Mountain Jews Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews also known as Juhuro, Juvuro, Juhuri, Juwuri, Juhurim, Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews ( he, יהודי קווקז ''Yehudey Kavkaz'' or ''Yehudey he-Harim''; russian: Горские евреи, translit=Gorskie Yevrei ...

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, also known as the

Juhurim Mountain Jews or Caucasus Jews also known as Juhuro, Juvuro, Juhuri, Juwuri, Juhurim, Kavkazi Jews or Gorsky Jews ( he, יהודי קווקז ''Yehudey Kavkaz'' or ''Yehudey he-Harim''; russian: Горские евреи, translit=Gorskie Yevrei ...

, refers to immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Mountain Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. Mountain Jews descent in Israel are considered part of the

Mizrahim Mizrahi Jews ( he, יהודי המִזְרָח), also known as ''Mizrahim'' () or ''Mizrachi'' () and alternatively referred to as Oriental Jews or ''Edot HaMizrach'' (, ), are a grouping of Jewish communities comprising those who remained i ...

History

Even before the advent of

Zionism Zionism ( he, צִיּוֹנוּת ''Tsiyyonut'' after ''Zion'') is a Nationalism, nationalist movement that espouses the establishment of, and support for a homeland for the Jewish people centered in the area roughly corresponding to what is ...

, the

had a desire to return to Zion, which many did in the 1840s and 1850s. Founders of Beer Yaakov, 1908

First wave of emigration: 1881–1947

Mountain Jews were among the first to make

Aliyah Aliyah (, ; he, עֲלִיָּה ''ʿălīyyā'', ) is the immigration of Jews from Jewish diaspora, the diaspora to, historically, the geographical Land of Israel, which is in the modern era chiefly represented by the Israel, State of Israel ...

, with some immigrating independent of the Zionist movement, while others came inspired by it. They were represented at the Zionist congresses and the first Mountain Jewish settlers in

Ottoman Syria Ottoman Syria ( ar, سوريا العثمانية) refers to divisions of the Ottoman Empire within the region of Syria, usually defined as being east of the Mediterranean Sea, west of the Euphrates River, north of the Arabian Desert and south ...

established the modern Israeli town of

Be'er Ya'akov Be'er Ya'akov ( he, בְּאֵר יַעֲקֹב, ''lit.'' Jacob's Well) is a city in central Israel, near Ness Ziona and Rishon Lezion. The town has an area of 8,580 dunams (~8.6 km²), and had a population of 30,338 in 2022. History Be'e ...

in 1907. In the early 1920s,

Baku Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world a ...

became one of the centres of the Jewish national movement, and Zionist newspapers were published in

Juhuri Judeo-Tat or Juhuri (''cuhuri'', , ) is the traditional language of the Mountain Jews of the eastern Caucasus Mountains, especially Azerbaijan and Dagestan, now mainly spoken in Israel. The language is a dialect of Persian which belongs to the s ...

.The Electronic Jewish Encyclopædia: Baku
/ref>

1948–1970s

The Mountain Jews living in the

Soviet Union The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...

celebrated the creation of the

State of Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

loudly and proudly, which led to repression by Soviet authorities. Many were arrested and imprisoned for engaging in "anti-Soviet propaganda." The

Six-Day War The Six-Day War (, ; ar, النكسة, , or ) or June War, also known as the 1967 Arab–Israeli War or Third Arab–Israeli War, was fought between Israel and a coalition of Arab world, Arab states (primarily United Arab Republic, Egypt, S ...

resulted in an eruption of Jewish patriotism among Mountain Jews, although the broader Zionist awakening didn't take place until the early 1970s. It was then when over 10,000 Mountain Jews (about a quarter of the population) emigrated to

1990s–present

Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The dissolution of the Soviet Union, also negatively connoted as rus, Разва́л Сове́тского Сою́за, r=Razvál Sovétskogo Soyúza, ''Ruining of the Soviet Union''. was the process of internal disintegration within the Sov ...

, thousands of Mountain Jews moved to Israel. During the

First Chechen War The First Chechen War, also known as the First Chechen Campaign,, rmed conflict in the Chechen Republic and on bordering territories of the Russian FederationФедеральный закон № 5-ФЗ от 12 января 1995 (в реда� ...

, some left due to the violence. Despite the usual close relations between Jews and Chechens, many were kidnapped by Chechen gangs who ransomed their freedom to "the international Jewish community."

Notable people

Yekutiel Adam Yekutiel "Kuti" Adam ( he, יקותיאל "קותי" אדם; November 3, 1927 – June 10, 1982) was an Israeli general and former Deputy Chief of Staff of the Israel Defense Forces. Biography He was born in Tel Aviv to Yehuda and Elisheva Adam ...

Udi Adam Aluf Ehud "Udi" Adam ( he, אהוד "אודי" אדם; born 22 January 1958) is a former general in the Israel Defense Forces and the former head of the Israeli Northern Command. Biography Adam was born in Tel Aviv to a Mountain Jewish family. ...

Yafa Yarkoni Yafa Yarkoni ( he, יפה ירקוני, also Yaffa Yarqoni, 24 December 1925 – 1 January 2012) was an Israeli singer, winner of the Israel Prize in 1998 for Hebrew song. She was dubbed Israel's "songstress of the wars" due to her frequent perfo ...

Sarit Hadad Sarit Hadad ( he, שרית חדד, ) (born on September 20, 1978) is an Israeli singer. In October 2009, the Israeli Music TV Channel (Channel 24) named Hadad "best female singer of the 2000s". She represented Israel at the Eurovision Song Contes ...

Lior Refaelov Lior Refaelov (or Rafaelov, he, ליאור רפאלוב; born 26 April 1986) is an Israeli professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or as a winger for Belgian First Division A club Anderlecht. He began his career at Macc ...

Omer Adam Omer Adam ( he, עומר אדם; born October 22, 1993) is an Israeli singer whose music fuses elements of eastern Mizrahi music (Oriental-Middle Eastern) and Western Pop instrumentation. In 2009, he participated in the seventh season of ''Kokha ...

Astrix Avi Shmailov (Hebrew: אבי שמיילוב) under his stage name Astrix, is an Israeli trance music DJ and producer specializing in the subgenre of progressive psychedelic trance. In 2006 Astrix reached #41 in DJMag's "Top 100 DJs" yearly r ...

* Eli Babayev * Albert Solomonov

Sources