"The Year of Naturalization and the Hebrew Name: Instructions for changing one's name issued by the Jewish Agency

"The Year of Naturalization and the Hebrew Name: Instructions for changing one's name issued by the Jewish Agency

"1944, The year of Hitezrachut V'ha'shem HaIvri" published by the Jewish Agency [Yoetz HaSochnut HaYehudit L'Inyanei hg"a L'ishkat Hahadracha HaMerkatzit]. Tel Aviv, 1944.

Guidebook issued by the Jewish Agency with suggestions for changing old "exile" names to modern original Hebrew ones. In his preface, the publisher explains his intentions: "The time has arrived for our complete naturalization - including the Hebraization of the first and last names of each and every one of us - which will be fulfilled with a collective effort by the entire yishuv....with our yearning for natural and complete Hebrew we want to shake off this specific thing, which reeks of exile, and therefore, with the prominence of the Hebrew name of each and every one of us, we will be eradicating the legacy of the exile and will emphasize our desire to revive ourselves in our Hebrew homeland."

The publisher then writes that 1944 was designated as the year for eradicating foreign names and switching them to original Hebrew ones. The name change can be implemented by a notice to the immigration department and publishing the new name in an official newspaper. The publisher uses the first 25 pages of the booklet to refute the claims of the new immigrants who cling to their original names and refuse to change them. In the second part of the booklet, the publisher suggests hundreds of Hebrew surnames that could replace the foreign names, with similar sounds, ie: replacing "Ava" for "Avichai", "Behr" for "Beiri", "Bavli" for "beged", "Ben Haviv" for "Ben Hava" etc. It concludes with a list of Biblical names that do not need to be replaced becaues of their modern sound, such as: Avidan, Avner and Achitov. This is the second section of the initiative. The first booklet related to naturalization as a whole.

 The booklet is an important historical source for understanding the roots of a controversial phenomenon that was prevalent in the 1940s and was a significant part of the attempt to change the original Jewish character in the Land of Israel, by the governmental institutions.

47 pages. 17 cm. Stains. Cover detached. Good-moderate condition.