Paul
Goble
Staunton, March 19 – The once large
and vibrant Mountain Jewish community in the North Caucasus has lost another of
its remaining leaders, Rabbi Iznyagu Pashayev, who led the 30 members of this
community still in the Daghestani city of Buinaksk before he was savagely beaten
to death earlier this week.
According to police, he was killed
by a man who objected to the fact that the rabbi had given shelter to his
sister when she had no place to go.
Assuming that is true, it suggests that the attack on Pashayev was not
driven by anti-Semitism but by those in that community who remain powerfully
affected by North Caucasus traditions (md-gazeta.ru/news/82671).
Only 762 people declared themselves
to be Mountain Jews (Tats) in the 2010 Russian census – most were in Daghestan
-- a far cry from the tens of thousands who did so only 50 years ago. Most have
emigrated to Israel where there are estimated to be more than 125,000 Tats,
although some have reidentified as Jews which may have further depressed their
number.
Rabbi Pashayev not only helped hold the
community survive but was active in restoring the local cemetery and reopening a
local synagogue, both of which were desecrated in Soviet times (stmegi.com/gorskie_evrei/posts/77241/spustya-30-let-ot-buynakska-do-ierusalima-ot-istoricheskoy-sinagogi-do-sozdaniya-muzeya/).
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