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Thehistory of the Jews in Kyrgyzstan is linked directly to the history of theBukharan Jews ofUzbekistan. Until the 20th century, most Jews living in the Kyrgyz areas were members of the Bukharian Jewish community. However, during the 20th century, large numbers of European Jews began to emigrate toKyrgyzstan, which was then part of theSoviet Union, and a small number of them still live in the country.
In Kyrgyz tradition, the term "Djeet," similar to e.g., Polishżyd, was used to describe Jews. It is mentioned in the Kyrgyz epic poemManas, which dates back to the 10th century CE. In Manas, several central-Asian cities are described as having Jewish communities in them, among themSamarkand,Bukhara, andBaghdad, though none of them have ever been inhabited by a majority of Kyrgyz people nor included in a Kyrgyz territory.
According to a census held in 1896, the Jews represented about 2% of the region's total population. DuringWorld War II, many Jews fled from the European parts of the Soviet Union to central Asia, including Kyrgyzstan, making the Jewish community of Kyrgyzstan a combined Ashkenazi community and Bukharian Sephardic one. The two communities functioned separately, and though it did occasionally happen, Ashkenazi–Sephardi intermarriages were rare.
Bukharan Jews, also known as "Bukharian Jews" or "Bukhari Jews," are Jews from Central Asia who speakBukhori, a dialect of theTajik language. Their name comes from the former Central AsianEmirate of Bukhara, which once had a sizable Jewish community. Since thedissolution of the Soviet Union, the great majority haveemigrated to Israel and the United States, while others have emigrated to Europe or Australia.
In his memoirs,Marco Polo mentions the existence of Jewish traders along theSilk Road, who passed through modern-day Kyrgyzstan, and builtsynagogues, and spokeAramaic. Famous Arab geographerAl-Maqdisi (946−1000) mentioned the cities ofOsh,Uzgen,Taraz and others as having communities of Jews.
Ashkenazi Jews first arrived in Kyrgyzstan with the conquest by the Russians. In the city ofKarakol, one Jew was recorded in 1885. By 1900, there were seven Jews in the city and by 1910, the city had 31 Jewish inhabitants. While in 1885,Bishkek had eight Jews, by 1913, there were 43 Jews in Bishkek. The city ofOsh had the largest number of Jews in Kyrgyzstan before the 20th century, due to its Sephardic Jewish community, which even had its Jewish cemetery outside the city.
During the beginning of the 20th century, numerous Jewish Businessmen owned businesses in the Kyrgyz area − among them Yuri Davidov, who owned cotton factories in theFergana valley, Boris Kagan, who established a network of bookshops, and the Polyakov brothers, who founded a branch of theAzov-Don Commercial Bank. Due to the need for doctors, teachers and engineers, many Ashkenazi Jews began to emigrate to Kyrgyzstan from European Russia.
It is known that the Jewish community of Osh bought itsTorah scrolls from its neighboring community of UzbekBukhara.
Until 1915, there were no synagogues in Kyrgyzstan. The nearest one was in Verniy, nowadaysAlmaty in Kazakhstan,Tashkent,Samarkand andFergana inUzbekistan. A separate Jewish cemetery operated only in Osh, while in all other cities Jews were buried in separate areas of the general Muslim/Christian cemeteries.
While there was no Jewish education in Kyrgyzstan, some Sephardic Jews in Osh sent their children to learn at theHeder in Samarkand. Ashkenazi Jews did not practiceJudaism publicly and sent their children to Russian schools.
AfterWorld War I, more and more Ashkenazi Jews came to Kyrgyzstan. Many representatives of different political parties were exiled to central Asia, or government officials were asked to work in rural areas such as Kyrgyzstan. With the outbreak of thebolshevic revolution, many political activists were sent to Kyrgyzstan to promote thecommunist ideas, andbolshevic rule −many of whom were Jews or of Jewish origin (from the far western part of the formerRussian Empire), such as G. Broido, who was chairman of the Bishkekcity soviet, and Pinchasov, Lifschitz and Frei, who were members of the local city soviets of Osh,Dzhalal-Abad, andTokmak. In 1920, the local ministry of education initiated a Jewish institute run by Simon Dimanshtein meant for the alphabetization of Sephardic Jews. In 1929, Alexander Volodarsky, a former Yeshiva student fromVitebsk, became the leader of the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Osh after being exiled fromBelarus due to his religious practices.
During the Second World War, more than 20,000 Ashkenazi Jews fled to Kyrgyzstan from the Nazi-occupied western parts of the Soviet Union. The Jewish Theater Company ofWarsaw, with the renowned actress Jewish-PolishIda Kamińska (1899−1980), was evacuated to Bishkek until it was moved back to Europe after the war. During that time, the theater performed in Bishkek inYiddish andRussian.
By 1945, some 70 Jews of the Bishkek community visited the local synagogue daily. On holidays, some 2,500[clarification needed] Jews visited the synagogue. Later, the synagogue began hosting Sephardic prayers for the city's Sephardi community. During the 1950s, the Jewish community of Bishkek reached about 3% of the city's total population. Jews became dominant in the local university, clinics and schools, living mainly in the Bishkek's center. On other cities, smaller communities of Jews had lived also in the center mostly.[1]
During the 1970s, some Jews began to emigrate toIsrael, though theSoviet government made it hard for them to emigrate. Later on, and especially from 1989 and on, the vast majority of the Kyrgyzstan Jewish community emigrated to Israel, leaving around 400 Jews living in the country as of 2018.[2]
In 2000, Rabbi Arie Reichman, member ofAlliance of Rabbis in Islamic States was sent by theChabad movement to serve the Jewish community of Bishkek as Chief Rabbi, and nowadays there is a Jewish day school named "Pri Etz-Chaim", teaching someHebrew and Jewish texts. The community is characterised by inter-religious marriage, and secular practice.
Jewish graves can be found at the Bishkek old and new cemeteries, in specific sections. Local cemetery workers usually know about these areas. In Dzhalal-Abad, at the local cemetery, Jewish graves are scattered all around the cemetery, marked usually by theMagen David sign.
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