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Tracing the Identity of Bukharan Jews

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Tracing the Identity of Bukharan Jews Alanna E. Cooper. Bukharan Jews and the Dynamics of Global Judaism. Indiana Series in Sephardi and Mizrahi Studies. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 2012. xxix + 305 pp. $30.00, paper, ISBN 978-0-253-00650-9. Reviewed by Zeev Levin Published on H-Judaic (November, 2013) Commissioned by Jason Kalman (Hebrew Union College - Jewish Institute of Religion) Spanning three centuries, Alanna E. Cooper's covers three centuries from the eighteenth to the Bukharan Jews and the Dynamics of Global Ju‐ twentieth and its geographical scope moves be‐ daism provides a glimpse into the establishment tween Central Asia, the Middle East, and North and formation of Bukharan Jewish identity. America. Through various "test cases" divided by time and The introduction provides an ethnographic place, Cooper sets the stage for her main argu‐ account of an encounter between Bukharan Jews ment: that continuous and ongoing center-periph‐ and Ashkenazi teachers in a religious school in ery (and vice versa) "conversations" have shaped New York City in the early 1990s. It presents the the complex of self and group identities of Bukha‐ different approaches and various labels attached ran Jews. Cooper describes her book as neither an to new immigrants by the mainstream (Orthodox) ethnography of Central Asia's Bukharan Jews, nor religious establishment in Brooklyn. The second an overview of Judaism as a global religion, but chapter frames the study and describes the setting rather a project that aims to capture both simulta‐ and theoretical approaches on which the research neously. It is a courageous endeavor to which she is based. has devoted more than a decade to research and The second part of the volume opens with an an additional decade to refining her ideas and for‐ encounter between a renowned emissary from mulating her thoughts into a complete volume. the Holy Land, Rabbi Yosef Maman, and the Jews The manuscript is divided into four sections. Ex‐ of Central Asia. This historical narrative takes the cluding the introductory part, each of the remain‐ reader back to the eighteenth century and its lega‐ ing three sections covers "conversations" (her cy. Two chapters present the encounter and the term) that took place during different centuries in transformations that the Jewish community in different political and geographical environments Central Asia underwent as a result. While revising in Central Asia and beyond. All in all, the volume H-Net Reviews the memory of this encounter through historio‐ world by introducing a variety of abstract and graphical analysis, the author presents the center- global definitions of Judaism and Jewishness-- periphery paradigm through whose prism the through the responses (and conflicting percep‐ memory of this interaction was shaped and writ‐ tions) of various local informants. Following her ten. informants to Tel Aviv and New York, Cooper The third part skips forward to the late nine‐ presents various migration experiences that have teenth and early twentieth centuries. It presents created generation gaps and dramatically influ‐ the transformations that took place in Jewish enced traditional family bonds, self-esteem, and communities in the region following Russian sub‐ norms among Bukharan community members. jugation of Central Asian regimes. Cooper de‐ In her conclusion, Cooper presents a scribes relations and influences that developed metaphor of "conversation" to define the relation‐ between the Bukharan Jews and other Jewish ship between global and local forms of Judaism, a communities in Russia, as well as Jews in Ottoman debate that is still going on. Palestine. As a case study, this part presents a reli‐ Despite its significance, in my view, the book gious dispute that arose over ritual slaughtering has a number of shortcomings that cannot be ig‐ which became entwined with a controversy over nored. Cooper claims that the narrative need not religious authority. Basing her analysis on prima‐ be read as pertaining to Bukharan Jews alone and ry sources, Cooper applies an ethnographic lens to suggests that it offers a more general framework define the setting of relations and religious influ‐ for understanding how throughout Jewish history, ences from and to the "Center" as well as from certain groups have been labeled and treated by and to the "Periphery," with no clear-cut winners other Jewish groups as marginal, deviant, or back‐ or losers in the religious dispute, but rather a dy‐ ward. Yet the author does not provide any discus‐ namic and ongoing struggle of influence and sub‐ sion about how this is reflected among other Jew‐ ordination. In the late nineteenth century when ish groups or other Central Asian minorities, thus Bukharan Jews established their own neighbor‐ the reader is left with little understanding about hood in Jerusalem, their path was fnally defined. whether presented cases are unique to Bukharan The author argues that in regard to disputes Jews or are similar to many other groups. about center-periphery influences, Central Asian The book focuses on Bukharan Jews being Jews became a defined edah,a unique group with part of a center-periphery paradigm--part of a its own history, religious customs, and traditional Jewish religious debate--but it almost totally ne‐ rituals that set them apart, but at the same time glects the fact that Bukharan Jewish identity was made Bukharan Jewry a part of a greater global also negotiated, influenced, and affected by other Judaism, as she labels it. circles, such as various government regulations The fourth and last part of the book presents and the surrounding Muslim environment. This center-periphery encounters that have unfolded perspective is especially important when present‐ in the wake of the dissolution of the Soviet Union. ing the "ritual slaughtering" case in Samarkand This section is the product of anthropological (chapter 6). The same omission is germane in re‐ fieldwork conducted by the author in Central Asia gard to the activities of various international or‐ in the 1990s. Cooper describes the operation of ganizations that operated in Samarkand in the two international Jewish organizations in Uzbek‐ late 1990s (chapter 9). Unfortunately, Cooper's dis‐ istan: Chabad-Lubavitch and the Jewish Agency cussion excludes presentation of the different lo‐ for Israel. She examines their activities--an effort cal (Uzbek) regulations that were set in place to to reconnect local Jews with the wider Jewish coordinate the activities and framework accord‐ 2 H-Net Reviews ing to which international organizations, both re‐ ing. Unfortunately, the description of the activities ligious or cultural, would be permitted to operate of international organizations as new community by authorities--a fact that affected how and where structures ends in the late 1990s. Since then, un‐ they could operate and what they could do, and precedented rates of Jewish migration from the who could or could not attend their activities. region combined with changes in government Historical background is not the core of the policies regulating the operations of international study, but it is essential for understanding the organizations have gravely changed realities on changing realities and living conditions of the the ground. Simultaneously, the Bukharan Jewish Jewish population in Central Asia. Unfortunately, Diaspora had built new community and religious historical sections of the work are the most prob‐ organizations which have evolved and developed lematic, revealing the author's weakness in this significantly in many localities worldwide. These area. For one, the research does not refer to quite and other issues hopefully will be at the core of a few important secondary studies published over future research. the last decade, and is accompanied by (with a Overall, the book is an important work that few exceptions) an outdated bibliography. Fur‐ offers readers a insightful perspective of a Jewish thermore, the critical approach of secondary group as it is transformed and shaped. Its broad sources which was so well-developed in the third chronological canvas and unique geographical chapter, suddenly disappears for no apparent rea‐ setting provide the reader with a bird's-eye view son in subsequent chapters. In addition, there are of how negotiation and formation of Jewish iden‐ numerous factual errors that mar the work. Some tity occurs. The book is well written, well argued, involve small inaccuracies, such as claiming that and very readable. It will definitely become a the house of Kalantarov in Samarkand "is home to must read in curricula dealing not only with Jew‐ a museum of Jewish artifacts" (p. 85), and that ish studies but nationalities, Diaspora, and mi‐ members of the Komsomol wore red scarfs (p. norities studies as well. 216). Other are substantive and quite disturbing, such as misunderstanding of Soviet nationalities policy and citizenship realities (pp. 16, 165, 166), using and criticizing Ya'ari's edited version of Neumark rather than referring to the source (chapter 3), misunderstanding and misinterpret‐ ing Russian Imperialist policies in Central Asia (p. 73), disregarding the role of Russian policies and Bukharan Jewish newspaper in Central Asia as the forces-agents that coined and formed the no‐ tion of Bukharan Jews (pp. 128-9), and more. The work provides important documentation in its presentation of the activities of various Jew‐ ish international organizations in Uzbekistan fac‐ ing the wave of mass migration in the late 1990s (chapter 9) and the formation and organization of various community organs in the face of changing needs of a community in transformation (chapter 11). Both efforts are innovative and groundbreak‐ 3 H-Net Reviews If there is additional discussion of this review, you may access it through the network, at https://networks.h-net.org/h-judaic Citation: Zeev Levin. Review of Cooper, Alanna E. Bukharan Jews and the Dynamics of Global Judaism. H-Judaic, H-Net Reviews. November, 2013. URL: https://www.h-net.org/reviews/showrev.php?id=39670 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License.
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