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Azerbaijanis and Jews are fraternal peoples! Khazars and Mountain Jews: History of Azerbaijani Jews Marriages of Azerbaijanis and Jews.

25.11.2020

In the II century BC. the Great Silk Road was laid - the main trade route connecting China with the countries of Europe, Central Asia, the Near and Middle East. A significant part of it passed through the territory of Azerbaijan, and since the Jews have always been pioneers in the development of new markets, they certainly did not miss the opportunity to trade in this country.

In the Sassanian Empire, which was formed in 224, the Jews were given the opportunity to have their own self-government headed by the "Rosh Ha-Galut" or Exilarch, who was one of the highest dignitaries of the country. However, with the advent of Christianity, a confrontation arose between the dominant Zoroastrian religion in Iran and the new creed, whose adherents were active in missionary activity, which also affected the Jews, who, as you know, did not engage in proselytism. Nevertheless, under King Yazdigerd II (438 - 451), at the instigation of the magicians, all gentiles began to be persecuted and persecuted. The religious confrontation reached its apogee during the reign of King Firuz I (459-484). In addition, the Jews became involved in the Mazdakid movement (481-529), which also did not add to their love from the authorities. As a result, a significant part of the Jewish population was forced to leave the borders of the Sassanian state and move to Arabia and even India. Many ended up in the high-mountain villages of Dagestan, where they could only get through the territory of Azerbaijan.

Excavations in 1990 under the leadership of R. Geyushov discovered the remains of the Jewish quarter and the Shabran synagogue of the 7th century in the area of Baku. (some historians associate it with the period of the Khazar rule). Shmuel ben Yahya al-Maghribi (died in 1174), a Jewish physician who converted to Islam, the author of the anti-Jewish essay "Ifham al-yahud" ("Refutation of the Jews"), names among the localities where David Alroi recruited supporters of his messianic movement, the cities of Khoy, Salmas, Tabriz, Merage and Urmia (now Rezaye).

There is a version of an earlier stay of Jews in Azerbaijan. Thus, according to M. Veliyev: “The Jews who are called mountain Jews belong to the tribes that have been living in Azerbaijan since ancient times. Jews, Jews, Israelis, Yahuds or Juurs belong to the Semitic race. In Azerbaijan, during the Persian domination, they mastered the Tat language, which they still speak today ”. A historian of the 7th century, originally from the state of Caucasian Albania (northern Azerbaijan), Moses Kalankatuisky gives information about living in the capital of the state of Caucasian Albania - the city of Barda, “Christians, Jews, pagans” in the 7th century. According to the famous traveler of the Middle Ages Binyamin from Tudela: "... in the 12th century there were 1000 synagogues in Azerbaijan".

In one of the fragments of the famous Cairo geniza, it is indicated that Rabbi Baruch Israel from the Azerbaijani city of Maragha relied in his writings on the manuscript of Saadiy Gaon, who lived in another city on the territory of modern Azerbaijan - Urmia. At the end of the 12th century, Samuel Ben Yahya moved from Baghdad to Maraga, who became the court scholar of the Ildegezids, who ruled the powerful state of the Atabeks of Azerbaijan. The large scale of the Jewish population in the country is also evidenced by the wide scale of the messianic movement, led by David Alroi, who enjoyed support in the communities of Tabriz, Maragha, Salmas, Urmia and Khoy. In the 13th - 19th centuries, Azerbaijan became the center of the Khulagid state. After the defeat of the Baghdad Caliphate in 1258 by Hulagu Khan, a mass migration of local Jews to the lands beyond the Tigris began, mainly to modern Azerbaijan, where there were already developed and populous Jewish communities. The best minds of the East and West, from China to Spain, also flocked here. In Tabriz, Maragha, Sultaniye and Urmia, Salmas and Khoy, Jews could find application for their knowledge and abilities.

Old Sephardic synagogue in Krasnaya Sloboda

XIII - XVIII centuries

In the second half of the 13th century. The Ilkhanids, the Mongol khans, who ruled vast territories from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from Afghanistan to the deserts of Syria, turned Azerbaijan into the central region of their empire. The religious tolerance of the early Ilkhanids-Buddhists attracted many Jews to Azerbaijan. The first minister of Argun Khan (1284-91), the Jew Saumanid ad-Dawla, actually directed the entire internal and foreign policy the state of the Ilkhanids. The Jew Muhazzim ad-Dawla was the head of the administration of Tabriz, and the Jew Labid bin Abi-r-Rabi ‘headed the administration system of all Azerbaijan. The execution of Sankoed ad-Dawl, which was a victory for the palace group, dissatisfied with the concentration of power in his hands, and the execution of a number of his supporters, many of whom were Jews, were the first symptom of the deteriorating position of the Jews in the country. Many Jews began to convert to Islam. One of them was Rashid ad-Dawla (Rashid ad-Din), who became the first minister in 1298 (executed on false charges in 1318). The historical collection of Rashid ad-Dawla "Jamilikiyat-tavarih" ("Collection of Chronicles", in Persian) is one of the largest monuments of Eastern historiography.

Data of the XIV century. talk about Azerbaijan as one of the centers of the literary activity of the Karaites. The number of Jews in the country in subsequent centuries, apparently, constantly decreased as a result of the incessant conversion to Islam and migration, but in the 16th century. the presence of a Jewish community in Tabriz is noted, and the sources of the 17th century. mark a new wave of persecution of Jews and their massive forcible conversion to Islam. In the XVIII century. there are still communities in Tabriz and Merag, but in the first half of the 19th century. they are already disappearing and only small communities remain in Urmia, Salmas, Soujbulak and Miandoab.

In the 18th century, northern Azerbaijan was included in the Russian Empire. In the middle of the 18th century, as a result of the weakening of the Persian state that followed the death of Nadir Shah (1736-1747), small feudal states arose on the territory of Azerbaijan. The largest of them was the Cuban Khanate. Its founder, Huseyn Ali Khan, in order to strengthen the economic independence of his khanate and develop crafts and trade here, began to invite merchants, artisans and experts in mining here. Among the settlers there were many Jews, who, together with the inhabitants of the Kulgat destroyed as a result of the raid of Nadir Shah, founded a new settlement - the Jewish (Krasnaya) Sloboda. It began to develop especially quickly under Fatali Khan, who waged wars of conquest, as a result of which the north-west of Azerbaijan and the south of Dagestan were annexed to the Cuban Khanate along with the Mountain Jews living on these lands. The newly created settlement attracted Jews from the surrounding villages, and even Baku. They settled in separate quarters, each of which reflected the origin of its inhabitants.

The conquest of Azerbaijan by Russia

The incorporation of the South Caucasus into the Russian Empire allowed the Mountain Jews to strengthen their contacts with the rest of the Jewish world. In addition, the internecine wars of local rulers and the raids of Iranian troops stopped. As a result, the population of the Red (Jewish) Sloboda showed a tendency towards constant growth. So, in 1856, 3000 people lived in it, in 1873 - 5120, in 1886 - 6280, and in 1916 - 8400. In 1926, the number of residents of Krasnaya Sloboda decreased to 6000 people. A considerable number of Mountain Jews also lived in villages near Shemakha - in Baskhal and Myudzhi, where they were engaged in the production of silk fabrics. In addition, they also created looms of various sizes and types.

In Baku, in the nineteenth century, the main contingent of Mountain Jews were immigrants from the Iranian province of Gilan. They were engaged in traveling trade in the villages. In rural areas, the main occupation of the Mountain Jews was craft, agriculture, gardening, tobacco growing and leather dressing. An interesting fact is that, despite the pressure from Christian merchants, the Jews of Baku, like the whole of Azerbaijan, were allowed to trade on Sundays. At the end of the 19th century, the first synagogue was opened in the suburb of Baku in the village of Sabunchi, and at the beginning of the 20th century, a new prayer house was being built in the center of the city in Torgovy Lane. Since 1905, Efraim Rabinovich was the chief rabbi here. In addition, during this period, a Jewish Sephardic gymnasium was opened, where young men and women from Mountainous and Georgian Jews studied. A yeshiva was opened to study religion and traditions. The Ilyaev club was an important center of culture. But this was the case only in Baku. In Cuba, the main occupation of the Mountain Jews was the carpet trade. Agriculture in the vicinity of Cuba was poorly developed due to poor uncultivated soil. A certain part of the Mountain Jews were engaged in small-exchange trade and the so-called "shaboism", ie. natural exchange of goods for leather. In the old days, the Jews of Cuba enjoyed the right to choose and 3-4 people were elected from among them to the members of the local council. Mountain Jews lived completely apart and zealously preserved their family-patriarchal customs. With the exception of a few houses of wealthy and wealthy Cuban Jews, located on a fairly wide main street, the rest of the Jewish population lived in cramped saklyas that were improperly spread throughout the entire area of the "suburb". Some synagogues, crowned with turrets in the middle of the roof, were distinguished by their size and architecture. There were a total of 12 synagogues in Cuba.

Another large center of residence of Mountain Jews was Oguz. It is mainly occupied by immigrants from the Gilan province. Its population was replenished by refugees from the neighboring villages of Zalem and Kutkashen, which was associated with feudal strife and Iranian raids. In the beginning, the Jewish settlement stood apart and was perceived as a separate settlement. However, over time, it merged with the main part of the village, turning into a separate quarter. In the nineteenth century, Jews accounted for up to a third of the entire population of Oguz. In 1885, there were 2,282 of them.

Sub-ethnic composition

Over the past centuries, Jews belonging to different ethnolinguistic groups lived on the territory of Azerbaijan: Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi, Krymchaks, Kurdish Jews, Georgian Jews. In the 19th century. the overwhelming majority of the Jewish population of Azerbaijan was made up of mountain Jews, in the 20th century. the majority were Ashkenazim.

Georgian Jews

At the opening of a new Ashkenazi and Georgian synagogue

Opening of a new Sephardic synagogue in Baku

Georgian Jews also visited Azerbaijan before their resettlement to this republic. However, the most likely time of their appearance here can be considered the turn of the ХУШ-Х1Х centuries, and the places of their exodus are Akhaltsikh, Oni, Kulashi and Kutaisi. After the abolition of serfdom in Georgia in 1864, the migration of Georgian Jews to Azerbaijan intensified. Among the visitors were mainly: tailors, hats, shoemakers, distillers, carvers, soap-makers, tanners. In addition, there were government contractors, teachers, and small traders. Georgian Jews tried to settle in Baku. Basically, they settled in the center of the city from Molokanka to Kemyurchyu Meydana and from Sabunchik to Beshmertebe. From 1860 to 1870, families are known who moved here from Gori, Batumi, Akhalkalaki and Tbilisi. By the way, many of them still remember where their ancestors came from. It is very difficult to indicate the exact number of Georgian Jews who ended up in Azerbaijan in those years, since in all censuses the population was determined only by religion. Consequently, the column "Jews" included all: European (Ashkenazi) Mountain and Georgian Jews. The main occupation of Georgian Jews was trade. At the beginning of the twentieth century, some of them were shareholders of large Russian-Caucasian trading houses, stock exchanges, commercial banks, joint stock companies. More than a dozen of them were awarded the title of merchants of the 2nd and 3rd guilds, two entered the 1st guild, and one of them, Pinkhas Tetruashvili, in 1916 "for selfless help in favor of the wounded" was awarded the Order of Stanislav 3rd degree. In the old part of Ichnri Sheher, Georgian Jews had kerosene shops where, among other things, candles, soap, fuel oil, rags and lime were sold. There were shops for the reception of scrap materials, shoe and leather goods workshops, many were engaged in peddling trade. We rented dyeing workshops, distilleries, silk-weaving and cotton ginning factories. Many had mills and bakeries. They were engaged in charity work, sacredly fulfilling one of the basic commandments of Judaism. So, in Baku there was a shelter for the poor, built by the philanthropist Elashikoshvili. Since the Jews of Georgia were in serfdom until 1864, most of them did not have the opportunity to receive a higher or even secondary education. Therefore, until 1920 in Baku there was a "Society for the Spread of Education among Georgian Jews", which was headed by the well-known journalist I. Glahengauz at that time. And if for the Mountain Jews a separate school was created until the third year of study, then for the Georgians it was in common with the European Jews - Ashkenazi. After the Sovietization of Azerbaijan, despite all sorts of prohibitions and restrictions, Georgian Jews continued to observe the rite of Brit Mila, secretly baked matzo in private apartments and taught boys the basics of Judaism. We celebrated Saturday together. During the Soviet era, many Georgian Jews became doctors, teachers, scientists, athletes and musicians. People's Artist of the Azerbaijan SSR Mikhail Lezgishvili, People's Artist of Azerbaijan Benny Tsamalashvili, in the scientific world - Vice-President of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic, Candidate of Technical Sciences D. Eligulashvili, Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences A. Moshashvili, Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences A. Charukhchev. Sports honor of Azerbaijan long years defended by boxer B. Tskhvirashvili, wrestler M. Palagashvili, master of sports, head of Kirovabad (Ganja) society "Dynamo", head coach I. Abramashvili, footballers brothers Semyon, Eduard and Iosif Davidashvili, master of sports in athletics L. Kokielov. Sh. Gorelashvili played for the junior national team "Neftchi" at many USSR football championships. For a long time Sh.Khanukashvili was the chief engineer of a glass factory in Baku. Among the doctors, N. Bagdadlishvili, I. Davidashvili and O. Karelashvili were especially famous. A well-known businessman, member of the Board of Trustees of the Russian Jewish Encyclopedia A. Dadiani makes a significant contribution to the preservation of the Jewish cultural and national heritage. Currently, there are about 35 families of Georgian Jews left in Baku. Nevertheless, the community of Georgian Jews continues to exist, preserving the spirit and traditions of the Jewish people. Much credit for this belongs to the President of the International Fund "STMEGI" G. Zakharyaev.

Ashkenazi

The first Ashkenazi Jews appeared in Azerbaijan in 1810. In 1806, the Baku Khanate was conquered by Russian troops. From that moment, people from different provinces of the Russian Empire came here. In 1832, the first Ashkenazi synagogue appeared in Baku. At that time, the community consisted of only 26 people. In 1927, Kurdish Jews appeared in Baku. In 1870, a synagogue of artisans was opened. In the same year, the number of Jews reached 50, and in 1891 their number increased to 390. The growth of the Jewish population was mainly associated with the development of the oil and oil refining industries. In 1897, 2,341 Jews lived in Baku. Many of them have found their vocation in the oil business. The pioneers of industrial oil production were G. Polyak (Pole and Sons), A. Dembo and H. Kagan (Dembo and Kagan), M. Schumacher (M. Schumacher), G. Polyak (G. Polyak and family "L. Itskovich (" L. Itskovich "), G. Gintsburg, A. Feigel and others. L. Itskovich was one of those who at one time made a donation for the construction of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. A prominent role in the development of the oil industry The Rothschilds' Caspian-Black Sea Oil Industry and Trade Society played the role of its managers: mechanical engineer K. Bardsky and mechanical engineer A. Gukhman, production manager D. Landau, workshop manager, mechanical engineer M. Fin, head of the electrical department, process engineer I. Pilkevich. At the main kerosene and oil plant of the Rothschilds worked: manager S. Ginis, assistant manager M. Gallay, technical director I. Parijer. Plant departments were headed by L. Itskovich, H. Kagan, L. Leites , A. Fish, N. Gottlib. The board of the Rothschild society "Mazut" included M. Efrusi , managing director M. Polyak, as well as E. Deitch, Y. Aron, S. Polyak. In 1901, 64 Jews worked in the administration of oil companies and joint-stock companies.

In 1913, 14 Jewish companies produced 44% of the total kerosene of the Russian Empire. In the same year, the number of the Jewish population of Baku, according to statistics, reached 9,690 people, which was 4.5% of all residents of the city. They were mainly Ashkenazi Jews. The following facts testify to the successful adaptation of the Jewish population on the land of Azerbaijan. Thus, 75 out of 283 registered lawyers and advocates were Jews, and 69 out of 185 practicing doctors. Nevertheless, the anti-Semitic policy of the tsarist government "got" the Jews thousands of kilometers from St. Petersburg. So, in 1888, during the fair, despite the protests of the local intelligentsia, the Jews were evicted from Baku by order of the authorities. In 1898, 20 Jewish houses were damaged in connection with the ritual slander. However, despite the "diligence" of the authorities, the Azerbaijani people did not succeed in inoculating the "virus" of anti-Semitism.

In connection with the increase in the Jewish population, various educational institutions, religious schools, charitable organizations and educational institutions began to appear. In 1896 a yeshiva was opened, which in 1913-1920 was headed by the famous F. Shapiro - the author and compiler of the first Hebrew-Russian dictionary. In 1898, men's Saturday schools began to work, and since 1901, women's Saturday schools for adults. In 1910, the central choral synagogue was built, for which part of the funds were donated by such prominent oil owners as Z. Tagiyev and M. Nagiyev. In the same year, a school for Georgian Jews, a Jewish library, a literary and musical circle, a branch of the Jewish education society and a society of lovers of the Jewish language were opened. Until 1920, there was a Jewish gymnasium in Baku. In 1890 a Jewish Kindergarten... At the end of 1900, a group of enthusiasts organized a literary and dramatic circle named after Sholem Aleichem. Rabbi L. Berger, who led the community from 1900 to 1920, made a huge contribution to the development and preservation of the Jewish way of life and national identity. Thanks to the activities of educational and charitable organizations, the literacy rate among the Jewish population was: 83%!

Since the end of the 19th century, Baku has become one of the centers of the Jewish national movement. So, in 1891, the Hovevei Zion branch appeared here. In 1899 E. Kaplan created the first Zionist organization. In 1902, four representatives of Azerbaijani Jewry took part in the work of the second All-Russian Zionist conference in Minsk. The sixth World Zionist Congress held in Basel in 1903 was attended by a representative of the Baku Zionists E. Eisenbet. In 1905, the first cell of the Poalei Zion party appeared, which included representatives of artisans, handicraftsmen, workers, part of the intelligentsia and the petty bourgeoisie. In addition, the youth were united in the Young Judea organization. It was headed by A. Weinschel. Quite a few Jews turned out to be among the Bolsheviks as well. So, among the 26 Baku commissars there were six of them: Y. Zevin, M. Basin, I. Mishne, R. Kaganov and two brothers Bogdanov. The commissar of the 25th Chapayev division B. Tal was also from Baku.

The Azerbaijan Democratic Republic, proclaimed on May 28, 1918, was an example of true democracy. The "Declaration of Independence" of the newly created state, for the first time in the history of the Muslim East, provided equal rights to all the peoples inhabiting it. In all the governments and parliament of the young republic, there were 1-2 representatives from the Jewish population. In court, the Jews were given the right to pronounce the oath in Hebrew. A prominent figure in the ADR was a well-known children's doctor, Professor E. Gindes, who until the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan was the permanent minister of health. R. Kaplan worked as the Minister of Religious Affairs. The post of Governor of the State Bank in the rank of Deputy Minister of Finance was held by M. Abesgauz. Among the employees of various ministries were: I. Rabinovich, L. Korets, Y. Ginzburg, V. Tserenbaum, V. Gadasevich, A. Levitan, B. Spector, M. Loroshchinsky. L. Bafram and L. Perchikhin were members of the Judicial Chamber (in terms of the level of the Supreme Court). At that time, lawyers of the Baku District Court were Y. Balatovsky, V. Pipik, Y. Kadashevsky, A. Lyubarsky, M. Shor, M. Milman. In the parliament of the ADR, the Jewish community was represented by the Zionist activist A. Bushman. The Jewish National Council, which united most of the parties and movements, was recognized as the official representative of the Jewish national minority.

The level of freedom in the state is evidenced by the presence of various media in the country. In 1917, under the editorship of the famous journalist I. Glahenhaus, the weekly "Kavkazer Vohenblat" began to appear in Yiddish. From 1917 to 1920, under the editorship of B.-Z. Weinschel, the “Caucasian Jewish Bulletin” was published in Russian with the appendix “Palestine”. In 1919-1920, the newspaper "Jewish Will" was published. In 1919, the Tobushi Sabhi newspaper began to appear in the Hebrew-Tati language. Under the editorship of M. Komarovsky, the journal "ha-Mevaser ha-Kavkazi" was published in Hebrew.

After the establishment of Soviet power in the republic, all printed publications that did not reflect the official point of view were banned. In 1920, both men - "Hasmonei" and "Maccabees", and women - "Shulamita" and "Deborah" student corporations continued to exist in Baku. In the 1920s-1930s, a Yiddish school still functioned in the capital of the republic. In 1921, the Bezalel and Borokhov clubs were established in Baku, in which libraries, drama circles and political education courses worked. In addition, the Lekkert club, created before the Soviet regime, continued its activities. In 1922, a trial was held in Baku over 16 rabbis and "major Jewish speculators" - the trustees of the secret heder and the Talmud Torah. In 1923, the old Ashkenazi synagogue was closed.

According to the materials of the population census conducted in 1926, 19 thousand European (Ashkenazi), 7.5 thousand mountain and 427 Georgian Jews lived in the Azerbaijan SSR. The growth of the Ashkenazi community is directly related to the migration in 1918-1922 to the republic of a significant number of refugees from the provinces of the former Russian Empire engulfed in the civil war.

Until 1928, an illegal Zionist organization existed in Baku. From 1932 to 1936, the Baku Jewish Workers' Theater gave performances in Yiddish. After the closure of the central choral synagogue in 1934, the Azerbaijan State Jewish Theater (conductor J. Fridman, artistic director V. Zeitlin) began to operate in its building, which existed until 1939. By the end of the 30s of the twentieth century, Jewish cultural and social life in Azerbaijan practically ceased. In the religious sphere, things were no better. In 1939, the synagogue of the Krymchaks and the kinassa, located in the same building, were closed. In 1937-1938, the authorities expelled from Baku Kurdish Jews who had Iranian citizenship (about 400 families), the rest were deported in 1951 to Kazakhstan.

After the Great Patriotic War the authorities of the Soviet Union somewhat weakened the struggle against religion. In 1945, at 39 Dimitrov Street (now S. Badalbeyli), a synagogue of Mountain Jews began to function. In 1946, a synagogue of Ashkenazi and Georgian Jews was opened in the building on Pervomayskaya Street (now D.Aliyeva) 171.

In 1959, the All-Union Population Census showed that in the Azerbaijan SSR the Jewish population reached 40,204 people, of which 38,917 people lived in cities. Such a significant increase was associated with the Great Patriotic War, when many residents of the regions temporarily occupied by the Nazis were evacuated deep into the Soviet Union. In 1969, there were already 41,288 Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR.

In 1972, a matzebakery began operating at the synagogue of Ashkenazi Jews. Before that, matzo was baked in one of the shops of the state bakery.

The Jewish revival began in the second half of the 1960s. The main impetus in the growth of national identity was the eve of the 1967 six-day war and the sudden brilliant victory of the Israel Defense Forces over the armed forces of the Arab countries. It was during these dramatic days that the semi-assimilated Jews of Azerbaijan, who felt quite comfortable in this Soviet republic, suddenly realized that they were all an integral part of a single Jewish people. Under the influence of these events, a movement for repatriation to the State of Israel arose in Baku. The youth became keenly interested in the history and traditions of their people. Among those who stood at the origins of the Jewish revival were M. Becker, A. Wexler, J. Zakon, I. Weinbrand. Y. Vodovozov, Y. Sprikut, L. Stern, V. Lapin, G. Shakhnovich, M. Lakirovich, M. Farber, I. Shteinberg and others.

In the late 1960s and early 1970s, a large group of so-called "refuseniks" appeared in the USSR, i.e. those who have not been given permission to repatriate to the State of Israel. In Baku, the first of them was S. Kushnir. At the same time, underground circles for the study of Hebrew were created, and samizdat and other literature was distributed.

Nevertheless, the majority of Jews continued to be loyal citizens of the country, contributing to the development of science, culture, education and health. Largely thanks to the Jews in Baku, as a result of the interaction of the intellectual elites of various peoples inhabiting Azerbaijan, the so-called "Baku" nation arose.

Their role can hardly be overestimated. It is enough just to list those who made up the "golden fund" of science and culture of Azerbaijan. I. Rozin, U. Goldstein, S. Krongold, A. Livshits, D. Berkovich, B. Davidovich, E. Barshtak, I. Abezgauz, G. Burshtein, A. Schwartz, M. Brenner, S. .Britanitsky, D. Sitkovetsky, A. Neiman. M. Presman, I. Aisberg, E. Finkelstein, E. Ternogradsky, I. Plam played a significant role in the creation of the piano school in Azerbaijan. U. Marshad worked at the vocal department of the Baku State Conservatory for a long time. The singer S.Halfen was very popular among the people of Baku. Conductor G. Risman worked for many years at the Theater of Opera and Ballet. M.F.Akhundova. Famous composers were E. Gendler, Z. Stelnik, B. Zeidman, M. Weinstein, M. Krishtul, D. Chernomordikov, A. Kabakov and L. Weinstein. The jazz improviser and composer L. Ptashka was born in Baku. In this city, the famous ballerina B. Karpilova (Rosenblat) was born and got a start in life. The natives of Baku V. Konen and N. Fishman made a serious contribution to the study of music. An outstanding conductor of the Soviet era was the People's Artist of the USSR A. Katz. The famous composer and author of the opera "Shahsenem" R. Glier worked in Azerbaijan for many years.

S. Grobstein, M. Rubiner, M. Geiman, I. Glikman, A. Zadov, A. Baryudin and V. Zeide, who at one time was the deputy minister, made a significant contribution to the development of the oil refining and petrochemical industries, as well as oil engineering. For many years V. Kaufman worked as the Deputy Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR. I.Kriman was the chief engineer of the Caspian Shipping Company for many years. A native of Baku was also a prominent statesman of the USSR, people's commissar of ammunition and one of the leaders of the atomic project, three times Hero of Socialist Labor, Colonel General B. Vannikov. One of the leaders of the partisan movement in Belarus during the Great Patriotic War was the former Baku resident G. Eydinov, who, after the liberation of Minsk from the German invaders in 1944, took over as Chairman of the State Planning Committee of the BSSR.

Jews played an equally important role in the development of the theatrical art in Azerbaijan. So, for many years the director of the Azerbaijan State Theater of Russian Drama (now the State Russian Drama Theater named after Samad Vurgun) was Y. Fridman. The artistic director at that time was A. Gripich, the literary part was headed by I. Shtemler, and the musical part was headed by J. Muller. Actors Y. Charsky, M. Kaufman, K. Irmich, G. Belenkaya, V. Nordshtein, I. Ioselevich, L. Gruber, L. Vigdov, V. Falkovich, I. Perlova, R. Ginzburg were very popular with the audience. D. Tumarkina, M. Rozovsky, etc. The actress and film director M. Barskaya-Chardynina and the theater and film actor E. Vitorgan were originally from Baku. A. Galperin became one of the best cameramen in the USSR. Among the directors, playwrights, writers, poets and TV presenters who were born on the land of Azerbaijan and who achieved fame were: L. Zorin (Zaltsman), Y. Gusman, Z. Sitchin, E. Voiskunsky, G. Gurvich, V. Wolf, I. Oratovsky, A. Plavnik, I. Kamenkovich, L. Vaysinberg, L. Polonsky, E. Topol (Topelberg), I. Shchegolev (Chagall, a former member of the Knesset), P. Amnuel and others. Famous sculptor P. Sabsay lived in Baku.

For many years, E. Gurvich worked as the director of the Azerbaijan Telegraph Agency (now Azertaj). Famous journalists are N. Barsky, L. Goldstein, S. Peretz, G. Pisman, S. Khaldey, S. Korsh, M. Peisel, N. Yarovaya, D. Korsh (Kon, TV presenter on Channel 9 of Israeli television), A. .Brenner (radio station REKA), R. Mirkin and others. Deputy General Director of ITAR-TASS M. Gusman was born in Baku.

Among those who headed the construction trusts of Azerbaijan are B. Leitman, F. Goltsman, N. Becker, I. Skvirsky, V. Parzir and others.

Jews played a special role in the formation and development of the chess school in Azerbaijan. A. Gurvich is considered one of the founders of chess composition in the republic. Masters of sports in chess and grandmasters were: L. Guldin, L. Listengarten, A. Margulev, O. Privarotsky, E. Glaz, R. Karsunsky, M. Shur, V. Smolenskaya, E. Sutovsky, T. Gorbuleva, T. Zatulovskaya, T. Alshvang, V. Smolenskaya, world champion G. Kasparov (Weinstein).

And, of course, the medical science of the republic could not do without Jews. So, out of ten medical professors who founded the medical faculty of Baku state university, eight were Jews. Among them are Professors A. Levin, who headed the Department of Therapy, and B. Finkelstein. Epidemiologist N. Gililov laid the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. In the 30s of the twentieth century, the head of the department of therapy of the newly created medical institute was Professor V. Ternogradskiy. In the field of therapy, professors P. Stein and R. Mezhebovsky gained wide popularity. For a long time, the director of the Institute of Occupational Diseases was therapist P. Kaufman. The chief physician of the central city hospital of Baku named after Semashko worked as an infectious disease specialist M. Leibzon. The Department of Infectious Diseases of the Institute for Advanced Training of Physicians was headed by Professor Sh.Halfen. Professor K. Krynsky was at the head of the Baku leper colony for 27 years. The most famous ophthalmologists were Professors A. Varshavsky and L. Slutsky. Pediatricians S. Stern, T. Listengarten, A. Kugel, V. Rogov, allergist P. Kats were very popular among the residents of Baku. During the Great Patriotic War, Colonel of the Medical Service R. Gurevich was the head of the evacuation hospitals in Azerbaijan. Among cardiologists, professors S. Gusman, E. Gelgaft, V. Soskin, Y. Gurevich and others enjoyed wide popularity. Dr. V. Knapenhof made a great contribution to the study of the problems of human acclimatization in hot climates. The founder of the Institute of Oncology was Professor I. Ginzburg, and one of the most famous doctors in this field was Dr. D. Rozin. Endocrinologists include T. Zherebchevskaya, M. Vychodets, E. Tarakanova.

Heroes of the Soviet Union M. Shakhnovich, S. Levin and the famous intelligence officer L. Manevich (Etienne) lived in Baku

In Azerbaijan, as an oil republic, special importance has always been attached to geological prospecting. The head of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences (AzFAN) was at one time the geologist F. Levinson-Lessing. Here they always recall with special warmth the activities of such prominent scientists - geologists as N. Shapirovsky, L. Eppelbaum, A. Gagelganz, S. Akselrod, V. Listengarten. Among the famous scientists, one way or another connected with Azerbaijan, one should name: one of the greatest physicists of the 20th century, laureate Nobel Prize, Hero of Socialist Labor, Academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR L. Landau, theoretical physicist, corresponding member of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR, E. Feinberg, geologist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the USSR V. Khain, organic chemist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Uzbek SSR I. Tsukervanik, petrochemist, academician of the Academy of Sciences of the Azerbaijan SSR M. Dalin, mathematician V. Rokhlin, metallurgist B. Rabinovich, thermal physicist A. Gukhman, economist V. Klupt, literary critic D. Motolskaya, historians A. Galperin, Z. Yampolsky, A. Nekrich, A. Pisman, as well as philosopher M .Black.

According to the 1979 All-Union Population Census, 35,500 Jews lived in the Azerbaijan SSR. After 1980, the departure of Jews from the USSR was prohibited. Gorbachev's perestroika, which began, changed a lot in the life of the peoples of the Soviet Union. In 1987, the first legal Hebrew courses in the USSR were opened in Baku. The Beitar youth section is being created. In 1989 the club of Jewish culture "Alef" (headed by M. Mishneh) began to work. Club "22" (headed by V. Shtofenmakher) opens in Sumgait. G. Tsudik creates a musical ensemble "Matone". P. Kalika organizes the publication of the newsletter "Shalom-Sholem-Sholumi" and creates an organization named after Y. Korchak. In 1990, on the initiative of the well-known lawyer, chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews, M. Khaikin, the Azerbaijan-Israel friendship society began its activities, and prominent scientists and public figures of Azerbaijan became its members. In the same year, a representative office of "Sokhnut" was opened in Baku. In 1992, on the initiative of the chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews L. Ginzburg, the Jewish Women's Organization of Azerbaijan (headed by I. Kleiner) was created. In 1995 it was headed by L. Reichrudel. Currently, the organization is known as the "Humanitarian Association of Jewish Women of Azerbaijan" (GAYEZHA). In 1992 at Sunday school"Alef" on the initiative of M. Becker and the support of "Sokhnut" was created a children's choir "Atikva" under the direction of M. Shapiro. Very soon it turned into a highly professional team that delighted many cities and countries with its art. In the same year, the Committee of Veterans of the Great Patriotic War (headed by N. Gliner) was created and the newspaper "AzIz" began to appear. In 1993, the embassy of the State of Israel was opened in Baku. In 1994, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel E. Yotvat presented his credentials to President of Azerbaijan Heydar Aliyev. Arkady Mil-Man, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the State of Israel to Azerbaijan, enjoyed great respect among the leadership of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the wide circles of the public of the city of Baku.

In 1994, the rabbi of the organization VAAD ha TsOLA S. Wolfman, on the initiative of the chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews B. Vaingolts, created a yeshiva. In the same year, a Hebrew department was opened at the Department of Oriental Studies of Baku State University. In 1996, the Israeli Cultural and Information Center began operating at the Embassy of the State of Israel. In February 1999, at the initiative of the chairman of the board of the Baku religious community of Ashkenazi Jews M. Becker and with the support of GAYEZH in the premises of the Art Museum named after M. R. Mustafayev hosted a two-day thematic exhibition "Jews of Azerbaijan", which was warmly received by the public of the capital of Azerbaijan. In June of the same year, with the active participation of the Joint, a charitable organization Hesed Gershon was created (director Sh.Davidov). In 2000, "Joint" opens the Jewish Cultural Center JCC (director V.Kats). In the same period, the newspapers "Or Shelyanu", "Hesed Gershon", "Amishav" and "Tower" began to appear. In June 2000, M. Becker's monograph "The Jews of Azerbaijan: History and Modernity" was published. At the same time, the Museum of the History of Azerbaijan hosted a thematic exhibition "190th anniversary of the settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Azerbaijan" (organizers: M. Becker, L. Reichrudel, I. Gusin).

In 1989, according to the last All-Union Population Census of the USSR, 30.8 thousand Jews lived in Azerbaijan. Since this period, there has been an increase in the repatriation of Jewish citizens of the republic to the State of Israel, which was associated with the beginning conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh, a drop in production and an unstable socio-political situation. Aliya from Azerbaijan was: in 1989 - 466 people, in 1990 - 7905 people, in 1991 - 5676 people, in 1992 - 2777 people, in 1993 - 3500 people, in 1994 - 2270 people and in the first half of 2003 - 177 people. ... As a result of the mass exodus, which mainly affected Ashkenazi Jews, Mountain Jews began to predominate in the republic.

Currently, the Ashkenazi Jewish community numbers about 1000 people.

Economic and political activity of Jews.

XIX century.

The main Jewish center was the city of Kuba, where 5,492 Jews lived in 1835 (of which 2,718 were concentrated in the Jewish quarter); in 1866 6282 Jews lived in the city. There were also comparatively large communities of Mountain Jews in the villages of Vartashen and Myuji. In 1864, in the village of Vartashen (since 1990 - Oguz), the majority of the population were Jews. In 1886, 1,400 Jews lived here, there were three prayer houses, two Talmud Khuns (heders) with 40 students. It is known that the total number of literate people, that is, those who could read the Torah, was then 70 people, among them there were five Jews, who were called Rabbi.

The Jews of northern Azerbaijan were mainly agriculturalists, small traders and laborers. Their economic situation was difficult. Since the 1870s. The influx of Jews from the European part of Russia to northern Azerbaijan increased sharply in connection with the development of the oil industry in Baku. Large role in the creation of this critical industry National economy played by G. A. Polyak - the founder of the firm "Pole and Sons", A. Dembo and H. Kagan - the founders of the company "Dembo and Kagan", G. Gunzburg, A. Fishel. Representatives of the Rothschild family founded the "Caspian-Black Sea Company", which occupied at the beginning of the 20th century. leading position in this area. Jewish-led companies produced 44% of Russian kerosene.

Despite legislative restrictions, according to the data of 1897, 14791 Jews lived in the two provinces into which northern Azerbaijan was divided, Baku and Elizavetpolskaya, including 6662 in Cuba and 2341 in Baku. In Cuba, in 1908, a Jewish-Russian school was founded with teaching in Russian.

XX century.

Since the end of the 19th century, Baku has become one of the centers of the Jewish national movement. In 1891, a branch of Hovevei Zion was formed here, in 1899 - the first Zionist organization. The Minsk Conference of Zionists in 1902 was attended by four delegates from Baku. The Zionists were especially active in 1917–20. The youth organization "Young Judea", the men's student corporations "Hasmonea", "Maccabee", the women's student corporations "Sulamita", "Deborah" functioned.

In 1917, the weekly "Kavkazer Vohenblat" (in Yiddish) was published in Baku, in 1917-18. - the weekly "Caucasian Jewish Bulletin" with the supplement "Palestine", in 1919–20. - fortnightly "Jewish Will"; in 1919, the newspaper Tobushi Sabhi (in the Hebrew-Tati language) was published for some time. With the final establishment of Soviet power (April 1920), the independent Jewish press ceased to exist. Since 1922, the Korsokh newspaper has been published in the capital of Azerbaijan in the Hebrew-Tatian language - the organ of the Caucasian Committee of the Jewish communist party(Po'lei Zion) and her youth organization.

Many Jews of Azerbaijan took an active part in the revolutionary events of the early 20th century. Among the 26 Baku commissars who were shot were six Jews, including the prominent Social Democrat Y. Zevin (1884-1918; from 1904 to 1912 - Menshevik, later joined the Bolshevik faction); trade union leader M. Basin (1890-1918). Jews were represented in the first and second governments of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918–20), among them the Minister of Health, Professor E. Ya. Gindes.

During civil war and in the first years of Soviet power, the concentration of Jews in Baku continued. The Jewish community in the village of Muji ceased to exist, most of whose members moved to Baku. Basically, about 13.5 thousand Jews who left Cuba moved there. Active attempts were made to attract significant masses of the Jewish population to agriculture, but according to data from 1927, it employed only 250 Jewish families.

After the annexation of Azerbaijan to the USSR

After the establishment of Soviet power in Azerbaijan on April 28, 1920, Jewish cultural and religious life began to slowly fade, although in the 20-30s of the twentieth century on the street. Gogol in Baku, the club of mountain Jews named after. Ilyaev and the native mountain Jewish theater. All work here was carried out in the Hebrew-Tat language. In the 1920s. the activities of all Zionist organizations and related cultural and educational institutions that worked in Hebrew were prohibited, although cultural development continued in other Hebrew languages. There were schools in Baku in Yiddish and Hebrew-Tat; the famous teacher F. Shapiro taught here. Mountain Jewish schools also functioned in other cities of the republic until 1938, when most of the schools of ethnic minorities were closed (only in Baku school No. 23 until 1948 there were Tata classes). In 1934–38. in Baku, the newspaper "Kommunist" was published in the Hebrew-Tati language; The Mountain Jewish Department of the Azerbaijan State Publishing House worked, supervised by Y. Agarunov and headed by Y. Semenov (1899-1961; both writers began in the 1920s as playwrights at Jewish amateur troupes). In 1936–39. the Baku Jewish Theater (AzGOSET) in Yiddish worked in the building of the Big Synagogue closed by the authorities; its director since 1938 was Y. Fridman, who simultaneously headed the Russian Drama Theater; the artistic director was V. Zeitlin.

Until the end of the 30s of the twentieth century, schools in the Hebrew languages still existed in Azerbaijan. In Krasnaya Sloboda there were two of them in the Hebrew-Tat dialect of the Persian language. In Baku, the last classes in this language existed until 1948 at school No. 23. In 1934-1938, the newspaper "Communist" was published in the Hebrew-Tati language, and there was also a department at the Azerbaijan State Publishing House, where books for Mountain Jews were published. Synagogues gradually began to close. The study of the Hebrew language was prohibited. Many religious leaders have been repressed. However, even the Soviet regime was unable to completely suppress Jewish self-awareness. The Brit milah rite was carried out everywhere. Prayers were performed in private apartments. Torah study was carried out clandestinely.

According to the 1926 census, there were nineteen thousand European Jews and 7.5 thousand Mountain Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR; according to the 1959 census, 40,204 Jews (1.1% of the total population of the republic) lived in the country, of which 38,917 were in cities. 8357 Jews named Hebrew-Tat as their mother tongue, and 6255 - Yiddish. According to 1970 data, there were 41,288 Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR. According to the 1979 census, 35.5 thousand Jews lived in Azerbaijan, according to the 1989 census - 30.8 thousand Jews.

In the 1920s and 30s. Jews (mainly Ashkenazi) made up a significant part of the cultural elite of Soviet Azerbaijan. Of the ten medical professors who founded the Baku Medical Institute in 1919, eight were Jews. Epidemiologist N. Gililov worked in Azerbaijan, who laid the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. Geologist F. Levinson-Lessing was the chairman of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Thousands of Jews worked as doctors, engineers, teachers. The Jewish population of the republic increased during the first five-year plans, but especially due to the evacuation during the Great Patriotic War of 1941–45. Many of the evacuees remained in Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku and after the war.

Post-war time

By the early 1940s. in Azerbaijan, organized forms of Jewish life were finally eliminated, with the exception of several communities at synagogues in Baku, Vartashen, Kuba, Qusar, Geokchay. At the same time, the republican authorities only to a small extent practiced discriminatory restrictions on Jews; manifestations of everyday anti-Semitism were also comparatively rare. During the 1940s and 60s. Hebrew taught freely at home by a former teacher of the Kiev Theological Academy, an Arab Christian Ibrahim Uar-Uar.

In 1951, all Kurdish Jews were deported from Baku (as well as from Tbilisi) by order from Moscow.

The Jewish movement began to develop in Azerbaijan since the 1970s. The leader of the refuseniks in Baku was S. M. Kushnir (born in 1927, since 1978 in Israel); editions of Jewish samizdat were distributed, books and magazines published in Israel, there were circles for the study of Hebrew. The movement took on a new scale in the second half of the 1980s. In 1987, the first legal Hebrew courses in the Soviet Union were opened in Baku (the official leader is Vladimir / Zeev / Farber; since 1989 in Israel). In 1989 a Jewish culture club “Alef” was organized in Baku; In the same year, a Jewish club “22” was opened in Sumgait, and a small-circulation newsletter “Shalom-Sholem-Sholumi” began to appear in Baku. In 1990, the society of friendship and cultural relations "Azerbaijan - Israel" was established, which in 1992 began to publish the newspaper "Aziz". Women's and youth organizations, the Committee of Jewish Veterans of the Second World War, the Association for Jewish Studies and Jewish Culture are registered and operate. An activist of a number of organizations, editor of publications was a teacher, war veteran P. A. Kalika (1923–95), author of publications on Jewish topics since the 1970s.

The Republic of Azerbaijan

On October 18, 1991, the Azerbaijan SSR gained state independence and was proclaimed the Azerbaijan Republic. In the independent Azerbaijan Republic, Jews received equal rights with all the peoples of the country. In places where the Jewish population lives, new synagogues are being restored and built, schools are being opened, and cultural life is being revived. In April 2001, an international scientific symposium "Mountain Jews of the Caucasus" was held at the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. In 2005, according to the results of parliamentary elections, Yevda Abramov was elected a deputy of the Milli Mejlis of the Republic of Azerbaijan. In 2010 he was re-elected. In March 2011, as a result of the reconstruction of Fizuli and Shamsi Badalbeyli streets, the synagogue of Mountain Jews in Baku was transferred to a two-storey building rebuilt at the expense of the state in the corner of Fizuli Topchibashev street.

Currently, there are up to 8000 Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan, of which 3000 live in Krasnaya Sloboda.

A very accurate description of the Mountain Jews was given at one time by the correspondent of the Russian-Jewish weekly "Voskhod" I. Eisenbet, who especially emphasized:

“In these original representatives of Jewry, who have preserved their racial characteristics in the greatest purity through the millennia, there is a lot of potential energy that could give brilliant results. In them, the inhabitants of the south, fed in the bosom of nature, have not yet had time to bend their backs slavishly, like those of the pupils of our "ghetto". Their courageous faces sparkle with pride, a willingness to stand up for themselves in case of need. Their mental abilities are developing rapidly, their practical sense is great. "

In the 1990s. there were two synagogues in Baku (Mountain Jews and Ashkenazi), as well as synagogues of Mountain Jews in Kuba and Oguz and a synagogue of Geers in Privolnoye. In September 1993, a seminar of the rabbis of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Dagestan was held in Baku. In 1994 a yeshiva was opened there. In 1997, a synagogue of Georgian Jews was opened in Baku. In the early 2000s. On the outskirts of Kuba, Krasnaya Sloboda, three synagogues of Mountain Jews functioned, as well as a yeshiva. A religious Jewish secondary school has been operating in Baku since 1999. According to 1994 data, Hebrew was taught at the university and in two secondary schools in the capital. Hebrew courses worked in Baku, Cuba and Oguz; Jewish Agency representatives and teachers from Israel were very helpful in organizing the classes; there were also non-Jews among the students of the courses. A Jewish chamber music ensemble, a children's choir, and a dance ensemble performed in front of the audience. Local radio and television regularly broadcast recordings of Israeli pop music.

In the early 2000s. In addition to the Aziz newspaper, Azerbaijan published the Tower newspaper of the Hillel youth club, Or-Shelyanu of the Jewish community cultural center, Amishav, published with the help of the Jewish Agency.

In 1999, the exhibition "Jews of Azerbaijan" was held in the Museum of Arts in Baku, in 2001, the exhibition "190th anniversary of the settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Azerbaijan" was held in the Historical Museum, in April 2001, an international scientific symposium was held at the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan Mountain Jews of the Caucasus. In 1996, an Israeli cultural and information center was opened in Baku; with the help of the Joint in 1999, a charitable organization "Khesed-Gershon" was created, which in 2000 provided material assistance 1550 Jews (1113 of them lived in Baku). In April 2000, a Jewish community cultural center was opened. He directs the work of the theater and music center, the club of intellectuals, the people's university. With the help of the Joint, science Center under the guidance of Professor M. Agarunov (born in 1936), who studies the history, culture and ethnography of the Jews of Azerbaijan. In 2000, the bibliographic index "Mountain Jews" was published.

The possibilities of unhindered introduction to the national culture do not balance the difficulties experienced by the Jewish population of the country in the conditions of the protracted war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and the exacerbation of interethnic conflicts associated with the war. Among the 120 Azerbaijani servicemen killed in the war, four are Jews.

On the territory of modern Azerbaijan there are three Jewish communities:

Number of Jews

As in the entire post-Soviet space, in Azerbaijan in the past few decades there has been a tendency towards a decrease in the number of Jews due to their migration to Israel and Western countries. The number of Jews in Azerbaijan fell from a maximum of 41.2 thousand in 1939 to 25.3 thousand in 1989. Their share in the country's population decreased, respectively, from 1.3 to 0.4 percent. According to the 1999 census, the number of Jews has more than halved. Although a comparison of the 1979 and 1989 census data shows a more than twofold increase in the number of Mountain Jews (from 2.1 thousand to 6.1 thousand), the reason for this is that during Soviet times, Mountain Jews who lived in cities were often counted as just Jews.

They dry out. " A Hebrew department was opened at the Faculty of Oriental Studies of Baku State University. Recently, there have been cases of the return of Jews who emigrated from the country.

Among the outstanding rabbis of Mountain Jews, it should be noted Benjamin Joseph, Yitzhak Ben Rabbi Gurshum, Gurshum Ben Rabbi Yitzchak, Nuvakh Avraham, Saegil Ruvinov, etc. During the years of Soviet power, many Mountain Jews graduated from universities and became doctors, teachers, military men, artists, writers, musicians and scientists. Famous writer Z. Abramov lived in Baku. For many years A.B. Aharonov, M. Abramov made a significant contribution to economic science. The traumatologist, Hero of Socialist Labor, Corresponding Member of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR G. Ilizarov became world famous. For many years, the choreographer T. Izrailov was the head of the Lezginka dance ensemble. The oil scientist, publicist and public figure, Professor M. Agarunov, who wrote a number of works on the history of Mountain Jews, did a great job to preserve the spiritual heritage of Mountain Jews. He also became the compiler of the Tatsko-Russian dictionary and bibliographic index "Mountain Jews". A prominent scientist and public figure is Doctor of Law, President of the Guild of Russian Lawyers, Head of the Department of Advocacy of the Moscow International Law Institute, Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation in 1999 from the Union of Right Forces, Professor G. Mirzoev. Among those who gave their lives for the freedom and territorial integrity of the Azerbaijani state is the National Hero of Azerbaijan A. Agarunov.

Tolerance and anti-Semitism

The Jews of Azerbaijan have practically never encountered any manifestations of anti-Semitism in the country. Even during periods of outbreaks of anti-Semitism in the world and exacerbation of anti-Israel sentiments, only echoes of the terrible events that were happening in the world reached Azerbaijan. Many representatives of the Jewish community of Azerbaijan have taken and are taking an active part in the political, cultural, social and economic life of the republic. Today in Baku there are memorial plaques on buildings where prominent representatives of Jewish nationality lived, such as the Nobel Prize-winning theoretical physicist Lev Landau, Honored Doctor of the Republic Solomon Gusman, hero of the Karabakh war Albert Agarunov and many others. Abramov, Evda Sasunovich is the representative of the Jewish community in the parliament of Azerbaijan.

Since 1992, a number of Azerbaijani newspapers (Yeni Musavat, Yeni Esr, Islamin Sesi, Millet and others) have been regularly publishing anti-Semitic materials. The attempt of the Meydan newspaper to publish the book “Mein Kampf” by A. Hitler, translated into Azerbaijani, was suppressed at the request of a number of public, including Jewish, organizations; this, however, did not stop the emergence of new inflammatory articles.

Relations with Israel

As a Muslim state, Azerbaijan nevertheless maintains rather close economic and cultural ties with the State of Israel. So, since 1993, the local airline AZAL has been operating regular flights on the Baku-Tel Aviv route. Israel is the second largest exporter of Azerbaijani oil. In 1994, the Israeli company GTIB invested heavily in the mobile operator BAKCELL. In 2004, a contract was signed for the purchase of some types of Israeli weapons by Azerbaijan. According to Wikileaks, in September 2008, Israel and Azerbaijan signed an agreement on the supply of mortars and ammunition by Soltam to the Azerbaijani army, Tadiran communications - communications equipment, and Israel Military Indastris - a wide range of missiles for various purposes and guidance. In 2009, the Israeli company Elbit Sistems opened its representative office in Azerbaijan. In the same year, under an Israeli license, the Ministry of Defense Industry of the republic began production of UAVs. In June 2009, a business forum was held in Baku with the participation of President of the Republic of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev and President of the State of Israel Shimon Peres. On February 9, 2010, for the first time in the history of relations between the two countries, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel A. Lieberman paid a visit to Azerbaijan.

The repatriation of Jews from Azerbaijan amounted to 466 people in 1989, 7905 people in 1990, 5676 people in 1991, 2777 people in 1992, 3500 people in 1993, and in 1994 - 2270 people, in January-June 2003 - 177 people. According to the Jewish Agency, at the end of 2002 there were about 16,000 persons in Azerbaijan who were eligible for repatriation to Israel under the Law of Return. As a result of the massive departure of Ashkenazi Jews in the 1990s. most of the Jews of Azerbaijan in the early 2000s. were mountain Jews. About three thousand Mountain Jews live compactly in Krasnaya Sloboda.

The leadership of Azerbaijan seeks to establish political and economic ties with Israel. Diplomatic relations were established in 1993. On May 11, 1994, Charge d'Affaires of the State of Israel in Azerbaijan Elimoezer Iotvat presented his credentials to President G. Aliyev. In August 1999, an Israeli parliamentary delegation paid an official visit to Azerbaijan. The volume of exports from Israel to Azerbaijan in 1993 amounted to 545 thousand dollars, imports - twelve thousand; in 1994, exports and imports increased significantly.

Jewish organizations

The Jewish community is one of the most active and influential religious communities in Azerbaijan. In particular, the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship Center, the Jewish Agency "Sokhnut", committees for the protection and preservation of Jewish traditions - "Joint" and "Vaad-L-Khetzola", religious schools-yeshivas, the Cultural Center of the Jewish Community have been established and are actively functioning in the republic. , the women's society "Eva", the charitable society "Hesed-Khershon", the youth clubs "Alef", "Kilel", the video club "Mishpaha", the newspapers "Az-Iz", "Tower" and "Amishav" were established. Also in Azerbaijan there is an Israeli embassy, negotiations are underway to open an Azerbaijani embassy in Israel

Middle Ages

In the second half of the 13th century. The Ilkhanids, the Mongol khans, who ruled vast territories from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from Afghanistan to the deserts of Syria, turned Azerbaijan into the central region of their empire. The religious tolerance of the early Ilkhanids-Buddhists attracted many Jews to Azerbaijan. The first minister of Argun Khan (1284–91), the Jew Saumanid ad-Dawla, actually directed the entire domestic and foreign policy of the Ilkhanid state. The Jew Muhazzim ad-Dawla was the head of the administration of Tabriz, and the Jew Labid bin Abi-r-Rabi ‘headed the administration system of all Azerbaijan. The execution of Sankoed ad-Dawl, which was a victory for the palace group, dissatisfied with the concentration of power in his hands, and the execution of a number of his supporters, many of whom were Jews, were the first symptom of the deteriorating position of the Jews in the country. Many Jews began to convert to Islam. One of them was Rashid ad-Dawla (see Rashid ad-Din), who became the first minister in 1298 (executed on false charges in 1318). The historical collection of Rashid ad-Dawla "Jamilikiyat-tavarih" ("Collection of Chronicles", in Persian) is one of the largest monuments of Eastern historiography.

Data of the 14th century. talk about Azerbaijan as one of the centers of the literary activity of the Karaites. The number of Jews in the country in subsequent centuries, apparently, constantly decreased as a result of the incessant conversion to Islam and migration, but in the 16th century. the presence of a Jewish community in Tabriz is noted, and the sources of the 17th century. mark a new wave of persecution of Jews and their massive forcible conversion to Islam. In the 18th century. there are still communities in Tabriz and Merag, but in the first half of the 19th century. they are already disappearing and only small communities remain in Urmia, Salmas, Soujbulak and Miandoab. The Jewish population continues to remain relatively large only in the northern part of Azerbaijan, which by that time was included in Russia.

As part of the Russian Empire

The Jews of northern Azerbaijan were mainly agriculturalists, small traders and laborers. Their economic situation was difficult. Since the 1870s. The influx of Jews from the European part of Russia to northern Azerbaijan increased sharply in connection with the development of the oil industry in Baku. GA Polyak, the founder of the Polyak and Sons company, A. Dembo and H. Kagan, the founders of the Dembo and Kagan company, G. Gunzburg, A. Fishel played an important role in the creation of this most important branch of the national economy. Representatives of the Rothschild family founded the "Caspian-Black Sea Company", which occupied at the beginning of the 20th century. leading position in this area. Jewish-led companies produced 44% of Russian kerosene.

Since the end of the 19th century. Baku became one of the centers of the Jewish national movement (see Zionism). In 1891, a branch of Hovevei Zion was formed here, in 1899 - the first Zionist organization. The Minsk Conference of Zionists in 1902 was attended by four delegates from Baku. The Zionists were especially active in 1917–20. The youth organization "Young Judea", the men's student corporations "Hasmonea", "Maccabee", the women's student corporations "Sulamita", "Deborah" functioned.

The beginning of the twentieth century

Classes in an elementary Jewish school. Cuba. Early 1920s From M. Naor's book “The Jewish People in the 20th Century. History in photographs ”, Jer.-T-A, 2001.

In 1917, the weekly "Kavkazer Vohenblat" (in Yiddish) was published in Baku, in 1917-18. - the weekly "Caucasian Jewish Bulletin" with the supplement "Palestine", in 1919–20. - fortnightly "Jewish Will"; in 1919, the newspaper Tobushi Sabhi (in the Hebrew-Tati language) was published for some time. With the final establishment of Soviet power (April 1920), the independent Jewish press ceased to exist. Since 1922 in the capital of Azerbaijan, the newspaper Korsokh has been published in the Hebrew-Tati language - an organ of the Caucasian Committee of the Jewish Communist Party (see Poorokalei Zion) and its youth organization.

During the civil war and in the first years of Soviet power, the concentration of Jews in Baku continued. The Jewish community in the village of Muji ceased to exist, most of whose members moved to Baku. Basically, about 13.5 thousand Jews who left Cuba moved there. Active attempts were made to attract significant masses of the Jewish population to agriculture, but according to 1927 data, only 250 Jewish families were employed in it.

In the 1920s. the activities of all Zionist organizations and related cultural and educational institutions that worked in Hebrew were banned. However, cultural development continued in other Hebrew languages (see Hebrew languages and dialects). There were schools in Baku in Yiddish and Hebrew-Tat; the famous teacher F. Shapiro taught here. Mountain Jewish schools also functioned in other cities of the republic until 1938, when most of the schools of ethnic minorities were closed (only in Baku school No. 23 until 1948 there were Tata classes). In 1934–38. in Baku, the newspaper "Kommunist" was published in the Hebrew-Tati language; The Mountain Jewish Department of the Azerbaijan State Publishing House worked, supervised by Y. Agarunov and headed by Y. Semenov (1899-1961; both writers began in the 1920s as playwrights at Jewish amateur troupes). In 1936–39. the Baku Jewish Theater (AzGOSET) in Yiddish worked in the building of the Big Synagogue closed by the authorities; its director since 1938 was Y. Fridman, who simultaneously headed the Russian Drama Theater; the artistic director was V. Zeitlin.

In the 1920s and 30s. Jews (mainly Ashkenazi) made up a significant part of the cultural elite of Soviet Azerbaijan. Of the ten medical professors who founded the Baku Medical Institute in 1919, eight were Jews. Epidemiologist N. Gililov worked in Azerbaijan, who laid the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. Geologist F. Levinson-Lessing was the chairman of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Thousands of Jews worked as doctors, engineers, teachers. The Jewish population of the republic increased during the first five-year plans, but especially due to the evacuation during the Soviet-German war of 1941–45. Many of the evacuees remained in Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku and after the war.

In 1951, all Kurdish Jews were deported from Baku (as well as from Tbilisi) by order from Moscow.

In the post-war period

Cuba. Synagogue after partial reconstruction. 1996 year

The number of Jews in Azerbaijan fell from a maximum of 41.2 thousand in 1939 to 30.8 thousand in 1989. Their share in the country's population decreased, respectively, from 1.3 to 0.4 percent. According to preliminary data from the 1999 census, the number of Jews has more than halved. Although a comparison of the 1979 and 1989 census data unexpectedly shows a more than twofold increase in the number of Mountain Jews (from 2.1 thousand to 6.1 thousand), in reality these are just paradoxes of imperfect statistics, since earlier Mountain Jews who lived in cities were often counted as simply Jews.

The proportion of mixed marriages among Jewish men in the period from 1936 to 1939 decreased 39% to 32%, and among women, on the contrary, increased from 26% to 28%. In 1939, the proportion of married Jewish women aged 20-49 was 74%. In 1989, among Mountain Jews, the share of living in homogeneous families was 82%, among Ashkenazi - 52%

In 1999, the exhibition "Jews of Azerbaijan" was held in the Museum of Arts in Baku, in 2001, the exhibition "190th anniversary of the settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Azerbaijan" was held in the Historical Museum, in April 2001, an international scientific symposium was held at the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan Mountain Jews of the Caucasus. In 1996, an Israeli cultural and information center was opened in Baku; With the help of the Joint in 1999, a charitable organization "Khesed-Gershon" was created, which in 2000 provided material assistance to 1,550 Jews (of which 1,113 people lived in Baku). In April 2000, a Jewish community cultural center was opened. He directs the work of the theater and music center, the club of intellectuals, the people's university. With the help of the Joint, a scientific center was created under the leadership of Professor M. Agarunov (born in 1936), which is engaged in the study of the history, culture and ethnography of the Jews of Azerbaijan. In 2000, the bibliographic index "Mountain Jews" was published.

Since 1992, a number of AZERBAIJAN newspapers (Yeni Musavat, Yeni Esr, Islamin Sesi, Millet and others) have been regularly publishing anti-Semitic materials. The attempt of the “Meydan” newspaper to publish the book “Mein Kampf” by A. Hitler, translated into the AZERBAIJAN language, was suppressed at the request of a number of public, including Jewish, organizations; this, however, did not stop the emergence of new inflammatory articles.

According to one hypothesis, Mountain Jews living in Azerbaijan are descendants of an ancient people called the Khazars. Written by Diana Cohen Altman. We present it to your attention:

Azerbaijan is a country where the majority of the population is Shiite Muslims. Azerbaijani-Jewish friendship, which has a long history, keeps many secrets and secrets. The leaders of the eighth century Khazar empire were famous for abandoning idolatry and worship of a single deity named Tengri and converting to Judaism. The semi-nomadic Turkic tribe of the Khazars appeared in the north between the Black and Caspian Seas. The Khazars controlled the lands from the Volga-Don steppe in eastern Crimea and the North Caucasus for three centuries. This is often mentioned in sources describing the period between 650 and 969 AD.

The circumstances that prompted the Khazars to convert to Judaism and their relationship with other Jews remain shrouded in mystery. However, the history of the Khazars and their neighbors is more than just a missing piece of Jewish history. The history of the Khazars contains clues to the model of Azerbaijani tolerance that we see today.

In the 1970s, readers of The Thirteenth Tribe, a book by writer and journalist Arthur Koestler, pondered the intriguing hypothesis that European Ashkenazim descended from the Khazars who migrated to Eastern Europe when their empire collapsed and collapsed.

Scholars have discredited this book for various reasons. The anti-Semites used the theory that the Khazar Turks are the ancestors of modern Jews to attack Israel's Zionist claims as a discovery of their ancestral home.

The Khazars' decision to become Jews may in fact reflect a desire to remain independent from both the Arab-Muslim Caliphate and Christian Byzantium. However, the conversion of the Khazars to Jews resonates with the existence of another large Jewish community living in the region, namely the Mountain Jews of Guba, a city located 160 km from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. While little is known about the Khazars and Mountain Jews, however, according to legends, it is believed that the Khazars and Mountain Jews actively interacted with each other and that the Mountain Jews played a significant role in the conversion of the Khazars into Jews.

According to historical sources, Mountain Jews settled in the north of Azerbaijan after secession from the Persian Empire in the 5th century. They developed their own language, Juhuri or Judeo-Tati, which is still used today. For centuries they have maintained good relations with their Muslim neighbors.

V last years Mountain Jews of Krasnaya Sloboda, which is considered the second compact place of residence of Jews after Israel, began to attract more and more attention. They practice a mixture of Ashkenazi and Sephardic religious traditions, and observe customs unique to their community.

Much of what is known about Mountain Jewish history is preserved exclusively by word of mouth, although archaeologists also possess evidence in the form of artifacts such as sacred texts, architecture, and talismans.

Written sources prove the strong positive impression the Mountain Jews made on their neighbors. Literate and religious, the Mountain Jews made excellent horsemen, warriors, and skilled agronomists. They have shown an enviable determination to adapt to environment... Even to the rich musical culture of the Caucasus region, they have added their own complementary repertoire.

Visitors who come to Krasnaya Sloboda today are amazed at how the Jews were able to maintain a compact place of their residence, that they have Jewish institutions and how often they use the Star of David to decorate their homes. But those who stay for a while in Quba will also be amazed at the excellent relations that the Jewish and Muslim communities of the city maintain.

The history of ethnic relations in Azerbaijan is complicated and clouded not only by the lack of historical facts, but also by the long history of mixed marriages and transformations. As for the Mountain Jews, many of them moved to live in Israel, despite the fact that in many cases they had good houses in Guba.

Considering the location of Azerbaijan on the great silk road, and the military invasions that the country was subjected to throughout its ancient history, it is not surprising that many ethnic groups live in the state, moreover, in close proximity to each other. However, the agreement between Jews and the Muslim population of Azerbaijan is in stark contrast to how Jews are treated in other neighboring regions.

Many Azerbaijanis often emphasize the fact that various ethnic groups working and living in Azerbaijan helped to rally the Azerbaijani people and pass through many empires, including the USSR, while maintaining their unity. Family and friendly relations between groups of different ethnicity are quite common in Azerbaijan. Azerbaijani leaders often cite the lack of anti-Semitism in the country, support for synagogues and Jewish schools, and regularly emphasize the contribution of Jewish Azerbaijanis to the country's development throughout history.

While archaeologists and historians continue to uncover and analyze historical evidence and artifacts, Azerbaijanis and guests of the country continue to enjoy the fruits of interethnic harmony and friendship. There is no doubt that the Khazars and the Mountain Jews have a lot in common.

Rafael Harpaz, Israeli Ambassador to Azerbaijan from 2012 to 2015, said: “The model of Azerbaijani tolerance was a pleasant surprise for me. I have traveled a lot to other countries, but have never seen such a thing. In Azerbaijan, Muslims have never separated Jews, they are full members of the Azerbaijani society. "

Indeed, since regaining its independence from the Soviet Union in 1991, Azerbaijan has undertaken extensive work to reclaim and document its history. A deeper understanding of the history of Azerbaijan will bring new bright ideas for revealing the secrets of human history.

Azerbaijanis come from a mixture of Iranian (Tata) and Turkic (Oghuz and Khazar) elements.

The Tats still profess Judaism and are Jews who came to the Caucasus from Iran.

The question arises, are the Tats-Gregorians and Tats-Muslims descendants of the Tats-Jews? The question is complicated. The term "tat" actually means "Persian, Iranian", and not necessarily a Jew, although if this is so, then how to explain that more than 300 thousand tats live in Iran itself, then tat is not quite Persian. In the Tat language there are elements alien to all other Iranian languages, but present in the Turkic, in particular in the Karachai-Balkar (Karachais and Balkars are related to the Khazars).

In any case, it is clear that the Jewish Tats cannot be the descendants of the Iranian Zoroastrians, as they “think”, because according to the faith of the latter, apostates, like those who pervert, are subject to death; the same with Islam.

It remains to assume that the Jewish Tats are either Christian Tats who converted to Judaism, or they are originally Jews from Iran. The latter is most likely, since it is unknown in history that a Christian or Muslim people would have converted to Judaism.

“With the fall of the Khazar kingdom and the spread of Islam in the Northeastern Caucasus, living conditions became extremely painful for the Jews. Many Jewish villages converted to Islam. They are the origin of the present-day Muslim Tats, who in their type, appearance, language and way of life do not differ in any way from the Mountain Jews ”(EE, article“ Caucasus ”).

In any case, the official "scientific" explanation of the division of the Tats into Jews, Azerbaijanis and Armenians is completely implausible - they say, "the history of the Tats began in 527, when Shah Khosrov I Anushirvan began a struggle against religious minorities: Christians, Mazdakids and Jews, who were subjected to massive repression. In 531 the Jewish state of Eretz Israel in the south of Mesopotamia was destroyed. About 300 thousand non-Zoroastrians were deported to the Caucasus in the area between Derbent and the Absheron Peninsula to the north of the Araks. For the past several centuries, these lands have been empty. Jews (ethnic Jews) were settled in Derbent and nearby Tabasaran lands. Christians (ethnic Persians) were settled on the southern slopes of the Dagestan mountains. The Mazdakids (ethnic Persians) occupied Absheron. The resettled Christians and Mazdakids spoke Western Persian, the Jews spoke the same dialect, but with significant Jewish elements. The Atropatens (ancestors of the Talysh) lived south of the Araks. A significant Armenian substratum joined the Muslim and Gregorian Tats - residents of the provinces of Balasakan and Paytakaran (western coast of the Caspian Sea), who at the beginning of our era. switched to Iranian dialects. "- complete nonsense, already starting with the Persian language among the Babylonian Jews.

More probable is the origin of the Tats not from Babylonian Jews, but from Persians, where at one time there was a whole region of Yakhudistan (in the area of Isfahan, a city founded by Jews). The Persians began to evict the Tats to the east of the Caucasus, entrusting them with the protection of the fortresses that protected Iran from the invasions of nomads from the North (for example, the Khazars).
Unlike the Muslim Tats and the Armenian Tats, as of 1945, the Jewish Tats mainly lived on the Absheron Peninsula. Partially Turkized and Jewish, they made up about 80% of the rural population of the Absheron Peninsula. In particular, many Azerbaijani historians admit that at the end of the 19th, 33 out of 40 settlements were Tat.

The adoption of Christianity tatami was a consequence of the influence of Byzantium and Armenia, and Islam - the conquest of Azerbaijan by the Arabs.

Now in Azerbaijan approx. 100,000 native speakers of the Tati language.

Sh. Sami's dictionary says that Varsan [cf. Khazar Varachan] - the name given to Azerbaijan.

Khazar teips have survived in Azerbaijan - Kebirli [kabars], Afshary [Ashina]; the historian Balazuri calls the city of Kabalu, which was the center of Savir / Khazar / settlements in Azerbaijan, as Khazar.

Another people clearly descended from the Khazars are the Kumyks, whose language differs little from Azerbaijani.

Monk Wilhelm Rubrukvis, sent by King Louis IX to the Tatar Khan, describing the road to Baku and old fortresses near the sea, allegedly built by Alexander the Great, says that “there are other fortresses occupied by Jews” (“In general, there are many Jews in this whole country”) ...

The Khazars professed Judaism, but after the defeat of Khazaria by Svyatoslav, under pressure from the Khorezmians they converted to Islam.

Oguzes first professed Judaism, as can be seen from the Hebrew names of their king Seljuk, but then converted to Islam.

The medieval Jew traveler Benjamin Tudelsky spoke about the existence of a large Jewish population in Azerbaijan, about the presence of thousands of synagogues there, and about the Jewish kingdom “on the Kizyl Uzen River” somewhere in the Caspian Sea basin.

It is necessary to associate with this news that before the 13th century. in the North Caucasus there were Jewish states - Khazaria and others.

After the pogrom by Prince Svyatoslav in 965 of the Khazar Kaganate, the Itil and Semendar population fled to the islands of the Caspian Sea.

In 1064, 3 thousand Khazar families were resettled from Khazaria to the city of Kakhtan. In the extracts of the Derbent chronicle by Munajim-bashi: "In the same year, the remnants of the Khazars, numbering 3,000 families (houses), arrived in the city of Kakhtan from the Khazar country, rebuilt it and settled in it."

In 1031/32, according to Ibn-al-Athir, the Kurd Faldun, who seized a part of Azerbaijan, attacked the Khazars and seized a lot of booty from them. But the Khazars quickly gathered their strength, caught up with him and, having killed more than 10 thousand of his soldiers, not only returned these trophies to themselves, but also took away the property of the aggressors themselves.

The Jews of Azerbaijan took part in the uprising of David Alroy (XII century).

Jews are mentioned in the territory of Azerbaijan in very ancient times.

Historians talk about the participation of Jews in hostilities on the side of the Albanians (Albania - ancient name Azerbaijan) against the Romans during the campaigns of Lucullus (74–66 BC) and Pompey (66 BC) to the Caucasus.

But of course Jews settled in the Eastern Caucasus, probably back in the era of the Babylonian captivity.

The Jews in Albania / Azerbaijan and Movses Kagankatvatsi (7th century) are mentioned.

Excavations in 1990 under the leadership of R. Geyushov discovered in the area of Baku the remains of the Jewish quarter and the Shabran synagogue of the 7th century.

Even more ancient history Jews of South Azerbaijan, now occupied by Iranian colonialists.

Thus, Azerbaijan can be called to a certain extent "Muslim Israel", and Jews and Azerbaijanis - fraternal peoples.

For various reasons, both Jews from Khazaria (Khazars) and Jews from Iran (Tats) mainly converted to Christianity or Islam, but Jews still live in Azerbaijan - both in Baku and in the mountains ...

Mountain Jews say this about themselves:

“We are from Iran. From Iran we moved to the Median country (between Iran and Azerbaijan). We lived there for some years under the rule of the sovereign of Persia and Media.

From Media, half of the Jews left for Samarkand and Bukhara, and we came to the lands of Yevlakh, Gokchay, Barda, Mir-Bashir, Aghdam.

From Aghdam, our Jews ascended to Zagatala, from Zagatala they went to Rutul, then from Rutul they descended to Akhty. Some of the Akhts left for Qusar (they now live in Cuba), others went to Derey-Gatta, near Majalis, and still others to Aksai, and from there to Khasavyurt. "

In the second half of the 13th century. The Ilkhanids, the Mongol khans, who ruled vast territories from the Caucasus to the Persian Gulf and from Afghanistan to the deserts of Syria, turned Azerbaijan into the central region of their empire. The religious tolerance of the early Ilkhanids-Buddhists attracted many Jews to Azerbaijan. The first minister of Argun Khan (1284–91), the Jew Saumanid ad-Dawla, actually directed the entire domestic and foreign policy of the Ilkhanid state. The Jew Muhazzim ad-Dawla was the head of the administration of Tabriz, and the Jew Labid bin Abi-r-Rabi ‘headed the administration system of all Azerbaijan. The execution of Sankoed ad-Dawl, which was a victory for the palace group, dissatisfied with the concentration of power in his hands, and the execution of a number of his supporters, many of whom were Jews, were the first symptom of the deteriorating position of the Jews in the country. Many Jews began to convert to Islam. One of them was Rashid ad-Din, who became the vizier in 1298 (executed on false charges in 1318). The historical collection of Rashid ad-Din "Jamiokiyat-tavarikh" ("Collection of Chronicles", in Persian) is one of the largest monuments of Eastern historiography.

The main Jewish center was the city of Cuba, where 5,492 Jews lived in 1835 (of whom 2,718 were concentrated in the Jewish quarter); in 1866 6282 Jews lived in the city. There were also comparatively large communities of Mountain Jews in the villages of Vartashen and Myuji. In 1864, in the village of Vartashen (since 1990 Oguz), the majority of the population were Jews. In 1886, 1,400 Jews lived here, there were three prayer houses, two Talmud Huns (heders) with 40 students. It is known that the total number of literate people, that is, who can read the Torah, was then 70 people, among them there were 5 Jews, who were called rabbis.

The Jews of northern Azerbaijan were mainly agriculturalists, small traders and laborers. Their economic situation was difficult. Beginning in the 1870s, the influx of Jews from the European part of Russia to northern Azerbaijan increased sharply in connection with the development of the oil industry in Baku. GA Polyak, the founder of the Polyak and Sons company, A. Dembo and H. Kagan, the founders of the Dembo and Kagan company, G. Gunzburg, A. Fishel played an important role in the creation of this most important branch of the national economy. Representatives of the Rothschild family founded the "Caspian-Black Sea Company", which occupied at the beginning of the 20th century. leading position in this area. Jewish-led companies produced 44% of Russian kerosene.

Despite the legislative restrictions, in the two provinces into which northern Azerbaijan was divided, Baku and Elizavetpolskaya, according to 1897, there were 14791 Jews, including 6662 in Cuba and 2341 in Baku. In Cuba, in 1908, a Jewish-Russian school was founded with teaching in Russian.

Since the end of the 19th century. Baku became one of the centers of the Jewish national movement. In 1891, a branch of Hovevei Zion was formed here, in 1899 - the first Zionist organization. Four delegates from Baku attended the Minsk Conference of Zionists in 1902. The Zionists were especially active in 1917–20. The youth organization "Young Judea", the men's student corporations "Hasmonea", "Maccabee", the women's student corporations "Sulamita", "Deborah" functioned.

In 1917, the weekly "Kavkazer Vohenblat" (in Yiddish) was published in Baku, in 1917-18 - the weekly "Caucasian Jewish Bulletin" with the supplement "Palestine", in 1919-20 - the fortnightly "Jewish Will"; in 1919 the newspaper Tobushi Sabhi (in the Hebrew-Tati language) was published for some time. With the final establishment of Soviet power (April 1920), the independent Jewish press ceased to exist. Since 1922 in the capital of Azerbaijan the newspaper "Korsokh" was published in the Hebrew-Tati language - the organ of the Caucasian Committee of the Jewish Communist Party and its youth organization.

Many Jews of Azerbaijan took an active part in the revolutionary events of the early 20th century. Among the 26 Baku commissars who were shot were 6 Jews, including the prominent Social Democrat J. Zevin (1884-1918; from 1904 to 1912 - Menshevik, later joined the Bolshevik faction); trade union leader M. Basin (1890-1918).

Jews were represented in the first and second governments of the Democratic Republic of Azerbaijan (1918–20), among them the Minister of Health, Professor E. Ya. Gindes.

The public and political figure of the ADR, the most famous pan-Turkist Khan Khoysky, according to rumors, was also a Mountain Jew by nationality, and his Jewish name was Khakan Sulaif.

According to some reports, the 2 first secretaries of the Central Committee of the Azerbaijan SSR were Mountain Jews by origin - Nariman Narimanov and Mir Dzafar Bagirov.

In the 1920s, the activities of all Zionist organizations and related cultural and educational institutions that worked in Hebrew were banned. However, cultural development continued in other Hebrew languages. There were schools in Baku in Yiddish and Hebrew-Tat; the famous teacher F. Shapiro taught here.

Mountain Jewish schools also functioned in other cities of the republic until 1938, when most of the schools of ethnic minorities were closed (only in Baku school No. 23 there were Tata classes until 1948). In 1934–38, the newspaper "Kommunist" was published in Baku in the Hebrew-Tati language; The Mountain Jewish Department of the Azerbaijan State Publishing House worked, supervised by Y. Agarunov and headed by Y. Semenov (1899-1961; both writers began in the 1920s as playwrights with Jewish amateur troupes). In 1936–39, the Baku Jewish Theater (AzGOSET) in Yiddish operated in the building of the Great Synagogue, which was closed by the authorities; its director since 1938 was Y. Fridman, who simultaneously headed the Russian Drama Theater; the artistic director was V. Zeitlin (born 1914).

According to the 1926 census, there were 19 thousand European Jews and 7.5 thousand Mountain Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR; according to the 1959 census, 40,204 Jews (1.1% of the total population of the republic) lived in the country, of which 38,917 were in cities. 8357 Jews named Hebrew-Tat as their mother tongue, and 6255 - Yiddish. According to 1970 data, there were 41,288 Jews in the Azerbaijan SSR. According to the 1979 census, 35.5 thousand Jews lived in Azerbaijan, according to the 1989 census - 30.8 thousand Jews.

In the 1920s and 1930s, Jews (mainly Ashkenazim) made up a significant part of the cultural elite of Soviet Azerbaijan. Of the ten medical professors who founded the Baku Medical Institute in 1919, eight were Jews. Epidemiologist N. Gililov worked in Azerbaijan, who laid the scientific foundations for the fight against malaria. Geologist F. Levinson-Lessing was the chairman of the Azerbaijan branch of the USSR Academy of Sciences. Thousands of Jews worked as doctors, engineers, teachers. The Jewish population of the republic increased during the first five-year plans, but especially due to the evacuation during the Soviet-German war of 1941–45. Many of the evacuees remained in Azerbaijan, mainly in Baku and after the war.

By the beginning of the 1940s, organized forms of Jewish life were finally eliminated in Azerbaijan, with the exception of several communities at synagogues in Baku, Vartashen, Kuba, Qusar, Geokchay. At the same time, the republican authorities only to a small extent practiced discriminatory restrictions on Jews (see Percentage Rate); manifestations of everyday anti-Semitism were also comparatively rare. During the 1940s and 1960s, a former teacher of the Kiev Theological Academy, an Arab Christian Ibrahim Uar-Uar, taught Hebrew freely at home.

In 1951, all Kurdish Jews were deported from Baku (as well as from Tbilisi) by order from Moscow.

The Jewish movement began to develop in Azerbaijan since the 1970s. The leader of the refuseniks in Baku was S. M. Kushnir (born in 1927, since 1978 in Israel); editions of Jewish samizdat were distributed, books and magazines published in Israel, there were circles for the study of Hebrew. The movement took a new swing in the second half of the 1980s. In 1987, the first legal Hebrew courses in the Soviet Union were opened in Baku (the official leader is Vladimir / Zeev / Farber; since 1989 in Israel). In 1989 a Jewish culture club "Alef" was organized in Baku; In the same year, a Jewish club “22” was opened in Sumgait, and a small-circulation newsletter “Shalom-Sholem-Sholumi” began to appear in Baku. In 1990, the society of friendship and cultural relations "Azerbaijan - Israel" was established, which in 1992 began to publish the newspaper "Aziz". Women's and youth organizations, the Committee of Jewish Veterans of World War II, the Association of Judaica and Jewish Culture are registered and operate. An activist of a number of organizations, editor of publications was a teacher, war veteran P. A. Kalika (1923–95), author of publications on Jewish topics since the 1970s.

In the 1990s, two synagogues functioned in Baku (Mountain Jews and Ashkenazi), as well as synagogues of Mountain Jews in Cuba and Oguz, and a synagogue of Geres in Privolnoye. In September 1993, a seminar of the rabbis of Azerbaijan, Georgia and Dagestan was held in Baku. In 1994 a yeshiva was opened there. In 1997 a synagogue of Georgian Jews was opened in Baku. In the early 2000s, three synagogues of Mountain Jews functioned on the outskirts of Cuba, Krasnaya Sloboda, and there was also a yeshiva. A religious Jewish secondary school has been operating in Baku since 1999. According to 1994 data, Hebrew was taught at the university and at two secondary schools in the capital. Hebrew courses worked in Baku, Cuba and Oguz; Jewish Agency representatives and teachers from Israel were very helpful in organizing the classes; there were also non-Jews among the students of the courses. A Jewish chamber music ensemble, a children's choir, and a dance ensemble performed in front of the audience. Local radio and television regularly broadcast recordings of Israeli pop music.

In the early 2000s, in addition to the Aziz newspaper, Azerbaijan published the Tower newspaper of the Hillel youth club, Or-Shelyanu of the Jewish community cultural center, Amishav, published with the help of the Jewish Agency.

In 1999 an exhibition "Jews of Azerbaijan" was held in the Museum of Arts in Baku, in 2001 an exhibition "190th anniversary of the settlement of Ashkenazi Jews in Azerbaijan" was held in the Historical Museum, in April 2001 an international scientific symposium "Mountain Jews of the Caucasus" was held at the Academy of Sciences of Azerbaijan. In 1996, an Israeli cultural and information center was opened in Baku; With the help of the Joint, in 1999 a charitable organization "Khesed-Gershon" was created, which in 2000 provided material assistance to 1,550 Jews (of which 1113 people lived in Baku). In April 2000, the Jewish Community Cultural Center was opened. He directs the work of the theater and music center, the club of intellectuals, the people's university. With the help of the Joint, a scientific center was created under the leadership of Professor M. Agarunov (born 1936), which is engaged in the study of the history, culture and ethnography of the Jews of Azerbaijan. In 2000 the bibliographic index "Mountain Jews" was published.

The possibilities of unhindered introduction to the national culture do not balance the difficulties experienced by the Jewish population of the country in the conditions of the protracted war with Armenia over Nagorno-Karabakh and the exacerbation of interethnic conflicts associated with the war. Among those killed in the war, 120 Azerbaijani servicemen are 4 Jews.

The repatriation of Jews from Azerbaijan was 466 people in 1989, 7905 people in 1990, 5676 people in 1991, 2777 people in 1992, 3500 people in 1993, 2270 people in 1994, and 177 people in January-June 2003. According to the Jewish Agency, at the end of 2002 there were about 16,000 persons in Azerbaijan who were eligible for repatriation to Israel under the Law on Return. As a result of the mass exodus of Ashkenazi Jews in the 1990s, most of Azerbaijan's Jews in the early 2000s were Mountain Jews. About 3 thousand Mountain Jews live compactly in Krasnaya Sloboda.

The leadership of Azerbaijan seeks to establish political and economic ties with Israel. Diplomatic relations were established in 1993. On May 11, 1994, Charge d'Affaires of the State of Israel in Azerbaijan Elimoezer Iotvat presented his credentials to President H. Aliyev. In August 1999, an Israeli parliamentary delegation paid an official visit to Azerbaijan. The volume of exports from Israel to Azerbaijan in 1993 amounted to 545 thousand dollars, imports - 12 thousand; in 1994, exports and imports increased significantly.

Famous Mountain Jews:

Yakov Mikhailovich Agarunov (1907–92) was from 1937 a candidate member of the Central Committee of the Communist Party (Bolsheviks) of Azerbaijan, from 1939 - a member of the Central Committee; in 1938–41 - 1st secretary of the district committee in different districts of Baku; in 1941/2 - secretary of the Baku city committee of the Communist Party for the oil industry, in 1942–47 - secretary of the Kuibyshev regional committee for the oil industry. During the Second World War, he showed himself as a capable organizer of the oil industry (in 1943, oil production in the Kuibyshev region increased by 42%). In 1947–50 Agarunov was again secretary of the Baku City Committee, in 1963–71 - Deputy Director of the All-Union Research Institute for Oil Industry Safety.

Rabbis Benjamin Joseph, Ishag Benrabbi Gurshum, Gurshum Ben Rabbi Ishag, Sug-mi Ben Shamail Badji, Nuvah Avraham, Savgil Ruvinov, Ifiel Oshir, etc.

Igor Khanukovich Yusufov - was the Minister of Energy of the Russian Federation until he was dismissed by the sorter Pukin for Jewish origin.

Singers Jasmine and Sarit Hadad.

Composer D. Ashurov. Journalists Mirza Khazar and F. Bakhshiev.

Artist Olga Yusufova.

Wrestler and judge Valery Migirov.

Ethnographer I.Sh. Anisimov.

Doctors: P. Mardakhaev and G. Ilizarov. Chemist M. Agarunov.

2 Hero of the Soviet Union: Shetiil Abramov and Isai Illazarov.

Major General Yekutiel Adam (Kuti Adamov), Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Mayor of Or Akiva (Israel) Simha Yosipov.

Writers and poets Danil Atnilov, Manuvakh Dadashev, Khizgil Avshalumov, Sergey Izgiyaev and Mikhail Bakhshiev. 3. Abdulov - researcher, writer, member of the Union of Writers of the USSR.

Founder and artistic director of the dance ensemble of Dagestan "Lezginka" Tanho Izrailov.

Isaak Yunatanovich Mishiev, police colonel, head of the Investigation Department of the Internal Affairs Directorate of the Penza Region.

Sh. Abramov - Doctor of Biological Sciences.

S. Agaev - Doctor of Historical Sciences. N. Anisimov - Doctor of Philology.

S. Yakubov - Doctor of Physical and Mathematical Sciences.

Shirokov, Oleg Sergeevich - Professor of the Philological Faculty of Moscow State University.

Hasan Mirzoev - Doctor of Law, Academician of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences, President of the Guild of Russian Lawyers, Deputy of the State Duma, Deputy. Chairman of the State Building Committee.

Oligarchs: Telman Ismailov (AST group, $ 620 million), Igor Babaev (APK Cherkizovsky, $ 570 million), Zarakh Iliev (ORTTs Moskva, Hotel Ukraina, $ 720 million), Rakhamim Emanuilov (co-owner of Interprombank) , God Nisanov (one of the owners of the hotel "Ukraine", general director of LLC "Biscuit", chairman of the board of directors of CJSC "Kievskaya ploshchad", etc.), Anatoly Nisimov (sports complex "Giant"), Yakov Yakubov (owner of the casino "Korona" and " Golden Palace ”, restaurant“ Prague ”, grocery store“ Eliseevsky ”, etc.) Yushvaev ($ 1 billion;“ Wim-Bil-Dan ”), etc. Director of the Basmanny Market Mark Mishiev (arrested by order of the monster Pukin). Husbands Alsou - Yan Abramov, Jasmine - Vyacheslav Semenduev (the head of the company "Eldorado", became famous).

Today, the largest mobile communication company in Azerbaijan, Azercell Telecom and Aztekecom, are in the hands of Israeli and Mountain Jewish businessmen.

Reviews

I liked the publication, although there are some historical inaccuracies, but in general, everything is true.
But Leyla khanum denies everything in vain ...
//// 1) "Azerbaijanis are a nation with completely different roots, and have nothing to do with the Semites" - I wrote about the Tats and Turks, under the name Tats I summarized the pre-Turkic Iranian-speaking population of Azerbaijan. I did not write about the Semites. ////

First, on the contrary, a lot of Semitic blood flows in Azerbaijanis, as is known from Arab sources. Many Arabs from Syria and Yemen were resettled to Shirvan and Derbent, not only ancient Arab sources testify to this. As for the Tats, they are not quite Persians (farces) and the Tat languages (Cuban, Derbent, Khizin, Apsheron) are very close and differ from Farsi.
In the Tat languages, there are Turkic Khazar-Kypchak words that really testify to the Khazar past. However, there is a version that the Tats are not at all an alien ethnos. The language of Atropatena (ancient Median) or Asari is the language of the Tats, and Talysh is just an offshoot of this language. Moreover, Talysh is somewhere similar to Gilan, with a large number of Oguz words ...

"The Azerbaijani Tats are a sub-ethnos within the Azerbaijani people, they use the Azerbaijani language as their mother tongue, along with the Tats language." ///

It is definitely noticed.
In addition, I would like to add that the toponyms dzhukhud (dzhukhur) (the name of the Jews) are associated precisely with the Khazars and are found throughout the North Caucasus from Chechnya to Azerbaijan, which indicates that the Jewish religion was widespread along with zoostism, Tengrianism and Christianity. But later in the 11th century. the spread of the Oghuz language (by the Seljuks) to the regions with the Kypchak (Khazar, Saka), Tat (Iranian-speaking), Albanian (Lezgin-speaking) populations, became convincing with the spread of Islam. After all, the Arabic language in the 9-10th centuries. could not spread despite all the wars with the Khazars and Islam before the Seljuks was widespread only in large cities, and not among the entire population (read Gumilev)

"2)" In addition, the ethnos - the Tats - does not exist in nature "

This is certainly not true if there is a language, then there is an ethnos.
Another body, the word tat, just like the word Tajik, means in Turkic a sedentary or urban, not a slave at all. Moreover, this was not an ethnic division, but rather, on the contrary, a tat - a merchant, an artisan, a city dweller. A choban - for example, a nomadic shepherd, etc.

Good afternoon, Zakhar, at the expense of the Semites, including the Arabs, who reached Derbent, you are right.

As for the Tats, I myself cannot yet understand whether this is a people or not, because there are Armenian Tats, Jewish Tats, Muslim Tats, there are Tats in Iran, perhaps they are related to the Parsis

Therefore, I cannot define the people, or is it some kind of term, as they sometimes write

Thanks for the interesting review.
it's nice that you read my article so carefully

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