Mountain Jews: how do they differ from the "plain" Jews. Jews and the Caucasus

It was forbidden for European Jews to move beyond this line. But Jews who were drafted into the army and served their term in Russian military units stationed in the Caucasus were allowed to settle in this region for permanent residence.

Somewhat later, the right to permanent residence in the Caucasus was also given to certain categories of merchants from the "Pale of Settlement". Thus, by the end of the 19th century, relatively large groups of the Ashkenazi population had formed in such cities of the Dagestan region as Temir-Khan-Shura (modern Buynaksk) and Derbent. In addition, a fairly significant group of Ashkenazim lived by this time in Kizlyar, which was not part of the Dagestan region at that time.

In the Soviet period, immigrants from the western regions of the Soviet Union were constantly sent to Dagestan - doctors, teachers, engineers, accountants, among whom there were quite a few European Jews.

It is not without interest that the first close acquaintance of Mountain Jews and Ashkenazim, which took place in the 19th century, did not lead to their rapprochement, and this is not surprising, since, despite the common religion and common historical roots, they had many differences. So, if in the view of the Mountain Jews, the Ashkenazis were Europeans, then, according to the Ashkenazis, the Mountain Jews looked like typical Caucasians - both in their daily behavior, and in relation to their material culture, and in relation to mentality, and in relation to many unwritten ethical and legal norms. (adat). A better understanding of each other was also hindered by the language barrier: the Ashkenazis' spoken language was Yiddish, which was based on one of the German dialects, and the Mountain Jews spoke Juuri (Jugyuri), which was based on the Middle Persian dialect. In addition, Mountain Jews spoke Russian poorly, and European Jews, as a rule, did not know either Azerbaijani or Kumyk languages, which were then used by all East Caucasian peoples as languages ​​of interethnic communication. It was impossible to actively communicate in the Hebrew language, since, firstly, it was familiar to very few of the Mountain Jews, and, secondly, the Mountain Jews and Ashkenazim used two different systems of vocalization of Hebrew words. By the way, the same fact complicated the rapprochement of Mountain Jews and Ashkenazi Jews on the basis of a common religion. Another obstacle of the same kind was a certain difference between the Ashkenazi synagogue service - the so-called Ashkenazi nosakh - and the Sephardic nosakh accepted at that time among the Mountain Jews. All this led to the fact that in all the cities where quite large groups of Ashkenazim formed, they sought to open their own synagogues - in Temir-Khan-Shura, and in Derbent, and in Baku, and in Vladikavkaz, etc.

Cultural and physical-anthropological differences between the Ashkenazim and the Mountain Jews were obvious to the representatives of the Russian authorities. It was they who in the 19th century introduced the combinations “European Jews” and “Mountain Jews”, which later found their way into ethnographic literature. The definition of the East Caucasian Jews as mountain Jews is explained by the fact that in the official Russian administrative nomenclature all Caucasian peoples were listed as "mountain". The self-name of the Mountain Jews is juur, pl. hours juuru or juuryo (zhugyurgyo).

The appearance of the ancestors of the Mountain Jews in the Eastern Caucasus, the researchers attribute to the period of rule in Iran of the Sassanid dynasty (226-651). Most likely, the resettlement of Jews to this region was carried out by Khosrov Anushirvan (531-579) in 532 or somewhat later. It was a time when the Persians were actively fortifying their northern border in the Caucasus. Especially many defensive fortifications were erected in the Caspian zone. For their protection, Khosrov Anushirvan resettled several hundred thousand Persians and several tens of thousands of Jews from the southwestern regions of the Sasanian state to this region.

The modern descendants of the Persians resettled to the Eastern Caucasus by Anushirvan are the Caucasian Tats living in the Republic of Azerbaijan and in the Derbent region of Dagestan. Until recently, they retained the so-called Middle Persian dialect (“Tat language”) inherited from their ancestors, but now they have completely switched to the Azerbaijani language. Almost all Caucasian Tats are Muslims, and only the inhabitants of a few villages profess Armenian-Gregorian Christianity.

Mountain Jews also speak one of the Middle Persian dialects (“Jewish-Tat language”), but it differs from the language of the Caucasian Tats by a large number of borrowings from Aramaic and Hebrew.
The historical legends of the Mountain Jews testify that their ancestors were originally settled in Shirvan and Arran (on the territory of the modern Azerbaijan Republic), and from there they moved to more northern regions. The Jews were also mentioned by Movses Kalankatuatsi (7th century), the author of the History of the Alvan country. This is the only mention of the East Caucasian Jews in such a distant era. All other references of this kind date back to the 13th century and even later.

According to the same legends, the most ancient place of Jewish settlement in Dagestan is the Dzhuud-Gatta gorge or Dzhutla-Katta ("Jewish gorge") in Kaitag, where there were seven Jewish villages. Another ancient Jewish village - Salakh - was located in Tabasaran on the Rubas River.

In the XVII-XIX centuries, the places of greatest concentration of Jewish villages were the plain-foothill zone of Southern Dagestan and the historical region of Kaitag: in Southern Dagestan - the villages of Mamrach, Khoshmemzil, Djuud-Arag, Khandzhelkala, Dzharakh, Nyugdi, or Myushkur, Abasovo and, partially, Aghlabi , Mugarty, Karchag, Bilgadi, Heli-Penji, Sabnava and Dzhalgan, and in Kaitag - Majalis, Nyugedi (Yangiyurt), Gimeidi. In addition, small groups of Mountain Jews lived on the Kumyk plane and in Nagorno-Dagestan.

During the civil war, most of the Jews moved from the villages to the cities - Derbent and others. After the Great Patriotic War, a significant outflow of Mountain Jews from Dagestan began to the cities of the North Caucasus, as well as to Moscow. And in the 70s of the twentieth century, the process of emigration of Mountain Jews to Israel, the countries of Western Europe and North America began.

Around the same period in Dagestan, the old thesis was revived that the Mountain Jews have nothing in common with other sub-ethnic groups of the Jewish people. It was also argued that the ancestors of the Mountain Jews belonged to the Iranian tribe of Tats and that they had adopted Judaism in Iran - before moving to the Caucasus, that is, the Mountain Jews are Tats by origin, differing from them only in their religion. All these far-fetched statements became the reason for imposing the ethnonym "Tat" on the Mountain Jews. At the same time, the fact that there was never any Iranian tribe “Tat” in Iran was ignored: “Tat” is the Turkic name of the Persians common in Western Iran (the term “Tat” is also known in Central Asia, but there it has a slightly different content) . In the Caucasus, Persians are also called tats, and Caucasian tats are precisely Persians, and they do not use the term “tat” as a self-name and call their language not Tati, but Farsi or paren.

One might think that in the past, the Mountain Jews were indeed part of the Caucasian Tats and in the medieval era converted to Judaism. However, the data of physical and anthropological measurements indicate that the type of Mountain Jews has nothing in common with the Tats.
All these more than obvious facts were not taken into account by those propagandists from among the Mountain Jews themselves, who joined the anti-Zionist campaign carried out in the Soviet press. One of the elements of this campaign was the imposition of the ethnonym "Tat" on the Mountain Jews. It was then and precisely under the influence of propaganda that about half of the Dagestan Jews changed the entry in the documents - “Mountain Jew” to “tat”. Thus, an incidental situation arose: the ethnonym "Tat", which even the Tats (Persians) do not apply to themselves, suddenly began to be applied to the Mountain Jews.

Another consequence of the campaign carried out mainly in Dagestan to “tatize” Mountain Jews was that a complete confusion was introduced into the consciousness of Mountain Jews (and not only Mountain Jews) regarding their ethnic origin and ethnicity. And even ethnographers familiar with the history of this issue do not always clearly understand the essence of the problem.

Recently, there has been some turning point in this regard: scientific conferences are being held, in the names of which the combination “Mountain Jews” appears, for example, “The First International Symposium “Mountain Jews: History and Modernity” (Moscow, Academy of Civil Service under the President of the Russian Federation, March 29 2001). Another scientific forum was held from 26 to 29 April 2001 in Baku - "Scientific-practical conference" Mountain Jews of the Caucasus ". By the way, in the Republic of Azerbaijan, the ethnonym “Tat” was never imposed on the Mountain Jews; this happened mainly in Dagestan, and even today Dagestan is the only corner of the world where people still try to pass off Mountain Jews as Tats. class="eliadunit">

Semenov I.G.

Mountain Jews in Dagestan, together with other groups of Jews, number 14.7 thousand people (2000). The vast majority (98%) of them live in the cities: Derbent, Makhachkala, Buynaksk, Khasavyurt, Kaspiysk, Kizlyar. Rural residents, who make up about 2% of the mountain-Jewish population, are scattered in small groups in their traditional habitats: in the Derbent, Keitag, Magaramkent and Khasavyurt regions of the Republic of Dagestan.

Mountain Jews speak the North Caucasian (or Jewish-Tat) dialect of Tat, more correctly Middle Persian, a language that is part of the Western Iranian subgroup of the Iranian group of the Indo-European language family. The first researcher of the Tat language, academician V.F.Miler, at the end of the 19th century. gave a description of its two dialects, calling one the Muslim-Tat dialect (which is spoken by the Tats themselves - one of the Iranian peoples in origin and language), the other the Jewish-Tat dialect (which is spoken by the Mountain Jews). The dialect of the Mountain Jews has been further developed and is on the path of forming an independent Tat literary language.

The literary language was created on the basis of the Derbent dialect. The language of the Mountain Jews was strongly influenced by the Turkic languages: Kumyk and Azerbaijani; this is evidenced by a large number of Turkisms found in their language. Possessing a unique historical experience of specific linguistic behavior in the diaspora, Mountain Jews easily perceived the languages ​​of the country (or aul in the conditions of multi-ethnic Dagestan) of residence as a means of everyday communication.

At present, the Tat language is one of the constitutional languages ​​of the Republic of Dagestan, the almanac "Vatan Sovetimu" was published in it, the newspaper "Vatan" ("Motherland") is now published, textbooks, fiction and scientific-policy literature, republican radio and television programs are conducted.

The questions of the origin and formation of the Mountain Jews as an ethnic group remain debatable to this day. So, A.V. Komarov writes that "the time of the appearance of the Jews in Dagestan is not known with accuracy, however, there is a legend that they began to settle north of Derbent shortly after the arrival of the Arabs, i.e. at the end of the 8th century or the beginning of the 9th century. The first their habitats were: in Tabasaran Salah (destroyed in 1855, residents, Jews, transferred to different places) on Rubas, not far from the village of Khushni, where the Qadis who ruled Tabasaran lived, and in Kaitag, a gorge near Kala-Koreish, even now it is known under the name of Zhiut-Katta, i.e. the Jewish gorge.About 300 years ago, the Jews came from here to Majalis, and later part of them moved to Yangikent, along with the utsmi... Jews living in Temir-Khan- Shurim district, preserved the legend that their ancestors came from Jerusalem after the first devastation to Baghdad, where they lived for a very long time.Avoiding persecution and oppression from Muslims, they gradually moved to Tehran, Gamadan, Rasht, Quba, Derbent, Manjalis, Karabudakhkent and Targa; on this way in many places Some of them remained permanently. "Mountain Jews," as I. Semyonov rightly writes, "have preserved the memories of their origin from the tribes of Judah and Benjamin to the present day, and consider Jerusalem their ancient homeland."

An analysis of these and other legends, indirect and direct historical data and linguistic research suggests that the ancestors of the Mountain Jews, as a result of the Babylonian captivity, were resettled from Jerusalem to Persia, where, living among the Persians and Tats for several years, they adapted to the new ethno-linguistic situation and learned the Tet dialect of the Persian language. Approximately in the V-VI centuries. during the time of the Sasanian rulers of Kavad / (488-531) and especially Khosrov / Anushirvan (531-579), the ancestors of the Mountain Jews, together with the Tats, were resettled as Persian colonists to the Eastern Caucasus, Northern Azerbaijan and Southern Dagestan to serve and protection of Iranian fortresses.

The migration processes of the ancestors of the Mountain Jews continued for a long time: at the end of the 14th century. they were persecuted by the troops of Tamerlane. In 1742, the mountain Jewish settlements were destroyed and plundered by Nadir Shah, and at the end of the 18th century. they were attacked by the Kazikumukh Khan, who destroyed a number of villages (Aasava near Derbent, etc.). After the annexation of Dagestan to Russia at the beginning of the XIX century. the position of the Mountain Jews improved somewhat: since 1806, they, like the rest of the inhabitants of Derbent, were exempted from customs duties. During the national liberation war of the highlanders of Dagestan and Chechnya under the leadership of Shamil, Muslim Fundamentalists set as their goal the extermination of "infidels", destroyed and plundered Jewish villages and their quarters. The inhabitants were forced to hide in Russian fortresses or were forcibly converted to Islam and subsequently merged with the local population. The processes of ethnic assimilation of Mountain Jews by Dagestanis accompanied, perhaps, the entire history of their development as an ethnic group. It was during the period of resettlement and the first centuries of their stay in the territory of Northern Azerbaijan and Dagestan that the Mountain Jews, apparently, completely lost the Hebrew language, which turns into the language of religious worship and traditional Jewish education.

Assimilation processes can explain the messages of many travelers of the medieval and modern times, the data of field ethnographic expeditions about the Jewish quarters that existed before the 19th century. inclusive in a number of Azerbaijani, Lezgin, Tabasaran, Tat, Kumyk, Dargin and Avar villages, as well as Jewish place names found in the plains, foothills and mountainous regions of Dagestan (Dzhuvudag, Dzhugyut-aul, Dzhugyut-bulak, Dzhugyut-kuche, Dzhugut-katta and etc.). Even more convincing evidence of these processes are the tukhums in some Dagestan villages, whose origin is associated with the Mountain Jews; such tukhums were recorded in the villages of Akhty, Arag, Rutul, Karchag, Usukhchay, Usug, Ubra, Ruguja, Arakany, Salta, Muni, Mekegi, Deshlagar, Rukel, Mugatyr, Gimeydi, Zidyan, Maraga, Majalis, Yangikent, Dorgeli, Buynak, Karabudakhkent, Tarki, Kafir-Kumukh, Chiryurt, Zubutli, Endirey, Khasavyurt, Aksai, Kostek, etc.

With the end of the Caucasian War, in which part of the Mountain Jews took part, their situation improved somewhat. The new administration ensured their personal and property security, liberalized the existing legal norms in the region.

During the Soviet period, significant transformations took place in all spheres of life of Mountain Jews: social conditions improved markedly, literacy became widespread, culture grew, elements of European civilization multiplied, etc. In 1920-1930. Numerous amateur theatrical groups are being created. In 1934, an ensemble of dances of mountain Jews was organized under the direction of T. Izrailov (an outstanding master who led the professional dance ensemble "Lezginka" at the end of 1958-1970, which glorified Dagestan all over the world).

A specific feature of the material culture of the Mountain Jews is the similarity with similar elements of the culture and life of neighboring peoples, which have developed as a result of stable centuries-old economic and cultural ties. Mountain Jews had almost the same construction equipment as their neighbors, the layout of their dwellings (with some features in the interior), handicraft and agricultural tools, weapons, and decorations. Actually there were few mountain-Jewish settlements: villages. Ashaga-Arag (Dzhugut-Arag, Mamrash, Khanjal-kala, Nyugdi, Jarag, Aghlabi, Khoshmemzil, Yangikent.

The main type of family among Mountain Jews, until about the first third of the 20th century, was a large inseparable three-four-generation family. The numerical composition of such families ranged from 10 to 40 people. Large families, as a rule, occupied one courtyard, in which each individual family had their own houses or several isolated rooms. The head of a large family was the father, to whom everyone had to obey, he determined and solved all the primary economic and other problems of the family. After the death of the father, the headship passed to the eldest son. Several large families, descended from a dying ancestor, formed a tukhum, or taipe. Hospitality and kunachestvo were vital social institutions that helped the Mountain Jews endure numerous oppressions; the institution of twinning with neighboring peoples was also a kind of guarantor of support for the Mountain Jews from the surrounding population.

The Jewish religion, which regulates family and marriage relations and other areas, had a great influence on family life and other aspects of social life. Religion forbade Mountain Jews to marry non-Christians. Religion allowed polygamy, but in practice bigamy was observed mostly among the wealthy strata and rabbis, especially in cases of childlessness of the first wife. The rights of a woman were limited: she did not have the right to an equal share in the inheritance, she could not get a divorce, etc. Marriages were concluded at 15-16 years (girls) and 17-18 (boys), as a rule, between cousins ​​or second cousins. For the bride, they paid kalym (money in favor of her parents and for the purchase of a dowry). The Mountain Jews celebrated courtship, betrothal and especially the wedding very solemnly; at the same time, the wedding ceremony took place in the courtyard of the synagogue (hupo), followed by a wedding dinner with gifts for the young (shermek). Along with the traditional form of arranged marriage, there was a marriage by abduction (kidnapping). The birth of a boy was considered a great joy and met solemnly; on the eighth day, the rite of circumcision (milo) was performed in the nearest synagogue (or at home, where the rabbi was invited), which ended with a solemn feast with the participation of close relatives.

Funeral rites were performed in accordance with the principles of Judaism; at the same time, traces of pagan rituals characteristic of the Kumyk and other Turkic peoples can be traced.

In the middle of the XIX century. in Dagestan there were 27 synagogues and 36 schools (nubo hundes). Today there are 3 synagogues in RD.

In recent years, due to the growing tension, due to wars and conflicts in the Caucasus, lack of personal security, uncertainty about the future, many mountain Jews are forced to make a decision about repatriation. For permanent residence in Israel from Dagestan for 1989-1999. 12 thousand people left. There was a real threat of disappearance of Mountain Jews from the ethnic map of Dagestan. To overcome this trend, it is necessary to develop an effective state program for the revival and preservation of Mountain Jews as one of the original ethnic groups of Dagestan.

MOUNTAIN JEWS IN THE CAUCASUS WAR

Now they write a lot in the press, talk on radio and television about the events taking place in the Caucasus, in particular, in Chechnya and Dagestan. At the same time, we very rarely remember the first Chechen war, which lasted almost 49 years (1810-1859). And it especially intensified under the third imam of Dagestan and Chechnya Shamil in 1834-1859.

In those days, Mountain Jews lived around the cities of Kizlyar, Khasavyurt, Kizilyurt, Mozdok, Makhachkala, Gudermes and Derbent. They were engaged in crafts, trade, medicine, knew the local language and customs of the peoples of Dagestan. They wore local clothes, knew the cuisine, looked like the indigenous population, but held fast to the faith of their fathers, professing Judaism. Jewish communities were led by literate and wise rabbis. Of course, during the war, Jews were attacked, robbed, humiliated, but the highlanders could not do without the help of Jewish doctors, just as they could not do without goods and food. The Jews turned to the tsarist military leaders for protection and help, but, as often happens, the requests of the Jews were either not heard, or they did not pay attention to them - survive, they say, on your own!

In 1851, Prince A. I. Baryatinsky, a descendant of Russified Polish Jews, whose ancestors under Peter I made a dizzying career, was appointed commander of the left flank of the Caucasian front line. From the first day of his stay in Dagestan, Baryatinsky began to put his plan into practice. He met with community leaders - rabbis, organized intelligence, operational and intelligence activities of Mountain Jews, putting them on allowance and taking an oath, without infringing on their faith.

The results were not long in coming. Already at the end of 1851, an agent network of the left flank was created. Dzhigits of mountain Jews penetrated into the very heart of the mountains, found out the location of auls, observed the actions and movements of enemy troops, successfully replacing corrupt and deceitful Dagestan scouts. Fearlessness, composure and some special innate ability to suddenly take the enemy by surprise, cunning and caution - these are the main features of the Mountain Jews jigits.

At the beginning of 1853, an order came to have 60 highlander Jews in the horse regiments, and 90 people in the foot regiments. In addition, Jews called up for service and members of their families received Russian citizenship and significant financial allowances. At the beginning of 1855, Imam Shamil began to suffer significant losses on the left flank of the Caucasian front.

A little about Shamil. He was a smart, cunning and literate imam of Dagestan and Chechnya, who pursued his own economic policy and even had his own mint. The mountain Jew Ismikhanov led the mint and coordinated the economic course under Shamil! Once they wanted to accuse him of having secretly handed over molds for minting coins to the Jews. Shamil ordered "at least to cut off his hand and gouge out his eyes," but the uniforms were unexpectedly found at one of Shamil's centurions. Shamil personally blinded him in one eye when the centurion dodged and stabbed him with a dagger. The wounded Shamil squeezed him with incredible force in his arms and tore his head with his teeth. Ismikhanov was saved.

Imam Shamil Shamil's doctors were the German Sigismund Arnold and the Mountain Jew Sultan Gorichiev. His mother was a midwife in the women's quarter of Shamil's house. When Shamil died, 19 stab wounds and 3 gunshot wounds were found on his body. Gorichiev remained with Shamil until his death in Medina. He was summoned as a witness of his piety to the muftiate, and saw that Shamil was buried not far from the grave of the prophet Magomed.

Throughout his life, Shamil had 8 wives. The longest marriage was with Anna Ulukhanova, the daughter of a Mountain Jew, a merchant from Mozdok. Struck by her beauty, Shamil took her captive and settled her in his house. Anna's father and relatives repeatedly tried to ransom her, but Shamil remained inexorable. A few months later, the beautiful Anna submitted to the Imam of Chechnya and became his most beloved wife. After the capture of Shamil, Anna's brother tried to return his sister to her father's house, but she refused to return. When Shamil died, his widow moved to Turkey, where she lived out her life, receiving a pension from the Turkish Sultan. From Anna Ulukhanova, Shamil had 2 sons and 5 daughters ...

In 1856, Prince Baryatinsky was appointed governor of the Caucasus. Fighting was stopped along the entire line of the Caucasian front, and reconnaissance activities were launched. At the beginning of 1857, thanks to the reconnaissance of the Mountain Jews in Chechnya, crushing blows were dealt to the residential areas and food bases of Shamil. And by 1859 Chechnya was liberated from a despotic ruler. His troops retreated to Dagestan. On August 18, 1859, in one of the villages, the last remnants of the Imam's army were surrounded. After bloody battles on August 21, Ambassador Ismikhanov went to the headquarters of the Russian command and, after negotiations, agreed that Shamil would be invited to the headquarters of the commander in chief and lay down his arms himself. On August 26, 1859, near the village of Vedeno, Shamil appeared before Prince A.I. Baryatinsky. Before the first meeting of Shamil with the Russian Emperor Alexander II, Ismikhanov was with him as an interpreter. He also testifies that the king hugged and kissed the imam. Having presented Shamil with money, a fur coat from a black bear and giving gifts to the wives, daughters of the imam's daughters-in-law, the sovereign sent Shamil to a settlement in Kaluga. Together with him, 21 relatives went there.

The Caucasian war gradually ended. Russian troops have lost about 100 thousand people in 49 years of hostilities. By the highest decree, all Mountain Jews for valor and courage were exempted from paying taxes for 20 years and received the right to free movement on the territory of the Russian Empire.

With the beginning of a new modern war in the Caucasus, all Mountain Jews left Chechnya and were taken to the land of their ancestors. Most of them left Dagestan, no more than 150 families remained. I would like to ask who will help the Russian army in the fight against bandits? ..

A new centralized Jewish organization, the Federation of Communities of Mountain Jews of Russia (FOGER), appeared this year in the Russian Federation; in February it received registration documents. Anar Samaylov, the rabbi of the communities of Mountain Jews in Moscow, told RIA Novosti about the history and culture of the Mountain Jews, the goals and objectives of the new organization. Interviewed by Radik Amirov.

- The question immediately arises: why create a new organization, because there are already various Jewish centers in Russia?

- The new Jewish organization in the Russian Federation does not mean that Mountain Jews cease to be Jews or sow disunity. This is not true. We have good relations with the Federation of Jewish Communities of Russia (FEOR), the Congress of Jewish Religious Organizations and Associations in Russia (KEROOR) and others.

But I will note that we, Mountain Jews, have a slightly different way of life, traditions, culture. We decided that the spiritual wealth of our people, which has preserved all the best that we have for many centuries of existence, should not be forgotten - it should be multiplied many times over. And this aspect does not conflict with the ideas of other Jewish organizations pursuing the same goals of preserving religion and community.

We Mountain Jews, at first glance, are a little different from the usual Jews, but nevertheless we remain and will remain them - Jews. Yes, certain ceremonies are carried out a little differently in our country, for example, weddings, circumcision. We do not have the usual Jewish court for the Jews. And the culture of education is slightly different. But by and large we are Jews. For us, the Torah is one, the law is one, the constitution is one.

— Many conventionally divide the Jewish community into Ashkenazi and Sephardim. Do you consider yourself to be the latter?

- Yes. Ashkenazim are European Jews, and we are Eastern Jews. Our ancestors mainly lived in Persia and the Caucasus. If you look at the modern map of the world, we note that the Sephardim lived in Iran, Iraq, Turkey, on the territory of present-day Azerbaijan - these are Baku, Shamakhi, Cuba, Red, and before the 1917 revolution - Jewish Sloboda. And also Tajikistan, Uzbekistan.

A large community also existed on the territory of Russia: Nalchik, Grozny, Khasavyurt, Buynaksk and, of course, the legendary Derbent. In these cities, the Mountain Jews lived as a friendly community, in peace and friendship with their neighbors - Christians and Muslims. Remember that Jewish pogroms were only in Europe, the pogroms did not affect Eastern Jews. Obviously, this did not happen for one simple reason - the Eastern peoples are very religiously tolerant.

It is also quite obvious that we have absorbed a lot from a foreign culture, but at the same time we have not dissolved into another community. We have preserved the language (juri), religion, culture, rituals, traditions, carrying them through the centuries. I think it is very, very important for any people not to assimilate, but to remain themselves.

— Is it true that Mountain Jews are very religious?

— We were the first in Moscow in 1993 to create a community of Mountain Jews. The well-known Gilalov family provided great assistance in the construction of the Beit Talkhum synagogue for mountain Jews in the Russian capital in 1998. At that time, they were just beginning to talk about the construction of religious buildings, and the Mountain Jews already had their own temple. A yeshiva (religious educational center - ed.) was built in Khripani, near Moscow. Religious buildings for Mountain Jews with the support of this family also appeared in Israel - Tirat-Karmel and Jerusalem. The Gilalovs initiated in 2003 the creation of the World Congress of Mountain Jews, which was once spoken of by the whole world, and not only the Jewish one.

Today Akif Gilalov is the organizer and chairman of the Council of the centralized Orthodox Jewish organization "Federation of Communities of Mountain Jews of Russia". He did a lot for us. This is not so much money as attention and concern for the people and their future.

Today, Mountain Jews are implementing projects in the field of charity, education, these are children's camps, holding holidays, and simply community meetings, because for us a lively conversation is a prerequisite for life.

— In what other countries of the far abroad do religious organizations of Mountain Jews operate?

— The geography is vast. Canada, USA, Latin America, Europe, Georgia, Turkey and, of course, Israel. More than a dozen communities of Mountain Jews with a total number of 120,000 people work in these countries. We have close contacts with foreign organizations, joint projects that meet our common interests.

— Will a large community center of Mountain Jews appear in Moscow?

Yes, it is very necessary for us. Therefore, we will appeal to the federal and regional authorities with a request to allocate space for the construction of the Community Center of Mountain Jews, and about 10-15 thousand of them live in Moscow. It will be, according to our plans, not only a religious, but also a cultural center, where, in addition to spiritual education, it will be possible to join one's roots, traditions and rituals. There are patrons and those wishing to help in the construction of the community center.

Our plans for the coming period are the creation of a community center for all branches of Sephardic Jews in Moscow.

"Once again about Jews in hats. Mountain Jews: history and modernity"

WHO WE ARE AND WHERE?
- Mom, who are we? - once my son asked me, and then another question followed: - Are we Lezgins?
- No, my boy, not Lezgins - we are mountain Jews.
- And why mountain? What, there are still forest or sea Jews?

In order to stop the flow of endless “why”, I had to tell my son a parable that I heard from my father in childhood. I remember how in the sixth grade, having quarreled with me, one girl called me “juud”. And the first thing I asked my parents when I returned from school was:

And what are we, “juuds”?

Then dad told me briefly about the history of the Jewish people, how our compatriots appeared in the Caucasus, and why we are called Mountain Jews.

You see, daughter, a fortress above our city of Derbent, - the father began his story. - In ancient times, during its construction, they used the labor of captive slaves brought from Iran at the direction of Shah Kavad from the Sassanid dynasty in the fifth century AD. Among them were our ancestors, the descendants of those Jews who were expelled from Eretz Israel after the destruction of the First Temple.

Most of them remained to live in the vicinity of the Naryn-Kala fortress. In the eighteenth century, the city of Derbent was captured by the Persian Nadir Shah. He was a very cruel man, but he was especially merciless with those who professed Judaism. For the slightest offense, the Jews were subjected to barbaric tortures: they gouged out their eyes, cut off their ears, cut off their hands ... And, you see, under the fortress you can see the dome of the Juma mosque? According to legend, it is in the courtyard of the mosque, between two huge platinum trees, that the ancient stone “Guz Dash” is located, which means “eye stone” in Persian. It is there that the eyes of those unfortunate slaves are buried. Unable to withstand the hellish labor and cruel punishments, the slaves arranged escapes. But only a few managed to escape from the fortress. Only those lucky ones who were able to leave climbed high into the mountainous regions of the Caucasus. There, life gradually improved, but the Mountain Jews always kept apart in their community. Observing the customs of their ancestors, they conveyed to their descendants the faith in the Jewish God. It was only under Soviet rule that Jews gradually began to descend from the mountains to the plains. Therefore, since then we have been called that - Mountain Jews.

MOUNTAIN JEWS OR TATs?
When I graduated from school, it was in the late eighties, my dad handed me a passport, in which “tatka” was marked in the “nationality” column. I was very embarrassed by this entry in the passport, because there was another entry in the metric - “Mountain Jewess”. But my father explained that this way, they say, it would be easier to go to college, and in general to make a good career. Having entered a Moscow university, I was forced to explain to my classmates what kind of nationality this is.

An incident with nationality happened to my older brother. After serving in the army, my brother went to build the Baikal-Amur Mainline. When registering a residence permit, several letters were added to the word “tat” in the fifth column, and it turned out to be “Tatar”. Everything would be fine, but when repatriating to Israel, this became a big problem: he could not prove his Jewish origin in any way.

In recent years, many scientists and historians have turned to the study of the history of the Mountain Jews. Many books have been published in different languages ​​(Russian, English, Azerbaijani, Hebrew), various conferences and research trips to the Caucasus are being held. But the historical past of the Mountain Jews is still insufficiently studied and causes controversy about when they appeared in the Caucasus. Alas, no written documents have been preserved about the history of the resettlement. There are different versions about the appearance of Jews in the Caucasus:

* The Jews of the Caucasus have deep historical roots - they are the descendants of exiles from Jerusalem after the destruction of the First Temple;

* Mountain Jews originate from the Israelites, they are the descendants of ten tribes brought out of Palestine and settled in Media by the Assyrian and Babylonian kings;

* Jews who were under the rule of the Achaeminids, being merchants, officials and administrators, could easily move throughout the territory of the Persian state;

* In Babylonia and adjacent territories, which are part of the New Persian kingdom, Jews mainly lived in large cities. They successfully engaged in crafts and trade, kept caravanserais, among them were doctors, scientists, teachers. Jews actively participated in trade on the Great Silk Road, which also passed through the Caucasus. The first representatives of the Jews, later called Mountain Jews, began to migrate from Iran to the Caucasus along the Caspian routes through Fiery Albania (now Azerbaijan).

Here is what the well-known Dagestan historian Igor Semenov writes in his article “Ascended to the Caucasus”:

“Mountain Jews, as a special part of the Jewish world, were formed in the Eastern Caucasus as a result of several waves of migration, mainly from Iran. By the way, the fact that the last two waves occurred relatively recently was reflected in many elements of the culture of the Mountain Jews, in particular in their name book. If any ethnic group has up to 200 male names and about 50 female names, then I have identified more than 800 male and about 200 female names among Mountain Jews (as of the beginning of the 20th century). This may indicate that there were more than three waves of Jewish migration to the Eastern Caucasus. Speaking about the migration of Jews to the Eastern Caucasus, one should not lose sight of the issue of their resettlement within the region. Thus, regarding the territory of modern Azerbaijan, there is evidence that before the formation of the Jewish Sloboda of the city of Cuba, Jewish quarters existed in such settlements as Chirakhkala, Kusary, Rustov. And the village of Kulkat had an exclusively Jewish population. In the 18th-19th centuries, the Jewish Sloboda was the largest mountain-Jewish center and, as such, played a significant role in the consolidation of various mountain-Jewish groups. Later, the same role was played by those settlements that were centers of attraction for rural Jews - the cities of Derbent, Baku, Grozny, Nalchik, Makhachkala, Pyatigorsk, etc.”

But why were Mountain Jews called tatami in Soviet times?

Firstly, this is due to their Tat-Jewish language. Secondly, because of some representatives holding leading party posts, who tried their best to prove that the Mountain Jews, they say, are not Jews at all, but Tats. But not only Tats-Jews lived in the Eastern Caucasus, but also Tats-Muslims. True, the latter in their passport data indicated in their “nationality” column - “Azerbaijani”.

The same Igor Semenov writes:

“Regarding the origin of the Mountain Jews, a variety of points of view were expressed. One of them boils down to the fact that the Mountain Jews are the descendants of those Tats who, having been Judaized in Iran, were resettled by the Sassanids to the Caucasus. This version, which arose among the Mountain Jews at the beginning of the 20th century, received the name of the Tat myth in the scientific literature ... It should also be pointed out that in reality the Tat tribe never existed in the Sasanian state. The term “tat” appeared in Iran much later, during the period of the Turkic (Seljuk) conquests, and in the narrow sense, the Turks denoted by it the Persians of Central Asia and North-Western Iran, and in the broad sense, the entire settled population conquered by the Turks. In the Eastern Caucasus, this term was used by the Turks in its first, main meaning - in relation to the Persians, whose ancestors were resettled in this region under the Sassanids. It is also necessary to take into account that the Caucasian Persians themselves never called themselves “tatami”. And they called their language not “Tat”, but “Parsi”. Nevertheless, in the 19th century, the concepts of “Tats” and “Tat language” first entered the official Russian nomenclature, and then into linguistics and ethnographic literature.

Of course, the basis for the emergence and development of the Tat myth was the linguistic relationship between the Tat and Mountain Jewish languages, but even here the fact of very significant differences between the Tat proper and the Mountain Jewish languages ​​was ignored. In addition, it was not taken into account that all the languages ​​of the Jewish diaspora - Yiddish, Ladino, Jewish-Georgian, Jewish-Tajik and many others - are based on non-Jewish languages, which reflects the history of the formation of a particular Jewish group, but at the same time, this circumstance does not give any reason to consider the speakers of Ladino as Spaniards, Yiddish speakers as Germans, Georgian-Jewish speakers as Georgians, etc.”

Note that in all languages ​​close to Hebrew there are no borrowings from Hebrew. So the presence of elements of the Hebrew language is a sure sign that this dialect is most directly related to the Jewish people.

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At present, the community of Mountain Jews is scattered all over the world. Despite the small number (although there is no exact number of their census), there are approximately 180-200 thousand people in the world on average. One of the largest communities in Israel - up to 100-120 thousand people, the rest of the Mountain Jews live in Russia, the USA, Canada, Germany, Austria, Australia, Spain, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan and other regions of the world.

It is easy to come to the conclusion that the vast majority of Mountain Jews are not aliens who converted to Judaism, but are descendants of ancient settlers from the Promised Land. To the best of our knowledge, genetic studies confirm this fact. In appearance, unlike the Tats, the majority of Mountain Jews are typical Semites. There is one more argument: it is enough to look into the eyes of our compatriots from the Caucasus to catch in them all the longing of world Jewry.

In the photo: Mountain Jews, 1930s, Dagestan.

Mountain Jews are not a separate people. They represent a group of Jews who, as a result of mass migration, settled in the territory of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. They are characterized by a unique culture, which was formed thanks to their own knowledge and ideas about life, as well as under the influence of other peoples.

Name

Mountain Jews is not an independent name. So called people by their neighbors, who emphasized the foreignness. The people themselves called themselves Juur. The Juur settled in the Caucasus around the 5th century AD.
In recent decades, Mountain Jews have been leaving their native lands. Mostly people move to Israel and the United States of America. Communities in Russia number approximately 30,000. Some Juur live in Europe and Canada.

Language

Many linguists believe that the Juur language can be attributed to the Tat dialect. Mountain Jews call the language Juuri. It should be clarified that tatami are called natives of Persia, who left the region due to civil strife. Like the Mountain Jews, they ended up in the Caucasus. The Tat dialect itself belongs to the Iranian group. Now many Mountain Jews use Hebrew, English, Russian. Some have learned Azerbaijani. At the same time, there are several books and textbooks written in the Hebrew-Tat language.

Nation

There is no definitive answer to the question of which nation the Juurs belong to. A number of scientists who support Konstantin Kurdov put forward a version according to which the Juur comes from the Lezgins. However, there are many dissenters who identify the Mountain Jews as Ossetians, Chechens and Avars. This is due to the established material culture and organization, similar to the peoples listed.

• The Juurs have always had a patriarchy;
• Sometimes there was polygamy, the Jews even supported the peculiarities of the customs of hospitality, characteristic of the neighboring regions;
• Juur prepare Caucasian cuisine, they know Lezginka, in culture they are similar to Dagestanis and Azerbaijanis;
• At the same time, there are differences expressed in the observance of Jewish traditions, including holidays. Among the Mountain Jews there are many who revere the rabbis and live according to their instructions;
• The genetic relationship with the Jews is confirmed by the analyzes of British geneticists who studied the Y chromosomes.

A life

The main occupation of the inhabitants is gardening. Mountain Jews love to make wine, sell carpets, make fabrics and fish. All these are traditional crafts for the inhabitants of the Caucasus. The production of sculptures can be considered unique occupations of the Juur. It was a native of the Mountain Jewish communities who participated in the creation of the monument to the Unknown Soldier. Many among the Mountain Jews turned out to be writers, including Misha Bakhshiev.

Religion

For the Mountain Jews, it was fundamentally important to preserve Judaism. As a result, the influence of their religion was great enough for the Khazar Khaganate to adopt the Jewish faith. In the future, the Khazars, together with the Jews, opposed the Arabs in order to prevent expansion. However, the Polovtsians managed to defeat the armies, and then the Mongol-Tatars came, who forced people to abandon religion. With the advent of the troops of Imam Shamil, the Juur had to make an alliance with the Russian Empire in order to defend the faith.

Food

The cuisine of the Mountain Jews was influenced by neighboring peoples, but people managed to keep many of the recipes. So, many spices predominate in their dishes. Many observe the requirements of kashrut, which prescribe not to eat the meat of a bird of prey and not to mix any kind of meat with milk. Moreover, it is forbidden to eat dairy products (cheese, cottage cheese, cream) mixed with meat dishes. Any vegetables can be used, but they are strictly selected through the representatives of kashrut. The most important culinary tradition is the baking of Sabbath bread. It is baked before Shabbat (Saturday) and is called challah. This bread can be served at the same time as meat. You can eat challah right in the morning, thus opening Shabbat.
The word "challah" means a piece of dough that was separated from the pie to present to the Jerusalem temple. Interestingly, the challah can have a different shape, for example, be performed in the form of a key or a bunch of grapes. The festive challah looks like a circle, which indicates unity with the Almighty. Traditional baking consists of several braided braids.

1. During the meeting of Shabbat, a rabbi is invited, two lighted candles are placed on the table, the rabbi breaks off a piece of dough, dips it in salt and passes it on to the challah.
2. For breakfast, Mountain Jews always preferred cheese, cream, cottage cheese, to get enough before the start of the working day, but not to put too much stress on the body.
3. After work, it was time for the shulkhan, on which a fairly large table was set. Shulkhan necessarily meant the use of snacks, in the role of which were cilantro, parsley and other herbs. Herbs have always been given a special place in the diet, as they made it possible to strengthen the gums and contained many vitamins. Together with greens, they ate vegetables, dried fish. As a hot dish, juur is eaten dyushpere - dumplings with broth and a lot of spices. Onions were necessarily added to it, and the dough was made very thin. Additionally, garlic was added to the dish and flavored with vinegar. Such a recipe is necessary for preparing a hearty and burning dish, because the juur always had to live in the mountains, where the climate is quite severe in winter.
4. The container was prepared from beef broth, to which dried cherry plum, onion and a lot of meat are added. Herbs are also added to the dish. A feature of the soup is its excessive density, so it is eaten with the help of cakes, on which the finished mixture is spread.
5. From fish heads, tails and fins they make bugleme-jahi. The fish is boiled over low heat, then pre-stewed onions, fish, cherry plums are added to the broth, salt, pepper and boiled rice are added.
6. Yagni became a favorite dish of Juur. This dish is also cooked in broth, which is made from chicken or beef. The broth is boiled for 15 minutes, then tomato paste with onions is added.
7. The popular dolma is made from ground beef, rice and onions. All ingredients are mixed, then cilantro, parsley, salt, pepper are added. All this is wrapped in grape leaves. It turns out a kind of cabbage rolls. The leaves must be boiled for at least 10 minutes, then, after formation, the cabbage rolls are placed in a saucepan and poured with boiling water. Dolma should be cooked on low heat.
8. Another variant of cabbage rolls is called yapragi. This dish, familiar to every inhabitant of Russia and Ukraine, differs only in that more water is added to it.
9. From drinks Mountain Jews prefer tea, dry wines.

Cloth

The clothing of the Mountain Jews is identical to that worn by the Dagestanis and Kabardians. The Circassian coat is sewn from cloth, the basis for the hat is astrakhan fur or sheep's wool. Many Juurs carry long daggers, which are a must attire. For some time, such weapons were forbidden to carry, but after the end of the 30s of the last century, the ban was lifted. Caftans were used for insulation, which were tied with straps. Such a wardrobe item is typical for Orthodox residents.
Women decorate outfits with metal items and jewelry. A white shirt was put on the body. Pants must be worn on the legs, as religion requires a woman to cover her legs. The head is covered with a scarf, only the father or husband can see the hair. Of the headdresses, a woman is allowed to wear a chudka (chutkha).

Traditions

Mountain Jews, who are often called Caucasian or Persian, in addition to traditional Judaism, are distinguished by their belief in good and evil spirits. Representatives of orthodox communities deny the possibility of the existence of such creatures, but here there is the influence of third-party cultures. It is surprising that such a phenomenon arose in their society, because for him it is completely uncharacteristic. Otherwise, the Juurs follow the Sephardic branch.

Mountain Jews are called Persian, Caucasian. They are still not singled out as a separate people, but they managed to form a unique culture, absorbing the traditions of other peoples and at the same time did not assimilate. This is a unique case for immigrants, which only emphasizes the unusual and diverse life of people in different parts of the world.

From this video you can learn in detail about the life of the Mountain Jews. Features of their history and formation.