Ada Rapoport-Albert was born in Tel Aviv in 1945 to Zalman and Alma Rapoport. Her mother was a pianist from Bulgaria, who trained in Vienna. Her father was from Berdichev. In the 1960s, Ropoport-Albert came to London to study for her dissertation on the Hasidic master, Rabbi Nachman of Breslov. Ropoport-Albert became an associate professor in Jewish History at University College London (UCL). In 2002, she became head of the department of Hebrew and Jewish Studies at UCL. She also held visiting positions at other institutions. Ropoport-Albert retired in 2012 but continued her research until her death in 2020. Rapoport-Albert died in London on 18 June 2020, aged 74.