Liora Hanoch is a mother, a grandmother, and retired drama teacher living in Jerusalem, Israel. Born with the last name Katz, Liora later took her husband’s last name: Hanoch. Like many Jewish immigrants who came to Israel for one reason or another, Liora’s husband’s family decided to change their last name from something native to their home country to something more Israeli: from Hanukah-Shvili, a Georgian Jewish last name, to Hanoch. We interviewed Liora about her life, her experience, and her unique perspective on last-name changing, also known as Hebraization of names.
Interview Transcript:
Q: Do you want to introduce yourself to everyone and just tell them a little bit about yourself, your name as well since we’re going to be interviewing you about your last name, um, and just kind of give us an introduction to that.
A: Okay. So my name is Liora. My family’s name is Hanoch, and I was born in Jerusalem and I’m very, very, very old… Like Jerusalem! And, eh, I’ve been working for 40 years as a general teacher in high school. And also in elementary school. I was teaching the most of the subjects, general subjects, but my specialty is in the theater drama. And then, of course, I even taught English to little children. And Now I’m not working anymore because it’s time to rest in the nice period of the Corona. I’m a grandmother. I have also two sons. One is also a drama teacher in a very good high school in Jerusalem. And the second one works in the Israel bank bank in a very good the profession. And I have six grandchildren. That’s it.
Q: So I understand that your current last name was your husband’s last name. Can you tell us a little bit about where he’s from and where you’re from? About your ethnicity, both of your backgrounds, where the last name is from, and what it was before?
A: Yeah. My husband was born in Jerusalem also, but his family, all the generations, are from Georgia (the country). They are from there and I was born in Jerusalem, but my two parents, one is from Lita [Lithuania]… It’s the border of Poland and Russia. She [my mother] was born there and my father was born in Vienna, in Austria. So my [original] name is in Hebrew and it wasn’t changed during the generations… My name is Katz. It’s [stands for] “Kohen Tzedek”. So these two words, you don’t have to change them into Hebrew because they are already in Hebrew. So my name, like my father’s name, has never been changed. But many, many, many, many families’ names in Israel were changed a lot because, eh, you know, in the, in the 20th century, and after Israel got the independence, all the people… they wanted to change their names to Hebrew names… because they wanted to be Zionist and Hebrew. To be proud of their Hebrew [culture]. So, you know, for instance, eh, David Ben Gurion… he used to be called “Greene”. David Greene. And he changed it to “Gurion”. We had also [someone named] Levi Shkolnik. He was our prime minister and he changed his family name to Eshkol, which is a word in… Hebrew. So husband’s family’s real name was Hanukah-Shvili. Two names. Hanukah-Shvili. It is typical to the Jews who came from Georgia… There it’s a typical name, but they wanted a Hebrew name. So they took a name from the Bible: Hanoch. They changed Hanukah, the same letters… of the word “Hanukah” [like the holiday]… into Hanoch, which is a name in the Bible and also it has a meaning. It is to celebrate [something] for the first time. So it has a Hebrew meaning. And it’s also a name from the Bible, from the first book in the Bible, from “Bereshit” [Genesis]. I know many, many, many names from all over the world that the Jewish people came to Israel from Yemen, from Saudi Arabia, from Jordan, and also from the East of Europe, all the countries from Eastern Europe or Western Europe. They changed [their] names to Hebrew because they wanted to feel that they belong to the new born country, with the language that was of our fathers. They changed from Yiddish, from English, from French, from Moroccan. They came from all, all kinds of countries and they found something similar – or in the meaning or [in] the sound. So they found a similar word or meaning in Hebrew and they change it.
Q: Thank you. How do you how do you think your husband’s family’s life would be different if they hadn’t changed their last name? Would any parts of their life be different?
A: Well, first of all, if they were children at school, or even in the kindergarten, they will be mocked by others. If they say “my name is Hanukah-Shvili,” maybe some children will be mocking and laughing at them, [saying] “what kind of a name is it? What do you mean?” And also they [the people] can then discover where are the parents from. So, “ah, you are Moroccan, ah, you are Yemeni, ah, you come from Russia”, it makes the difference, eh, bigger between the “edot” [Hebrew word for “ethnicities”]. So maybe they, they will… feel, eh, a little bit ashamed of the names. The fashion, eh, from 1948, even till now, it’s very modern to change names into Hebrew. Even though, [in] the last years… It is less now. [People are starting to keep their last names to maintain their tradition]. But… If they didn’t change then [in the early years of the State of Israel], then their life will be less convenient.
Q: Thank you. The main theme of our project is “Blending In and Standing Out”. The man [Georges Lurcy], who we are doing this project about, immigrated to the United States… and changed his last name to something more American sounding and less Jewish sounding. He also made other decisions in his life that made him stand out. And some that made him blend in more. It sounds like you’re saying that the people who changed their last name [in Israel] were doing it more to blend in and then to stand out. Is that correct?
A: Yes, of course. And also, when you speak Hebrew, the names are more, more beautiful. You know, the sound and the meaning is more, it’s also to get together with the others, but it’s also, even the feeling is better. You feel that… your name is something that you are close to. When it was in the “Galut” [Hebrew word for “diaspora’], people want to forget it [the diaspora]. They want to feel that they are here and they have names that mean something that make [them] close to [their] country, the country that [they] live [in] now. That it’s Israel, you know what I mean? It makes you feel that you belong and you feel good with the belonging. You know what I mean? But then nowadays it’s a little bit different, because many people they want to, eh, keep the tradition or the name that [they had] for generations, one after the other, they want to keep it. But for 50 years it was the main fashion.
Q: So do you think it was difficult at all for your husband’s family to almost cut off their ties with their home country through the name change? Or do you think that their connection to Israel and Israeli culture overpowered any sort of negative feelings towards changing their name?
A: I think that for his parents, it was more difficult because their parents [his grandparents] wanted to have a memory from their past, from where they were born. But for the children, for my husband, of course, it was easier. It wasn’t difficult to change. He wasn’t happy when they changed it. But the old people who had their memories and the emotions from the country that they came from, it was more difficult for them. It’s not so easy to leave your name, you know, that because it’s a part of your identification, you know. It’s a part of you. But for the young people… they liked it very much.
Q: Did your husband’s parents immigrate to Israel because they were being discriminated against in their home country? Or did they move to Israel because they proactively wanted to and saw a lot of opportunity in Israel?
A: Just a moment. Eh, I didn’t, I didn’t understand exactly what you are asking. You are asking what are the reasons that for them to come to Israel? What were their reasons?
Q: Yes.
A: So I understand. I think, eh, the grandfather of my husband… He was religious and because of the Bible and because of the religion, his dream was to come to Israel. It was his dream of life. And he was religious. He said that this is the country, you know, with the Bible, with God, with everything, with all the tradition… And they came very early, before the Holocaust. So the reason they came was not because of, you know, antisemitism and not because not because of pogroms or anything. Just because they wanted to come… they dreamt about Israel. But for instance, my father came to Israel only because [of the] Holocaust. His parents were killed in the Holocaust, also his sister… So he ran away to Israel. So, you know, there are all kinds of reasons why they came.
Q: Do you think that for people who came due to antisemitism, it was easier to change their last names because they were letting go of something negative? Like Mizrachi Jews who immigrated to Israel due to antisemitism in their home countries. Do you think that made it easier for them to change their last names compared to your husband’s parents who had a positive connection to Georgia? Because there were different motivations behind changing last names.
A: Of course. Those who came from the middle East, eh, for them, there are some other reasons. Because when they came, the Jews from East Europe were already here. And, you know, each Aliyah [a wave of immigration to Israel], those who were here, it was difficult for them to welcome the other… that came from the Middle East. The Middle East people felt “Kipu’ach” [Hebrew word for “discrimination”]. They didn’t welcome them. They [the Eastern European Jews] felt that they [the Middle Eastern Jews] are not intellectual enough. [That] they’re not educated enough. So at first they were very proud of their names. And, after a while, when they felt the [negative] attitude towards them, they started to change the names. If it was “Mizrahi”, which means “from the East,” they change it to a nice name like “Mor”, which means “a good smell” or something like this. So this was one of the reasons to change. And also another reason is, of course, the [antisemitism]… [But] some of them wanted to keep the name, for instance, “Levy” or “Cohen,” they don’t change their names. Most of the people don’t change it because it’s a very old last name, I think, from a long time ago. So, coming to think of it, there are many reasons why they changed or didn’t change their names.
Q: It’s interesting that you brought up [the name] “Levy,” because the person that we’re looking at their life, they changed their name from “Levy” to “Lucy”, as they were migrating from France to America during the Second World War. And so that’s very interesting to say how “Levy” is such an old, iconic Jewish name… And it gives us more meaning into the name… It’s interesting to see how our individual changed their name, preemptively, to avoid [discrimination] and connect within society… Were there any other changes that your husband’s family made when they moved to Israel? Like, did they change jobs? What professions did they pick up? How they married? Stuff of that nature?
A: Eh, I can say that my father, [when] he left, he didn’t know that there was going to be a Holocaust. He came from a very religious family. His families were sending him to a Heider [a religious Jewish educational institution]… So his family was very, very religious. And when he was 15 years old, he left his parents’ house to go with the Aliyah, you know, to go to Israel, through many countries, Czechoslovakia and other countries. But it was before the Nazi came before. The big change in my father’s life… When he came to Israel, very young, his first name was “Salo”. So they changed it here to “Betzal’el” from the Bible, the one who decorated the temple. And when he came to Israel, after he heard about the Holocaust and his parents died there, and his sister, he changed his whole way of thinking. He was anti religion. He was against it. He said, eh, all the prayers and all the faith and everything didn’t help his parents, so he doesn’t want to be religious anymore. So it was his first change in Israel. Also, he never worked with his hands in his country. He didn’t like it. But when he came to Israel, he studied to work in a kibbutz in the North… and it changed his way of life. And he became, you know, what his profession was for many years… He became a guide, a guide in Israel.
Q: I was wondering what you think, since you said that changing your last name isn’t really happening as much anymore. What is your personal opinion? Do you think it’s better for people to change their last name so that they’re more cohesive? Or do you think it’s better for Jewish people to hold on to their names from wherever they are?
A: I think… My first thought is that if I was living now in America or in Great Britain or in France, I would like to keep my Jewish name. Not to change it, because I would like to keep my, my soul. But when I live in Israel, I think I [also] like the Hebrew names better. I mean… because I’m here and I know that it’s my country, I feel more confident to change even my name. Even though, eh, I told you that my father’s name was never changed. For instance, my brothers, they have still the same family name. One brother lives in Israel and one of my brothers lives in North Carolina now. And in the end, he remained “Katz.” The same name. He didn’t change it. Not in Israel, not in America. So I think if I would live in another country, I would want to leave the Jewish name only. And then in Israel, I don’t think for now, for nowadays, it doesn’t make a big change. I don’t care about, eh, eh, when people change.. Let’s say, they say, instead of “Gold” [the last name,” they say “Zahavi.” They changed it to a Hebrew name. It sounds better even, for us. So that’s my opinion.
Q: Yeah… Thank you for sharing. Does anyone else have any questions? Do you have anything else you’d like to add?
A: Not at the moment. If you ask me a question, I can think about it, but I don’t.
Q: I don’t think we have any more questions!
A: Okay. So now I can drink my coffee! So it was very nice to talk with you. I don’t know English so well, but I hope that you understood what I was saying.
Q: We understood you very well! And thank you so much for making time and talking to us and helping us with this project.
A: I would be glad to help you in any kinds of subjects. And then main thing that I will remember is that the color of my hair… You liked! [One of our group members complimented the color of Liora’s hair in the middle of the interview!]
Q: Haha! Have a good night.