Mountain Jews

Mountain Jews
Juhurim

Regions with significant populations
Azerbaijan, Chechnya, Dagestan,Israel,United States,Iran,Russia
Israel	70,000 to 100,000
United States	10,000 to 40,000
Russia	9,000 to 30,000
Azerbaijan	11,000
European Union	30,000
Kazakhstan	2,000
Iran	Less than 100
Armenia	NA
Languages
Juhuri, Hebrew, Russian, Azeri
Religion
Judaism
Related ethnic groups
Persian Jews, Other Jewish groups, Tats

Mountain Jews, or Juhuro, are Jews of the eastern Caucasus, mainly of Azerbaijan and Dagestan. They are also known as Caucasus Jews, Caucasian Jews, or more uncommonly East Caucasian Jews, owing to the fact that the majority of these Jews settled the eastern part of Caucasus, tho there were also historical settlements in Northwest Caucasus.

The name "Mountain Jews" or "Caucasian Jews" is something of a misnomer, as it does not include Georgian Jews of the Caucasus Mountains, nor does the name have any direct connection to the concept of the "Caucasian race".

Self-designation

Mountain Jewish woman with her children, c. 1900 (1905-06 Jewish Encyclopedia)

They call themselves "Juhuro" (or "Juwuro" in the Kuba dialect), which simply means "Jews" - any Jews, for example "Juhur Eshgenezini" - Ashkenazic Jew, while "Juhur imuni" means "our Jew", i.e. East-Caucasian Jew. They also call themselves "'ivri" and "yehudi," especially older people.

In literature they have been referred to as East Caucasian Jews, Mountain Jews, Jewish Tats, Juhur, and Dagh Chufut. In Russian, they are known as Gorskiye Yevrei, meaning "Mountain Jews."

Location

Jews of the Caucasus, c. 1900.

The majority of Caucasian Mountain Jews live in Azerbaijan and Dagestan. In Azerbaijan their main settlements are Krasnaya Sloboda (part of Quba, Vartashen), and some other towns. In Dagestan they mostly live in Kaitag, and Magaramkend (three settlements), Derbent, and Makhachkala. A smaller number have settled in Northern Caucasus — Gorny and Nalchik. In the period 1970–90 the majority of Mountain Jews emigrated to Israel, and some moved to Moscow and the United States. The majority who emigrated to the U.S. live in Brooklyn, New York. A small number of them immigrated to Germany after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

Population

Jewish Girls of the Caucasus by Vittorio Sella, in National Geographic, October, 1913

Their population is difficult to estimate, as during census the Mountain Jews have been counted as members of the overall Jewish community, or as Tats, who use a similar language. In 1926 they numbered approximately 26,000; in 1959 about 15,000 lived in Dagestan (Russia total was 16,707) and more than 10,000 in Azerbaijan. In 1979 the overall number of Jews in Dagestan was 19,000 and 35,000 in Azerbaijan; the percentage of Mountain Jews is unknown. Ethnologue reports their number at 101,000:

• Israel 70,000 to 100,000
• Azerbaijan 11,000
• Russia 9,000 to 25,000
• North America more than 10,000 to 40,000

Language

See main article Juhuri language.

The Mountain Jews speak Juhuri, or Judeo-Tat, which is related to Middle Persian. It belongs to the Iranian division of the Indo-European languages.

Ethnic origins and history

In terms of ethnic origin, it is assumed that the Mountain Jews and Tats have inhabited Caucasia for a long time. Their distant forefathers once lived in southwest Persia, the south-western part of present-day Iran. It was there that they adopted the Middle Persian language. The predecessors of the Mountain Jews settled in Caucasian Albania in the 5th–6th century and from that time on their history has been related to the mountains and the people of Dagestan. Their tradition says that they lived in the eastern Caucasus since 722 BCE .

File:Mountain jew.JPG

Mountain Jewish elder, c. 1900 (source unknown)

There are several theories about their origins. One is that they are descended from Jewish military colonists settled by Parthian and Sassanid rulers in the Caucasus as frontier guards against nomadic incursions from the Pontic steppe. Another speculation is that they are ethnic Tats converted to Judaism. Still others regard the Muslim Tats as Mountain Jews that converted to Islam. Another theory is that they are descended from the Khazars; however, this seems unlikely, since they have been settled in the Caucasus prior to the rise of the Khazar polity.

The Mountain Jews resettled from the mountains to the coastal lowlands in the 18th–19th century, but carried the name "Mountain Jews" with them. In the villages (aouls) the Mountain Jews settled in a part of their own, in towns they did the same, although their dwellings did not differ from their neighbours’. The Mountain Jews also took to wearing the highlanders’ dress. Judaic prohibitions ensured they retained specific dishes, and their faith was still enshrined in the rules for family life.

Mountain Jewish men, c. 1900 (1905-06 Jewish Encyclopedia)

While elsewhere in the Jewish diaspora it was forbidden to own and till land (cf. the Jews of Central Asia), at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century the Mountain Jews were farmers and gardeners, growing mainly grain. Their oldest occupation was rice-growing, but raising silkworms and tobacco was also popular. The Jewish vineyards were especially famous. The Jews and their Armenian neighbors were the main producers of wine, an activity banned for Muslims by religion. Judaism, in turn, limited meat consumption; and unlike their neighbors, they raised few domestic animals.

At the same time they were renowned tanners. Tanning was the third most important activity after farming and gardening, and at the end of the 19th century 6% of Jews were engaged in this trade. Handicrafts and commerce were mostly practiced by Jews in towns.

Jewish cemetery in Nalchik, 1993

The Soviet authorities bound the Mountain Jews to collective farms, but allowed them to carry on in their traditional ways, growing grapes, tobacco, and vegetables and making wine. However, the former isolated lifestyle of the Jews has practically been eradicated, and they now live side by side with other ethnic groups.

Originally education was only for the boys, who attended synagogue schools. With Sovietization, Tat became the language of instruction at newly-founded elementary schools. It remained so till the beginning of World War II. The publication of the first native-language newspaper, Zakhmetkesh (Working People), began in 1928. After the war Russian became the only acceptable language at Dagestan schools, and the publication of the newspaper stopped. Currently Mountain Jewish intellectuals are active in Dagestani culture.

Notable Mountain Jews

• Yekutiel ("Kuti") Adam, a Major General in the Israel Defense Forces, who was the highest ranking Israeli soldier to be killed in combat. Also his son, Aluf Ehud "Udi" Adam, a General in the IDF and the former head of the Israeli Northern Command.
• Gavril Ilizarov, a prominent Soviet physician, orthopedic surgeon, and inventor of the Ilizarov apparatus.
• Zhasmin, a Russian pop singer (real name Sara Lvovna Semendueva, Сара Львовна Семендуева).

References

• Some text used with permission from www.eki.ee/books/redbook. The original text can be found here.

External links

• Juhuro.com, website first put together about Juhuro "Mountain Jews" by Vadim Alhasov in 2001, and later supported by Vitaliy Shalem (in Russian), who is updating the Russian-language portion weekly. As of March 2005 the English version has not been updated for a long time.
• Ethnologue article on Judæo-Tat