Mountain Jews in Israel

Mountain Jews in Israel, also known as the Juhurim, refers to immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Mountain Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. The Mountain Jewish community are involved with "Mizrachi Jews" (Oriental) groupung.[1]

Mountain Jews in Israel
Total population
120,000–140,000
Regions with significant populations
Beersheba, Or Akiva, Hadera, Acre, Sderot
Languages
Hebrew, Juhuri, Russian
Religion
Judaism

History

Even before the advent of Zionism, the Juhurim had a desire to return to Zion, which many did in the 1840s and 1850s.[2]

Founders of Be'er Ya'akov, 1908
"Caucasian" (Mountain Jewish) and Uzbek restaurant in Haifa

First wave of emigration: 1881–1947

Mountain Jews were among the first to make Aliyah, with some immigrating independent of the Zionist movement, while others came inspired by it.[3] They were represented at the Zionist congresses and the first Mountain Jewish settlers in Ottoman Syria established the modern Israeli town of Be'er Ya'akov in 1907.[3] In the early 1920s, Baku became one of the centres of the Jewish national movement, and Zionist newspapers were published in Juhuri.[4][5]

1948–1970s

The Mountain Jews living in the Soviet Union celebrated the creation of the State of Israel loudly and proudly, which led to repression by Soviet authorities. Many were arrested and imprisoned for engaging in "anti-Soviet propaganda."[3] The Six-Day War resulted in an eruption of Jewish patriotism among Mountain Jews, although the broader Zionist awakening didn't take place until the early 1970s. It was then when over 10,000 Mountain Jews (about a quarter of the population) emigrated to Israel.[6]

1990s–present

Following the dissolution of the Soviet Union, thousands of Mountain Jews moved to Israel.[7] During the First Chechen War, some left due to the violence. Despite the usual close relations between Jews and Chechens, many were kidnapped by Chechen gangs who ransomed their freedom to "the international Jewish community."[8]

Notable people

See also

Sources
  1. Statistical Abstract of Israel, 2009, CBS. "Table 2.24 – Jews, by country of origin and age" (PDF). Retrieved 22 March 2010.
  2. Gale, Thomas. "Mountain Jews". Already in the 1840s or 1850s the yearning for the Holy Land led some Mountain Jews to Ereẓ Israel. In the 1870s and 1880s Jerusalem emissaries regularly visited Daghestan to collect money. In the second half of the 1880s a Kolel Daghestan already existed in Jerusalem.
  3. Gitelman, Zvi (2001). Century of Ambivalence: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union. Indiana University Press. p. 197&211. ISBN 978-0253214188.
  4. (in Russian) The Electronic Jewish Encyclopædia: Baku
  5. Yisrael, Muzeon (June 1, 2003). Mountain Jews: Customs and Daily Life in the Caucasus. Israel Museum. p. 41. ISBN 978-9652783158.
  6. Goluboff, Sascha (December 29, 2002). Jewish Russians: Upheavals in a Moscow Synagogue. University of Pennsylvania Press. p. 126. ISBN 978-0812218381.
  7. Sneider, Daniel. "MOUNTAIN JEWS of RUSSIA". The Christian Science Monitor.
  8. "Around the Jewish World: "Russia's Mountain Jews Support War in Chechnya, but Are Eager to Get Out". JTA.
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