Shmuel Simantov: "Mountain Jews have managed to keep contact with religion and tradition"

Author: Petr Lukimson, Israel, exclusive to VK

For many centuries, Mountain and Georgian Jews have been an integral part of the family of the Caucasian peoples. The demographic upheavals of recent decades have concerned the two Jewish communities; their number in their places of traditional residence has declined. What is going on today within these communities? Have Mountain Jews in Azerbaijan and in the Caucasus any future? Petr Lukimson, the correspondent of VK, asked Rabbi Shmuel Simantov (Simanduev), one of the leaders of the community of Mountain Jews in Israel, the curator of a number of Jewish national projects in Azerbaijan and in Russia, to answer these and other questions.

- Rabbi Simantov, how large is the community of Mountain Jews now, and how does it differ from other Jewish communities?

 

- Answering this question, it is impossible not to recall the history of our nation. According to all historians, Mountain Jews settled in the Caucasus more than two thousand years ago. There are many proofs of this fact in the form of archaeological sites and ancient chronicles; the Talmud mentions a large Jewish community that lived in Tarabant, today's Derbent. Living side by side with other peoples of the Caucasus, keeping very close and friendly and good-neighbourly relations with them, Mountain Jews have managed to keep the religion of their ancestors and their unique language. In this sense, the community of Mountain Jews, of course, is an integral part of the Jewish people, as well as the communities of immigrants from Eastern Europe, Morocco, Yemen, etc. In the Soviet period, representatives of the Mountain Jews made an outstanding contribution to the development of various fields of science and culture. It is enough to recall the famous physician Gavriil Ilizarov in Kurgan, who created the famous orthopaedic clinic. There was an original literature in the language of Mountain Jews. Yet a significant part of the Mountain Jews have always been those who used to be called craftsmen and artisans in the Soviet Union. One of the main tasks of the men in our community has always been the ability to earn his family's living, so even during the Soviet period, many Mountain Jews preferred to work for themselves by producing and selling certain products, that is, doing something called business nowadays. Perhaps this explains the fact that the Mountain Jews and others were better prepared for the shocks of the 1990s and many of them became prosperous businessmen in different countries. But at the same time, the Mountain Jews, of course, have felt these shocks no less, and perhaps even more than anyone else. For thousands of years our community lived compactly on the territory of Azerbaijan and Dagestan; in the 1990s, in contrast, many Mountain Jews left for Israel, the U.S., Germany and other countries. There are now communities of Mountain Jews in all these countries.

- And what do you think is the main difference between the Mountain Jews and Jewish immigrants from Russia, Belarus and Ukraine?- In my opinion, one of the most significant differences lies in the fact that the Mountain Jews managed to keep in touch with the Jewish religion and tradition to a greater extent than Ashkenazi Jews. This seems to happen because in Azerbaijan and the Caucasus there has never been such anti-Semitism as in Russia or in Ukraine. The second reason is the compact living that I have already mentioned. While there were small Jewish towns in Eastern Europe, that is, Jews lived there compactly, Ashkenazi Jews were the main keepers of the tradition and, in many respects, the main driver of Jewish national culture. But to the extent that both towns were destroyed and the Jews migrated to the cities, they have increasingly lost touch with their national and religious roots. Mountain Jews continued to live in their communities and thus kept this link. Even now we realize this importance of families and communities for keeping our national identity. Therefore, in Israel and elsewhere, Mountain Jews continue to stick together. Typically, members of a large family do not settle in different cities and villages, but in one definite area of the city; after that this district attracts other large families, and thus a new community of Mountain Jews with its center in the synagogue appears. In Israel today there are such communities in southern Tel Aviv, Haifa, Hadera, Acre, Kiryat Gat, Or-Akiva and other cities. It should be noted that Mountain Jews have always felt their spiritual relationship with Israel, the land of their ancestors. Therefore today in Israel there are descendants of the Mountain Jews who came here a hundred, or fifty, or forty years ago. Most of them remember that their ancestors came from the Caucasus, but do not remember either the Mountain-Jewish language, nor any specific customs and traditions of our community. We also would like to keep both the language and other signs of our ethnic identity, both because it is the heritage of our ancestors, and in order to maintain a blood connection with the Mountain Jews living in other countries.
- Some Israeli ethnographers argue that after the exodus of the Jews from the former Soviet Union in the 1990s, the history of the Mountain Jews in the region ended. Let us say, in Russia and in Azerbaijan there was only a small number of Jews, who will disappear in the coming decades dissolving among the indigenous population...

- This is definitely not the case. Yes, many of the Mountain Jews left for Israel or the West, but not every one of them. Communities of Mountain Jews exist, they continue to live and grow in Baku, Cuba, Oguz and several other settlements in Azerbaijan. There are communities in Pyatigorsk, Kislovodsk and Nalchik, as well as in Krasnoyarsk Territory. In addition, a rather large community of Mountain Jews in Moscow appeared in the 1990s. There is also a community of Mountain Jews in Kazakhstan.

 

- Do you have data on how many Mountain Jews live in Moscow?

- The figures referred to are always different, but it is clear that we are talking about no less than 30,000 people. The second-largest community of Mountain Jews in Russia is the community in Pyatigorsk: from 8 to 11 thousand Mountain Jews live now in this city. And the community life in all these places is quite active; there are synagogues, Jewish schools, young Jewish couples celebrate their weddings. I say this as someone who often visits Baku, Pyatigorsk, and sometimes Moscow. In Baku and Pyatigorsk I supervise Jewish schools, and now I am also engaged in the construction of a new synagogue in Pyatigorsk (the old one is not big enough). By the way, there are three synagogues in Baku, two in Oguz, one in Nalchik and one in Pyatigorsk. So the rumors about the "death" of the Mountain-Jewish community in Azerbaijan and Russia are clearly premature.
- How would you characterize the current social status of the Mountain Jews
in Russia and Azerbaijan?- I understand why you ask this question. Both in Russia and in Azerbaijan, Mountain Jews were considered to be "hucksters," "speculators," etc. If I tell you that Mountain Jews are not engaged in trade, it would be a lie - of course they are. But, first, as I have already said,  in the last few years a number of Mountain Jews became prominent businessmen; secondly, in Moscow we see that Mountain Jews make a successful career in many other areas, such as law enforcement, government agencies, the education system, etc. And the same thing is happening in Azerbaijan. Many of the Mountain Jews who moved to Moscow retain close ties with Azerbaijan and are involved in many business and charitable projects of national importance both in Baku and inother cities of this country, such as building hotels, schools and hospitals... And this is natural: we have many things in common with the Azerbaijani people, and wherever we are, we continue to feel grateful to the Azerbaijani land, and we are connected with it, with our Azerbaijani friends and former neighbors.

- Are you happy with the way of the destiny of Mountain Jews in Israel?

 

- In Israel, by the way, we are called "Caucasian Jews." In the early 1990s, certain people disseminated negative stereotypes about our community; we were described as a community consisting entirely of mobsters and criminals. It is possible that the Israelis simply inherited all the Russian stereotypes about "people of Caucasian origin." But today we can say that our community has taken a well-deserved place in all spheres of Israeli society. Among the 120 Knesset members there is one Mountain Jew, Robert Tivyaev. Mountain Jew Simcha Yusupov is the mayor of Or Akiva, and if I start to consider the vice-mayors of Mountain Jewish origin, I will not manage to stop counting. Professor Yakub Yakubov is one of the most famous Israeli mathematicians. Mountain Jews are active in business, education and industry. And, of course, many members of our community are now in the Israeli army and police, and some have taken very responsible positions. However, we should recognize that the state has created a lot of programs specifically for the Caucasian Jews so that they get quickly integrated into Israeli society.

- The most burning problem of the Jewish people today is assimilation, according to many experts; the result is that the number of the Jews not only has not grown but has also decreased recently, To what extent has this process affected the community of Mountain Jews? - Assimilation is a really painful problem. We are a small nation, and therefore we feel the very painful loss of each our son or daughter. Of course, there are assimilation processes among Mountain Jews. In particular, they have increased in connection with the same shocks of the 1990s: the departure of many men from Azerbaijan to Russia to work provoked the destruction of many families of Mountain Jews and a crisis of the family as a whole. Nevertheless, the rate of assimilation among Mountain Jews is much less than among the Jews of Europe or the United States. - It is said that the Mountain Jews still think it is extremely important to marry among their countrymen. Is it true that Azerbaijani immigrants living in Israel still travel to Cuba and Oguz searching for brides? - As for Cuba and Oguz, I will not say anything because I do not know. But, of course, the custom of getting married amongst one's countrymen is still kept. However, if before it was considered important that the girl lived in the same village as the guy, now it's certainly not the case. Of course, it happens that a guy from Israel is taken to Azerbaijan to get acquainted with the girl, but it also happens that a guy from Azerbaijan arrives in Israel in search of a bride, or a potential groom from Israel goes to the U.S in search of a bride. All of this exists, but it is, I repeat, not the rule.
- What is the relation to the Mountain Jews outside of Israel?
-  I will not speak about Azerbaijan - as you know, there has never been anti-Semitism there, and today the population and the local authorities are very friendly to the Jewish community and support many projects related to it. There is almost the same attitude towards the Jews in the North Caucasus. Kadyrov , the leader of Chechnya, said recently that if the Jews return to the territory of the republic, he will do everything to revive their national culture. State anti-Semitism in Russia does not exist, and this is obvious. But in Moscow a Mountain Jew could face a manifestation of xenophobia towards him both as a Jew and as a "person of Caucasian origin". But this is clear: Moscow is a metropolis which accommodates people coming from all the towns and villages, with their own biases and prejudices, and therefore it is possible to face anything.

 

- How do you see the future of the Mountain-Jewish community?- Like all Jews, we associate the future with the arrival of the Messiah. You have just asked questions about assimilation and loss of connection to our roots. But I think now there are just the reverse processes within our community, such as the return to religion, to our roots. We, Mountain Jews, are a people which do everything heartily. I repeat: we are, of course, Israelis, an integral part of the Jewish people. But at the same time, I am deeply convinced that, being a sub-ethnic group, we need to maintain our own identity, as well as other communities. We have a lot in common, but things which make us different, sure, should not divide us, but fill the common treasury of our national culture.