- Maimonides
Moses Maimonides and his Arabic name was أبو عمران موسى بن ميمون بن عبد الله القرطبي الإسرائيلي ("Abu Imran Mussa bin Maimun ibn Abdallah al-Qurtubi al-Israili"). However, he is most commonly known by his Greek name, Moses Maimonides (Μωυσής Μαϊμονίδης), which literally means, "Moses, son of Maimon", like his name in Hebrew and Arabic. Several Jewish works call him Maimoni, מימוני. - Jacques Derrida
Jacques Derrida (July 15, 1930 - October 8, 2004) was an Algerian-born French philosopher, known as the founder of deconstruction. His voluminous work had a profound impact upon continental philosophy, French philosophy, and literary theory. - Rita Levi-Montalcini
Rita Levi-Montalcini (born April 22, 1909) is an Italian neurologist who, together with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of growth factors. Today she is the oldest living Nobel laureate. - Paula Abdul
Paula Julie Abdul (born June 19, 1962) is an American television personality, jewelry designer, multi-platinum selling singer, and Emmy Award-winning choreographer. In the 1980s, Abdul rose from being a cheerleader for the Los Angeles Lakers NBA basketball team to being a sought-after choreographer at the height of the music video era, then to being a Pop-R&B singer with a string of hits in the late 1980s and early 1990s. - Ovadia Yosef
Rabbi Ovadia Yosef is a Haredi rabbi, Talmudic scholar, a recognized authority in Halakha ("Jewish law"). He is the former Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel and the current spiritual leader of the Shas political party in the Knesset (Israel's parliament). Rabbi Yosef is a major figure in Haredi Judaism who is revered by his followers. - Baruch Spinoza
Baruch de Spinoza (lived November 24, 1632 – February 21, 1677) was a Dutch philosopher of Portuguese Jewish origin. Revealing considerable scientific aptitude, the breadth and importance of Spinoza's work was not fully realized until years after his death. Today, he is considered one of the great rationalists of 17th-century philosophy, laying the groundwork for the 18th century Enlightenment and modern biblical criticism. - Jean Lafitte
Jean Lafitte (1780? - 1826?), was a famous pirate in the Gulf of Mexico in the early 19th century. - Mordechai Eliyahu
Mordechai Eliyahu (born: 1929, Jerusalem) is a former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. - Loolwa Khazzoom
Loolwa Khazzoom is a Mizrahi Jewish writer who writes about Jewish multiculturalism and the cultural traditions and modern struggles of Sephardi, Mizrahi, Yemenite and Ethiopian Jews. She is involved in the Jewish Multicultural Project and in the organization Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa (JIMENA). - Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron
Eliyahu Bakshi-Doron (b. 1941), is a former Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel. - Abraham Zacuto
Abraham Zacuto was a Sephardi Jew astronomer, astrologer, mathematician and historian who served as Royal Astronomer in the 15th Century to King John II of Portugal. - Charles Saatchi
Charles Saatchi (born June 9, 1943) was the co-founder with his brother Maurice of the global advertising agency Saatchi & Saatchi, which became the world's biggest before the brothers were forced out of their own company in 1995. In the same year the Saatchi brothers formed a new agency called M&C Saatchi. Many large clients followed, and their new agency quickly overtook their ex agency in Britain's top ten. - Yasmina Reza
Yasmina Reza, is a French playwright, actress, novelist and screenwriter. Her parents were both of Jewish origin, her father Iranian, her mother Hungarian. Reza began work as an actress, appearing in several new plays as well as in plays by Molière and Marivaux. In 1987 she wrote "Conversations after a Burial," which won the Molière Award, the French equivalent of the Laurence Olivier Award or the Tony Award, for Best Author. - Elias Canetti
Elias Canetti was a Bulgaria-born novelist of Sephardi Jewish ancestry who wrote in German and won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1981. - Abraham ben Jacob
Abraham ben Jacob, better known under his Arabic name of Ibrahim ibn Yaqub was a 10th century Sephardi Jew, a traveller, merchant and chronicler from Moorish-ruled Ṭurṭūšah in Al-Andalus, though he may also have lived in Cordova. Between 965 and 971 he travelled throughout Western and Central Europe. The memoirs and commentaries of this travel were later published in Abu Abdullah al-Bakri's "Book of Highways and of Kingdoms". - Bernard Baruch
Bernard Mannes Baruch (August 19, 1870-June 20, 1965) was an American financier, stock market speculator, statesman, and presidential adviser. After his success in business, he devoted his time toward advising Democratic presidents Woodrow Wilson and Franklin D. Roosevelt on economic matters. - David Broza
David Broza (born September 4, 1955 in Haifa) is an Israeli singer/songwriter. He has written several Israeli pop standards, including "Yihiyeh Tov" (It will be all right) and "Mitachat La'Shamayim" (Under the Skies). David Broza is a modern troubadour of urban folk-rock. With 17 albums to his name, many of which went gold, platinum, and multi-platinum in his native country, Israel. Broza is a Sephardi Jew. - Claude Cohen-Tannoudji
Claude Cohen-Tannoudji is a French physicist working at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, France. Cohen-Tannoudji was born in Constantine to Algerian Jewish parents, when Algeria was still part of France. After primary and secondary studies in Algiers, Cohen-Tannoudji left Algeria for Paris to attend the École normale supérieure. Lectures were given by Henri Cartan, Laurent Schwartz or Alfred Kastler. In 1958 he married Jacqueline, a high school teacher, … - Seyla Benhabib
Seyla Benhabib (born 1950, Istanbul) is a Turkish professor of political science and philosophy at Yale and director of the program in Ethics, Politics, and Economics, and a well-known contemporary philosopher. She previously taught in the departments of philosophy at Boston University, SUNY Stony Brook, and the New School for Social Research and the Department of Government at Harvard University. - Maurice Saatchi Baron Saatchi
Maurice Saatchi, Baron Saatchi, born June 21, 1946 is the co-founder of advertising agencies Saatchi and Saatchi and M&C Saatchi. Born in Baghdad, Iraq, to Jewish parents, he is the brother of Charles Saatchi. Following Michael Howard's elevation to the leadership of the Conservative Party in November 2003, Lord Saatchi was appointed joint chairman of the party with Liam Fox. He had responsibility for running the party machine, … - Washington Bartlett
Washington Montgomery Bartlett (February 29, 1824 - September 12, 1887) was Mayor of San Francisco, California from 1883-1887 and was California's first and to date only Jewish governor. Bartlett was born in Savannah, Georgia in 1824. He was a life-long bachelor and a printer by trade, and was not particularly religious. During his lifetime Bartlett was a San Francisco newspaper publisher, San Francisco County Clerk, lawyer, state senator, mayor, and finally a governor. - Emma Lazarus
Emma Lazarus (July 22, 1849 - November 19, 1887) was an American poet born in New York City. She is best known for writing "The New Colossus", a sonnet written in 1883, that is now engraved on a bronze plaque on a wall in the base of the Statue of Liberty. The sonnet was solicited by William Maxwell Evarts as a donation to an auction, … - George Allen
George Felix Allen (born March 8, 1952) is a former Republican United States Senator from the Commonwealth of Virginia, and the son of former NFL head coach George Allen. Allen served Virginia in the state legislature, as Governor, and in both bodies of the U.S. Congress. Allen lost his 2006 bid for re-election to Democrat Jim Webb. Allen presently serves on the Reagan Ranch Board of Governors of Young America's Foundation where he is a Reagan Ranch Presidential Scholar. - Abraham Ibn Ezra
Abraham ben Meir ibn Ezra (1092 or 1093-1167), was one of the most distinguished Jewish men of letters and writers of the Middle Ages. Ibn Ezra excelled in philosophy, astronomy/astrology, medicine, poetry, linguistics, and exegesis; he was called "The Wise", "The Great" and "The Admirable Doctor". He was born at Tudela, (current day province of Navarra) when the town was under Muslim rule. - Yehuda Halevi
Judah Ha-Levi, also Yehudah Halevi, or Judah ben Samuel Halevi (Hebrew: was a Spanish Jewish philosopher and poet. He was born in Tudela, Navarre, Spain. - Isaac Abrabanel
Isaac ben Judah or Yitzchak ben Yehuda Abravanel was a Jewish statesman, philosopher, Bible commentator, and financier. He was a scion of the Abravanel family. In many works he is referred to solely by his last name, which is variously spelled as Abravanel, Abarbanel, and Abrabanel. Many Torah and Talmud scholars today, simply refer to him as "The Abarbanel". He was born in Lisbon, Portugal. - Yona Metzger
Yona Metzger ; born 1953) has been the Ashkenazi Chief Rabbi of Israel since his appointment in 2003. His counterpart is Rabbi Shlomo Amar, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel. He is the first sabra Chief Rabbi. - Brett Ratner
Brett Ratner (born March 28, 1969) is an American film director and music-video director. He is best known as the director of "Red Dragon", the "Rush Hour" series, and "X-Men: The Last Stand". He is also a producer on the Fox drama, "Prison Break". - Moses ben Jacob Cordovero
Moses ben Jacob Cordovero or Moshe Cordevero (Hebrew: משה קורדובירו) known by the acronym the Ramak (רמ"ק), was one of the most prominent scholars of early modern Kabbalah. He belonged to a circle of Jewish mystical thinkers in 16th-century Safed. His birthplace is unknown, but the name Cordovero indicates that his family originated in Córdoba, … - Amedeo Modigliani
Amedeo Clemente Modigliani was an Italian artist, practicing both painting and sculpture, who pursued his career for the most part in France. Modigliani was born in Livorno (historically referred to in English as Leghorn), in Central Italy and began his artistic studies in Italy before moving to Paris in 1906. Influenced by the artists in his circle of friends and associates, by a range of genres and art movements, and by primitive art, … - Sabato Morais
Sabato Morais was an American Jewish rabbi, leader of Mikveh Israel Synagogue, and founder of the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City. - Isaac de Pinto
Isaac de Pinto was a Dutch Jew of Portuguese origin. Pinto was a man of broad learning, but did not begin to write until nearly fifty, when he acquired a reputation by defending his co-religionists against Voltaire. In 1762 he published his "Essai sur le Luxe" at Amsterdam. In the same year appeared his "Apologie pour la Nation Juive, ou Réflexions Critiques". The author sent a manuscript copy of this work to Voltaire, who thanked him. - Yahia ben Yahi III
Yahia Ben Yahi III, also known as Jahia Negro Ibn Ya'isch, was a Sephardi Jew born in Cordoba in 1115 to Yahia Ben Rabbi, also known as Yahya Ha-Nasi, Yahya Ibn Yaish or Don Yahia "El Negro", (known as Lord of the "Aldeia dos Negros", Portugal -), and said to be a direct descendent of the Exilarchs of Babylon. - Yahia ben Rabbi
Yahia Ben Rabbi, also known as Yahya Ha-Nasi, Yahya Ibn Yaish, Dom Yahia "o Negro" or Don Yahia "El Negro" (died 1222), known as Lord of "Aldeia dos Negros", Portugal -), and said to be a direct descendent of the Exilarchs of Babylon, was the eponymous ancestor of the "Ibn Yahya" Family. - Aaron Valero
Aaron Valero (1913-2000) was an Israeli physician and educator who helped establish hospitals and medical schools, authored medical publications and contributed greatly to the advancement of medical education in Israel in the latter half of the 20th Century. Valero was born in Jerusalem to a distinguished Sephardi family which had settled in Palestine in the early 1800s and on his mother's side, in the late 1400s. - Judah P. Benjamin
Judah Philip Benjamin (August 6, 1811 - May 6, 1884) was an American politician and lawyer. He was born British, and died a resident in England. He held the following posts: * representative in the Louisiana state legislature *U.S. Senator for Louisiana *three successive Cabinet posts in the government of the Confederate States of America He was also a distinguished barrister and Queen's Counsel in England. - Solomon Molcho
Solomon Molcho (Shlomo Mol'kho, meaning "Solomon His Angel"), originally Diogo Pires was a "New Christian" who converted back to Judaism, declared himself the Messiah, and was burned at the stake for apostasy. Molcho was born a Christian to Marrano parents in Portugal about 1500. His baptismal name probably was Diogo Pires. He held the post of secretary in one of the higher courts of his native country. - Joseph Safra
Joseph Safra is a member of one of the wealthiest families in South America and currently runs the Brazilian banking and investment empire, Safra Group. As the chairman of all Safra companies, among them Safra National Bank of New York, and the large Banco Safra headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Joseph was recently ranked number 119 on the Forbes list of billionaries, with an estimated fortune of 6.0 billion (together with Chile's Anacleto Angelini, … - Yosef Karo
Yosef Caro (sometimes Joseph Caro was one of the most significant leaders in Rabbinic Judaism and the author of the Shulchan Arukh, an authoritative work on Halakhah (Jewish law). Caro was never celebrated as an individual, but as a "meḥabber" (author). Therefore, the name Yosef Caro was only significant in relation to his works. Throughout Jewish history, there has been a tendency to remember figures by their magnum opus. - Uriel da Costa
Uriel da Costa (ca. 1585 - April 1640) or Uriel Acosta (from the Latin form of his Portuguese surname, "Costa", or "da Costa") was a philosopher and skeptic from Portugal.
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