A notarised Hebrew translation becomes necessary in two situations: when a paper issued in Israel is presented to the Georgian Public Registry, the civil registry, a court, a bank or a notary, and when a Georgian paper goes to Israel's Population and Immigration Authority, the inheritance registrar, a court, a rabbinical court or an Israeli notary. Israel's system differs from the European one in two things: a notary who has the right to confirm the accuracy of a translation, and two different apostille authorities. The two-country life of the community of Georgian Jews connects this system with the Georgian one every day, and this page describes exactly the rules of that connection.
The Israeli notary: a lawyer who certifies translations
In Israel the notary is not a separate profession: it is a lawyer with at least ten years of practice who receives a licence from the Ministry of Justice's notaries licensing committee. Under the Notaries Law of 1976 an Israeli notary is authorised to confirm that a translation corresponds exactly to the original (ishur nechonut tirgum) if they command both languages, and this certification is one of the strongest in international practice, because the notary takes responsibility for the content. If the notary does not know the language, they certify the translator's signed declaration, in which the translator declares knowledge of both languages and the accuracy of the translation; this form is analogous to the Georgian system. Georgian-speaking notaries exist in Israel, mainly in the centres of the community of Georgian Jews, and certifying a Georgian document in Israel is a real alternative.
Two apostilles: the ministry and the court
Israel has been a party to the Hague Convention since 1978, and the issuing of apostilles is divided between two authorities. The consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Jerusalem places the apostille on documents issued by state authorities: the population register extract, decisions of the courts and the rabbinical court, orders of the inheritance registrar, ministry certificates, university diplomas with the prior certification of the Ministry of Education. The registrars of the Magistrates' Courts place the apostille on documents certified by a notary: a power of attorney, a declaration, a notarised translation and a copy. These two routes are often confused in Israel too, and a notarial power of attorney brought to the ministry is returned with a refusal. We tell the client or their Israeli relative the specific authority for every document and remind them that Israeli authorities work half a day on Friday, not on Saturday, and may be closed for more than a week on holidays.
The Georgian system and where it meets the Israeli one
In Georgia the notary confirms the authenticity of the registered translator's signature on the translation, and the translation must be done by a translator recorded in their register for the Hebrew-Georgian pair. We translate from and into Hebrew directly, without going through Russian or English, and the certification concerns exactly the Hebrew translator's signature. In the Israeli direction this notarised translation receives an apostille at the House of Justice, and Israeli authorities recognise it as a translation notarised abroad, analogous to the form of an Israeli notary's "hatzharat metargem". In the Georgian direction the Israeli document arrives with the apostille of the right authority, we translate, a Georgian notary certifies. If a Georgian-speaking Israeli notary has already translated the document into Georgian and certified it with the court's apostille, it no longer needs a new translation in Georgia; this route is often convenient for short documents (a power of attorney, a declaration).
Which Israeli documents require a notarised translation in Georgia
- The population register extract (tamtzit rishum), which shows the history of birth, family status, address and name changes in one document and replaces European civil status certificates.
- Birth and death certificates (teudat leida, teudat ptira) from the Population and Immigration Authority.
- The rabbinical court's marriage certificate (teudat nisuin) and divorce certificate (teudat gerushin), because in Israel the marriage and divorce of Jews are the exclusive competence of the rabbinical court.
- The inheritance order (tzav yerusha) and the probate order (tzav kiyum tzavaa) from the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs or the rabbinical court.
- An Israeli notary's power of attorney (yipui koach notarioni), enduring power of attorney (yipui koach mitmashech), declaration (tatzhir).
- The Registrar of Companies extract (nesach rasham ha-chavarot), articles of association (takanon), directors' resolutions, for registering a branch or acquiring real estate in Georgia.
- A diploma and mark sheet from Israeli universities, for recognition in Georgia.
- A criminal record certificate (teudat yosher) from the Israeli police, a change of name certificate (teudat shinui shem).
Inheritance between two countries: the most frequent package
The property in Georgia of a person who died in Israel, a flat in Tbilisi or a house in Kutaisi, is the most frequent notarial case in the families of Georgian Jews. Israel's system regulates inheritance differently from the European one: in the absence of a will the Registrar of Inheritance Affairs issues an inheritance order, in which the heirs and their shares are established under the Succession Law of 1965; in the case of a will, a probate order, to which the will itself is attached; and if the parties agree, the case can also be conducted in a rabbinical court. A Georgian notary who issues a certificate of inheritance in Georgia accepts the Israeli order with the apostille of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Georgian notarised translation, but requires that the heirs' names match the Georgian documents (the deceased's Georgian birth certificate, the property extract) unambiguously; it is exactly here that the problem of surname changes arises, which we explain separately below. In the opposite direction the Georgian certificate of inheritance, the property extract and the documents of kinship go with an apostille and a Hebrew translation to the Israeli registrar, a court or a bank.
Name, surname, vowels, two calendars
In the notarised translation of an Israeli document four fields require special care. The name in Hebrew is written without vowels, and its Georgian form must be established from the Latin record of the passport or the Israeli identity card, not guessed. The surname after aliyah is often changed, and for a Georgian authority the link between the old and the new surname must be confirmed by a full population register extract or a change of name certificate; in the translation we link all forms of the name into one chain. The identity number (mispar zehut) has nine digits, and in bidirectional text the order of the digits may be confused in a scanned document, so we always check it twice. Dates on Israeli documents are often written by two calendars: the Gregorian and the Hebrew (for example, 11 Tishrei 5786), and in the translation we keep both, the Hebrew one in brackets, checking the correspondence with the Gregorian one, because the Hebrew year changes in September-October and one and the same Gregorian year covers two Hebrew years.
Georgian papers for Israel: who needs what
The Population and Immigration Authority accepts a foreign document for aliyah and status applications with an apostille and a Hebrew or English notarised translation; Bituach Leumi (National Insurance), universities, clinics and employers are often satisfied with English. The rabbinical court, the state court, the inheritance registrar and some Israeli notaries require a Hebrew translation. The rabbinical court has special requirements: for the registration of a marriage a Georgian Jew presents a certificate of single status (the Georgian certificate of family status) and evidence of Jewish origin, and the Rabbinate often requires that the translation be done by a translator it recognises or certified by an Israeli notary; in this case we prepare the apostilled original and a working Hebrew translation, which a Georgian-speaking notary certifies in Israel. So the first question when the order is placed is again the recipient: which Israeli authority, which language, which certification.
Apostille on the original or on the translation
Israeli authorities expect the apostille, first of all, on the Georgian original: on the birth certificate, the certificate of inheritance, the criminal record certificate. A translation notarised in Georgia needs a separate apostille to confirm the notary's signature if it is presented in Israel as an independent document; this double apostille is logical in Israeli practice, because in Israel too the apostille on a notarised translation is placed by a separate authority, the court. In the Georgian direction the Israeli original arrives with an apostille from the right authority, and the translation is certified here. One exception is a Georgian-speaking Israeli notary's translation with the court's apostille, which is valid in Georgia directly.
Aliyah documents: Soviet forms and archive certificates
For repatriation under the Law of Return the Israeli consul requires evidence of Jewish origin up to three generations, and in the families of Georgian Jews these documents are often of the Soviet period: birth certificates with the nationality line, marriage records, military tickets, archive certificates from the National Archives of Georgia, synagogue records, often handwritten, in Georgian and Russian at the same time. Translating these documents requires special care: every field of the form, the text of the seal, handwritten entries, corrections, which the consul must read unambiguously. Apostilling Soviet documents in Georgia is done at the House of Justice if the document was issued by a Georgian authority or is confirmed by an archive certificate, and we carry out this procedure. The translation is done into Hebrew or English, at the consul's request, and notarised.
Marriage: the Rabbinate, the embassy, the Georgian registry
Civil marriage does not exist in Israel: Jews marry in the rabbinical court, while mixed or non-religious couples often marry abroad, including in Georgia, which in recent years has made Tbilisi a popular place of marriage for Israeli couples. An Israeli citizen presents for a marriage in Georgia a population register extract showing family status, with the apostille of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a Georgian notarised translation, at the House of Justice; the Georgian marriage certificate then goes with an apostille and a Hebrew translation to the Israeli population register, where the marriage is registered. A Georgian Jew who marries at the Rabbinate in Israel presents the Georgian certificate of family status and the documents of origin with an apostille and a Hebrew translation. For both scenarios we give you the list and sequence of documents on one sheet.
Real estate: an Israeli investor in Batumi
The purchase of flats in Batumi and Tbilisi by Israeli citizens is one of the largest flows of the last decade, and its documentary side goes in two variants: either the investor comes to Georgia and concludes the transaction at the notary together with an interpreter, or sends a power of attorney from Israel. The power of attorney is drawn up at an Israeli notary, receives the apostille of the court registrar and goes to the Public Registry in Georgia with a notarised Georgian translation; the registry requires that the powers be specific (the cadastral code of the property, the type of transaction, the term), and the wording of an Israeli general power of attorney often does not satisfy this. So we advise agreeing the text with us before going to the Israeli notary: we prepare the necessary wording in Georgian, translate it into Hebrew, it is notarised and apostilled in Israel, and in Georgia it goes to the registry with an already certified translation.
Notarisation or the agency's seal
In the Israeli direction an English translation certified with the agency's seal is sufficient for university admissions committees, the international departments of clinics, most employers and banks; the Population and Immigration Authority, the courts, the Rabbinate, the inheritance registrar and notaries require notarisation. In the Georgian direction a state authority, a bank and a notary require a notarised translation, while a private company and an insurance company are often satisfied with the agency's seal. We prepare both formats and advise when the order is placed which one you need.
Deadlines, the calendar and organisation
A one-page Israeli certificate or Georgian certificate with notarisation is ready in one working day, by express in 1-2 hours. A full population register extract, an inheritance order with a will or a package of Soviet documents requires 1-3 days. The apostille at the House of Justice is placed within a separate term and we arrange it ourselves. On the Israeli side the deadlines are affected by Shabbat, a working week that begins on Sunday and Jewish holidays, and we take this into account when planning. The whole process proceeds online; for a client in Israel we send the certified paper document by international courier, and the scanned version in advance.
Why a Hebrew translation is returned and how we correct it
The typical reasons we see in other providers' translations: the chain of surname changes not taken into account, and the Georgian notary sees two persons; the name "guessed" without vowels and not matching the passport; an apostille from the wrong authority; the Hebrew date omitted or converted wrongly; the identity number confused from bidirectional text; a translation done via Russian, where Israeli legal terms are replaced by Soviet terms. In such a case we first establish the exact reason for the refusal, then correct only what needs correcting, and if the problem is on the Israeli side, we send the client's Israeli relative instructions written in Hebrew.
Who performs Hebrew notarised translation
A translator registered with a notary for the Hebrew-Georgian pair exists in Georgia thanks to the community of Georgian Jews, but those experienced in official documents are still few. Our team consists of specialists who lived and studied in Israel, command Hebrew at native or C1 level and know the structure of Israeli public documents; many of them are themselves from the community of Georgian Jews and read Soviet-era Georgian-Russian documents freely too. The translation is checked by an editor, all forms of names, identity numbers and dates in both calendars are compared separately, and only after that does the document go to the notary. A confidentiality agreement applies to every order.
What we ask from you when ordering
- A high-resolution scan of the document with all pages, including the apostille, so that text written without vowels and bidirectional figures read unambiguously.
- A copy of the passport or Israeli identity card of every person mentioned in the document, to agree all forms of the name.
- In the case of a surname change, the change of name certificate or a full population register extract.
- The name of the receiving authority and its requirement on language (Hebrew or English) and certification.
Frequently asked questions
Should I translate at an Israeli notary or in Georgia?
For short documents (a power of attorney, a declaration) a Georgian-speaking Israeli notary is convenient, because their translation with the court's apostille is valid in Georgia directly.
Where is the apostille on an inheritance order obtained?
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, because it is a document of a state authority, the inheritance registrar. On a notarial power of attorney, however, the apostille is placed by the registrar of the Magistrates' Court. These two routes are often confused.
Will the Rabbinate accept my Georgian translation?
Rabbinical courts often require that the translation be done by a translator they recognise or certified by an Israeli notary. In this case we prepare the apostilled original and a working Hebrew translation, which a Georgian-speaking notary certifies in Israel. We clarify the specific Rabbinate's requirement in advance.
How is a Soviet birth certificate translated for aliyah?
Every field of the form, the nationality line, the text of the seal and handwritten entries are translated in full into Hebrew or English, at the consul's request, and notarised. The apostille is placed at the House of Justice if the document was issued by a Georgian authority or is confirmed by an archive certificate.
The date of an Israeli document is written by two calendars. Which do you keep in the translation?
Both: the Gregorian in the text, the Hebrew in brackets, checking the correspondence. The Hebrew year changes in September-October, and one Gregorian year covers two Hebrew years, so the conversion is checked by hand every time.
Can I order online from Israel and receive the certified document in Tel Aviv?
Yes. You upload the document online, the translation, notarisation and apostille are completed in Georgia, you receive the scanned version electronically, and the paper original by international courier in any city in Israel. When planning the deadlines we take Shabbat and Jewish holidays into account.