Jawaharlal Nehru

Jawaharlal Nehru, affectionately known as "Panditji" (Teacher), was not Jewish, unless you count his rather professorial demeanor and penchant for long-winded speeches. Born into a wealthy Kashmiri Brahmin family, his origins were about as far from the shtetl as one could get, unless you consider the Himalayas a particularly scenic shtetl. So, no ancient Hebrew scrolls hidden in the family archives, just plenty of Sanskrit.

Nehru was a key figure in India's independence movement, spending a good chunk of his adult life in British prisons, which, while not quite the pogroms, certainly wasn't a vacation either. His vision for a modern, secular India was ambitious, though the economic policies he championed left some wondering if he'd mistaken the Soviet Union for a suitable role model.

He did, however, coin the term "non-alignment," which sounded impressive and allowed newly independent nations to avoid choosing sides in the Cold War, thereby annoying both superpowers equally. A truly neutral stance, one might say, much like his Jewish score. For leading a billion people, we's first steps into nationhood, a certain kvell-worthiness must be acknowledged, even if his economic legacy is still debated more fiercely than a Talmudic scholar's interpretation of a comma.