International Association of Jewish
Genealogical Societies - Cemetery Project
ARMENIA
THE JEWISH COMMUNITY
Three distinct, unrelated populations of Jews have lived in Armenia -- in ancient, medieval, and modern times. The earliest Jews arrived in Armenia by the 1st century BCE or 1st century CE. The precise fate of the ancient Armenian Jews is not known. Many centuries later, other Jews arrived in other parts of Armenia, apparently coming from Persia. By the middle of the 13th century CE, a thriving Jewish community was established in the city of Eghegis. However, there was no continuity between the Armenian Jews of the Middle Ages and the Jews that settled in Armenia in the 19th and 20th centuries. Again, there is a mystery about the fate of the medieval Armenian Jews.
The contemporary Jewish populations of Armenia are descended primarily from Ashkenazic Jews from Europe, with a smaller number of Mizrakhim. In the early 19th century, Jews from Poland and Persia started to settle in Armenia's capital, Yerevan. In the 1920s, many Jews from European sections of the Soviet Union resettled in Armenia. More Russian Jews arrived during and after World War II, swelling the Jewish population of Armenia to about 5000 people. The next wave of Jews came to Armenia between 1965 and 1972. The Jewish population reached about 10,000 at its peak in the second half of the 20th century. Today, however, there are considerably less Jews living in Armenia. There may be as few as 1000 Jews in Armenia today, of which perhaps about 500 inhabit the city of Yerevan. The rate of intermarriage between Jews and Armenians is very high. The majority of 20th-century Armenian Jews immigrated to Israel in the early 1990s when the Soviet Union collapsed.
The Yerevan synagogue is operated under the direction of a Chabad Lubavitch rabbi. Rimma Varzhapetyan (Feller) was the President of the Jewish Community of Armenia as of the start of 2002. Armenian Jews widely celebrate Rosh Ha-Shanah, Purim, and Hanukkah and attend Shabbat services. Many Armenian Jewish children are involved in singing and dancing activities. The community also sponsors cultural events, meals for veterans, medical services, and Holocaust commemorations.
In general, Armenia and Armenians have good relations with Jews and Israel. But some Armenians wrongly place blame on Jews for the killing of Armenians in 1916 and despise the Jewish friendship with Turks and Azerbaijanis.
Sources:
THE CEMETERIES
ALAYAZ :
see EGHEGIS
ASTVATSATSIN SPITAKAVOR :
During medieval times, at least one Jew owned land at Astvatsatsin
Spitakavor, part of the village of Vernashen (once called Srkoghovk) in
the Vayots Dzor region.
"An additional surprise was
the discovery of an Armenian inscription that mentioned the purchase
of a plot of land by an Armenian from a Jew, considering that
throughout the Middle Ages in Europe Jews were not permitted to own
land. This discovery was at Spitakavor Astuadzadznin."
Source: Gerald E. Ottenbreit, Jr., http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/news/stone2.html [February 4, 2002]
BASHKEND :
a former name of VERNASHEN
DVIN :
Dvin was the capital of Armenia in antiquity. It may have had a Jewish settlement in ancient times, but the traces of this settlement have not yet been recovered. The archaeologist Niwra Nagopian excavated at Dvin during the 1960s.
"A careful study of the site showed that the excavations, that have centered around the main public buildings, including the Cathedral, have never reached the parts of the city where a Jewish community might be expected to live." Source:
http://micro5.mscc.huji.ac.il/~armenia/ArmTrip01_Reports.htm#report_2 [May 2001]
EGHEGIS :
In the Middle Ages, a Jewish community existed in the city of Eghegis, in the Siwnik region. Jewish tombstones in Eghegis which contain years were engraved between 1266 and 1497.
"The pillars uncovered turned out to be the elegant tombstones of about 40 graves: They bore Hebrew inscriptions, quotations from the Bible and various Hebrew names, and constitute "a tremendous find," according to [Michael] Stone. The researchers have concluded from them that there had been a Jewish settlement in the area during the Middle Ages, which was associated with the rulers of the region. Presumably, it was not isolated but part of a larger community settled in the surrounding region. ... Niftar baba dar David
behodesh Tamuz shnat aleph-taf-resh - dokhran tav lenichot nafshata" read one
inscription, which marks the death of one of the members of the community in the
year reckoned by the calendar used by the Jews of the East (and still used by
the Jews of Yemen) which is equivalent to the year 1289 CE. In Aramaic, the
inscription wishes the deceased "good memory and rest for the soul."
In another epitaph, a father mourns his young son and expresses his belief in the
eternity of the soul, citing passages from Isaiah's prophecy on the resurrection
of the dead. On a third tombstone is cited a blessing of Aaron the priest from
the Temple, in beautiful Hebrew. After the tombstones had been
exposed for many years to the depredations of the weather, the inscriptions on
some of them were eradicated." Source: Daphna Lewy, "The Lost Jews of Armenia", Ha'aretz [February 4, 2001]
"In the bank of the flour mill two women's tombstones were discovered ...
The following are very provisional decipherments:
- Inscription no. 1:
- Side 1: "The engaged woman Esther, daughter of
Michael; may her portion be with our matri[archs ŠŠŠ. her pure tomb Š."
- Side 2:
"Grace is a lie and beauty is vanity. The woman, God-fearing, and moreover give
her Š Written on the 18th of the month of Tishre in the year" (date, ca. 1250)
- Inscription no. 2:
- "Blessing of ??? ABBREVIATION. Amen." Geometric
ornaments including an inscription on one side cover the marker. "Rachel
daughter of Eli; may her repose be in the Garden of Eden".
Source: Hebrew University Armenian Trip 2001,
http://micro5.mscc.huji.ac.il/~armenia/ArmTrip01_Reports.htm#report_2 [May 7, 2001]
"The number of oblong gravestones, curved on one side and flat on the other, has risen to over 60. Most lie in a grassy area bordered by gnarled walmut trees at the foot of soaring, basalt cluffs... But not all the tombstones are in the 1,550-square-meter area that comprises the cemetery. Aside from the smooth stones first noticed by [Abraham] Mkrtchyan in the river, eight more help support a rickety footbridge crossing it, and others form part of the foundation of a nearby ruined 14th-century mill. Still others are believed to be in the walls and foundations of villagers' homes. ... The Hebrew, and sometimes Aramaic, inscriptions carved into the basalt gravestones make it possible to sketch an outline of a Jewish community of perhaps 150 people from the mid-13th century to 1337 on the edge of Eghegis, which was then a prosperous Armenian city." Source: Frank Brown, "Stones from the River", The Jerusalem Report [September 24, 2001]
"These stones, which were shaped from granite into oblong cylinders, contain Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions ... The community existed contemporaneously with Jewish communities in neighboring regions like Georgia, Iran, Azerbaijan, Dagestan, the Crimea, and Ukraine. ... To date, over 62 Jewish gravestones have been located at various sites in Eghegis -- including the Jewish cemetery, the foundation of a mill, and the lower support of a foot-bridge. At the cemetery, some of the stones are positioned on open graves while others are on sealed
graves. A number of the stones had magnificent ornamentation. Some of
the symbols on the Jewish gravestones -- like a spiral wheel -- were
also in use on Armenian Christian stonecrafts around the same time. ...
It is evident from the gravestones that many typical Hebrew names were in use among the Jews of medieval Armenia." Source: Kevin Alan Brook, "The Unexpected Discovery of Vestiges of the Medieval Armenian Jews", Los Muestros: The Sephardic Voice [December 2001]
"Aside from Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions, the stones also have
several graphical designs depicting an ox, an eagle, a lion, and two
slightly different wheel of life designs. Based on Jewish and Armenian
iconographic tradition, Dr. Stone concludes that the gravestones,
although inscribed by Jewish artisans, were quarried at the same mines
and had their pictorial decorations applied by the same craftsmen who
made contemporary Armenian gravestones, such as those of the Orbelian
family on the other side of the village."
Source: Gerald E. Ottenbreit, Jr., http://www.umd.umich.edu/dept/armenian/news/stone2.html [February 4, 2002]
"A letter was published
yet in 1912 in a little-known Russian Journal Khristianskij Vostok
(Christian Orient) by a leading Russian orientalist Prof. N[ikolay] Marr
about a similar monument found in 1910. The stone (size 1.6 x 0.4 m)
was found in the Muslim-Turkish village of Alagaz near historical
Eghegiz in Voyotz-Tzora province of Armenia. The inscription has four
lines, two lines on one side of the stone include a name of the
deceased and two lines on the opposite side include a blessing, in a
similar manner to the inscriptions found recently. ... Russian Hebraist Prof. P[avel] Kokovtsov translated it from Hebrew: "... Passed away young, pious, and modest
Mr. khawaja Sheraf-ed-Din, son of old khawaja Sabay, let his end be in good.
Let the King of Dignity lay him in peace with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.
And let fulfill over his grave 'your dead will resurrect, my corpse will stand up' etc. (Is. 26:19) Year 1808 (=1496/1497 CE)." ... Muslim names and titles in the inscription are remarkable: Sharaf-ed-Din, Sabay, Baba, khawajah (Mister or Teacher). The word khawajah is of Persian origin and it probably indicates that the Jews who settled in Eghegiz came from Persia and kept Persian as their spoken language. Biblical quotations and Talmudic formulas are evidence of a high learning standard in the community."
Source: Michael Nosonovsky, "Medieval Jewish Community in Eghegiz, Armenia", Zametki po evreyskoy istorii [March 3, 2002]
"The tombstones, made of local basalt, were rounded on one side and flat on the other. Most contained no inscriptions but those that did were inscribed in clear Hebrew script. "The use of standard Jewish funerary formulae and abbreviations, as well as the familiarity with rabbinic sources, show that the Eghegis community cultivated a tradition of Jewish learning," Stone and Amit
wrote in a preliminary report. "They show a relatively high standard
of Jewish culture." ... The cemetery's discovery has led to a reexamination of Armenian historical sources which has turned up references to Jewish communities at several other locations in Armenia." Source: Abraham Rabinovich, "Jewish Evidence in 'Jewless' Armenia", Jerusalem Post [April 11, 2002]
EGHEGIZ :
see EGHEGIS
ELEGIS :
see EGHEGIS
EREVAN :
see YEREVAN
SIWNIK PRINCIPALITY :
see SIWNIQ PRINCIPALITY
SIWNIQ PRINCIPALITY :
see related entry EGHEGIS
SRKOGHOVK :
a former name of VERNASHEN
SUNIK PROVINCE :
see SIWNIQ PRINCIPALITY
SYUNIK PROVINCE :
see SIWNIQ PRINCIPALITY
VAYOTS DZOR REGION :
Located southeast of Yerevan; see related entries EGHEGIS, ASTVATSATSIN
SPITAKAVOR
VERNASHEN :
A village in Vayots Dzor region; see related entry ASTVATSATSIN SPITAKAVOR
YEGHEGIS :
see EGHEGIS
YEREVAN :
The Jewish Community of Armenia erected a memorial stone to Holocaust victims in the center of Yerevan. Source:
http://www.iatp.am/ [February 2002]
UPDATE: Vayots Dzor, south and west of Yerevan. "Hebrew University Expedition Studies Jewish Cemetery in Armenia" NCSJ, 2020 K Street, NW, Suite 7800, Washington, D.C. 20006. Phone: (202) 898-2500; Fax: (202) 898-0822; Email:
ncsj@ncsj.org, Web site:
www.ncsj.org.
http://www.ncsj.org/AuxPages/010301Armenia.shtml [September 2002]
UPDATE: "The largest wave of Jews arrived in Armenia between 1965 and 1972, mainly engineers, members of intelligentsia and military, and families of eugenics from Russia and Ukraine attracted by the more liberal regime in Armenia at that time. The Jewish community today comprises some 1000 individuals. Yet, because of an extremely high intermarriage rate among Jews now living in Armenia, some analysts consider the number several hundred higher. ... Today, approximately 400 Jewish families reside in Armenia. ... Jewish community of Armenia rents an office in the Center of Yerevan. ... The chairman of the Jewish community of Armenia, Mrs. Rimma Varzhapetyan (Feller). "
http://www.iatp.am/ [September 2002]
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Revised Tuesday, July 01, 2008 08:53:16