Gal Gadot
Gadot in 2013, photo by DFree/Bigstock.com
Place of Birth: Petah Tikva, Israel
Date of Birth: 30 April, 1985
Ethnicity: Ashkenazi Jewish
Gal Gadot is an Israeli actress and model. She was Miss Israel 2004, and is known for starring as Gisele Yashar in the Fast and Furious films; as Wonder Woman in the DC Cinematic Universe, starting with Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice (2016); and for her roles in the films Date Night, Knight and Day, Kicking Out Shoshana, Triple 9, Criminal (2016), Keeping Up with the Joneses, Red Notice, Death on the Nile (2022), and Heart of Stone. She is 5′10″.
Gal was born to a Jewish family in Israel. She is the daughter of Irit, a physical education teacher, and Michael Gadot, an engineer, and was raised partly in Rosh HaAyin. Her father is a sixth-generation Israeli. Her family were Jewish emigrants from Belarus, Lithuania, Russia, Poland, Austria, Slovakia, Germany, and Ukraine. Gal is married to Israeli real estate developer Jaron “Yaron” Varsano, with whom she has four children. Jaron has Turkish Jewish ancestry.
In Hebrew, Gal means “wave” and Gadot means “riverbank” or “shore.” Her family’s name was originally Greenstein.
Gal’s paternal grandfather is Arye Zeev Greenstein (the son of Michael Greenstein and Shulamit Natkin/Notkin). Arye was born in Tel Aviv, Israel. Michael was born in Petah Tikva, Israel, the son of Wolf Leib Grinstein and Sara Goldberg. Gal’s great-grandmother Shulamit was born in Jerusalem, Israel, where many generations of her family had been born, and was the daughter of Natan Neta Natkin and Hana Lea/Leah Michlin. Gal’s great-great-grandfather Natan, whose family was from Jerusalem, had ancestors from Belarus and Lithuania, including evident descent from Talmudist Yisroel ben Shmuel of Shklov (1770-1839), who was born in Shklov, Lithuania. Gal’s great-great-grandmother Hana was born in Jerusalem, to a father from Khislavichi, Russia, and a mother who was born in Jerusalem, to a father from Yassvein, Lithuania, and a mother from Jerusalem, who had ancestors in Lithuania and Belarus.
Gal’s paternal grandmother was named Miriam Glicksman (the daughter of Samuel Glicksman). Miriam was evidently born in Austria.
Gal’s maternal grandfather was Abraham Weiss (born Adolf Weiss, the son of Zeev Weiss and Yehudit Yakubovitz). Abraham was born in Mukacheve, Zakarpats’ka oblast, Ukraine, and survived the Auschwitz concentration camp. He lost most of his family in the Holocaust. Gal discusses her grandfather, along with a picture, at this, this, and this link. Gal’s great-grandfather Zeev was the son of Yakov Weiss and Tzipora Klein. Gal’s great-grandmother Yehudit was killed in Auschwitz, in 1944. She was the daughter of Dov Yakubovitz and Bluma.
Gal’s maternal grandmother was Rachel Yehudit Kaufman (the daughter of Isaac Kaufman/Koffman and Tzarka Messenberg). Tzarka was the daughter of Shmuel Messenberg and Chaya.
Gadot in 2013, photo by DFree/Bigstock.com
Sources: Information about Gal’s background – http://www.ynet.co.il
http://www.rollingstone.com
Genealogy of Gal Gadot – https://www.geni.com
Ashkenazi Jewish women are the most beautiful
I 100% agree.
She is pretty much the female version of what Jesus probably looked like. She is from a linage of original Ashkenazi jews, just like Joseph Gordon-Levitt and Marc Maron.
Look at the Samaritans. They’ve tried to avoid mixing for 2000+ years. Yes they’ve taken in converts, but historically only from Mizrahi Jews, although recently I think they’ve been admitting Russian and Ukrainian women into their families. Overall though they maintained a very distinct Mid East/West Asian look. They don’t look particularly like Ashkenazis, well, not to my eyes at least.
Completely disagree– on the contrary I’d say that Samaritans look surprisingly similar to Ashkenazim. Within the Arab world, Levantines are phenotypically the closest to Europeans (save for certain Berber groups). And Samaritans are “light” relative to other Levantines. Of course there’s a lot of variation–plenty look like the average Levantine–but if you can find people that look like Sofi Tzedakah among a population of 800 people, it’s pretty clear this isn’t a fluke. Sofi is lighter than Gal and her father sort of resembles Charles Krauthammer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dk-rxxuTl3o
As far as I can tell, these people really don’t look that much more “distinctly mid-eastern” than Ashkenazim:
https://english.alaraby.co.uk/opinion/palestinian-jews-where-nationality-trumps-religion#article-0-single-0
https://img.theculturetrip.com/1440×807/smart/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/shutterstock_110754272.jpg
You can debate whether Samaritans are darker than average Ashkenazim, but they certainly aren’t lighter on average than them. Ridiculous.
Yes, in fact googling “Samaritans” unsurprisingly look like what they are: Levantine/Middle Easterners.
When did I say that?
I agree. But they look “Middle Eastern” in the same sense that the Maltese look “European”.
@ Oaken05
I never said that they are lighter. I gave a specific example of a Samaritan who was lighter than a specific Ashkenazi.
The last paragraph I wrote was:
“As far as I can tell, these people really don’t look **that much more** “distinctly mid-eastern” than Ashkenazim:”
If you need me to be completely explicit: they look somewhat, but not much, darker than Ashkenazim on average.
OudaHolic, I do see I read part of your original posts incorrectly, and for that I apologize for the tone of my intial response.
Though, where I disagree is that I don’t think Samaritans and Ashkenazim look so much alike that your could mistake them on average.
You can just do a google image search for “Samaritan Ethnic Group” and, IMO, a solid half of these people wouldn’t look out of place in Europe or among the relatively light Ashkenazim (that is, lighter than Gal Gadot).
I used to be able to find pictures of contemporary Samaritan community members, but all I can find now are pics of people in religious garb during holidays.
https://flashbak.com/the-ancient-samaritans-of-israel-from-mount-gerizim-to-the-ukraine-24280/
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/25/Samaritans%27_Passover_at_Mount_Gerizim_5671133587.jpg
https://www.israelite-samaritans.com/shomron-direct/uploads/Raising-Torah-narrow-banner.jpg
https://th.bing.com/th/id/R.2ec07dbb7d95cc94d3302e0e21b1b8ff?rik=Oc9Ke%2fDcWV9Rhg&pid=ImgRaw&r=0
They look fairly distinct to my eye. There’s light people in most populations, like Sofi Tzedakah. But it’s not typical or the majority for any population of the Levant.
@ andrew
Not majority, but judging from those pictures, among others, it’s far more common than the general Levantine population (remember, this is a population of <900 people… this isn't cherry-picking a red-haired al-Douri out of the 40 million Iraqis. Each of those pictures/pages include individuals that wouldn't look out of place among a group of "Europeans" (as uselessly imprecise as that category is…)
Sure, they look distinct- they're a tiny, extremely inbred ethnic group (with a surprisingly wide phenotypical range), but "distinctly middle eastern"? Compared to Iraqi Arabs? Palestinians? Yemenis?
sorry, the above comment was supposed to be addressed to passingtime85, not andrew.
passingtime85,
Overall, I agree. Ashkenazis look way more diverse than Samaritans from Levantine passing to Nordic/Scandinavian looking. There’s Abraham Maslow and then there’s Bar Refaeli, two completely different looking people.
Refaeli is part Sephardi. Maslow has a unique phenotype, clearly Asian-influenced like a Tatar. The Kazhar poster-boy basically lol.
Khazar
Typo
Wouldn’t Slovak Jewish instead of Czech Jewish be more accurate since Mukachevo was part of the Slovakian part and not the Czech part of Czechoslovakia. Before it was incorporated into part of Ukraine of course. Perhaps add the Slovak Jewish tag.
Gadot herself claims to be of 1/4 Czech[-Jewish] descent (along with 1/4 Austrian[-Jewish], 1-4 German[-Jewish], and 1/4 Polish[-Jewish]).
Google translate this Hebrew interview of hers about that: http://www.ynet.co.il/articles/0,7340,L-3868197,00.html
Although, in Israeli records current grandprarents/great-grandparents who were born there, are all registered as “birthplace: Czechoslovakia”.
Indeed, I’ve notice that as well. However, Mukacheve lies in the Carpathian Ruthenia region which was historically part of Hungary until it’s annexation of Chezhoslovakia. The habitants of Mukachevo were primarily composed of ethnic Jews, Hungarians, Slovakians, and Rusyns until WW2 and the Holocaust. In fact, it was the last town that Nazi’s deported Jews in the holocaust. I think that Gal’s grandfather may have been a native Hungarian speaker. I’m not sure. I suppose he can be considered both Slovak and Hungarian Jewish.
On Second thought, Yiddish was the language spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. So Yiddish should’ve been his native language regardless.
@follers or whoever see this:
Add that ‘Czechoslovakian Jewish’ tag as well.
Just to be inclusive of both Gadot’s own claimed heritage (specifically Czech-Jewish) and also to what apparently happened to remind what happened to her grandparent’s original hometown along the years (became Slovakia).
even your own source from that profile up above (https://forward.com/schmooze/398684/gal-gadot-posts-emotional-tribute-to-her-grandfather-on-holocaust/)
mentions Czechoslovakia as her grandparent’s birthplace.
To address one of the most (if not THE most) common themes on this page, and every page about an Ashkenazi Jew who looks Middle Eastern.
Yes. Ashkenazi Jews are ethnically Middle Eastern, indigenous to the Levant. Gal Gadot is Middle Eastern. All Ashkenazi Jews are.
Some people on here may refuse to accept that. They may contort and twist themselves into pretzels and come up with all kinds of exotic, insane theories as to why so many Ashkenazim (like Gal Gadot) look Middle Eastern, but the truth is…. Ashkenazi Jews look Middle Eastern because they ARE Middle Eastern. That is fact. That is reality. And no amount of insane theories will make that reality go away. It just is.
Gal Gadot is ethnically/racially Middle Eastern. Accept it. Move on.
‘Race’ is a fake term, but the rest of your argument is on point.
Gal Gadot proves just how hypocritical and nonsensical Western standards of “Race” are. People always talk about “not judging people by their skin color” when many East Asians are literally as white as a ghost. And Gal Gadot is much browner in skin color then many of them yet Gal is suppose to be a “white girl”.
I always found it funny that know-it-all people keep saying “HISPANIC IS NOT A RACE, IT’S A CULTURE”. “British is not a race, you can be black and British”. “Africa is NOT a race. There are “white” Africans!!!!!” Well “Asian” isn’t a race either. Gal Gadot is ASIAN. Israel is considered part of Asia and if you believe the hypothesis that Jews in Europe came from the Levant during Roman times then Gal Gadot, being Ashkenazi Jewish is mixed West Asian/European. And there are “Asians” who’ve been in Asia for hundreds of thousands of years who look nothing like the “Asian race”.
I never understood why in the Western World we have “white people”, “black people” and “brown people” but we call Asians “Asian”. When Asia is defined as an extremely broad, vast and very diverse continent. Heck the true continent is actually Eurasia!
Ashkenazi Jews are a Middle Eastern population, originating in the Levant. They settled north of the Rhine sometime in the High/Late Middle Ages after they were exiled from Judea (Israel) and taken as slaves to Rome. They are mostly Middle Eastern in terms of DNA, but with some Greek and Italian components.
So basically, yeah.
Gal Gadot is West Asian, both in terms of nationality AND race/ethnicity.
Gal Gadot is white not Asian no idea how you see her as asian. Asian is a race, and she is Caucasian.
Asia is a big continent. You can’t always think of East Asians when talking about Asian people. There’s West Asians, South Asians, the Semitic people, the Persians, the Turks, the Austronesians dozens more.
Half of the Caucasus region is in Asia.