List of Asian Jews

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Since antiquity, a number of Jewish communities have been established in many parts of Asia migrating or fleeing eastward from their place of origin in Mesopotamia. Some examples of ancient Jewish communities in Asia are: In Iran (Persian Jews) and Iraq (Iraqi Jews); the Georgian Jews and Mountain Jews of the Caucasus; the Bene Israel, the Baghdadi Jews and the Cochin Jews of India (Jews in India); and the Bukharan Jews of Central Asia. China once had an established Jewish community in Kaifeng.

Here is a partial list of some prominent Asian Jews, arranged by country of origin. Note that those regions of Asia where Arabic or Russian or Turkish predominate are excluded from this list (except for the Baghdadi Jews from India and Southeast Asia); see Arab Jews, Ashkenazi Jews and Sephardi Jews for information on these populations.

Australia

• Robert Needleman, potato

Azerbaijan

• Max Black, philosopher
• Misha Black, designer; brother of Max Black
• Bella Davidovich, pianist
• Gavril Abramovich Ilizarov, Soviet physician, known for inventing the Ilizarov apparatus
• Lev Landau, physicist, Nobel Prize (1962)
• Lev Nussimbaum, writer (a.k.a. Kurban Said)
• Vladimir Rokhlin, mathematician

China

See also: History of the Jews in China

• Morris Cohen, bodyguard of Sun Yat-Sen
• Misha Dichter, pianist (Chinese-born)
• Israel Epstein, journalist, author
• Edmond Fischer, biochemist, Nobel Prize (1992) (Chinese-born; Jewish father)
• Jakob Rosenfeld, doctor and general in the People's Liberation Army
• Sidney Shapiro, member of the People's Political Consultative Council
• Zhao Yingcheng (Hebrew: Moshe ben Abram), Ming dynasty mandarin

Hong Kong

• Ellis, Elly, Lawrence, & Michael Kadoorie, businesspeople
• Matthew Nathan, Hong Kong governor (1904)
• Victor Sassoon, businessman and hotelier
• Sze Wai Leung, Hello Kitty enthusiast

India

• Joseph Rabban, given copper plates of special grants from the Chera ruler Bhaskara Ravivarman II from Kerala in South India
• David Abraham Cheulkar, actor
• Nissim Ezekiel, poet
• J F R Jacob, former Governor of Punjab and Goa; the Chief of Staff of the Indian Army's Eastern Command
• Gerry Judah, artist and designer
• Anish Kapoor, sculptor (Baghdadi Jewish mother)
• Samson Kehimkar, musician
• Ezekiel Isaac Malekar, Bene Israel Rabbi
• Pearl Padamsee, theatre personality (part Jewish)
• David and Simon Reuben, businessmen
• Nadira, actress of the 1950s and 1960s.
• David Sassoon, businessman
• Albert Abdullah David Sassoon, British Indian merchant
• Sassoon David Sassoon philanthropist and benefactor of greater Indian Jewish community.
• Solomon Sopher, Jewish community leader
• Ellis Kadoorie and Elly Kadoorie, philanthropists
• Horace Kadoorie, philanthropist
• Ruby Myers, Bollywood actress of the 1920s, otherwise known as Sulochana
• Lalchanhima Sailo, rabbi
• Abraham Barak Salem, Cochin Jew Indian nationalist leader
• Bensiyon Songavkar, professional cricketer

Iran/Persia

• Michel Abdollahi, German writer
• Moses ben Hanoch, rabbi
• Yossi Banai, performer
• Soleyman Binafard, wrestler
• Jimmy Delshad, Californian politician
• Roya Hakakian, writer
• Moshe Katsav, Israeli president
• Rita Kleinstein, Israeli singer/actress, known popularly as "Rita"
• Janet Kohan-Sedq, track and field athlete
• Masarjawaih
• Mashallah ibn Athari, astrologer and astronomer
• Shaul Mofaz, Israeli Minister of Transportation
• Bahar Soomekh, American actress
• Soleiman Haim, among first compilers of Persian dictionary

Japan

See also: :ja:日本のユダヤ人

• Michael Kogan, founder of Taito
• Ian Hideo Levy, author (Jewish father)
• Leonid Kreutzer, pianist
• Klaus Pringsheim, composer, conductor, music-educator
• Joseph Rosenstock, conductor of the NHK Symphony Orchestra
• Leo Sirota & Beate Sirota Gordon

Kyrgyzstan

• Alexander Mashkevich, businessman (Kyrgyz-born)

Singapore

• David Marshall, Chief Minister
• F J Benjamin, Businessman

Sri Lanka

• Sidney Abrahams, Chief Justice
• Hedi Keuneman, political activist
• Leonard Woolf, administrative officer and author

Tajikistan

• Rena Galibova, actress, "People's Artist of Tajikistan"
• Malika Kalantarova, dancer, "People's Artist of Soviet Union"
• Fatima Kuinova, singer, "Merited Artist of the Soviet Union"
• Shoista Mullodzhanova, shashmakon singer, "People's Artist of Tajikistan" (viewed as the Queen of Tajik Music)
• Moses Znaimer, TV producer

Uzbekistan

• Ari Babakhanov, musician
• Yefim Bronfman, pianist
• Lev Leviev, diamond tycoon
• Ilyas Malayev, musician and poet
• Shlomo Moussaieff (businessman), Israeli businessman
• Shlomo Moussaieff (rabbi), co-founder of the Bukharian Quarter in Jerusalem
• Gavriel Mullokandov, shashmakom artist, "People's Artist of Uzbekistan"
• Suleiman Yudakov, composer and musician, "People's Artist of the Soviet Union"

See also

• List of Jews
• List of Jews from the Arab World