 | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,000–1,345 | |
| Languages | |
| Hebrew (in Israel), Judeo-Tat, Russian | |
| Religion | |
| Judaism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Mountain Jews, Ashkenazi Jews. |
The Jewish community of Derbent , a city in the Russian Republic of Dagestan, is the oldest in the North Caucasus and dates back to the 7th century. [1] [2] [3] A large influx of Jewish immigrants occurred during the Russian Civil War (1917-1923). Most Derbent Jews immigrated from the mountain and steppe villages of the northern Caucasus. [1]
The Jewish population of Derbent and its neighborhood are descended from a military colony established by the Persian emperor Khosrow I in the 6th century. [4]
Under the Khazar Khaganate the Jewish community of Derbent increased. [4] The ancestry of the Mountain Jews also includes later settlers from Iran, Iraq and Byzantium. [5]
Jewish-Khazar correspondence, in particular the Schechter Letter, also mentions Derbent and local Jews in the process of accepting Judaism by the Khazars.[ citation needed ]
The medieval-era Jewish merchants played a significant role in the activity of the Silk Road. [6]
Derbent was one of the centers of early medieval merchants during and after the Khazar Khaganate. [4]
The Jewish community of Derbent was described by travelers including Benjamin of Tudela in the 12th century and William of Rubruck in the 13th. [7]
In the 18th century, Jews were persecuted during the Russo-Persian Wars, and the Persian ruler Nader Shah forced many Jews to convert to Islam. [8]
After Russia conquered Dagestan, many Jews concentrated in Derbent [9] and the city became the religious center of the Mountain Jews. [10] Rabbis of Derbent, Eliyahu ben Mishael Mizrachi (1781-1848) and Yitzhak ben Yaakov Mizrachi (1795-1877) were known for their scholarship. [11] Rabbi Yaakov Yitzhaki (1848-1917) [12] in the 1870s established contacts with the Jewish scholars of St. Petersburg. In 1907 he emigrated to Eretz-Israel. [12]
The Derbent rabbi Yaakov Yitzhaki led a group of Mountain Jews from the Caucasus and founded an agricultural settlement in Be'er Ya'akov, Israel. In 1907 the settlement was named after Yitzhak. [12]
Approximately from the middle of the 19th century, the Rabbi of Derbent was recognized by the Russian authorities as the Chief Rabbi of the Mountain Jews of Southern Dagestan and Azerbaijan. [13]
The main occupation of the Jews of Derbent was viticulture and winemaking, madder cultivation, which fell into decline by the end of the 19th century, and fisheries since the beginning of the 20th century. The largest fishing company in Dagestan was owned by the Dadashev family. [4]
Though most Ashkenazi Jews in the Russian empire were denied the right to live outside the Pale of Settlement, from 1860 some of those who had permission to do so settled in Derbent. [14] The Jews of Derbent conducted a large wholesale trade, mainly in agricultural products, and owned about 30 manufacturing shops and 160 gardens. [4]
In the 1970s, in Derbent as throughout the Soviet Union, the state policy of "tatization" of Mountain Jews began. [27] [28] Representatives of the Soviet elite, mainly in Dagestan, denied the connection of the Mountain Jews with other Jews. Mountain Jews were registered in official statistics as Tat, which constituted the vast majority of this community in the RSFSR.
After the collapse of the USSR in 1991, most of the Jews emigrated from Derbent. In 2002 there were 2,000 Jews in the city. [2] [29] [9]
On July 12, 2018, the grand opening of the Immortal Regiment memorial took place on the territory of the Jewish cemetery. [30] The names of 1732 Jewish soldiers who fell in battle, died from wounds and went missing are carved on the memorial plate. This list is not complete. Search work to clarify the front-line fates of the war participants continues. [30]
In the 2024 Dagestan attacks, a synagogue in Derbent was set on fire by armed gunmen, possibly affiliated with ISIS. [31] [32] [33]
| Year | Number, people | Percentage of the city's total population,% |
|---|---|---|
| 1886 | 2568 | 16,8 % |
| 1897 | 2181 | 14,9 % |
| 1939 | 7 604 | 22,3 % |
| 1959 | 11 705 | 24,7 % |
| 1979 | 12 918 | 19,2 % |
| 1989 | 13 119 | 16,9 % |
| 2010 | 1345 | 1,1 % |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Derbent, formerly romanized as Derbend, is a city in Dagestan, Russia, located on the Caspian Sea. It is the southernmost city in Russia, and it is the second-most important city of Dagestan. Derbent occupies the narrow gateway between the Caspian Sea and the Caucasus Mountains connecting the Eurasian Steppe to the north and the Iranian Plateau to the south; covering an area of 69.63 square kilometres (26.88 sq mi), with a population of roughly 120,000 residents.
Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews, also known as Juhuro,Juvuro,Juhuri,Juwuri, Juhurim,Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews, are Jews of the eastern and northern Caucasus, mainly Azerbaijan, and various republics in the Russian Federation: Chechnya, Ingushetia, Dagestan, Karachay-Cherkessia, and Kabardino-Balkaria. The Mountain Jews comprise Persian-speaking Jewry along with the Jews of Iran, Afghanistan, and Central Asia. The Mountain Jews are the descendants of Persian Jews from Iran, and fall within the Mizrachi category of Jews. Mountain Jews took shape as a community after Qajar Iran ceded the areas in which they lived to the Russian Empire as part of the Treaty of Gulistan of 1813.
Dagestan, officially the Republic of Dagestan, is a republic of Russia situated in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe, along the Caspian Sea. It is located north of the Greater Caucasus, and is a part of the North Caucasian Federal District. The republic is the southernmost tip of Russia, sharing land borders with the countries of Azerbaijan and Georgia to the south and southwest, the Russian republics of Chechnya and Kalmykia to the west and north, and with Stavropol Krai to the northwest. Makhachkala is the republic's capital and largest city; other major cities are Derbent, Kizlyar, Izberbash, Kaspiysk, and Buynaksk.
Judeo-Tat or Juhuri is a Judeo-Persian dialect of the Tat language historically spoken by the Mountain Jews, primarily in Azerbaijan, Dagestan, and today in Israel. It belongs to the southwestern group of the Iranian division of the Indo-European languages with heavy influence from the Hebrew language. In the era of Soviet historiography, the Mountain Jews were mistakenly considered to be related to the Muslim Tats of Azerbaijan. However, they do not share a common linguistic heritage, as the Mountain Jews kept their native language, while the Muslim Tats eventually adopted contemporary Persian. The words Juvuri and Juvuro translate as "Jewish" and "Jews".
Historically, Dagestan consisted of a federation of mountainous principalities in the eastern part of the North Caucasus. Located at the crossroads of world civilizations of north and south, Dagestan was the scene of clashes of interests of many states and until the early 19th century, most notably between Iran and the Russian Empire.
Israel Tsvaygenbaum, is a Russian-American artist of Jewish descent. A number of his works are in the Museum of Imitative Arts, Derbent.
Nyugdi is a rural locality in Derbentsky District of the Republic of Dagestan, Russia.
Hizgil Davidovich Avshalumov was a Soviet novelist, poet and playwright. He wrote in languages of the Mountain Jews (Juhuri) and Russian. He was awarded the Suleyman Stalsky award. He was a USSR Union of Writers member.
Judeo-Tat literature is the literature of the Mountain Jews in the Juhuri language.
Boris Gavrilovich Gavrilov was a Soviet writer, poet, dramatist and teacher of Mountain Jew origin. He wrote in a language of the Mountain Jews (Juhuri). He was the founder of the Mountain Jews school. He was a compiler of the first grammar, textbooks and dictionary in Judeo-Tat.
Manuvakh Dadashev was a Soviet poet of Mountain Jew origin. He wrote in a language of the Mountain Jew (Juhuri).
Mikhail Gavrilov was a Soviet writer and poet of Mountain Jew descent. He wrote in Judeo-Tat and Russian. Mikhail Gavrilov held the title of Honored Worker of Culture of Dagestan.
Karchag is a rural locality and the administrative centre of Karchagsky Selsoviet, Suleyman-Stalsky District, Republic of Dagestan, Russia.
The Judeo-Tat Theatre in Derbent, Dagestan, Russia specializes in staging plays with themes related to the lives of Mountain Jews, which are created mainly by Mountain Jews. The plays are performed in the Judeo-Tat language (Juhuri).
Roman Savievich Izyaev was a Soviet, Russian and Israeli stage actor, artistic director, screenwriter and scenic designer of the Judeo-Tat theatre. For his contributions to the development of domestic theatrical art and many years of creative activity awarded with the Order of the Badge of Honour (1985). Founder and artistic director of the first Judeo-Tat language theater "Rambam" in Israel (2001-2017). He has performed with his theater in many cities in Russia, Israel, Azerbaijan, Canada and the United States.
Khanzhalkala (Khanzhal-Kala), also known as Khanjal-Kala is an abandoned Lezgin aul in the Magaramkentsky District of Dagestan. The name comes from Judeo-Tat and means "fortress of the dagger". It was protected not only by the steep slopes of the mountain on which it was located, but also by its fortress walls. It was abolished in 1968.
The Derbent Synagogue, also known as Kele-Numaz was the only synagogue in the city of Derbent in the Russian Republic of Dagestan. On 23 June 2024, it was destroyed in an attack on Derbent.
Yaakov Yitzhaki was a rabbi, scholar, religious Zionist and founder of the settlement of Be'er Ya'akov.
Judaism in Dagestan is mainly practiced by Mountain Jews. By the beginning of the 8th century BCE Mountain Jews had reached Persia from Israel. Under the Sasanian Empire, with the arrival in Dagestan of Iranian-speaking tribes from the north, they settled in different regions of the Caucasus.
The Jewish community of Makhachkala are Jews who have ever lived on the territory of modern Makhachkala, a city in the Russian Republic of Dagestan. During the Persian campaign in 1722 in Makhachkala was a camp for the troops of the Russian Emperor Peter I. Mountain Jews and Ashkenazi Jews were allowed to settle there.
