Hebrew Translation

The most disputed point in a Hebrew document is how a name is read. Because the alphabet omits vowels, one sequence of letters can be read in several ways, and that is what breaks matching between documents.

5 min readLast updated 1 September 2026

Writing system

תרגום מאושר של מסמך רשמי

tirgum me'ushar shel mismach rishmi

A certified translation of an official document

The Hebrew alphabet has 22 letters, runs right to left and is an abjad: vowels are normally not written. The pointing system that shows them (nikud) appears only in dictionaries, religious texts and children's books, never on official documents.

Writing without vowels, and how names are read

Because Hebrew does not write vowels, a name can be read in more than one way. The same three letters yield different names depending on context, and an official document supplies no context, only the name. This is the characteristic difficulty of Hebrew documents.

Readings a single spelling leaves open
Hebrew	Possible readings	Usually in the passport
דוד	David, Dawid, Dod	DAVID
חן	Chen, Hen, Chan	CHEN
רון	Ron, Run	RON
שרון	Sharon, Sharun	SHARON
נועם	Noam, No'am	NOAM

Readings a single spelling leaves open

Final letters: five letters with two shapes

Five Hebrew letters take a different shape at the end of a word. They are the same letter, but they look markedly different; a reader unfamiliar with the alphabet takes them for two, and in a low-resolution scan they are easily confused.

Normal and word-final forms
Letter	Normal	Word-final
Kaf	כ	ך
Mem	מ	ם
Nun	נ	ן
Pe	פ	ף
Tsadi	צ	ץ

Normal and word-final forms

Certain pairs also resemble one another closely: ד (dalet) and ר (resh), ב (bet) and כ (kaf), ה (he) and ח (het). In a phone photograph the distinction can disappear. We particularly recommend using a scanner for Hebrew documents.

The Hebrew calendar: a third system

The Hebrew calendar is lunisolar: months follow the moon and years the sun, with a thirteenth month inserted in some years to keep the two aligned. A Hebrew date therefore does not fall on the same Gregorian day each year.

Three calendars compared
Calendar	Basis	Length of year
Gregorian	Solar	365 or 366 days
Hebrew	Lunisolar	353–385 days, with a leap month
Lunar Hijri	Lunar	354 or 355 days

Three calendars compared

Israeli official documents usually carry a Gregorian date, with the Hebrew date alongside. Religious documents such as a marriage contract may carry only the Hebrew date. In translation the Hebrew date is preserved and the Gregorian equivalent given in brackets.

Letters as numbers: dates written in letters

Each Hebrew letter carries a numeric value. On religious and traditional documents the year is written not in figures but in letters: a sequence such as תשפ״ו denotes a year. The system is known as gematria, and to a reader who does not know it the date is simply invisible.

letters in the Hebrew alphabet: 22letters in the Hebrew alphabet
letters that change shape at word end: 5letters that change shape at word end
written on an official document: 0 vowelswritten on an official document

In translation a date written in letters is preserved as it stands, converted to figures and given its Gregorian equivalent. Showing all three is necessary so the institution can compare the document with its source.

Israeli documents and how we render them

Frequently seen Israeli documents
Document	What it is	Our approach
תעודת זהות (Teudat Zehut)	Identity card	Its appendix (sefah) carries family details and is translated with it
תעודת לידה (Teudat Leda)	Birth certificate	Its scope differs from a Turkish civil registry extract
כתובה (Ketubah)	Religious marriage contract	Contains Aramaic passages; it is not the civil marriage record
תעודת נישואין	Marriage certificate	The official record; not to be confused with the ketubah
אישור לימודים	Certificate of studies	Rendered as a certificate of student status
תמצית רישום	Extract from the population register	Shows family ties; its scope is stated in a note

Frequently seen Israeli documents

Apostille and certification

Israel is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so an apostille is valid between it and Türkiye and no consular chain is required. The route is the same in both directions: the document is apostilled in its own country and translated by a sworn translator in the destination country.

What to send with a Hebrew document

The identity page of the passport, for the reading of the name
The appendix to the identity card, if there is one
The Gregorian equivalent of any Hebrew date, if you know it
The name of the institution requesting the document
A scan, in colour and at high resolution where possible

Frequently asked questions

Can you use the Turkish reading of my name?

Not on an official document. Because a Hebrew spelling admits several readings, institutions match on the latinised spelling in the passport. Sending that page is effectively required; without it, the spelling the translator picks may not match the records.

Can I use my ketubah as a marriage certificate?

A ketubah is a religious contract and is rarely sufficient on its own; the civil marriage record is a separate document. If both are needed, send both. A ketubah also contains Aramaic passages, which call for knowledge of a different language.

The date on my document is written in letters. Can you translate it?

Yes. We convert a Hebrew date written in letters into figures, calculate its Gregorian equivalent and show all three forms in the translation. Because the Hebrew day begins at sunset, a one-day difference can arise at boundaries, and we flag that in a translator's note.

Is an apostille enough for a document going to Israel?

Yes. Israel is a party to the Hague Apostille Convention, so sworn translation, notarisation and an apostille are sufficient. We still suggest asking the receiving institution whether it wants the translation made in Israel.