Chala (Uzbek:чала[tʃala]) is aTajik term meaning "neither this nor that,"[1] referring toBukharan Jews whowere coerced into converting toIslam from the late eighteenth century onwards.[2] In response, these Chala Jews outwardly practiced Islam, but secretly retained their Jewish traditions. Thesecrypto-Jews married among themselves and lived in their own separate neighborhoods that bordered on existing Jewish neighborhoods. The Chala Jews carry a very similar story to theDönmeh and to theMarranos of Spain.
Chala Jews were unable to return to their true Jewish faith due to the fatal consequences associated withleaving the Islamic faith. The Islamic rulership during this period imposed a death penalty against those renouncing their Islamic faith. Therefore, it was not until the emergence of Imperial Russia, and Soviet rule that Chala Jews were able to revert to their original faith.
By the 19th century, Chala communities had emerged in the cities of:Samarkand,Khiva,Kokand,Margilan, andShahrisabz. Often, it was not until two to three generations that Chala Jews would begin tointermarry with the local Muslim population and shed any remaining Jewish traditions.
The return of the Chala to Judaism began with theRussian conquest of Central Asia in 1867. While theKhiva andKokand khanates were incorporated into theTurkestan governorate, theBukhara Khanate remained autonomous and continued toenforce the death penalty against those who abandoned Islam. As a result, many Chala Jews illegally immigrated into Russian-controlled areas, to escape the certain threat of death. Although Russian law required that these newcomers be deported back to Bukhara and face an imminent death, the deportation orders were continuously delayed, and thus many had remained as permanent non-citizens of the Russian Turkestan region. Some Chala Jews also joined merchant guilds in order to provetheir economic use to the empire. Because Muslim law was retained in Bukhara for a longer period than in surrounding cities, by the time communist Soviet rule arrived in Bukhara, many members of the local Chala no longerself-identified as Jewish, having by then become fully assimilated into the Muslim population.[3]
Following theinstallation of Soviet rule in 1920, the religious distinction among the population was no longer officially recognized. Nevertheless, ethnic distinctions on passports enabled many Chala Jews to continue being counted as ethnicUzbeks andTajiks, rather than Jews.
In 2000, author Mansur Surosh published a novelChala ("The Outcasts"), which describes the experiences of the Chala.[4][5]