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THE SUBBOTNIKS: AN ARMENIAN COMMUNITY ON THE FRINGE OF EXTINCTION
by Yasha Levine, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Journal
2006-09-15
A community of rural residents in the former Soviet Union, descended
from Russian peasants who converted to Judaism two centuries ago,
may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Mikhail Zharkov, the 76-year-old leader of Armenia's tiny Subbotnik
community, said only 13 of the 30,000 people living in his small alpine
town of Sevan are Subbotniks. There are three men and 10 women, and
all are nearing the age of 80. The community in Sevan is part of an
estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Subbotniks spread across the former Soviet
Union. Zharkov, a retired welder who is wiry and full of energy,
estimated that about 2,000 Subbotniks lived in Sevan during the
community's zenith in the 1930s.
Located at an altitude of 6,000 feet, Lake Sevan's turquoise waters
were seen as a vast exploitable natural resource. After Armenia became
a Soviet republic in the 1930s, the lake fell victim to disastrous
Soviet planning and industrial expansion.
During Soviet rule, the Subbotniks' religious freedom, which had
helped preserve their identity for almost two centuries, vanished,
along with their prime waterfront real estate.
According to Zharkov, Soviet authorities confiscated the Subbotnik
synagogue in the mid-1930s. It has since been privatized, and the
building no longer belongs to the community.
An unknown number of Subbotniks from elsewhere in the region immigrated
to Israel after the fall of the Soviet Union, but community members in
Sevan never dreamed of leaving for Israel. In Sevan, Soviet repression,
combined with Armenia's difficult economic conditions after the fall
of communism 15 years ago, tore into the fabric of the community.
"My son, who is 48, and daughter, who is 36, are in Moldova. And of
course, they have been baptized," Zharkov said. "They did it without
consulting me or my wife. My daughter had to. She married a Russian
Orthodox man."
Zharkov's family situation is mirrored in the rest of the
community. Sevan's Subbotniks have dispersed all over the former Soviet
Union and offer no financial assistance to their parents, Zharkov said.
"We lead a simple life, but life has become very expensive. Without
the aid of the Jewish community, we would have a very tough time,"
he said. "Our pensions are meager, not even enough to cover utilities."
The Armenian office of Hesed Avraham, a welfare center sponsored
by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, periodically
provides the Subbotniks with food packages.
The Subbotniks' mysterious 19th century conversion to Judaism,
strict adherence to the Torah and staunch refusal to convert back to
Christianity exposed them to repression and persecution. During the
rule of Czar Alexander I in the first quarter of the 19th century,
Subbotniks were deported en masse to remote parts of the Russian
empire.
According to Michael Freund, founder of Shavei Israel, an Israel-based
organization that reaches out to "lost Jews," the Subbotniks are spread
out in small pockets across remote corners of the former Soviet Union.
Sevan's Subbotniks do not know what part of Russia their ancestors
came from or what prompted them to convert to Judaism.
"Maybe they thought it a purer form of religion," Zharkov
speculated. Subbotniks derived their name from their observance of the
Sabbath on Saturday -- Subbota in Russian -- rather than Sunday. Most
Subbotnik communities practice circumcision, but otherwise, the
Subbotniks do not differ in outward appearance from other Russian
peasants.
The women wear head scarves and long skirts; the men dress in simple
slacks and shirts. They do not observe kashrut or Jewish dietary
laws, and their melodic Shabbat prayers, chanted in Russian, could
be mistaken for Russian folksongs. According to Gersh-Meir Burshtein,
who heads a small Chabad-sponsored synagogue in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan, the fact that the community owned two Torah scrolls is
proof that Sevan's Subbotniks once were well-versed in Hebrew.
Some years ago, one of the old Torah scrolls was taken to the Yerevan
synagogue, where it remains to this day. The other was stolen from
the small community.
Sevan's Subbotniks now sing and read out of their own Torah-based
Russian-language prayer book.
"Maybe at some point one of their elders realized that the community
was losing its Hebrew knowledge and adapted the Torah into a
Russian-language prayer book that they use now," Burshtein said.
by Yasha Levine, Jewish Telegraphic Agency
The Jewish Journal
2006-09-15
A community of rural residents in the former Soviet Union, descended
from Russian peasants who converted to Judaism two centuries ago,
may soon be consigned to the dustbin of history.
Mikhail Zharkov, the 76-year-old leader of Armenia's tiny Subbotnik
community, said only 13 of the 30,000 people living in his small alpine
town of Sevan are Subbotniks. There are three men and 10 women, and
all are nearing the age of 80. The community in Sevan is part of an
estimated 10,000 to 15,000 Subbotniks spread across the former Soviet
Union. Zharkov, a retired welder who is wiry and full of energy,
estimated that about 2,000 Subbotniks lived in Sevan during the
community's zenith in the 1930s.
Located at an altitude of 6,000 feet, Lake Sevan's turquoise waters
were seen as a vast exploitable natural resource. After Armenia became
a Soviet republic in the 1930s, the lake fell victim to disastrous
Soviet planning and industrial expansion.
During Soviet rule, the Subbotniks' religious freedom, which had
helped preserve their identity for almost two centuries, vanished,
along with their prime waterfront real estate.
According to Zharkov, Soviet authorities confiscated the Subbotnik
synagogue in the mid-1930s. It has since been privatized, and the
building no longer belongs to the community.
An unknown number of Subbotniks from elsewhere in the region immigrated
to Israel after the fall of the Soviet Union, but community members in
Sevan never dreamed of leaving for Israel. In Sevan, Soviet repression,
combined with Armenia's difficult economic conditions after the fall
of communism 15 years ago, tore into the fabric of the community.
"My son, who is 48, and daughter, who is 36, are in Moldova. And of
course, they have been baptized," Zharkov said. "They did it without
consulting me or my wife. My daughter had to. She married a Russian
Orthodox man."
Zharkov's family situation is mirrored in the rest of the
community. Sevan's Subbotniks have dispersed all over the former Soviet
Union and offer no financial assistance to their parents, Zharkov said.
"We lead a simple life, but life has become very expensive. Without
the aid of the Jewish community, we would have a very tough time,"
he said. "Our pensions are meager, not even enough to cover utilities."
The Armenian office of Hesed Avraham, a welfare center sponsored
by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, periodically
provides the Subbotniks with food packages.
The Subbotniks' mysterious 19th century conversion to Judaism,
strict adherence to the Torah and staunch refusal to convert back to
Christianity exposed them to repression and persecution. During the
rule of Czar Alexander I in the first quarter of the 19th century,
Subbotniks were deported en masse to remote parts of the Russian
empire.
According to Michael Freund, founder of Shavei Israel, an Israel-based
organization that reaches out to "lost Jews," the Subbotniks are spread
out in small pockets across remote corners of the former Soviet Union.
Sevan's Subbotniks do not know what part of Russia their ancestors
came from or what prompted them to convert to Judaism.
"Maybe they thought it a purer form of religion," Zharkov
speculated. Subbotniks derived their name from their observance of the
Sabbath on Saturday -- Subbota in Russian -- rather than Sunday. Most
Subbotnik communities practice circumcision, but otherwise, the
Subbotniks do not differ in outward appearance from other Russian
peasants.
The women wear head scarves and long skirts; the men dress in simple
slacks and shirts. They do not observe kashrut or Jewish dietary
laws, and their melodic Shabbat prayers, chanted in Russian, could
be mistaken for Russian folksongs. According to Gersh-Meir Burshtein,
who heads a small Chabad-sponsored synagogue in the Armenian capital
of Yerevan, the fact that the community owned two Torah scrolls is
proof that Sevan's Subbotniks once were well-versed in Hebrew.
Some years ago, one of the old Torah scrolls was taken to the Yerevan
synagogue, where it remains to this day. The other was stolen from
the small community.
Sevan's Subbotniks now sing and read out of their own Torah-based
Russian-language prayer book.
"Maybe at some point one of their elders realized that the community
was losing its Hebrew knowledge and adapted the Torah into a
Russian-language prayer book that they use now," Burshtein said.