Jews are easiest to find through famous Jews, and they are everywhere, in Hollywood, television, comedy, high-tech, music, politics, finance, and more. Here is a list of some of the most famous Jewish people in the world.

Jewish actors – Jewish actors

Jewish actors include actors of all genres, world-class Jewish celebrities such as Scarlett Johanson, Natalie Portman, and Gal Gadot, who is also Israeli, and actors and comedic artists such as Woody Allen, and Seth Rogen, and Adam Sandler. Character actors like Daniel Radcliffe. Classic actors like Kirk Douglas, Harrison Ford, and Dustin Hoffman. Some other Jewish celebrities are Daniel Day-Lewis, Lisa Kudrow, Mila Kunis, Elliott Gold, Joaquin Phoenix, Goldie Hawn, Hedi Lamar, and more.

Jewish comedians

Jewish comedians have been famous since the days of Vaudeville, and Jewish humor is considered one of the best types of humor. The most successful Jewish comedians are of course Jerry Seinfeld and Larry David, thanks to the successful comedy series “Seinfeld”. Don Rickles is a famous and influential Jewish comedian who is considered the inventor of the insult standup or,  as it is called in Israeli Hebrew “put-downs”. You can also add Mel Brooks, The Marx Brothers, Lenny Bruce, Bill Maher, Andy Kaufman, Bob Saget, and more. In the comedy department, you can count Sarah Silverman, Amy Schumer, Roseanne Barr, Carol Kane, and of course Joan Rivers.

Famous Jewish singers

Jews also play a significant role in music. One of the most influential singers in folk, pop, and rock music is Bob Dylan, whose actual name is Robert Allen Zimmerman. Leonard Cohen was also a Jew. Matisyahu is perhaps the most successful ultra-Orthodox Jewish singer of all time. They are also joined by Billy Joel, Lou Reed, Randy Neumann, and more. In the category of Jewish female singers, we can find Paula Abdul, Carly Simon, Regina Spector, and Dana Schur. Also Pink and Leslie Gur are Jewish and of course, Barbara Streisand, Bette Midler, and Scarlett Johansson, who is also a singer.

Famous Jewish producers and directors

There is no doubt that Steven Spielberg is one of the most well-known and successful Jewish producers and directors of all time, with films like ET and Schindler’s list – one of the most successful Jewish films – Jewish movies – and plays a significant role in the standards of cinema. Judd Apatow is the producer and director of the most successful film comedies in the world. Michael B., the producer of the Transformers films, is also a Jew. Sydney Lumet, the director of the 12 Jurors and The broadcast network, is also Jewish. Rob Reiner, director of The Magic Princess, and when Harry met Sally, is not without Judaism. You can add quite a few directors and producers like the Cohen brothers, Charlie Kaufman, the Warner brothers, and more.

Famous Jewish journalists

In the field of journalism we can find Larry King, the Jewish presenter of RTA America and formerly on CNN; David Pacman, the presenter of The David Pacman’s show, Martin Agronsky, Jake Tapper from CNN, Katie Tour from MCNBC, and of course Barbara Walters, the first woman presenter of the show, Tonight’s edition. Another of the presenters is Dana Bash, a senior presenter at CNN. Other Jews in news companies are Wolf Blitzer of CNN. Karl Bernstein, from the Watergate, reveals, was also a Jew. Other famous Jewish journalists are Thomas Friedman, Gloria System, ​​Katie Couric, a CBS presenter, and more.

Famous Jewish writers

Quite a few Jews have also succeeded in the field of literature. Among the classic Jewish writers, we can mention Shalom Aleichem, the humorous writer about the Jewish town, Kafka, the inventor of the Kafkaesque situation, Eli Wiesel, who told the world about the Holocaust from his personal experience; Isaac Babel, one of the greatest Russian storytellers of the twentieth century, Yitzhak Bashevis Singer, who wrote in Yiddish. Among the American Jewish writers we find Isaac Asimov, the most important writer of science fiction; J. D. Salinger, author of The Catcher in the Rye; Joseph Heller, author of Catch 22; Philip Roth, author of Portnoy’s Complaint; Michael Chevon, author of the Yiddish Police Association. Other famous Jewish writers are Paul Oster, Shalom Ash, Sol Blue, Alan Ginsberg, Arthur Miller, and more.

Famous Jews in hightech

In addition to culture, many Jews can also be found in technology companies. The most well-known is, of course, Mark Zuckerberg, founder, and CEO of Facebook. He defines himself as a believing Jew, and in a speech at Harvard, he even recited from the prayer “He who blessed.” Alongside Zuckerberg, at the top of the list of international technology companies are Larry Page and Sergey Brin, the founders of Google, who recently retired from its management. Steve Ballmer, the former CEO of Microsoft and the company’s largest shareholder, is a Jew by birth.  Today he prefers owning the LA Clippers, basketball team. Also worth mentioning are Garrett Camp, founder of Uber; Jan Cum, founder of WhatsApp; The founders of Check Point Marius Nacht, Gil Schweid, and Shlomo Kramer, Michael Dell founder of the computer company named after him, Larry Allison, who was previously the richest Jew in the world, and many others.

Famous Jewish businessmen

Of course, even in the field of finance, Jews do not lack. According to Forbes’ Michael Bloomberg, chairman of the big media agency and who previously declared his desire to run for president, is one of the richest Jews in the world and the richest Jew outside of technology. The owners of the perfume company and the luxury brands Chanel, Allen and Gerard Wertheimer, are also Jews. Sheldon and Miriam Adelson, owners of the hotel and gambling company Las Vegas Sands and the Israeli newspaper Israel Today, rank ninth among the richest Jews in the world. Len Belvatnik, one of the richest people in the Soviet Union, is one of the ten richest people in the world, with assets in Britain and Israel. In Israel, he owns Channel 13 and the Nesher cement Monopoly.

Famous Jewish athletes

Famous Jewish athletes include, for example, the Jewish baseball player Sandy Copax or another player Hank Greenberg, the Jewish basketball player Dolph Shays or Max Zaslowski, and football Julian Edelman or Nate Avner.

Famous Jewish politicians

Many years have passed since 1909, when the first Jewish minister in the United States, Oscar Strauss, was appointed Minister of Labor. Today one can find many Jews in all the senior ranks of the state administration, Steve Menuhin, the finance secretary of the current administration, is a Jew. Jared Kushnir and Avi Berkowitz are senior advisers to President Trump and are both Jews. Jews in the Treasury in the current administration were Adam Zubin and Neil Wallin. But perhaps the most famous Jew in this position was Henry Morgenthau, who served as a minister in Roosevelt’s administration. Bernie Sanders is a senior politician in the Democratic Party and a former candidate for the party leadership. Tony Blinken, who served as Obama’s deputy secretary of state, is also Jewish.

Outside the United States, there were some important Jewish politicians, Trotsky was one of the founders of the Communist Party in Russia, according to Marx’s ideology, and also a Jew. There were and are also several Jewish heads of state in the world, Ricardo Doro, former president of Honduras is a Jew. Saloman Gattis,  a Jew was the Prime Minister of Peru and the third Jew in this position. Russian Prime Minister Michael Mishustin is a Jew, Latvian President Egils Levits is a Jew, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a Jew and there are many other Jews who have served as heads of state. And this list of famous Jewish people is not complete.

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Jews have had success in art, science, cinema, and literature. Sports, however, is not the first thing that comes to mind but there is a field that has yielded some Jewish sports players, for example, Jewish baseball players. In this article, we will introduce you to some important Jewish baseball players.

Sandy Copax

Sandy Copax (1935) is perhaps the most well-known Jewish baseball player. His career lasted only 11 years, but he repeatedly broke serving records. He is not only the best Jewish baseball player of all time but one of the best baseball players in general, and one of the outstanding Jewish athletes in the world. His career began in 1955 and he retired from basketball in 1966 due to arthritis. His Judaism was expressed in the fact that he refused to play on Yom Kippur. His team the Dodgers lost that game but won the entire series.

Hank Greenberg

Hank or Henry Greenberg (1986-1911) was also one of the greatest Jewish-American baseball players of all time. Hank was born an ultra-Orthodox Jew from the Bronx. As a teenager, he was an outstanding athlete in several fields, but the field in which he was most successful was baseball. He began his baseball career with the Detroit Tigers after refusing to join the New York Yankees. He was twice selected as an Outstanding MVP, the outstanding Baseball League Award, and was the first Jew to receive this award. In 1934 he brought the team to the championship. Greenberg played on Rosh Hashanah, with a Rabbinical permit according to the fact that in the Talmud, children played on Rosh Hashanah. Like Copax, he also refused to play on Yom Kippur, and yet the Tigers won first place in the league.

Ian Kinsler

Ian Kinsler (1982) is an Israeli baseball player who played in the professional league of MLB baseball. He currently plays for the Israeli national baseball team and serves as a consultant. Kinsler served as a second baseman for the Texas Rangers, Detroit Tigers, Los Angeles Angels, Boston Red Sox and San Diego Federers. He won the All-Star title four times and the Golden Glove twice. In 2009 he was selected as one of the fifty greatest baseball players active today.

Mo Berg

Mo Berg (1972-1902) was a Jewish baseball player, known not necessarily for his game but for something more important. Mo Berg played with legends like Babe Ruth and Lou Grigg, and all three were sent to Japan to teach the Japanese the game that gained popularity in the island nation. Berg was not as well known as Grigg and Ruth. The reason he was sent there was espionage, to photograph Tokyo in the years before Pearl Harbor. He was then sent to Switzerland, Italy, and Germany to bring information about the Nazi atom project and befriended the German physicist who was behind the development of the bomb.

Jason Kipnis

Jason Kipnis (1987). Kipnis is an American Jew who played in the MLB League for the Cleveland Indians and Chicago Cobs. At Kipnis College, he was in the All-Star American and Player of the Year in 2009 at Pacific 10, a competition that combines several sports, and was named Player of the Year and All-Star in the National / Minor League. Although Kipnis celebrates Catholic holidays, he identifies as a Jew.

Lip Pike

Lip Pike (1893-1845) was one of the greatest baseball players of the nineteenth century and one of the first Jewish players. He was one of the outstanding batsmen of the period. Pike was born into a Dutch Jewish family and grew up in Brooklyn. He played from 1886-1891

Ryan Brown

Ryan Brown (1983) is a Jewish baseball player, he plays as a left fielder.  He played for the Milwaukee Brewers. He also played additional roles and was twice in the Miami All-Star and in 2003 was named America’s Baseball Magazine’s Promise of the Year. In 2009 he was selected as one of the fifty greatest baseball players active today.

Not all Jewish baseball players are mentioned here, Jewish baseball player. There are other Jewish baseball players who make the league more interesting like Alex Bergman, Al Rosen, Kevin Youkilis, and more.

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It is not difficult to think of the names of Jewish comedians who have influenced not only the history of humor in America but throughout the world. Without conducting a search on Google, we can name Groucho Marx, Lenny Bruce, Jerry Seinfeld, and more. Charlie Chaplin, of course, despite the rumors, was not a Jewish comedian.

Jerry Seinfeld: Jerry Seinfeld is probably the best-known Jewish comedian today. He is also the richest of all the comedians. This is of course due to his successful sitcom from the 1990s. Although Seinfeld was not a typical Jewish comedy-Jewish comedy, it does refer to some of his experiences as a Jew, such as the episode about the dentist who converts to tell antisemitic jokes or stand-up clips about his experiences in Israel and Israel is mentioned more than once.

Lenny Bruce: Lenny Bruce is a Jewish comedian from New York who worked in the 1940s and 1950s. He’s one of the most influential comedians of all time and is one of the forefathers of the standup genre. Bruce was the first to break new ground and create a show that was more than just a man telling jokes on stage. He brought up satirical passages against the establishment, broke taboos, and spoke dirty, due to this he was also arrested more than once. His character really comes through in the Jewish comedy – Jewish comedy –  “the wonderful Mrs. Meisel”.

Groucho Marx: While it makes sense that all the Marx brothers are Jewish comedians, Groucho is the most unforgettable of them because of the persona with the mustache and cigar and because of his memorable wit,  for example, “I usually do not forget faces, but in your case, I will deviate from my custom.” He is also considered a pioneer in the field of television quizzes and even got a complex named after him,  the “Marx Complex”, thanks to the immortal quote “I am not willing to be a member of a club that is willing to accept me”.

Mel Brooks: Mel Brooks, the king of parodies, is also a well-respected and influential comedy director. He created and directed the young Frankenstein, the producers, Space Madness – a parody of Star Wars, the crazy history of the world, Men in Gatkas, and tens of thousands of other films. We exaggerated slightly, but a lot. Brooks is one of the few people to have won Emmy, Oscar, Grammy, and Tony awards together.

Sasha Baron Cohen: Sasha Baron Cohen is known in the world mainly for his film Borat, in which he pretends to be a Kazakh journalist. But the Kazakh in the film is actually real Israeli Hebrew. Cohen is the son of immigrants from London and his mother was an Israeli from Haifa. In the 1980s, he stayed in Israel on a kibbutz and was a member of the Bunim Dror socialist Jewish movement. His Israeli roots also went beyond comedy when he played the Israeli spy Eli Cohen in the spy series “Eli”.

Seth Rogen: Seth Rogen is a successful Canadian Jewish comedian, who was discovered in Jude Apatow’s series “Paris & Geeks”. He is also the director and producer of some movies about friendships between men like Superbad, This is the end, Knocked up, and more. 

Billy Crystal: Billy Crystal is also an actor, comedian, director, and well-known producer. He was discovered in a 1970s series “soap” a parody of the soap opera. His biggest success is in the movie “When Harry Met Sally,” with some of the most memorable scenes in movie history.

Volodymyr Zolansky: The greatest success of a Jewish comedian is actually not in the field of comedy. Volodymyr Zolanski is a Jewish comedian who became president of Ukraine. He started out with a bunch of sketches and became a lead actor in a situation comedy in which he played the president of Ukraine. Playing the part was not enough for him so he ran in the real election and won more than seventy percent of the vote.

This is just the tip of the iceberg, some of the most influential Jewish comedians. We did not mention all of the Jewish comedians. There are of course also Woody Allen, The Three Stooges, Jerry Lewis, Don Riklis, Andy Kaufman, and many more.

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Let’s start with some famous Jewish actors. Not everyone has played in Jewish movies – Jewish movies – in the full sense of the word.

Male Jewish actors

Kirk Douglas – Kirk Douglas is a recently deceased Jewish actor – Jewish actor. He was an actor, producer, director, and more. His films have accompanied viewers from the 1940s to the 21st century. His last appearance on television was in the series “The Murders in the Empire State Building.”  He died at the age of 101.  Some of his films are Spartacus, Lust for Life, and The Great Carnival.

Michael Douglas – son of Kirk Douglas. He is also a Jewish director,  producer, and actor. Winner of an Academy Award, Emmy, and produced the canonical film “The Cuckoo’s Nest”, he starred in “Chorus Song”, “Fateful Courtship” and most recently in “The Avengers” by Marvel and in a series written by Chuck Laurie “The Kaminsky Method”.

Harrison Ford – Han Solo from Star Wars has roots not only in the galaxy but also among Jews. Harrison Ford is a Jewish actor on his mother’s side, who in addition to Han Solo played Indiana Jones, Detective Rick Dakar on Blade Runner, and more.

Dustin Hoffman – Dustin Hoffman is also a Jewish actor who has won Oscars, Emmys, Golden Globes, and more. After many years playing in commercials and lesser-known films, he gained significant success following the film “The Graduate”. Then from his well-known films “Midnight Cowboy”,  “All the Presidents men”  and most recently starred in a series of kung fu panda films. Hoffman is proud and declared Jew who is active for openness in the Jewish world. 

Younger Jewish male actors

Daniel Radcliffe – Daniel Radcliffe is a British Jewish actor best known for the Harry Potter films based on the JK Rowling books. Radcliffe has been acting since the age of 10.  Regarding his Judaism, he said, “I am an atheist but proud to be a Jew.”  There is even a picture posted of him putting on tefillin.

Matthew Broderick – Matthew Broderick is an American Jewish actor best known for several successful films of the 1980s: “Ferris Beuller’s day off,” “War Games,” and “Ladyhawk.” He even contributed his voice to the older Simba in the successful Disney animated film “The Lion King.”

Jewish actresses

Scarlett Johansson – Scarlett Johansson is a Jewish actress and also a singer, model, and dancer. Her first film role was “North” with Bruce Willis, she acquired more fame thanks to the movie The Horse Whisperer and Manny & Lo /.  Other films in which she starred are “Lost in Tokyo”, “Girl with a Pearl Earring”, “Luxury”, “The Avengers” and more. She’s one of the most sought-after actresses in Hollywood. Johansson once mentioned in an interview (Ynet) that although she celebrates both Christmas and Hanukkah, she defines herself as Jewish.

Natalie Portman – Natalie Portman is a Jewish actress who won an Oscar for the film “Black Swan”. Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel, even years after living in the United States and after her fame, she returned to the city to study at the Hebrew University. She became famous as a 13-year-old girl in the movie “Leon” and later in the Star Wars movies, Black Swan and Vendetta, and dozens of other movies. Portman was married in a Jewish ceremony and her husband converted to Judaism for that purpose. She has also contributed several times to the State of Israel.

Mila Kunis – Mila Kunis is a successful Jewish actress and comedian whose fame came following the successful comedy series “That Seventies Show”. She then starred in many movies such as Black Swan, Ted, Oz, Bad Moms, and more. Kunis was born in Ukraine to a Jewish family. 

In 2011, she was ranked as one of the “hottest Jewish women in the world” by Complex magazine.

These are just some of the great Jewish actors – Jewish actors, there are of course many Jewish actors and Jewish actresses we did not get to talk about like Ben and Jerry Stiller, Daniel Day-Lewis, Elliott Gold, Barbara Streisand, and many others.

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When talking about Jewish celebrities, you usually think about famous Jewish actors, Jewish comedians, and successful high-tech individuals,  you don’t however immediately include Jewish singers, even though there are many of them. Here are some of the biggest and most influential.

Leonard Cohen – Leonard Cohen was a Canadian Jewish singer, one of the most famous in the world. Leonard Cohen is also considered a poet due to his complex lyrics,  as a singer, he is known for his melancholy songs and the great emotional expression in them. From his well-known songs Dancing to the End of Love and “Hallelujah”. In 1973, he appeared before Jewish soldiers in Israel during the Yom Kippur War alongside Israeli bands and crews.

Neil Diamond – Neil Diamond is an American Jewish singer from the Rappaport family. His father’s name is Akiva. He released 31 albums and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Simon and Garfunkel – Both Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel are Jewish singers. They were among the popular singers of the sixties and the most prominent singers in the genre of folk rock. They have some of the greatest hits in the world,  Mrs. Robinson, the sound of silence. According to Rolling Stone music magazine, they are among the forty most successful artists of all time.

Paula Abdul – Paula Abdul is not just a real judge. She is also one of the most successful singers of the 1980s. Paula Abdul is a Jewish singer, dancer, and choreographer, winner of Grammy Awards, and an Emmy.  Her song “The Way That You Love Me” reached number three on the Billboard charts.

Jack Black – Jack Black is the founder of the comedy band “Tenacious D” and is not only a Jewish singer, he is also an actor and comedian. His mother is Jewish and his father was born a Christian and converted to Judaism. As an actor, he played himself in the movie “The Muppets” and got a lead role in “Be kind rewind” by Michelle Gondry and in many other movies. Black is raising his children as Jews and visits the synagogue with them.

Bett Midler – Bett Midler is a Jewish singer and actress with three Grammy Awards, along with Emmy Awards, Golden Globe, and Tony Awards. She appeared in the musical Fiddler on the Roof, based on the story of Shalom Aleichem, “Tuvia the Milkman”.  Her first album was “The Divine Miss M” by Happy Barry Manilo. Other musicals and rock operas in which she sang and acted: Tommy, Gypsy, and Hello Dolly. In recent years she has been best known as a comedic actress. Midler’s name appears in the encyclopedia for Jewish women.

Bob Dylan – Another Jewish folk singer. And not just any singer. Dylan is considered the father of folk rock, he is one of the most influential singers and songwriters, and is not only another Jew who has won the Nobel Prize, but he is also the only musician who has won the Nobel Prize for Literature. His song “Blowin ‘in the Wind” was very popular in the sixties and the civil rights movement used it as a kind of anthem. Dylan expanded pop music topics from the common theme of personal and couple relationships to politics, philosophy, and poetry.  His full Hebrew name is Shabtai Zosha ben Avraham and Rachel Rivka Zimmerman. 

Between the seventies and eighties, he converted to Christianity and then returned to Judaism and even studied at the Chabad Center.

Matisyahu – Matisyahu was born in Brooklyn as Matityahu Shaul Miller. In the past, he was identified as the best-known ultra-Orthodox Jewish singer in the world. Matisyahu was born into a conservative Jewish family. After participating in a Jewish heritage program and visiting Israel, he decided to become an ultra-Orthodox Jew. Matisyahu’s music is characterized by the influence of reggae, hip hop, rock and rap, and Jewish lyrics. ‘Time’ defined him as one of the fifty most influential Jews in the world and he even received a cover story. In 2011 he photographed himself without a beard and wrote that “he is no longer a Hassidic reggae superstar”. However, he stressed that he is still loyal to Judaism and he continues not to perform on Saturdays.

These are just some of the most influential Jewish singers. We can also mention Lou Reed, Billy Joel, Berry Manilo, Red Newman, and one of the greatest chanson singers in France: Serge Ginsburg, Georges Brassens, and in the field of world-renowned religious music cantors such as Richard Tucker, Siddur Blersky, and many others.

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The city without Jews, 1924

The City without Jews is the first film in which the theme of the Jews is presented in full and in the name of the film. The film was directed by H.K. Breslauer, an Austrian expressionist director. The plot is based on the book by the Christian Jew Hugo Battower. The satirical book foretells the rise of the Nazis to power, shortly after the premiere Hugo Bettauer was murdered in the Tower by a Nazi nationalist.

The Jazz Singer, 1927

The Jazz singer is not only a pioneer in Jewish film but also because it caused a revolution in the film industry. It is one of the first films to combine a synchronous soundtrack with a picture and included dialogue segments, it laid the foundations for the transition from silent cinema to the cinema with sound. It is also the first film to become a show. The film tells the story of a jazz singer who wants to perform on Broadway and argues with his parents who want him to be a cantor. The film includes many Jewish concepts.

The Jew Ziss 1934

The Jew Ziss is a British film by the Jewish creator Michael Balcon based on the book by the Jew Lion Feuchtwanger. The film tells the story of the Jew Ziss Oppenheimer who wants to leave the ghetto, he sneaks into a duke’s party and forms political ties with him. The film tried to warn against anti-Semitism, however, a few years later the Nazi propaganda minister would make his own “Ziss Jew” film and interpret excerpts from the film in an anti-Semitic way.

Gentleman’s Agreement, 1947

A Gentleman’s Agreement was produced in the United States two years after World War II and deals with the problem of anti-Semitism. That’s why a lot of producers didn’t want to produce it. Finally, Fox decided to produce it. The director was Ilya Kazan and the story is based on a story by the writer Laura Hobson. The film tells the story of a journalist who impersonates a Jew and experiences anti-Semitism in the United States on his own flesh.

The Pawnbroker, 1964

Sydney Lumet’s film is the first American film to deal with the Holocaust from the perspective of a Holocaust survivor. The film also became an international success. The film tells the story of a shop owner from a Holocaust survivor neighborhood in Harlem who suffers from post-trauma and memories of the Holocaust arise in him. Without his knowledge, his shop becomes a money laundering tool for prostitution services and he gets involved with local gangsters.

Fiddler on the Roof, 1971

Fiddler on the Roof is probably one of the best-known Jewish films in the world. It is based on a musical of the same name, which itself is based on the story “Tuvia the Milkman” by Shalom Aleichem, the Jewish writer. The star of the film is the Israeli Haim Topol. The story tells of a poor father in Russia who marries off his daughters, and each time there is a different problem with the grooms: the poor groom, the socialist groom, and the gentile groom. In the end, the whole family is deported from Russia and they leave for the United States or Jerusalem.

Yentel, 1983

Yentel is a film written by Barbara Streisand based on the story of the Jewish writer Yitzhak Bashevis Singer and it talks about the status of women in Judaism. Yentel is the daughter of a rabbi who secretly taught her Torah. After her father dies she pretends to be a man in order to be able to find a place to study Torah.

Stranger on the Field, 1992

A Stranger on the Field is a sports drama about a Jewish football player who is required to hide his Judaism after antisemitic experiences. An acquaintance from childhood then reveals his Jewishness, and the actor named David decides not to hide anymore, despite the price he pays.

These are just some of the most important Jewish Jewish movies that have hit theaters and Hollywood in particular. Other films on Jewish subjects include, of course, Schindler’s List, The Pianist, The Possession based on the well-known play, and Israeli films on the subject of Judaism, such as Eyes Open and Footnotes.

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What does Jewish music include

It is hard to define but by and large it can be said to be music that accompanies the Jewish people from its inception. It is divided into religious music, such as hymns and poetry, and secular music created by Jews for Jews, for example, Jewish music could be heard in public singing, which was common in Israel. 

One person who tried to define Jewish music was the composer Richard Wagner, who was later admired by the Nazi Party, in his essay on Judaism.

In response to this article, the Jews tried to define whether their music was Jewish, and famous composers such as Mendelssohn did not see their work as Jewish elements even though they defined themselves as Jews. The study created three approaches to Jewish music, the religious approach which sees only hymns, prayers, and piyyutim as Jewish music, the social approach, which sees the Jewish community or the Jewish sovereign state as an important component of Jewish music; And the genetic psychological approach that sees certain personal musical traits as genetic. In this article, we will mainly address the first two approaches. So while not everyone in sports is a successful Jewish baseball player, in music, however, the Jews have contributed a lot, especially to American music.

Jewish music originates from the Bible and the reading of the Hebrew cantillation, which some see as the basis for melody in hymns. These cantillations serve as a kind of musical notes that guide Jews all over the world in how to read the melody. 

Already in the Bible, we read about musical instruments and poetry but much of the poetry is from an earlier source than the time of description in the Bible so it is difficult to set a chronological time. Musical instruments were also present in the temple. Archaeologists have even found musical instruments from the biblical period or illustrations of musical instruments. The first instruments mentioned are the violin and organ. Singing and drumming were common by women after the victory in the war, such as the song of the sea, Devorah’s song, and the singing to David and Saul after beating the Philistines.

The Jewish song – Jewish song in the synagogue

The Jewish song in the synagogue is called a piyyut or psalm. After the destruction of the Temple, the use of musical instruments for prayer was forbidden and singing was permitted for festive events. According to Jewish law, women were also forbidden to sing in public and only male singing was allowed. At first complex melodies were not accepted in the synagogue and recitation, which is still practiced in the Yemenite community, was more common.

With the development of piyyutim by the geniuses of Babylon in the sixth century BC, piyyutim was introduced alongside prayer and the use of a public messenger as a cantor. At first, the rabbis opposed the use of cantors and hymns. However, public demand prevailed and the need for cantors increased, the cantor even developed into a paid profession.  Over the years, various readings and melodies have developed in the different Jewish communities, some under the influence of the environment and some through the independent development of Judaism. Thus in Ashkenazi poetry, there were musical modules that later influenced Hassidic poetry. The wording of the prayer also received unique Ashkenazi melodies like “every vow”, “we must praise”  and more.

Jewish music in the home Jewish music

In addition to the prayer songs, poets began writing songs for Shabbat, holidays, and celebrations. These hymns were not meant to be hymns for generations but were established into Jewish tradition. The most well-known of which is the singing of “Shalom Aleichem” at the Shabbat reception. Many of the piyyutim were composed by medieval poets, Sephardim and Ashkenazim alike, for example, Donesh ben Lebert, Rabbi Shimon ben Yitzchak, Yehuda Halevi, Ivan Gvirol, and more. The melodies that accompany the texts have not been preserved and differences and influences of the place can be heard among the various communities. There are also influences of popular music like opera, march, Arabic popular music, and more.

Jewish musicians through history

Alongside religious music, Jewish musicians also sprang up alongside local musicians, such as the Ziskind von Trimberg of Würzburg in the Middle Ages, Israel Nagara from Safed who in the 17th century introduced Turkish maqams to the piyyut, the Dutch Abram Caceres who was active in the 18th-17th centuries. During these centuries, an extensive community of Jewish musicians who played the violin, harp, and flute also developed.  Then came the klezmers, Ashkenazi Jewish musicians, who first played for the rulers in Christian communities. The Jewish musician Mendelssohn tried to integrate with the music of European culture, on the other hand, the Baal Shem Tov (Baal Shem Tov) established the Hassidic movement that attaches great importance to singing.  Melody has become an important tool in the spiritual development of Hasidism alongside dance and prayer as opposed to the Lithuanian Hasidim, who demanded a reduction in the melody and that the main thing be the study of the Torah.

Jewish singers and Jewish music in the modern era

With the technological development of the recordings and the freedom given to the Jews, more Jewish musicians and singers Jewish singers intervened in popular music in North Africa and the Middle East, for example, the Algerian singer Edmund Atlan, and the Algerian violinist Enrico Macias. In Tunisia, Raul Zorno, Habiba Mesika and more. In Morocco, Zohra Alfasiya is well-known and was even able to get in a song by the Israeli poet Erez Bitton. Some of the greatest Jewish composers grew up in Europe,  Giacomo Meyerber (1791-1864), Jacques Frumental Halevi (who wrote “The Jew”), Felix Mendelssohn (“Elijah”), Jacques Offenbach, and Gustav Mahler.  Although they did not play Jewish music to bring about a great Jewish idea, some of them used Jewish motifs.

At the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the twentieth century, a community of Jewish actors, and Jewish singers developed mainly in the area of Russia and Poland. They were also Jewish comedians,  known in Hebrew as “Badhan”, a funny singer. These were called Brody singers.  It was at that time that Yiddish plays began, followed by Yiddish cinema and Jewish films. Much of the Jewish music recorded for Jewish films became hits such as “Mein Shtetele Belz” (The Town of Belz), Written for the play “The Song of the Ghetto” (the song from the ghetto) in 1932, the song “A Letter to Mother” (letter to mother) by Shlomo Shmuelevich from 1908 and more. In Western Europe, the greatest Jewish composers, Ernst Bloch and Arnold Schoenberg arose. With the rise of the Nazis to power came the end of the development of Jewish music, mainly that from Eastern Europe. The Nazis banned music by Jewish musicians and music with an external, non-Aryan, certainly Jewish, influence.

Jewish music in the United States

Jewish music in the United States developed following the emigration of Jews to the United States, first from Russia and then Germany, Poland, and other European countries. The vast majority came to the New York metropolitan area, the more religious and traditional Jews were integrated into Yiddish theaters and the secularists turned to Broadway and Tin Pan Alley. Two Yiddish songs from the period between the world wars that became hits were “Yiddish Mame” and “Bye Mir Bisto Shane”.  Many Jewish composers of the musicals did not demonstrate their Jewishness, but one of the most well-known composers of the period was a Jew, George Gershwin, who included Ashkenazi prayer motifs in some of his songs.  At that same time, the musical “Fiddler on the Roof” was also successful with Jewish themes and music with a Jewish influence. The film The Jazz Singer, the first sound film, also contains cantorial passages and Jewish prayer. After World War II there were quite a few Jewish composers, musicians, and important Jewish singers such as Leonard Bernstein, who dealt with issues relating to Jews, Steve Reich, and Kurt Weil, one of the composers of the Brecht Theater who combined Jewish motifs with jazz. In popular music, Simon and Garfunkel and Bob Dylan are among the Jewish musicians whose songs have a Jewish influence. The most well-known Jewish musician today who is influenced by Judaism is the former ultra-Orthodox musician Matisyahu.

Jewish music in Israel

In Israel, there has been a development in types of music influenced by Judaism, classical and popular.  In Mizrahi singing and in recent years, there has been an influence of religious and repentant singers, such as Hanan Ben Ari, Yishai Lapidot Eviatar Banai, and Ehud Banai. Rabbi Carlebach also introduced many guitar songs to events, some of which are even sung in the synagogue.

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