Ben Rappaport

Birth Name: Bennett Eli Rappaport

Place of Birth: Arlington, Tarrant, Texas, U.S.

Date of Birth: March 23, 1986

Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish-English

Ben Rappaport is an American actor. His father is of Ashkenazi Jewish descent (from a family from Russia and Poland). His mother likely has English ancestry. Ben was raised Jewish and had a Bar Mitzvah ceremony. Ben’s parents are members of a Reform temple.

Ben’s paternal grandfather is Sidney Rappaport (the son of Ben Rappaport).

Ben’s paternal grandmother is Roberta Renkoff (the daughter of Herman Renkoff and Vera Sugarman). Herman was born in New York, to Polish-born parents Abraham David Renkoff and Miriam Broner. Vera was born in Illinois, to Russian-born parents Louis Sugarman and Rose. Louis wrote the Yiddish-language book The God of Ben Zion, about his experiences in the shtetl.

Ben’s maternal grandparents are Francis J. Joslyn (the son of Clarence E. Joslyn and Florence O.) and Jacqueline “Jackie” A. Florence’s father was Canadian.

Ben has written:

My family came to New York at the height of the mass exodus of Ashkenazi Jews from the Pale of Settlement in the early 1900s/1910s. When I searched for information on my Great Grandpa Ben Rappaport (whom I’m obviously named after), the amount of Yiddish speaking, Russian born men by that name on the lower east side in that time period brought me to the conclusion that Ben Rappaport was like a Jewish ‘John Smith’ of sorts.

Source: Genealogy of Ben Rappaport (focusing on his father’s side) – http://levinsongenealogy.org

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