History of Jews in Armenia

Settlement

The history of the Jewish community of Armenia has more than 2,000 years ^[3] . Jewish settlements already existed in ancient times in all major cities and capitals of Armenia.

The Oral Torah (Midrash of Eikh Rabah, ch. 1) says that the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar after the destruction of the First Temple in the 5th century BC. e. drove some Jews to Armenia ^[4] .

In the IV century BC e. in Armavir there was a large Jewish settlement.

While Tsar Yervand IV was on the throne of Armenia, Jews from Armavir were relocated to the new capital - the city of Yervandashat . With the advent of Artashes, the capital of Armenia is transferred to the city of Artashat that he built, to which Jews from the former capital also resettle.

The Armenian historian Movses Khorenatsi , describing these events, reports:

Artashes goes to the confluence of Erash and Metsamor and, having taken a fancy to the hill here, builds a city on it and calls it by his own name Artashat ... Removes the captured Jews from the city of Yervand, who were transferred there from Armavir, and settles them in Artashat

- ^[5]

The policy of the resettlement of Jews in Armenia was continued by another Armenian king, Tigran II the Great , who ruled in 95 - 55 years BC. e. . According to Hovhannes Draskhanakertzi

Tigran, having put in order a lot and arranging, goes to Palestine and captures many Jews

- ^[6]

During his military campaign, the king of Armenia, having captured many Jews, takes them to their native lands, where he settles in the city of Armavir and in the village of Vardkes on the banks of the Kasakh River. Another time, the work of his father was continued by Artavazd II , who reigned in 55 - 34 years BC. e. Having intervened in the internecine war of the Jews for the throne, having taken one of the parties, it takes away the supporters of the other, who lodges in the city of Van ^[7] .

The first wave of Jews resettled by Tigran eventually converted to Christianity , and the second wave of resettlement (organized by Artavazd ) - Van Jews - continued to continue to practice Judaism ^[3] .

Armenian kings developed cities, and Jewish settlements were needed for their development, since the latter had the skill of urban life. As a result, the number of Jews in Armenia has increased significantly, in some cities - up to half of all residents. Jews in Armenia developed trade and crafts, so Josephus , who is being received by the Roman empress, answered the question what he knows about Armenia, answered: Jews in Armenia live well ^[8] . Armenian cities of this period retained a Hellenistic appearance and lived relatively freely, Jews made up a significant part of the urban population in Armenia and played an important role in trade ^[9]

The rulers did not impede the free movement of residents of various faiths, which contributed to the well-being of the Jewish communities involved in trade and crafts ^[10] .

According to Movses Khorenatsi, the Bagratuni clan , which later gave rise to two royal dynasties - Armenian and Georgian ^[7] , came from Jews captured and resettled after the conquest of the kingdom of Israel within Armenia ^[11] . Bagratuni owned a vast territory, including Mount Ararat , where, according to legend, were the remains of Noah's ark . They managed to unite several rival feudal principalities and became rulers of all of Armenia ^[10] .

Relocation

Stability and prosperity ended when many Jews were deported to Persia as a result of the capture of Armenia - the Shah of the Sassanid dynasty , Shapur II . The number of Jews of that time is clearly shown by the data of the fifth-century Armenian historian Favstos Buzand , who describes a significant number of Jewish families captured by invaders who invaded Armenia . So, according to him, Jews were driven from six cities of Armenia : for example, 30 thousand Jewish families were driven from Yervandashat , 18 thousand from Van , 16 thousand families from Nakhichevan ^{[7] [12]} . In total, 83,000 Jews were evicted from Buzand from five cities of Armenia ^[13] (the expulsion of the Jews by the Persians is described by the Armenian author Raffi in the historical novel “ Samvel ”, in which the whole chapter of the novel is dedicated to Jews stolen from Armenia in the 5th century ). At the same time, the Talmud mentioned the sage Yakov from Armenia (Gittin 48a) ^[14] , in addition, the yeshiva (school of Torah study) in the Armenian city of Nizbis was also mentioned ^[4] .

By 1375, after the fall of Cilician Armenia, Jewish communities began to disappear as single ethnic communities, many began to accept Christianity. According to the Jewish Encyclopedia, published in 1901 - 1906 , of the 5,000 Jews living on the lands between the cities of Van and Mosul , by the beginning of the 20th century, only 360 people still adhered to Judaism, the rest accepted the Christian faith ^[10] . An interesting fact is that as early as the beginning of the 20th century, peasants from villages and villages that surrounded Van, saw in the inhabitants of the city Jews who were resettled to Armenia by Tigran the Great ^{[15] [16]} .
In November 1603, Shah Abbas I with his 120 thousandth army captured Armenia , after which, as the 18th century writer Arakel Davrizhetsi writes, he ordered all Armenians - both Christians and Jews to be evicted .. - to Persia so that the Ottomans would come and find the country depopulated ^{[17 ]} , later an Armenian writer with sympathy and sympathy described the history of Jews living under the rule of Persian kings. ^[7] . These data clearly explain why there are so few Jews left in Armenia , almost all of them were resettled to Iran .

The state of the community in the XIX-XX centuries

In 1840, the Jews of Erivan province were represented by two communities - Ashkenazi (European) and Iranian. The first community had a prayer house, the second - the Sheikh Mordechai synagogue, which has been operating since 1860 , where, along with Hebrew, the Persian language was also in use ^[3] . According to the first general census of the population of the Russian Empire conducted in 1897 on the basis of the distribution of the population according to their native language, there were 850 people in the Erivan province (664 men and 206 women), most of whom lived in cities ^[18] In the first half of the 20th century , Jews in Armenia declined, so in 1926, according to official figures, there were only 335, more than twice as many men as women ^[3] . According to the scientist Abraham Galanti , at the beginning of the 20th century, there was a Judeo-Armenian religious community in the city of Aegin , which called itself “Pakradunis”. According to him, the traces of the stay of the Jewish population are evidenced by the surname Israelyan common in Armenia , that is, in Armenian, the son of Israel. The name of the ancient Armenian settlement Aegin is translated as “sight” or “source”. It is in Hebrew transcription similar to the word ayin ^[10] .

The modern Jewish community is mainly represented by Jews who came to Armenia from different republics of the former USSR . The first settlers appeared in the mid-1930s, Jews were evacuated here during the Great Patriotic War. The second resettlement occurred in the postwar years and was due to the fact that Armenia was booming. According to studies, 37% of present-day Jews settled in Armenia until the 1960s. Another wave of Jews arrived in Armenia from 1965 to 1972 , thus the number of Jews in Armenia in the second half of the 20th century was more than 10 thousand people ^{[19] [20]} . In 1989, about 70% of Jews named Russian as their native language, 26% - Yiddish, and 5.6% - Armenian ^[3] .

The late 1980s and early 1990s were marked by events in Nagorno-Karabakh , an earthquake , and an aggravation of social problems. But, in spite of everything, the organization of the Armenian-Jewish cultural relations “AREV” was established at that time, and in 1991 the Jewish religious community of Armenia was organized, the first chairman of which was Ulanovsky. Then the first Jewish Sunday school “Tora Or” (“Light of the Torah”) was opened in the republic. In 1992 , having received official status in the Committee on Religious Affairs under the President, the religious community of Armenia was registered. In early 1993, a unifying Council of the Jews of Armenia was created ^[3] . The modern Jewish community of Armenia consists of Ashkenazi migrated to Armenia, as well as Russian subbotniks and Armenians who converted to Judaism.

Current status

In 1992 - 1993, about 6 thousand Jews left Armenia . At present, Jews in Armenia number from 500 to 1000 people; moreover, in recent years, Jews have begun to return to Armenia ^[3] . Three ^[21] Jewish organizations operate in Armenia - the Jewish Community of Armenia (JCA), the Jewish Religious Community of Armenia (JRCA) ^[19] and the Jewish Cultural Center Menorah in Armenia (JCC Menora).

The Jews of Armenia mainly speak Russian, many learn Hebrew, most speak Armenian well. Since 1995, Hebrew has been taught at Yerevan State University . In 1999, in Yerevan, near the memorial dedicated to the Armenian Genocide, the Jewish community of Armenia planted 12 trees identifying the 12 tribes of Israel , and a stone was erected in memory of the victims of the Holocaust ^{[19] [22]} .

Since 1994, the Menorah Jewish Cultural Center has been operating in the country under the guidance of a famous musician, Honored Art Worker of Armenia, member of the Union of Israeli Composers Willy Weiner ^{[23] [24]} . The center unites more than 50 people. Over the years of its activity, many charity events, concerts, festivals, creative evenings and other cultural events have been organized, both in Armenia and far beyond its borders.

On September 27, 2006, a monument dedicated to genocide and the Holocaust was unveiled in the center of Yerevan . The Jewish community of Armenia initiated its creation in the center of the Armenian capital. In 2007, the Cultural Center of the National Communities of Armenia was opened, in which all the non-titular nations of the republic are represented. It is located on two floors of one of the tallest buildings in the center of Yerevan ^[3] .

On the street Nar-Dosi, 23 in Yerevan , the Jewish religious center of Armenia “Mordechai Navi” is located, headed by rabbi Gersh-Meir Burshtein, who periodically leaves to serve in the synagogue of Sevan ^[19] . The Mordechai Navi Community Center consists of a prayer hall, as well as a charity canteen and Sunday school. Every week on Shabbat after prayer, the Center arranges meals at which they talk about everything related to Jewish traditions, weekly chapters of the Torah are explained in adult courses. Celebrations on the occasion of each Jewish holiday are also held here. Also, the Orot Hesed charitable community center operates under the Jewish community, which is sponsored by the reben Leia Premysler. The Sunday school “Tora Or” continues to work, the community newspaper “Coel” is functioning ^[3] . Since March 2004, the community began production of kosher food in Armenia , which is exported to Israel and the Jewish communities of other countries ^[25] .

The Jewish community of Armenia is a member of the Euro-Asian Jewish Congress (EAJC) and the World Congress of Russian Jewry (WRCU). At the end of 2002, the community, with the support of the EAJC, began publishing a community newsletter ^[19] .

From May 11 to 12, 2009 in Yeghegis (Yeghegnadzor district of the Republic of Armenia) a scientific symposium was held on the theme “Residence of Jews in Yeghegis” ^[26] , and on February 24, 2010, a presentation was held at the Matenadaran Institute of Ancient Manuscripts in Yerevan books “Jews of Armenia: the Middle Ages” about the history of the stay of Jews in Armenia in the Middle Ages. The book reflects the results of scientific research on the religious and secular life of Jews in Armenia . Soon the Jewish community intends to publish a book on the history of the modern Jewish community of Armenia ^{[27] [28]} .

Anti-Semitism

In Armenia, there are marginal politicians using the theme of anti-Semitism. So, in 2004, presidential candidate Tigran Karapetyan (gaining 0.68% in the 2008 presidential election) attributed the Jews direct participation in the organization of the Armenian Genocide ^[29] . In January 2005, for repeated attempts to incite ethnic hatred between Armenians and Jews, the chairman of the “Armenian-Aryan Order” party Armen Avetisyan was arrested and sentenced to three years ^{[29] [30]} .

The memorial to the victims of the Holocaust in Yerevan, built by the Jewish community of Armenia and the Armenian diasporas from different countries ^[31] , has been repeatedly desecrated since its establishment in 1999 . ^[32] In 2007, commenting on the act of vandalism, the Chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Armenia, Rabbi Gershon-Meir Burshtein, noted that the incident was terrible, since there are excellent relations between Armenians and Jews. The last time the monument was desecrated in 2010 ^[33] .

In 1996, important archaeological discoveries were made in the territory of Armenia , tombstones were found, which contained texts in Hebrew and Aramaic. They were found near the village of Yeghegis in the Vayots Dzor region in the south-east of the country. Similar discoveries have already taken place. So, Archimandrite Fr. Garegin (Hovsepyan) in 1910 discovered a tombstone unlike any other, a photograph of which he sent to the famous scientist Nikolai Mar. The slab was a stone 1.4 by 0.6 m in size, containing an inscription in four lines, which was deciphered by Professor P.K. Kokovtsov ^[14] .

 

Niftar ha-bakhur ha-kasher he-'anaw // mar khawaga Sharaf 'aldin ben ha-zaqen khawaga Sabay S [ofo] "T [ov] // melekh ha-kavod yanikhehu' im 'Abraham Yickhaq we-Ya'aqov // We-Yeqayyem 'al qavrato yikhyu metekha navlati yaqumun we-g [amre] shenat ATTKh

An honest, righteous, humble young man died, // our lord, hawaja Sharaf-ed-Din, the son of Sabay, may he end well. // The King of Glory, may he rest with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob // and fulfill in relation to his burial, “Thy dead shall live, my corpses shall rise.” [Is. 26:19] Year 1808 [Seleucid era = 1496/1497 n. e.] ^[14]

. Later in 1912, a note appeared in the writings of the Imperial Academy of Sciences about the cemetery in the village of Ehegis ^[34] . Attempts were made to study the cemetery back in the late 1970s, but then serious archaeological work was not carried out. Dating from the middle of the XIII century ^[7] , and some specifically by 1337 , these finds are convincing evidence of the existence of the Jewish community in Armenia from ancient times to the New Age ^[10] . The loud scientific fame of the local burial after Professor Michael Stone of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem stated that

After this discovery, a trilateral agreement was signed between the University of Jerusalem, the Yerevan Institute of Archeology and Ethnography and the Armenian Apostolic Church, and a joint expedition was organized in 2000-2001. The expedition, in addition to Armenian scientists, included Professor Michael Stone , archaeologist Dr. David Amit , photographer Yoav Leff and Harvard University doctor Sergio Laporta , as well as other scientists ^[35] . During the work, 12 tombstones with twenty inscriptions were found and investigated, which date from the period from the 50s of the 13th century to the beginning of the 14th century . The stones do not differ in shape from the Armenian tombstones of the same time - most likely they were made by Armenian masters, and then the text in Hebrew and Aramaic was applied to the plates. According to published reports, one of the inscriptions in Hebrew with an admixture of Aramaic expressions reads:

Niftar Baba bar David be-khodesh Tammuz shenat aleph-taf-resh - dokhran tav lenichot nafshata
Baba, the son of David, died in the month of Tammuz, the year 1600 (1289 AD), let his soul rest. ^[14]

Mikhail Nosonovsky from Boston believes that if the dating of the monuments is correct, we can talk about the existence of a Jewish community in Yeghegis not only at the end of the 13th century , but for more than 230 years, at least until the end of the 15th century ^[3] . According to some reports, the inscription on the wall of the Armenian church near Yeghegis states that the land on which it was installed was purchased from the Jews ^[14] .

• “ Righteous of the world ” under the Israeli Law on the Memory of the Holocaust (1951) refers to non-Jews who unselfishly saved Jews during the Nazi occupation of Europe. On January 1, 2009, the Israeli Memorial Institute-Museum Yad Vashem awarded the honorary title “Righteous of the World” to 13 Armenians ^{[19] [36]} .
• About Jews in Armenia, directed by Vardan Akchyan, the 56-minute documentary “The Jews of Armenia: the Hidden Diaspora ” was shot. The film was nominated for the best documentary film AFFMA International Film Festival - Raleigh Studios in Hollywood ^[37] .

• Rimma Varzhapetyan. Jewish community of Armenia. - Yerevan: Lusabac Publishing House, 2012 .-- 191 p. - 400 copies. - ISBN 978-9939-69-005-6 .

• Armenians in Israel

• Jews of Armenia
• site of the "Jewish community of Armenia"
• Jews of Armenia (English) , (Armenian)