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| History ofKazakhstan | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
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General SecretaryJoseph Stalin evacuated thousands ofAshkenazi Jews from other parts of theSoviet Union to theKazakh SSR. Duringthe Holocaust 8,218 Jews were evacuated to Kazakhstan between August 1941 and January 1942.[1][2] SomeBukharan Jews,Mountain Jews,Georgian Jews, andIranian Jews also lived in Kazakhstan.
AChabad-Lubavitch synagogue inAlmaty is named after RabbiLevi Yitzchak Schneerson, father of theRebbe, who is buried at the city's cemetery, close to the synagogue. Levi Yitzchak Schneerson was exiled to Kazakhstan from Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk, where he was a chief rabbi.[3] Lubavitcher Jews from all over the world come to pray at his grave.[4]
Yeshaya E. Cohen, theChief Rabbi of Kazakhstan, and leader of theAlliance of Rabbis in Islamic States toldKazinform on January 16, 2004 that a newsynagogue would be built inAstana. He thanked PresidentNazarbayev for "paying so much attention to distinguishing between those who truly believe and those who want to hijack their religion."[5] President of theEuro-Asian Jewish Congress, presented Nazarbayev with amenorah on 7 September 2004.[6]
Kazakhstan's Jewish population rapidly increased between 1926 and 1959, being almost eight times larger in 1959 than in 1926. Kazakhstan's Jewish population slowly declined between 1959 and 1989, followed by a much larger decline after thefall of Communism between 1989 and 2002 due to massive Jewishemigration, mostlyto Israel.[7]
| Year | Pop. | ±% |
|---|---|---|
| 1926 | 3,548 | — |
| 1939 | 19,240 | +442.3% |
| 1959 | 28,085 | +46.0% |
| 1970 | 27,676 | −1.5% |
| 1979 | 23,601 | −14.7% |
| 1989 | 20,104 | −14.8% |
| 1999 | 6,823 | −66.1% |
| 2009 | 3,578 | −47.6% |
| 2019 | 4,064 | +13.6% |
| Source:[a] | ||
Jewish Kazakh fencerYakov Rylsky (1928–1999) was a Soviet Olympic and world champion sabre fencer.
At present, there are several thousand Jews inKazakhstan, most of whom areAshkenazi Jews.[12][1]
There are estimated to be approximately four dozen Persian Jewish families living inKazakhstan, which call themselves Lakhloukh and speakAramaic. They still hold identity papers from Iran, the country their ancestors left almost 80 years ago. These Persian Jews lived near the border of Iran and commonly practiced trade to sustain their communities. The most popular Lakhloukh Jewish family being the Malihi family, whom are all descendants of Jaha Malihi (A noble in the Persian Empire)[13]
There aresynagogues and large Jewish communities inAlmaty where there are 1,000 Jews inAstana andPavlodar. Most of the Neo-Aramaic speaking Jews ofSalmas now reside in Almaty.[14] There are smaller communities inKaraganda,Shymkent,Semey,Kokshetau,Taraz,Oral,Aktobe, andPetropavl.
There are twenty Jewish Kazakh organizations, including the Mitzvah Association,Chabad, theAmerican Jewish Joint Distribution Committee,Jewish Agency for Israel, and theAll-Kazakhstan Jewish Congress (AKJC). The Jewish communities formed the AKJC in December 1999 in a ceremony attended by Kazakh government officials andUnited States Ambassador to Kazakhstan,Richard Jones.
There are fourteenJewish day schools attended by more than 700 students. There is a Jewish kindergarten in Almaty.[15] Between 2005 and 2006 attendance in religious services and education in Almaty among Jews greatly increased. Thegovernment of Kazakhstan registered eight foreignrabbis and "Jewish missionaries". It has also donated buildings and land for the building of new synagogues.[12][1]
According to theNational Coalition Supporting Soviet Jewry, "Antisemitism is not prevalent in Kazakhstan and rare incidents are reported in the press," contrary to incorrect perceptions in popular culture caused by the country's portrayal in the 2006 filmBorat as a "hot-bed of Antisemitism."[16]
... moved virtually the entire community in 1950 to Almaty in Kazakhstan, where a large proportion of the Jews speaking the Salmas dialect can be found to this day. [inc. 2018]
History of the Jews in Asia | |
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