Ethnography of Mountain Jews Based on Materials from the 1994 Expedition

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Abstract

Almost thirty years ago, a joint Russian-Israeli expedition took place, working in the places where Mountain Jews lived in Azerbaijan and Dagestan. The ethnographic materials collected during this event remained unclaimed for a long time. The article fills this gap. In contrast to the existing descriptions (Judas Chernyi, Mikhail Bezhanov, Ilya Anisimov, Mikhail Ikhilov, etc.), data from about a dozen interviews with informants conducted by the team members allow us to take a fresh look at ethnography of Mountain Jews. Previously, researchers sought to solve for themselves the question of the origin of this group and, willy-nilly, paid primary attention to the preservation of the “common Jewish” component in its culture. The 1994 material shows many micro-traditions among various local communities of Mountain Jews, which helps to clarify how they coexisted with adherents of other religions for centuries.

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About the authors

Leonid Dreyer

Russian State University for the Humanities

Author for correspondence.
Email: svivon@mail.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-5848-068X

старший преподаватель

Russian Federation, 6 Miusskaya sq., 125993, Moscow, GSP-3

Igor Kuznetsov

Institute of Linguistics, Russian Academy of Sciences; Institute of Ethnology and Anthropology, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: i.kuznetsov@iling-ran.ru
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-6947-244X

кандидат исторических наук, старший научный сотрудник

Russian Federation, 1 bld. 1 Bolshoy Kislovsky Lane, 125009, Moscow; 32-a Leninsky prospect, Moscow, 119991

Rita Kuznetsova

Kuban State University; Institute of Oriental Studies, Russian Academy of Sciences

Email: ritakuznetsova2015@yahoo.com
ORCID iD: 0000-0002-2233-2378

старший преподаватель

Russian Federation, 149 Stavropolskaya St., Krasnodar, 350040; 12 Rozhdestvenka St., Moscow, 107031

References

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2. Fig. 1. Participants of the expedition on the territory of the Zoroastrian temple (ateshgah) in the village of Surakhany, July 1994. In front is I.V. Kuznetsov, in the background are A. Cohen (sitting) and B. Khaimovich. Photo by L.M. Dreyer

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3. Rice. 2. Synagogue of the upper quarter. Vartashen (Oguz), July 1994. Photo by L.M. Dreyer

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4. Fig. 3. Street and house in the Mountain Jewish quarter of Vartashen, July 1994. Photo by L.M. Dreyer

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5. Fig. 4. Hypothetical model of the “genesis” of Mountain Jews

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