Mountain Jews reel in wake of attempted Dagestan pogrom

In the predominantly Muslim region of Dagestan, Russia, live approximately 1,200 Jews; many of whom now live in fear of antisemitic attacks like those seen on Sunday.

Only days ago, hundreds of protesters invaded the airport and local hotels to hunt for Jews and Israelis who had landed on a flight from Tel Aviv. The local synagogue had also been attacked, in a further display of how a once thriving Jewish community is being targeted by hate.

Rabbi Alexander Boroda, president of Russia's Federation of Jewish Communities, said in response to the attacks that anti-Israeli sentiment had morphed into open aggression towards Russian Jews.

While a lot of media attention focused on the dramatic scenes that unfolded at the airport, little focus was placed on what this would mean for the native Jewish community that is embedded in the region, Mara Fahl, a representative of the Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF-USA), explained to The Jerusalem Post. 

Fahl has been working alongside Shosh Mitzman, the Jewish National Fund-USA-MAKOM Liaison, to help begin the intense task of organizing rescue efforts to bring the Mountain Jews to Israel where many members of their clan immigrated as part of a mass aliyah wave in the 1990s. 

Of Persian decent, Mountain Jews live in the eastern and northern Caucasus, mainly Azerbaijan, as well as various Russian Federation republics, Dagestan being one of them.

Mountain Jews who immigrated to Israel in the 90s predominantly live in Sderot and Ofakim, however many were forced to evacuate as a consequence of Hamas’s October 7 attack. This has created a deeper trauma, claimed Mitzman, who said that after facing Hamas’s terror and a barrage of rockets, they now face anxiety and worry over the safety of their family and friends in Dagestan. 

“When they first made aliyah, the Mountain Jew community really fell through the cracks, but they have used their incredible communal ties and called up their rich heritage and history to support each other and fill those gaps,” explained Mitzman.

“Now, they are desperately trying to use that same strength to save their brothers and sisters who are in immediate danger back in Dagestan," she said. "What was once a flourishing community that lived happily and peacefully with their Muslim neighbors is now terrified to leave their homes. We at MAKOM and at Jewish National Fund-USA are doing everything we can to support the community, and we hope to be able to assist them as quickly as possible.”

MAKOM (place), a JNF-USA affiliate, is "a coalition of communities focused on empowering and revitalizing their towns and villages in the Negev and Galilee."

Fahl went on to state how the Mountain Jews are now experiencing tremendous fear, unable to leave their homes in fear of attack. She explained that the sirens and fears experienced within Israel are very different from those faced by the Jews in Russia. The JNF-USA representative said that, while in Israel the enemy is known, in Russia anyone could be a potential assailant.

Stressing the importance of planning a rescue, Stas Mardakhayev, leader of the MAKOM Mountain Jews community in Israel, told the Post, “The Jews now in Dagestan are not a distant idea to us - they are our siblings, our aunts and uncles, our grandparents, and we are terrified for their safety. 

“I can’t describe how shocking it is to see neighbors who we played with as children and whom we visited when we went back, turn on our community so violently and so suddenly," he said. "The need to evacuate our community is sending shockwaves emotionally through all of us both in Dagestan and here in Israel.

“We are using every connection and every effort to rescue them, but we need help - and we need it now. Our community is strong, we have such a beautiful heritage going back thousands of years, and we are devastated that this ugly antisemitism could be the end of our history in Dagestan.”

Who are the Mountain Jews of Dagestan?

Mountain Jews can trace their proud origins back to the 7th century but were only granted the title of Russian in 1813 when Tsarist forces took the land over from Persia. The primary language spoken by this community is a mixture of Persian and Farsi, not Russian.

The Mountain Jews living in Ofakim and Sderot are proud of their heritage, observantly practicing their form of Judaism that closely resembles the traditions of Sephardic Judaism, Mitzman said. However, many felt excluded upon first arriving in Israel, she explained. Taking that experience to heart, the community has developed an appetite for volunteering in an effort to build an Israel open to all Jews. 

Despite Jews commonly facing mistreatment in Islamic countries and regions across the Middle East from before the State of Israel was founded, the Dagestan Jewish community lived in peace with their Muslim neighbors, Fahl said, adding that this is what made the events of the last week so shocking for them, she said.