Bukharan Jews in Israel

Bukharan Jews in Israel, also known as the Bukharim, refers to immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Bukharan Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel.

Bukharan Jews in Israel
Total population
100,000–120,000
Regions with significant populations
Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Or Yehuda, Lod, Holon
Languages
Hebrew, Bukhori, Russian
Religion
Orthodox Judaism

History

The first Bukharan Jews to make Aliyah arrived in the 1870s and 1880s, establishing the Bukharim quarter in Jerusalem.[1]

1881–1947
Jewish immigrants from Bukhara at Atlit

In 1890, seven members of the Bukharan Jewish community formed the Hovevei Zion Association of the Jewish communities of Bukhara, Samarkand and Tashkent.[2] By 1914, around 1,500 Bukharan Jews had immigrated, and 4,000 more arrived in the early 1930s.[3] In 1940, publications in Bukhori were shut down by the Soviets along with most Bukharan schools.[4][3]

Bukharan selling vegetables in Jerusalem

1948–1990

In 1948 began the "Black Years of Soviet Jewry," where suppression of the Jewish religion resumed after stopping due to war.[5] In 1950 thirteen religious Bukharan Jews in Samarkand were arrested and sentenced to 25 years.[6] Similar arrests happened to prominent Bukharim in Kattakurgan and Bukhara.[6] The Six-Day War led to a rise in Jewish patriotism among Bukharan Jews and many carried out demonstrations as refuseniks.[7] Until 1972, there was no major immigration of Bukharim to Israel. It was from then until 1975 when 8,000 managed to immigrate from the USSR.[8] By 1987, 32,000 Bukharan Jews lived in Israel, around 40% of the Bukharim. In 1990, there were riots against the Jewish population of Andijan and nearby areas. This led to most Jews in the Fergana Valley immigrating to Israel or the United States.[7]

1990s–present

From 1989 to 2005 over 5,000 Bukharan Jews from Kyrgyzstan came to Israel due to increased hostility in the region.[3] In 1992, there was a secret airlift operation which brought a small number of Bukharan Jews from Tajikistan to Israel. From 1989 to 2000, over 10,000 made aliyah from Tajikistan.[3] Today, most Bukharim live in Israel with a significant population in America. Only 1,000 Jews remain in Tajikistan, 1,500 in Uzbekistan, and only 150 in the city of Bukhara.[9]

See also

References
  1. Lili, Eylon. "Jerusalem Architectural History: The late Ottoman Period". Jewish Virtual Library.
  2. Rapport, Evan (2014). Greeted With Smiles: Bukharian Jewish Music and Musicians in New York. p. 33. ISBN 978-0199379033.
  3. "Virtual Jewish World: Bukharan Jews".
  4. Levin, Zeev (29 June 2015). Collectivization and Social Engineering: Soviet Administration and the Jews of Uzbekistan, 1917-1939. p. 204. ISBN 978-90-04-29471-4.
  5. Gitelman, Zvi (Apr 22, 2001). A Century of Ambivalence, Second Expanded Edition: The Jews of Russia and the Soviet Union, 1881 to the Present. Indiana University Press. pp. 144–145.
  6. Zand, Michael. "BUKHARA vii. Bukharan Jews". Encyclopædia Iranica.
  7. Blady, Ken (2000). Jewish Communities in Exotic Places. Rowman & Littlefield. p. 185.
  8. Minahan, James B. (Feb 10, 2014). Ethnic Groups of North, East, and Central Asia: An Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 41.
  9. Higgins, Andrew. "In Bukhara, 10,000 Jewish Graves but Just 150 Jews". New York Times.
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