity of Celebs | What Nationality Ancestry Race.