Mordechai Goltzeiger

We always thought our family originated in Austria. Apparently they were only there for a few generations, & prior to that lived in or near Odessa, Russia (now Ukraine).

The Russian language does not have a letter "H", so the Austrian name Holtzager (meaning "woodcutter") was changed to Goltzager when this branch of the family moved back to Odessa.

Among those who returned to Odessa was Mordechay, who was a brother of Morris & Jonas.

Mordechay and his wife Zelda, are the parents of Miriam's grandfather Shmuel. Shmuel moved to Palestine around 1912.

Edo told me that the family name prior to fleeing from Russia to Galitzia (when they were named Holtzager in Austria) was Ticher. Edo says Ticher means "interpreter"; I seem to remember your grandfather Moshe (Morrison) Svorai telling me it meant something like "teacher", but I may be wrong. Anyway, Shmuel decided to take a Hebrew last name, and did so by roughly translating Ticher to Svorai. I found information from the "Palestine Gazette" that on April 15, 1923, "Shmuel Goldzeiger, resident of Ein Harod", changed his name to "Shmuel Svorai". The rest of the family decided to change their last name as well.

אנציקלופדיה דוד תדהר

המשפחה היגרה מרוסיה/אודסה לגליציה/אוסטריה, ומשם בסביבות 1888 לארה"ב. חלק מבני המשפחה חזרו מאוסטריה לאודסה. שם המשפחה השתנה ברוסיה מהולצגר (חוטב עצים) לגולצגר כי בשפה הרוסית חסרה האות הא. ראו פירוט בגרסה האנגלית.