Exclusive: Why do Jews change their original family names after migrating to Palestine?

The phenomenon of Jews changing their names is not new. Decades before the establishment of the State of Israel, Theodor Herzl, the founder of modern political Zionism, was among the first Jews known to change their real names. He chose the name Benjamin Ze’ev.

Theodor Herzl (Benjamin Ze’ev) is considered the spiritual father of the Zionists. He led the first Zionist Congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897, which resulted in the decision to establish a national homeland for the Jewish people in Palestine and encouraged migration to Palestine.

After the Palestinian Nakba in 1948 and the declaration of the establishment of the Israeli occupation state, the temporary government of Israel advised Israeli citizens with foreign names, especially those coming from Eastern European countries, to abandon them and adopt new Hebrew names.

The first Israeli government facilitated the process of changing personal and family names for Jewish immigrants to Palestine. Applicants submitted requests to the Ministry of Immigration (formerly the Ministry of Immigrant Absorption), consulted the Ministry of Culture to choose a suitable surname, and paid a one-time low fee per family.

Why did Jews change their names?

The Israeli government initiative was in line with the outcomes of the first Zionist Congress, which succeeded in establishing the Israeli occupation state. It was believed that few Jews in the Diaspora retained Hebrew names, while most Jews scattered around the world then had Western names.

The Israeli Ministry of Culture began proposing names adopted by the founding figures of Israel or derived from prominent figures’ names at that time. These names often had meanings related to geographical names like mountains or desert areas such as Sinai, or names of animals like wolves and lions.

Some Zionist leaders at the beginning of the 20th century chose names that were easier to pronounce in Hebrew while retaining the initial letters of their original names that they migrated to Palestine with.

Jews arriving from Poland and Germany sought to break ties with anything reminding them of their home country, accelerating the process of name Hebrewization. The desire for social adaptation also played a role even before the establishment of Israel.

An example is David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, whose original name was Green. After settling in Palestine, he chose the name Ben-Gurion (“son of a lion cub”), which was later adopted by several Israeli figures.

The first Israeli Minister of Justice, Pinhas Rosen, whose real name was Felix Rosenblüth, immigrated to Palestine from Germany and chose to change his name.

The Israeli linguist and biblical scholar who migrated to Palestine from Ukraine were among the first Jewish personalities to change their names when Israel was established. He changed his name from Harry Torczyner to “Naftali Herz Tur-Sinai,” meaning “Mount Sinai” in Aramaic.

The Jewish personalities who derived their new names from Aramaic, a language of some sections of the Torah, believed it represented what Latin represented for French in relation to Hebrew.

Moreover, the Zionists whose original names began with “Gold” (meaning gold in English) chose to change them to names beginning with “Golan” (occupied Golan Heights), such as Goldberg, Goldstein, and Goldschmidt.

On March 7, 1949, Israel’s first Foreign Minister, Moshe Sharett, changed his name, as did the first Minister of Economics, Eliezer Kaplan, who changed his name from his original Ukrainian name.

Leopold Zunz, the founder of Jewish studies, and the first to use modern literary and historical methods in studying Jewish writings, advocated adopting foreign names.

The Arabized and the change of titles

One reason Israelis changed their names was the desire to integrate for security purposes before the establishment of the occupation state in 1948. Armed groups implemented a plan to penetrate Palestinian society and Arab societies in general in the region under the name of “Mista’arvim,” which displaced many Jews from Arab countries to Palestine, especially in Iraq.

In 1953, they displaced dozens more from other Arab countries to settle in Palestinian villages and communities. These Mista’arvim established Arab families by marrying Muslim Palestinian women and having children with them, aiming to continue the “camouflage operation” and integrate with Arabs without raising suspicion.

Some completely cut off ties with their Israeli families for long periods, undergoing various training, including learning Islamic concepts and reading the Quran, and mastering Palestinian and local Arabic dialects. This is sometimes observed with Arab affairs experts appearing on television screens.

On the other hand, Jews throughout history have tried to integrate into the societies they lived in. In Western Europe during the Middle Ages, Ashkenazi Jews sought integration into the Roman Empire.

Sephardic Jews, who were expelled from Spain and Portugal in the 15th century and settled in North Africa, Asia, and the Levant, also lived in isolation from their neighbours, unlike Christians.

To this day, Israeli law allows every citizen residing in the occupation state to change their name once every 7 years, with the Ministry of Population and Immigration handling the technical process, provided that the names are Hebrew.

From Ben-Gurion to Netanyahu

During a monitoring operation conducted by “Sunna Files Website” it was found that all the Prime Ministers who have served in Israel since its establishment in 1948 changed their original names to names belonging to the Eastern community.

David Ben-Gurion, the first Prime Minister of Israel who declared the establishment of the state, was of Polish origin, born in Plonsk (then part of the Soviet Union). His real name was David Green or David Greenz, which he changed to Ben-Gurion when he began his political career.

Moshe Sharett, also Ukrainian, was born in Kherson. His real name, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica, was Moshe Shertok. He and his family immigrated from Ukraine to Palestine during the Ottoman mandate period.

Levi Eshkol, the third Prime Minister of Israel, was born in Kiev, Ukraine, and immigrated in 1914. His real name was Levi Yitzhak Shkolnik, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica.

Yigal Allon, the fourth Prime Minister of Israel, his real name was Yigal Paicovitch. He was born in Galilee, but his parents came from Russia, and he changed his name when Israel was established in 1948.

Golda Meir, the fifth Prime Minister of Israel and the only woman to hold the position so far was Ukrainian from Kyiv. Her real name was Golda Mabovich, but she changed to Meirson after her husband.

Yitzhak Rabin, the sixth Prime Minister of Israel, was Ukrainian. His family moved to Jerusalem during the British mandate period, and his real family name was Yitzhak Rubitzov.

Menachem Begin, the seventh Prime Minister of Israel, was born in Belarus. His real name was Menachem Wolfovich Begin, and he removed his first name from his family name.

Yitzhak Shamir, the eighth Prime Minister, was Polish. His real name was Yitzhak Yezernitsky, and he migrated to Palestine in 1935, changing his name.

Shimon Peres, the ninth Prime Minister of Israel, was of Polish origin, and his real name was Shimon Perski.

Ariel Sharon is of Polish origin, his father was Shmuel Scheinerman, his real name, but he changed it to Sharon, a common family name in Israel. As for Ehud Olmert, who also served as Prime Minister of Israel, he was of Russian descent, and his father was Mordechai Olmert, who was mentioned in the Encyclopedia Britannica that he had not changed his original name.

Benjamin Netanyahu, of Polish origin, was Netanyahu Mileikowsky, and his father was Benzion Mileikowsky. As for Ehud Barak, he was of Lithuanian origin, and his real name was Ehud Brog.