List of people from Jerusalem

This is a dynamic list and may never be able to satisfy particular standards for completeness. You can help by adding missing items with reliable sources.

This is a list of notable people who were born, lived or are/were famously associated with Jerusalem. The list is in chronological order.

List

Ancient

• Melchizedek, Jebusite King of Salem and priest who blesses Abram
• Abdi-Heba, Hurrian chieftain
• Zadok, Levitical High Priest
• King David (c. 1040 BCE – c. 970 BCE), second King of the united Kingdom of Israel
• Araunah, Jebusite vendor of land
• Solomon the Great (c. 1011 BCE – c. 931 BCE), third King of Israel
• Hezekiah, thirteenth king of Judah
• Isaiah, a major prophet of ancient Israel living around the time of 8th-century BC Kingdom of Judah
• Joel, a prophet of ancient Israel, the second of the twelve minor prophets

Antiquity

• Judas Maccabeus (d. 160 BCE), leader of the Maccabean revolt against the Seleucid Empire
• Herod the Great, (d. 4 BCE), a Roman client king of Judea who expanded the Second Temple in Jerusalem and built the fortress at Masada
• Hillel the Elder (110 BCE – 10 CE), a famous Jewish religious leader and one of the most important figures in Jewish history, associated with the development of the Mishnah and the Talmud
• Josephus (37–100), Jewish-Roman historian
• James the Just (d. 69), Jewish-Christian Bishop of Jerusalem
• Simon bar Kokhba (d. 135), leader of the Bar Kokhba revolt against the Roman Empire in 132 CE

Medieval

• al-Muqaddasi (946–1000), Arab geographer
• Aaron of Jerusalem, was a Karaite scholar of the eleventh century
• Ibn al-Qaisarani (1056–1113), Arab historian
• Judah Halevi (1075–1141), Spanish Jewish physician, poet and philosopher
• Baldwin IV of Jerusalem (1161–1185), King of the Crusader State in Jerusalem
• Nahmanides (1194–1270), prominent medieval Jewish rabbi and physician

Modern

born 1820–1849

• William Holman Hunt (1827–1910), English painter, cofounder of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood
• Conrad Schick (1822–1901), German architect, archaeologist and Protestant missionary
• Yousef Al-Khalidi (1829–1907), Mayor of Jerusalem and Member of the Ottoman Parliament
• Haim Aharon Valero (1845–1923), banker, entrepreneur and a prominent figure in the Jewish community of 19th century Jerusalem
• Eliezer Ben-Yehuda (1858–1922), Litvak lexicographer and newspaper editor credited for the revival of the Hebrew language in the modern era

born 1850–1879

• Shlomo Moussaieff (1852–1922), a founder of the Bukharim neighborhood
• Herbert Plumer (1857–1932), senior British Army officer of the First World War
• Menachem Ussishkin (1863–1941), Zionist leader and head of the Jewish National Fund
• Abraham Isaac Kook (1865–1935), first Ashkenazi chief rabbi of Mandatory Palestine
• Khalil al-Sakakini (1878–1953), Palestinian Christian scholar and Arab nationalist

born 1880–1909

• Shmuel Yosef Agnon (1888–1970), Israeli Nobel Prize laureate writer and was one of the central figures of modern Hebrew fiction
• Helena Kagan (1889–1978), physician, Israeli pioneer in pediatrics
• Rachel Bluwstein (1890–1931), Hebrew poet
• Ludwig Blum (1891–1975), Czechoslovakia-born Israeli painter, known as "the painter of Jerusalem"
• Daniel Auster (1893–1963), three time Mayor of Jerusalem
• Haj Amin al-Husayni (1897–1974), Palestinian Arab nationalist and influential Muslim leader in Mandatory Palestine
• Yaakov Ades (1898–1963), Sephardi Hakham, Rosh Yeshiva, and Rabbinical High Court judge

born 1910s

• Teddy Kollek (1911–2007), mayor of Jerusalem and founder of the Jerusalem Foundation
• Ruhi al-Khatib (1914–1994), Palestinian nationalist and politician
• Ruchoma Shain (1914–2013), teacher and author
• Ephraim Katzir (1916–2009), biophysicist and fourth President of Israel
• Yigael Yadin (1917–1984), Israeli archeologist, politician, and second Chief of Staff of the IDF
• Menachem Lewin (1918–2011) Israeli chemist working in polymer, fiber and nanotechnology research

born 1920s

• Yitzhak Navon (1921–2015), politician (fifth President of Israel), diplomat, and author
• Yitzhak Rabin (1922–1995), general, the fifth Prime Minister of Israel, and Nobel Peace Prize winner
• Trude Dothan (1922–2016), Austrian Jewish archaeologist in Israel
• Yitzchok Scheiner (1922–2021), rabbi
• Shlomo Hillel (1923–2021), Israeli diplomat, Speaker of the Knesset, Minister of Police and Minister of Internal Affairs
• Zundel Kroizer (1924–2014), rabbi
• Walid Khalidi (born 1925), Palestinian historian
• Uzi Narkiss (1925–1997), Israeli general and commander of the Israel Defense Forces units in the Central Region during the Six-Day War
• Georgette Rizek (1925-2018), Palestinian philanthropist and activist
• Rehavam Ze'evi (1926–2001), assassinated Israeli general, historian, founder of the Moledet party, and Minister of Tourism
• Yaakov Blau (1929–2013), rabbi

born 1930s

• Reuven Adiv (1930–2004), Israeli and international actor, director and drama teacher
• Robert Aumann (born 1930), Israeli-American mathematician and game-theorist, received the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2005 for his work on conflict and cooperation through game-theory analysis
• Naseer Aruri (1934–2015), Palestinian scholar and activist
• Edward Said (1935–2003), Palestinian author and political theorist
• A.B. Yehoshua (1936–2022), Israeli novelist, essayist, and playwright
• Shlomo Aronson (1936–2018), Israeli landscape architect
• Yehoram Gaon (born 1939), Israeli singer, actor, director, producer, TV and radio host, and public figure
• Amos Oz (1939–2018) Israeli writer, novelist, and journalist
• Reuven Rivlin (born 1939), former Minister of Communications and Speaker of the Knesset, former President of Israel
• Ada Yonath (born 1939), Israeli crystallographer best known for her pioneering work on the structure of the ribosome, winner of the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2009

born 1940s

• Matan Vilnai (born 1944), Minister of Science, Culture & Sport, Minister of Science and Technology, Minister for Home Front Defense, Ambassador to China, IDF Major General
• Makram Khoury (born 1945), Israeli Arab actor and winner of the Israel Prize
• Ehud Olmert (born 1945), former Mayor of Jerusalem and Prime-Minister of Israel
• Mahmoud al-Zahar (born 1945), co-founder of Hamas
• Yoni Netanyahu (1946–1976), commander of Sayeret Matkal; killed in action during Operation Entebbe
• Esther Farbstein (born 1946), Holocaust scholar
• Nahman Shai (born 1946), Israeli journalist, Deputy Speaker of the Knesset, IDF spokesman
• Dan Meridor (born 1947) Israeli Minister of Justice, Minister of Finance, and Deputy Prime Minister

born 1950s

• Munib Younan (born 1950), president of the Lutheran World Federation
• Mustafa Barghouti (born 1954), Palestinian physician, activist, and PLO politician
• Anat Hoffman (born 1954), Israeli activist and director of Women of the Wall
• Francis Martin O'Donnell (born 1954), former United Nations diplomat, Ambassador of Sovereign Military Order of Malta, author
• Saeb Erekat (1955–2020), Palestinian negotiator of the Oslo Accords with Israel
• Sallai Meridor (born 1955), Israeli Ambassador to the United States, Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Israel and the World Zionist Organization
• Jamal Dajani (born 1957), Palestinian-American journalist and producer, co-founder of Arab Talk Radio
• Uri Malmilian (born 1957), Israeli soccer player with most appearances for Beitar Jerusalem F.C.
• Eli Ohana (born 1957), all-time top-scorer for Israel's Beitar Jerusalem F.C.

born since 1960

• Elisha Abas (born 1971), Israeli pianist, composer, and former professional soccer player
• Jonah Lotan (born 1973), actor
• Timna Nelson-Levy (born 1994), Olympic judoka
• Natalie Portman (born 1981), Israeli-American actress, lived in Jerusalem until she was three years old
• Rucka Rucka Ali (born 1987), Israeli-American parody rapper and musical artist
• Shahar Pe'er (born 1987), Israeli tennis player, highest world singles ranking # 11, highest world doubles ranking # 14
• Or Sasson (born 1990), Israeli Olympic medalist judoka
• Guy Starik (born 1965), Olympian shooter with world record in 50 m rifle prone

unknown date of birth

• Meche Marchand, Puerto Rican actress and writer

Honorary citizens

People awarded the honorary citizenship of Jerusalem are:

Date	Name	Notes
29 November 2015	Elie Wiesel (1928–2016)	1986 Nobel Peace Prize Winner.

See also

• Demographic history of Jerusalem
• List of Israelis
• List of Palestinians
• Mayor of Jerusalem
• Timeline of Jerusalem

External links

Media related to People of Jerusalem at Wikimedia Commons