Skip To Content
JEWISH. INDEPENDENT. NONPROFIT.
The Schmooze

Natalie Portman Names Son ‘Aleph’

She’s an A-list actress who’s given her son an A-list name. According to reports, the Jerusalem-born Natalie Portman has named her son Aleph, after the first letter of the Hebrew alphabet.

In Kabbalah, Aleph represents the oneness of God.

In her native Israel, Natalie Portman (nee Natalie Hershlag) is a national treasure.

So it’s fitting that her son’s name was first reported in the Israeli newspaper “Israel Hayom.” Portman and fiancé Benjamin Millepied have kept a very low profile since having their son in June, and haven’t confirmed reports about the name.

Portman, who is fluent in Hebrew, immigrated to the U.S. as a young child and has always recognized her Jewish roots. As a child she attended Solomon Schechter Day School. After studying at Harvard, she took some classes at Hebrew University in Jerusalem, and has always been a vocal supporter of Israel.

Whether Portman’s second child will be named Bet remains to be seen.

A message from our Publisher & CEO Rachel Fishman Feddersen

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward’s award-winning, nonprofit journalism during this critical time.

We’ve set a goal to raise $260,000 by December 31. That’s an ambitious goal, but one that will give us the resources we need to invest in the high quality news, opinion, analysis and cultural coverage that isn’t available anywhere else.

If you feel inspired to make an impact, now is the time to give something back. Join us as a member at your most generous level.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

With your support, we’ll be ready for whatever 2025 brings.

Republish This Story

Please read before republishing

We’re happy to make this story available to republish for free, unless it originated with JTA, Haaretz or another publication (as indicated on the article) and as long as you follow our guidelines. You must credit the Forward, retain our pixel and preserve our canonical link in Google search.  See our full guidelines for more information, and this guide for detail about canonical URLs.

To republish, copy the HTML by clicking on the yellow button to the right; it includes our tracking pixel, all paragraph styles and hyperlinks, the author byline and credit to the Forward. It does not include images; to avoid copyright violations, you must add them manually, following our guidelines. Please email us at [email protected], subject line “republish,” with any questions or to let us know what stories you’re picking up.

We don't support Internet Explorer

Please use Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge to view this site.