Hebrew or Yiddish script. Could you shed any light?

[Porkpieandmustard]

Hello a Mumsnetter on the History threads suggested I ask here for some help.

She helped a lot with deciphering this but if anyone else can shed any light, I’d be interested.

The handwriting is on the back of an envelope which is addressed to
some in Berlin. Almost certainly in 1930s.
The letter is missing.

There is an official sticker on the front of the envelope to say that it had been rescued from an air crash.

(The envelope is something my husband got in an auction- he was buying stamps and he often finds random things in the lots he buys. ).

We are just interested in the story behind it.

My husband has been pouring over it this afternoon and now thinks the envelope is addressed to Fräulein Hemmi Weitzel.

hi, it is in hebrew script lettering, and it looks like an address. The second line transliterated is shaar hanegev which tranlates to "gate of the south" and the last line is an abbreviation for Eretz Yisrael - "The land of Israel"
The name on the top line is less clear to me, I think it transliterates to Adin? Cohen Gedra?-Yehuda. (Adina could be the first word it is a female name, Yehuda is a male name but could also be a surname)
The Third line could be Kevutz Hame'uchad which may be "the special group". but I'm not sure as to mean special the word would be Meyuchad.

Sounds like an interesting letter...

Just to add to what i said about the lettering. Hebrew has two scripts, the block printed letters and handwriting which is softer, and easier to write versions of the letters. Kind of like we do, but it changes a bit more of the letters. But as with us, if the writer is rushed, or doesn't have good handwriting, or the ink has degraded, sometimes the letters are unclear.
Also, just to know, hebrew is written right to left.

do you have another picture of the top line? As niceandsimple said it is Hebrew script lettering (cursive) which is used for both Hebrew and Yiddish. This is Hebrew in this case, not Yiddish.

I agree @niceandsimple - it looks like it says Adi-? Cohen. It's possibly Adin which is a male name, however, the masculine name Adin is pretty uncommon (in contrast to the female Adina which is very popular), and the last letter isn't clearly a nun. It looks like the writer has used 2 different shapes for the letter nun, a regular nun at the start of 'negev' and a different version (a final nun) at the end of Cohen. This letter looks closer to the regular nun, not the final nun you would use at the end of a word, and there is also an extra dash. Basically unclear, and I don't think it is Adin.

Gedera is now a town in Israel. Yehuda could be a street?
Shaar Hanegev is a region in Israel.
I suspect the bottom line which looks like it says Kuh-vutz Hameuchad (ie a kuf with a shwa vowel under it) is actually fading in part of the line of the kuf, and actually says kuf with a chirik vowel (like 'kih/kee'), and would be kibbutz hameuchad, which was a union of Kibbutzim that was active in the 1930s.

I'd be looking at kibbutzim/camps in that region in the 30s affiliated with the Kibbutz Hameuchad.

i've just had another look and think that the first name is Adit, with a Taf at the end. It could be a nickname as I am not familiar with it as a first name.
And it make sense that it is Gadera - Yehuda as the town and street, as @EllaDisenchanted said.
(I also enjoy figuring out puzzles like this...)

ooooh could be אדית - I think you are on to something @niceandsimple ! That would be more like a yiddish/germanic name in Hebrew letters. I asked chat (sorry!) and it said it could be a version of Edith, which would fit the time period.

@EllaDisenchanted and as Edith was a common Jewish German name, that would fit with the letter being written to someone in Germany. Reminds me of someone I used to know called Elsie, where her Jewish name was Alta. Although she was from Poland.
I find the whole name tracing thing facinating.

First line looks to me like Edit (Hebrew for Edith) Cohen Gedera Yehuda
second line Shaar Hanegev
Third line looks like the name of a Kibbutz
Fourth Line - short for Eretz Yisrael

It looks like it is an envelope addressed to somebody in Israel at the time

I see ‘adit’ as well :)

It doesn’t make sense as an address. For one thing, Gedera is 20-30 miles north of Shaar HaNegev. For another, addresses always go in a specific order, most commonly:
name
organisation
street
town
region
country.

This appears to be
name, town (or double-barrelled name)
unconnected region
organisation
country

What is Gedera-Yehuda? The town is called Gedera. Was it different in the 30s?

This is an intriguing puzzle.