Mountain Jews: history, numbers, culture. Peoples of the Caucasus

2024 Author: Henry Conors | [email protected]. Last modified: 2024-02-12 02:41

Among the numerous descendants of the biblical forefather Abraham and his sons Isaac and Jacob, a special category is a sub-ethnic group of Jews who have settled in the Caucasus since ancient times and are called Mountain Jews. Having retained their historical name, they have now largely left their former habitat, settling in Israel, America, Western Europe and Russia.

Replenishment among the peoples of the Caucasus

The earliest appearance of Jewish tribes among the peoples of the Caucasus, researchers attribute to two important periods in the history of the sons of Israel - the Assyrian captivity (VIII century BC) and the Babylonian, which occurred two centuries later. Fleeing from inevitable enslavement, the descendants of the tribes of Simeon - one of the twelve sons of the biblical forefather Jacob - and his own brother Manasseh first moved to the territory of present-day Dagestan and Azerbaijan, and from there dispersed throughout the Caucasus.

Already in a later historical period (approximately in the 5th century AD), Mountain Jews intensively arrived in the Caucasus from Persia. The reason forwhere they left their previously inhabited lands, there were also unceasing wars of conquest.

With them, the settlers brought to their new homeland a peculiar mountain-Jewish language, which belonged to one of the language groups of the southwestern Jewish-Iranian branch. One should not, however, confuse Mountain Jews with Georgians. Despite the commonality of religion between them, there are significant differences in language and culture.

Jews of the Khazar Khaganate

It was the Mountain Jews who rooted Judaism in the Khazar Khaganate, a powerful medieval state that controlled territories from Ciscaucasia to the Dnieper, including the Lower and Middle Volga regions, part of the Crimea, as well as the steppe regions of Eastern Europe. Under the influence of rabbis-settlers, the ruling political elite of Khazaria, for the most part, adopted the law of the prophet Moses.

As a result, the state was significantly strengthened due to the combination of the potential of local warlike tribes and trade and economic ties, which were very rich in the Jews who joined it. At that time, a number of East Slavic peoples turned out to be dependent on him.

The role of the Khazar Jews in the fight against the Arab conquerors

Mountain Jews provided the Khazars with invaluable assistance in the fight against Arab expansion in the 8th century. Thanks to them, it was possible to significantly reduce the territories occupied by the commanders Abu Muslim and Mervan, who forced the Khazars to the Volga with fire and sword, and also forcibly Islamized the population of the occupied areas.

The Arabs owe their military successes only to internalcivil strife that arose among the rulers of the kaganate. As often happened in history, they were ruined by an exorbitant thirst for power and personal ambitions. Handwritten monuments of that time tell, for example, about the armed struggle that broke out between supporters of the Chief Rabbi Yitzhak Kundishkan and the prominent Khazar commander Samsam. In addition to open clashes, which caused considerable damage to both sides, the usual tricks in such cases were used - bribery, slander and court intrigues.

The end of the Khazar Khaganate came in 965, when the Russian prince Svyatoslav Igorevich, who managed to attract Georgians, Pechenegs, as well as Khorezm and Byzantium, defeated Khazaria. Mountain Jews in Dagestan fell under his blow, as the prince's squad captured the city of Semender.

Mongol invasion period

But the Jewish language was heard for several centuries in the expanses of Dagestan and Chechnya, until in 1223 the Mongols, led by Batu Khan, and in 1396 by Tamerlane, destroyed the entire Jewish diaspora in them. Those who managed to survive these terrible invasions were forced to convert to Islam and forever abandon the language of their ancestors.

The story of the Mountain Jews who lived in northern Azerbaijan is also full of drama. In 1741 they were attacked by Arab troops led by Nadir Shah. It did not become disastrous for the people as a whole, but, like any invasion of conquerors, it brought incalculable suffering.

The scroll that became the shield of the Jewish community

These events are reflected in folklore. Has survived to this daya legend about how the Lord Himself stood up for His chosen people. It is said that once Nadir Shah broke into one of the synagogues during the reading of the holy Torah and demanded that the Jews present renounce their faith and convert to Islam.

Hearing a categorical refusal, he swung his sword down on the rabbi. He instinctively raised a Torah scroll above his head - and the combat steel got bogged down in it, unable to cut the shabby parchment. Great fear seized the blasphemer, who raised his hand to the shrine. He fled shamefully and ordered that the persecution of the Jews should cease in the future.

Years of the conquest of the Caucasus

All Jews of the Caucasus, including Mountain Jews, suffered innumerable victims during the struggle against Shamil (1834-1859), who carried out the forcible Islamization of vast territories. On the example of the events that unfolded in the Andean Valley, where the vast majority of the inhabitants preferred death to the rejection of Judaism, one can get a general idea of the drama that played out then.

It is known that members of numerous communities of Mountain Jews scattered throughout the Caucasus were engaged in medicine, trade and various crafts. Perfectly knowing the language and customs of the peoples around them, as well as imitating them in clothing and cuisine, they nevertheless did not assimilate with them, but, firmly adhering to Judaism, preserved national unity.

With this link connecting them, or, as they say now, “spiritual bond”, Shamil waged an uncompromising struggle. However, at times he was forced to make concessions, since his army, constantlywho was in the heat of battle with the detachments of the Russian army, needed the help of skillful Jewish doctors. In addition, it was the Jews who supplied the soldiers with food and all necessary goods.

As is known from the chronicles of that time, the Russian troops, who seized the Caucasus in order to establish state power there, did not oppress the Jews, but did not provide them with practically any help. If they turned to the command with such requests, they usually met with an indifferent refusal.

In the service of the Russian Tsar

However, in 1851, Prince A. I. Boryatinsky, appointed commander-in-chief, decided to use the Mountain Jews in the fight against Shamil and created a widely branched agent network from them, supplying him with detailed information about the locations and movement of enemy units. In this role, they completely replaced the deceitful and corrupt Dagestan scouts.

According to the testimony of Russian staff officers, the main features of the Mountain Jews were fearlessness, composure, cunning, caution and the ability to take the enemy by surprise. Given these properties, since 1853, it was customary to have at least sixty mountaineer Jews in the cavalry regiments fighting in the Caucasus, and on foot their number reached ninety people.

Paying tribute to the heroism of the Mountain Jews and their contribution to the conquest of the Caucasus, at the end of the war they were all exempted from paying taxes for a period of twenty years and received the right to free movement on the territory of Russia.

The hardships of the civil war

Extremely heavyfor them were the years of the civil war. Hardworking and enterprising, the Mountain Jews, for the most part, had prosperity, which, in an atmosphere of general chaos and lawlessness, made them a desirable prey for armed robbers. So, back in 1917, the communities living in Khasavyurt and Grozny were subjected to total looting, and a year later, the same fate befell the Jews of Nalchik.

Many Mountain Jews died in battles with bandits, where they fought side by side with representatives of other Caucasian peoples. For example, the events of 1918 are sadly memorable, when, together with the Dagestanis, they had to repel the attack of the detachments of Ataman Serebryakov, one of the closest associates of General Kornilov. During the long and fierce battles, many of them were killed, and those who managed to survive left the Caucasus with their families forever, moving to Russia.

Years of the Great Patriotic War

During the Great Patriotic War, the names of Mountain Jews were repeatedly mentioned among the heroes awarded the highest state awards. The reason for this was their selfless courage and heroism shown in the fight against the enemy. Those of them who ended up in the occupied territories, for the most part, became victims of the Nazis. The history of the Holocaust included a tragedy that took place in 1942 in the village of Bogdanovka, Smolensk Region, where the Germans staged a mass execution of Jews, most of whom were from the Caucasus.

General data on the population, culture and language

BAt present, the total number of Mountain Jews is about one hundred and fifty thousand people. Of these, according to the latest data, one hundred thousand live in Israel, twenty thousand - in Russia, the same number in the United States, and the rest are distributed among the countries of Western Europe. A small number of them are also in Azerbaijan.

The original language of the Mountain Jews has practically fallen into disuse and has given way to the dialects of those peoples among whom they live today. The common national culture has largely been preserved. It is a rather complex conglomeration of Jewish and Caucasian traditions.

Influence on the Jewish culture of other peoples of the Caucasus

As mentioned above, wherever they had to settle, they quickly began to resemble the locals, adopting their customs, manner of dressing and even cuisine, but at the same time they always sacredly kept their religion. It was Judaism that allowed all Jews, including Mountain Jews, to remain a single nation for centuries.

And it was very difficult to do it. Even at present, there are about sixty-two ethnic groups in the territory of the Caucasus, including its northern and southern parts. As for the past centuries, according to researchers, their number was much larger. It is generally accepted that among other nationalities, the Abkhazians, Avars, Ossetians, Dagestanis and Chechens had the greatest influence on the culture (but not religion) of the Mountain Jews.

Surnames of Mountain Jews

Today, together with all my brothers in faith, the bigMountain Jews also contribute to world culture and economy. The names of many of them are well known not only in the countries where they live, but also abroad. For example, the famous banker Abramov Rafael Yakovlevich and his son, a prominent businessman Yan Rafaelevich, Israeli writer and literary figure Eldar Gurshumov, sculptor, author of the monument to the Unknown Soldier and the Kremlin wall, Yuno Ruvimovich Rabaev, and many others.

As for the very origin of the names of Mountain Jews, many of them appeared quite late - in the second half or at the very end of the 19th century, when the Caucasus was finally annexed to the Russian Empire. Prior to that, they were not used among the Mountain Jews, each of them got along just fine with his own name.

When they became citizens of Russia, everyone received a document in which the official was required to indicate his last name. As a rule, the Russian ending "ov" or the feminine "ova" was added to the father's name. For example: Ashurov is the son of Ashur, or Shaulova is the daughter of Shaul. However, there were exceptions. By the way, the majority of Russian surnames are also formed in the same way: Ivanov is the son of Ivan, Petrova is the daughter of Peter, and so on.

Metropolitan life of Mountain Jews

The community of Mountain Jews in Moscow is the largest in Russia and, according to some sources, is about fifteen thousand people. The first settlers from the Caucasus appeared here even before the revolution. These were the we althy merchant families Dadashevs and Khanukaevs, who received the right to unhindered trade. Their descendants live here today.

Massive migration of Mountain Jews to the capital was observed during the collapse of the USSR. Some of them left the country forever, while those who did not want to radically change their way of life preferred to stay in the capital. Today, their community has patrons who support synagogues not only in Moscow, but also in other cities. Suffice it to say that, according to Forbes magazine, four Mountain Jews living in the capital are mentioned among the hundred richest people in Russia.