Naftali Bennett

Place of Birth: Haifa, Israel

Date of Birth: 25 March, 1972

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish

Naftali Bennett is an Israeli politician and businessperson. He served as Prime Minister of Israel, from 13 June, 2021 to 30 June 2022, as well as, Leader of New Right, since 29 December, 2018. He has also been Leader of the Jewish Home, from 5 November, 2012 to 29 December, 2018, Minister of Economy, from 23 January, 2013 to 14 May, 2017, Minister of Religious Services, from 18 March, 2013 to 14 May, 2017, Minister of Diaspora Affairs, from 29 April, 2013 to 2 June, 2015, Minister of Education, from 14 May, 2015 to 2 June, 2019, Minister of Defence, from 8 November, 2019 to 17 May, 2020, Leader of Yamina, from 15 January, 2020 to 30 June, 2022, Minister of Community Affairs, from 13 June, 2021 to 8 November, 2022, and Alternate Prime Minister of Israel, from 1 July, 2022 to 8 November, 2022.

Prime Minister Bennett is the son of Myrna Lea (Lefko), who worked for the Association of Americans and Canadians, 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. They were progressive activists in the U.S., and later became Modern Orthodox Jews. Prime Minister Bennett is himself a Modern Orthodox Jew. He was raised in Ahuza, Haifa, and spent some childhood years in Montréal, Québec, Canada, and Teaneck, New Jersey. He is married to pastry chef and parent counselor Gilat Bennett (née Einav), with whom he has four children.

He is the first Israeli Prime Minister with American-born ancestors, and the first with (documented) Dutch Jewish ancestry (at 1/16th).

Three of Prime Minister Bennett’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.

Prime Minister Bennett’s roots in the Netherlands can be traced to at least the 1630s.

Prime Minister Bennett’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 Samuel Kohn and Johanna Haya Rivka Lewinski.

Prime Minister Bennett’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, Prime Minister Bennett’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 Heiligers, from Rotterdam. Prime Minister Bennett’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, Prime Minister Bennett is descended from the Rappaport rabbinic family, and, evidently, medieval Biblical commentator Rashi.

Prime Minister Bennett’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.

Prime Minister Bennett’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 Prime Minister Naftali Bennett – https://www.geni.com