Frida Yusufov: "It's time to say goodbye to the illusion of "a Caucasian woman"

Author: Interview by Petr Lyukimson, Israel, exclusively to VK

In August, the first congress of the World Forum of the Mountain Jewish women was held in the Israeli city of Beersheba; this congress became a notable event in the life of the community of Jewish immigrants from the Caucasus and in the Jewish world as a whole. The Forum was attended by the representatives of the Mountain Jewish community from around the world - from Canada to Australia. Frida Yusufov, one of the founders of the new organization and its chairman, artist, writer, researcher and passionate advocate of dzhuuri (Mountain-Jewish language), spoke on the issues which were discussed in the course of this Congress, and the "women's front" of the community of Mountain Jews to the correspondent of VK.

- What inspired you to create the World Forum of the Mountain Jewish women? What specific problems and goals did you pose planning its creation?

- The idea of ​​the Forum, Jewish women have long been maturing. But only this year me and my colleague, journalist Hannah Raphael-Mishiev, were able to implement the project, with the support of the vice-president of the Russian Jewish Congress, the President of the International Charitable Foundation STMEGI German Zaharyaev and deputy of the municipality of Beersheba, counselor of Absorption Minister Valeri Migirov. One of the main objectives of the Forum was to bring together our women. For the first time we were able to come together and discuss issues of raising and educating children, maintaining our language and unique national culture, employment and career of the Mountain Jewish women in the world and much more. This is necessary in the modern multi-level world where all these problems have intensified. One of the main goals of our organization is the creation of a strong and representative women's lobby, as well as improving the image of our community and its cohesion.

In addition, we have identified a number of specific steps to be taken. For example, the creation of courses involving psychologists, specialists in young families in today's society, the implementation of a number of projects to improve the education of our youth, to attract its interest to our history and the heroic past of his people and his country, the awareness of its importance and preservation of our native language.

- How was the Forum held, and who was among its guests and participants?

- The Forum has become one of the most important events in the life of our community in the summer of 2012. On behalf of the government the delegates were welcomed by the Minister of Immigrant Absorption Sofa Landver. She noted the importance of the meeting and highlighted the fact that on the order of Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman her Office developed the target program of support for the Mountain Jewish community. Among the guests there were member of the Knesset Tivyaev, president of the Guild of Russian Lawyers Mirzoev, Consul General of the Russian Federation Popov, chairman of the Association "Lemaan yotsey Kavkaz" Alkhazov, representative of STMEGI in Israel Abramov. For us it was very important that the Congress was attended by the leader of the women’s organization of the community of Mountain Jews of New York "Ha-Tikva", President of the Caucasian youth center «Kavkaz JYC» Yusufov, Vice President, Member of the American Forum of Russian Jewry and of the organization "Russian-speaking Jews of America - for Israel, the deputy editor of" Dawn of the Caucasus " Nisanova, director for cultural projects of the Center for the Communities of Caucasian Jews of Toronto Manashirova-Hanukaeva, youth coordinator of the International Foundation STMEGI in Moscow Izraeva, head of the women's club "Hearth"in Derbent Mikhailova, and President of the Association of Jews from Azerbaijan in the U. S. Tomris Azeri. But most of the participants were the leaders of the Mountain-Jewish communities and activists of women's organizations from the cities of Israel with Mountain-Jewish communities, such as Acre, Tirat Carmel, Haifa, Netanya, Hadera, Or Akiva, Migdal Emek, Hinanita, Sderot, Beer Sheva, Tel Aviv and others.

- What, in your opinion, are the main problems of women in your community? Are these issues common to all current and former residents of the Caucasus?

- Today many Mountain Jewish women, and, as far as I know, many women of other peoples of the Caucasus are trying to combine their active professional career with the role of mother and homemaker. Frankly speaking, it is not easy, because a number of people from the Caucasus still have strong psychological stereotypes. It can be even more difficult, if all this is happening at a time when the family has to settle down in a new place, a new country. Hence, it becomes clear why in the community there were many broken families recently. It should be noted that many of Mountain Jewish women who immigrated to Israel with higher education could not confirm their diplomas and get a good stable job in their field. It is also a problem, and we need to resolve it.

- What is happening today in the families of the Mountain Jews? Can we speak of the crisis of the Caucasian family in general and the Mountain Jewish family in particular?

- In recent years, in our community there are many single mothers. Of course, raising children at the appropriate level and giving them a good education is much harder in single-parent families. Another problem is the emergence of intermarriages with the members of other Jewish communities or families; this often leads to the loss of the native language, traditions and culture. If in the Caucasus Mountain Jews lived in their patriarchal families, with parents and the family of the spouse, after immigration young families prefer to live separately. Unfortunately, we are losing one of the best qualities of our people - the unquestioning respect for elders. Also, when women are concerned about the conditions of survival in a new country, a key issue is how to protect children from the bad influence of the street, to organize their leisure.

- What is the current status of women in the community of Mountain Jews? Has the attitude of the Mountain Jews to the education of a woman changed?

- In many families, women are earning a lot more than their husbands, and men's status, perhaps, is a little humiliated, because in the Caucasus it has always been assumed that the main breadwinner of the family is a father. But the status of women in our community is a little different from that of women in other Jewish communities. Yes, probably, in some families there is still the primitive rudeness between spouses, the unrestricted tyranny of the men in the family, the powerless situation of the women. But, believe me, it is a small group of families, whose number is constantly decreasing. I note that in the Israeli society, unfortunately, there is an opinion on our community as uneducated. And it is a deeply mistaken view! Despite the small size of the Mountain Jews community, we have 20 academicians, and many well-known personalities. Among women, there are professors and candidates of science, people of creative professions, journalists. If you read "Short Encyclopedia of Mountain Jews” which appeared relatively recently, you can see that a large part of the list of members of the Union of the Mountain Jewish writers and artists in Israel are women. Now girls of our community focus on higher education and, of course, building a modern family, not a patriarchal one. In my view, there are similar processes now in the Caucasus, so it's time to say goodbye to some stereotypes about a "Caucasian women".

- What changes have occurred in recent years in the minds of the Mountain Jews regarding women in the military?

- If the Jews from the Caucasus, who arrived in Israel in 1970, chose not to let the daughters serve in the army, now it depends on the choice of a girl. Our girls will gladly serve in the army, and those who do not wish to do it choose alternative service. Over the last decade there has been a clear change in the mind of the parents regarding the army. To date, according to statistics, 50% of Caucasian women are serving in the IDF. This is a fairly large percentage compared to the previous situation; the number was much smaller before. Now our girls can serve, and parents allow them to do this, knowing that the girl in the army may find herself, learn something new, go to university after demobilization. I should stress this in the course of our conversation about the changes that are taking place in the community of immigrants from the Caucasus. If before early marriages were the norm, now our girls want to serve; after military service they are trying to get a higher education and a career. Many of the girls in our community become officers in very high positions in the military structures. By the way, August 29, we are planning to hold a special discussion of the Forum on the problems of relations between the Israeli army and the community of Mountain Jews.

- Nevertheless, lately I have often heard that due to the growing interest of the Mountain Jews to religion the families turn back to the past and believe that the girl need only an elementary education, and its task is to create a family. Is this true?

- This is not entirely true, depending on the family values ​​of a definite family. Among my religious tribeswoman, there are many of those who did a brilliant medical, academic or administrative career. Both in religious and in non-religious families, girls are trying to get an education on par with their peers from other sectors of society. It is necessary to maintain spiritual uplift among the Mountain Jewish youth to prevent the rapid fall of morality which characterizes the atmosphere of the modern world.

- What are the main goals of the Forum?

- The Forum will support and create an atmosphere to discuss relevant issues, to establish contact with women's organizations in the world and the Jewish Congresses. Our Forum is currently unable to be the tool for solving personal problems of different women, or for supporting specific social groups. The forum will be the basis for meeting, networking and communication, transfer of experience, female education or professional development of the leaders of women's groups, women's extended dialogue; this is the basis that will help local leaders to support women in the community. One of the main goals of the organization is to create strong and representative women's leadership in the community. And I hope that we can make our dream come true.