The Material Culture and Architecture of the Jews of Central Asia 1800-1920
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THE MATERIAL CULTURE AND ARCHITECTURE OF THE JEWS OF CENTRAL ASIA 1800-1920 Universiteit Leiden - Research Master’s in Middle Eastern Studies Maïra Kaye Acknowledgements I would like to thank all those who helped me carry out this research project, namely my advisor Dr. Elena Paskaleva, IICAS director Dimitry Voyakin, Alim Feyzulayev, and all the staff at IICAS. I am grateful to the University of Samarkand (SamDU) for hosting me in their dormitory for three months. I thank Rafael Elnatanov for his great hospitality in inviting me to Shabbat dinners and introducing me to other members of the Jewish community in Bukhara, as well as Valeria Kraeva and Behruz Kurbanov for their help with my research in Bukhara. In the age of working from home (wherever that is), the website of Library Genesis and SciHub are indispensable, so a shout-out to Alexandra Elbakyan, as well as to Brewster Kahle for the fantastic Internet Archive. Free access to knowledge for all! To my family, Mom, Dad, Théo, Tavi, vovó, and, in memoriam, vovô. 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF MAPS ................................................................................................................................... 4 ABBREVIATIONS ............................................................................................................................. 4 GLOSSARY ........................................................................................................................................ 4 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER 1. THE HISTORY AND STUDY OF BUKHARAN JEWS ................................................. 14 1.1. Historical Context ....................................................................................................................... 14 1.1.1. The Jewish Past in Central Asia, between History and Legends ............................................ 14 1.1.2. The 19th and 20th centuries .................................................................................................. 19 1.2. Ethnography and Bukharan Jews ................................................................................................. 33 1.2.1. Imperial Ethnography ........................................................................................................... 33 1.2.2. Soviet Ethnography .............................................................................................................. 38 1.2.3. Post-Soviet Ethnography ...................................................................................................... 39 CHAPTER 2. ARTEFACTS .................................................................................................................. 43 2.1. Textiles ....................................................................................................................................... 43 2.1.1. Economic and Social Aspects of Textiles ............................................................................. 44 2.1.2. Birth, Marriage, Death ......................................................................................................... 52 2.1.3. Suzanis in the Jewish context ............................................................................................... 58 2.2. Torah ornaments ......................................................................................................................... 67 2.2.1. Torah Cases ......................................................................................................................... 67 2.2.2. Torah Finials ........................................................................................................................ 72 2.3. Amulets ...................................................................................................................................... 74 2.4. Other objects ............................................................................................................................... 80 CHAPTER 3. ARCHITECTURE ........................................................................................................... 85 3.1. Jewish houses.............................................................................................................................. 86 3.1.1. Jewish Neighbourhoods ....................................................................................................... 86 3.1.2. House architecture................................................................................................................ 92 3.1.3. Colonialism and Class ........................................................................................................ 111 3.2. Public Synagogues .................................................................................................................... 122 3.2.1. Synagogues of Central Asia................................................................................................ 122 3.2.2. Samarkand ......................................................................................................................... 127 3.2.3. Kokand .............................................................................................................................. 131 3.2.4. Tashkent ............................................................................................................................ 133 3.2.5. The fate of the synagogues ................................................................................................. 138 3.3. Other Jewish sites ..................................................................................................................... 139 3.3.1. Jewish Cemeteries .............................................................................................................. 139 3.3.2. Miqvehs ............................................................................................................................. 142 CONCLUSION.................................................................................................................................... 146 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................ 150 3 MAPS Map 1 Central Asian geography 7 Map 2 Jewish settlements in Central Asia, 1800-1920 8 Map 3 Polities in Central Asia before the Russian conquest 21 Map 4 Russian Turkestan c. 1900 22 Map 5 Jewish architectural features in the Russian neighbourhood of Samarkand 90 Map 6 Jewish architectural features in the Jewish neighbourhood of Samarkand 91 Map 7 Jewish architectural features in Bukhara 91 Map 8 Russian section in Kokand 117 Map 9 Jewish architectural features of Tashkent c. 1900 137 ABBREVIATIONS b. birth d. death Hb. Hebrew MS manuscript r. reign Rs. Russian Tj. Tajik St. street Uz. Uzbek GLOSSARY Ashkenazi Jews of central or eastern European descent, speakers of Yiddish (a Germanic language), Jews of Russia. Bukharan Jew Jews of Central Asian descent, speakers of Tajik. chala In Tajik, “not this nor that,” term applied to Bukharan Jews forcibly converted to Islam who secretly maintained their Jewish faith. 4 crypto-Jew Jews who are forced to hide their Judaism while publicly maintaining the faith of the majority religion. Marranos in Spain and Portugal, jadīds in Iran, chalas in Central Asia, called anusim in Hebrew. emir Title of a Muslim ruler (Tj, Uz.). Emirate of Bukhara Muslim polity ruled by the Mangit dynasty (1785-1920). Most of its territory (including Samarkand but not Bukhara) was lost to Russia in 1868. dhimmī Christians and Jews in Muslim lands, forced to pay a poll tax and live with certain restrictions. ganch Carved clay gypsum/plaster, used to decorate rich houses, palaces, mosques (Tj., Uz.). guzar Neighbourhood (Tj.) ḥeder Jewish school for children (Hb.) ikat Central Asian tie-dyed warps made of silk, used for coats (khalat). Khanate Kokand Muslim polity in the Ferghana Valley region (eastern Uzbekistan, modern Kyrgyzstan, eastern Tajikistan and south-eastern Kazakhstan) from 1709 to 1876. Khwarezm Region around the Amu Darya river (parts of Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). Its most important city was Khiva. kosher Meat butchered and food prepared following Jewish law. mahalla An enclosed, semi-isolated neighbourhood (Tj.). miqveh Ritual bath (Hb.). Mizrahi Jews of local Middle Eastern descent who are not Sephardic. This usually includes Iranian Jews. Tanakh The Hebrew Bible (an acronym of the three divisions of the Bible; Torah, Nevi’im, Ketuvim) Torah The Pentateuch, the first five books of the Hebrew Bible. tuzemnyĭ “Native” (Rs.), applied to Bukharan Jews by Russians, as opposed to “foreign Jews” (who could not prove they had resided in Turkestan for generations). 5 vassa semi-cylindrical poles on the ceiling of Central Asian rich houses, palaces, mosques (Tj., Uz.). oblast’ Russian administrative region (Rs.) Pact of Omar Apocryphal treaty specifying the rights of minorities under Muslim rule. parokhet Torah ark curtain (Hb.) Sart Settled inhabitant of Central Asia, including Tajiks and Uzbeks. Sephardic Jews of Spanish or Portuguese descent, speakers of Judeo-Spanish. Sephardic Jews spread throughout the Middle East and North Africa. Though Bukharans followed the Sephardic rite until they became Lubavitchers, they are not Sephardic Jews. suzani Embroidered tapestry (Tj., Uz.) Transoxiana Region between the Amu Darya and