Georgian Jews
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Georgian Jews | |
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| Total population | 100,000 (est.) |
| Regions with significant populations | Georgia: 10,000-20,000 (est.) Israel: 60,000 (est.) |
| Language | Gruzinic, Georgian, Hebrew, local languages of the countries in which they live |
| Religion | Judaism |
| Related ethnic groups | Related by tradition and ancestry: Jews Related by language: |
The Georgian Jews (Georgian: ქართველი ებრაელები Qartveli Ebraeli; Russian: Грузинские евреи Gruzinskie Yevreyi; Hebrew: יהודי גאורגיה Yehudei Gruziya) are from the nation of Georgia, in the Caucasus.
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[edit] Population
The Georgian Jews have traditionally lived separately, not only from the surrounding Georgian people, but even from the Ashkenazi community in Tbilisi. The community, which numbered about 100,000 as recently as the 1970s, has largely emigrated to Israel, the United States, Russia and Belgium. As of 2004, only about 10-20,000 Georgian Jews remain in Georgia. For example, the Lezgishvili branch of Georgian Jews have families in Israel, Moscow, Baku, Duesseldorf, Cleveland.
[edit] Georgian Jews in the twentieth century
Alienation between the Ashkenazi Jews and Georgian rabbis took place at the beginning of the twentieth century. After the suppression of the revolution of 1905, the Russian authorities took a hard line with the Jews living in the Russian Empire. The Georgian Jews turned away from the Russian Jews and emphasized their loyalty to the monarchy. On May 26, 1918, the Georgian Republic declared its independence. The Jewish communities of Georgia underwent a radical change. The newly acquired freedom of speech, freedom of press and freedom to organize led to a renewed involvement of the Jews in public events. It also sharpened the ties between the Zionists and their opponents. One of the Zionists’ successes was the founding of a Hebrew school with a Zionist orientation in Tbilisi in 1917.
The conquest of Georgia by the Red Army in 1921 delivered a heavy blow to the hopes of both the Zionists and their opponents. Initially, the new regime adhered to a policy with respect for local religious beliefs. Zionist activities were not impeded either. After an anti-Russian and anti-Soviet rebellion in Georgia was suppressed, the situation changed for the worse from 1924. Due to the hostile treatment of the Jews of Georgia by the Communists, as well as a result of the deteriorating economic situation, the Zionist leadership started to direct its efforts at aliyah (immigration) to Eretz Israel. The Soviet authorities opposed these efforts. During the 1930s, the economic and political situation worsened even more. Political and Zionist activity were suppressed by the Soviet authorities. Many activists were arrested or murdered.
During World War II, thousands of Georgian Jews fought the Nazis as soldiers in the Soviet Army and many of them lost their lives. The only Jewish cultural institution that continued to exist was the History and Ethnographic Museum, opened in Tbilisi in 1933. About 60 pictures by Shalom Koboshivili, representing daily Jewish Georgian life and the history of the Jews of Georgia, were exhibited. The museum was closed, however, in 1951, several years after its director, Aharon Krikheli, was arrested in 1948. Some of the exhibited objects were transferred to the Historical and Ethnographic Museum of Georgia at 3-5 Rusetavili Street and to other museums' collections and some pictures by Koboshivili disappeared.
The Georgian Jews' identification with the State of Israel reached its peak after the 1967 Six-Day War. Initially, the Soviet authorities turned down requests of Jews to emigrate to Israel. In August 1969, seventeen Jewish families from Georgia sent a letter to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations, demanding emigration to Israel. The letter was the first public demand by Soviet Jews for emigration to Israel. It caused an intensive campaign on the part of the government of Israel and the Jewish world to allow the emigration of Soviet Jews to Israel. A second letter was sent in November 1969, to U Thant, Secretary General of the United Nations, through Golda Meir, then Prime Minister of Israel. In July 1971, a group of Georgian Jews held a hunger strike in front of the central post office in Moscow. The struggle of the Georgian Jews led to a historic change in the attitude of the Soviet authorities. During the 1970s, mass emigration took place. About 30,000 Georgian Jews left for Israel, and some to other countries, approximately 17% of the Soviet Jewish emigrants during that period. The number of Jews in Georgia decreased from 28,300 in 1979 to 24,800 in 1989. In 1991, Georgia declared its independence. Several thousands of Georgian Jews have immigrated to Israel since then. In 1993, the number of Jews in Georgia was estimated at 14,500.
[edit] Language
The traditional language of the Georgian Jews is Gruzinic (also called Judæo-Georgian), a variant of Georgian, characterized by a large number of Hebrew loanwords, and written using either the Georgian alphabet or Hebrew alphabet. Besides speaking Gruzinic, the Georgian Jews speak the languages of the peoples surrounding them. In Georgia, these include Georgian and Russian. In Belgium, French, in the United States, English, and in Israel, Hebrew.
[edit] History
The Georgian Jews are among the most ancient communities of the Jewish diaspora, although the exact dates of their arrival are the subject of some disagreement. The various claims are that they arrived:
- Following the Assyrian destruction of the Northern Kingdom of Israel in 770 BCE.
- Fleeing Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian armies around 586 BCE.
- Following the destruction of the Second Temple by Roman armies in the first century.
Some other sources give other dates, but none later than the second century C.E. It is entirely possible that the community is an amalgam of refugees from all of these historical calamities.
[edit] External links
- World Congress of Georgian Jews
- Jewish life in Georgia from Canadian Jewish News
- Jewish Community of Tbilisi
