Is Natalie Portman Jewish ?

Just in case you wonder: "Is Natalie Portman Jewish?", the truth is that Portman is 100% Jewish.  



To be more specific, Natalie Portman was born in Jerusalem, Israel. She is the only child of Shelley, an American homemaker who works as Portman's agent, and Avner Hershlag, an Israeli citizen who is a fertility specialist and gynecologist. 

Portman's maternal ancestors were Jewish immigrants to the United States, from Austria and Russia (her mother's family had changed their surname from "Edelstein" to "Stevens"). Her paternal grandparents were Jews who moved to Israel from Poland and Romania. Her paternal grandfather, whose parents passed away at Auschwitz, was an economics professor in Israel, and her Romanian-born great-grandmother was a spy for British Intelligence during World War II.

Portman's parents met at a Jewish student center at "The Ohio State University", where her mother was selling tickets. They corresponded after her father returned to Israel, and were married when her mother visited a few years later. In 1984, when Portman was three years old, the family moved to the United States, where her father received his medical training. Portman, a dual citizen of the United States and Israel, has claimed that although she "really love(s) the States... my heart's in Jerusalem. That's where I feel at home."

It has to be noted that Natalie Portman took graduate courses at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in the spring of 2004.







Just in case you have missed it, Natalie Portman and choreographer Benjamin Millipied tied the knot in an intimate and traditional Jewish wedding along the Big Sur coast in August 2012.

According to reports, during the ceremony the pair were wrapped in a tallits, a Jewish prayer shawl, and in keeping with custom, things ended with Millepied smashing a glass to shouts of: "Mazel Tov!" 






Needless to say that Natalie Portman is very proud of her Jewish roots. What do you think?


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