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Jews in Armenia the Hidden Diaspora Vartan Akchyan

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Jews in Armenia the Hidden Diaspora Vartan Akchyan Cu l t ur e&So c i e ty Jews in Armenia The Hidden Diaspora Vartan Akchyan While the territory of Armenia has shrunk consistently, the Vartan Akchyan is associated with Armenian map of the world has widened and now encom- Georgetown Universi- passes almost every single continent. A piece of Armenian ty’s Center for New Designs in Learning cu l t u r e lives and thrives in the most remote areas of the and Scholarship. He world, while Armenia itself only houses approximately 30 directed a documen- tary film on Jews in pe r cent of the global Armenian population. This dispersion Armenia, which pre- gives birth to quests for personal identity among many miered in New York Armenians in the Diaspora. City in June 2002. Although Armenians are usually thought of as a single group, similar to the Jews, there are several subgroups that ma k e up the greater Armenian ethnicity. Western Armenians ar e comprised of the Diaspora while Eastern Armenians are comprised of Armenians in the Republic of Armenia. These two groups, in turn, include smaller communities of Armeni- ans living throughout the world, such as North and South American Armenians, Australian Armenians, Iranian Arme- nians, etc. While these communities have shared traits that are distinctively Armenian, there still exist important differen c e s , which can be used as identity markers to distinguish among the various subgroups. This creates syntheses of identity based on national, religious, territorial, and ethnic characteristics. Is a person living in the United States with an Armenian gran d f a - ther really an Armenian? Who decides? Much about the Winter/Spring 2003 [ 8 1] JEWS IN AR M E N I A Armenian identity, both at home and in order to function. His only pres e n c e abroad, remains unclear. in Armenia is through his English lan- Ambiguity and uncertainty are the guage, which is foreign to Armenia. Only ch i l d r en of such prescriptive labels, and when located in Canada is he seen as an when fantasy of the future and nostalgia effectively powerful and perhaps Ar m e n - Much about the Armenian identity, both at home and abroad, remains unclear. for the past are conflated in the Armen- ian character. One that is able to over- ian psyche after the traumatic experience come personal trauma (the loss of his of near annihilation at the beginning of Armenian-speaking wife) by red u c i n g the twentieth century, the pre s e n t historical, cultural, and religious baggage becomes further distorted—a mere fable. to a self-created wall hanging (a calendar Cu r r ently, Armenian collective con- of Armenian churches) and by rec o n - sciousness preoccupies itself with the structing and facing the reality of his loss sh a r ed collective memories of the past through the presence of forei g n - s p e a k i n g among a disparate and diffuse ethnic women in his home, which rep r esents his group of the present. It is important to unconscious attachment to a frag m e n t a r y note that, from the perspective of the te m p o r al and spatial relationship with Di a s p o r a (approximately 70 percent of Armenia. Such complex identity search e s , Armenians in the world), an Armenian ma r k ed by dispersion and personal jour- in Armenia is nameless and faceless—she neys of revelation, become the ref e re n c e is merely a part of Armenia. As a res u l t , points of self-discovery and common Armenia itself becomes something less ground for Diaspora Armenians, who than real. It becomes a utopian idea look inward towards Armenia, and Jewish without a strong foundation to support Armenians, who look outward towards it, while it is this foundation that ren d e r s Is ra e l . the group capable and the individual important. Otherwise, the individual is Historic Overview of Jews in faceless and incapable, neither an actor Ar menia. Various Jewish communi- nor a creator—a mere shadow. ties have lived in Armenia. Perhaps the In Atom Egoyan’s Ca l e n d a r , for exam- first appearance of Jews took place in ple, the Armenian protagonist of the the first century BCE, when Armenian film is, in effect, “dead” in Armenia. He King Tig r an the Great exiled thousands is nameless and faceless, powerless and of Jews from the Holy Land to the out of place. Visually, he is never pres e n t Armenian Empire. The ultimate fate of in Armenia. He is in his ancestral home, this community remains unclear, but while the very Armenian environment the works of Khorenats‘i inform us that and his presence there turn him into a they first settled in the Armenian cities st r anger and “make him from somewhere of “Artashat and Val a r s h a p a t . ” 2 Wh i l e el s e . ” 1 While recognizing that “he is from ac c o r ding to Khorenats‘i’s account the th e r e,” he is in need of an intermediary Jews were converted to Christianity, the [8 2] Georgetown Journal of International Affairs AK C H YAN Culture&Society Gr eek geographer Strabo claims that ning of eighteenth century.8 Su b b o t n i k s “the tribesmen and townspeople, except ar e “The People of the Sabbath,” a dis- for those of Jewish and Greek birth, tinctively Jewish identification. Prev i o u s - sp o k e the Armenian language.”3 Si n c e ly, the Subbotniks were considered a sect, th e r e are no clear historical accounts “but in today’s reality, after studying their that rec o r ded the fate of this particular experience, we come to an understanding community at a later date, we can spec- that they are not a different sect at all, ulate that they were either eventually because the Tor ah constitutes the very assimilated into the Armenian culture basis of their beliefs, and there is nothing or have abandoned Armenia. In partic- except the Tora h . ” 9 Thus, the Subbotnik ular, these Jews may have been the pre- experience lacks not Judaism, but the cul- decessors of today’s Zoks, who are often tu r al identity of “Jewishness.” They are co n s i d e r ed ethnic Armenian Jews.4 As ethnically and linguistically Russian. Rabbi Burshteyn claims, Although the early history of the Subbot- niks has yet to be uncovered, there is some Unofficially, Zoks are the descen- certainty that they came to Armenia from dants of ancient Jews who lived on the th r ee Russian cities: Tambov, Sarat o v , territory of Armenia and later con- and Vor o n e z h . 10 They established their verted to Christianity. Today, they own small town in Armenia and named it consider themselves to be Armenians Yelenovka. An elder Subbotnik said, and their point of view is also shared “Our ancestors had their own synagogue, by the Jewish world. However, I do their own Rabbi, and their own pray e r believe that one day the world will books—which were translated from know who the Zoks really are— He b r ew to Russian. To this date we con- whether they are a myth or rea l i t y . 5 tinue using those books.”11 Many Subbotniks still live in Armenia An interesting account of possible and practice their religion freely, but like Jewish presence in Armenia beginning in their Armenian peers, most of the the seventh century comes from Ya‘ q u b i . younger members of the community have The medieval kingdom of Khazaria exist- now left Armenia due to economic diffi- ed from 650 to 1016 when “the far east of culties and have established themselves in Europe was ruled by Jewish kings who Russia, the birthplace of their late ances- pr esided over numerous tribes, includ- tors. Currently, the elder members are ing their own tribe: the Turkic Khazars. the only people who argue that there has After their conversion, the Khazar peo- been a continuity of the Subbotnik com- ple used Jewish personal names and munity in Armenia. As an elder Subbot- sp o k e and wrote in Hebrew . ” 6 Ya‘ q u b i nik suggests, “I was born here, and will writes that “the Khazars were they who most likely die here. Where else can we co n q u e r ed all the lands of Armenia.”7 go? This is our homeland. We love our Another community of Jewish converts homeland. We love our Armenia.”12 living in Armenia is the Subbotniks—a Historical evidence of another Jewish community of ethnically Russian Jews that community in Armenia was found in escaped religious persecution in Russia 1997 with the discovery of a thirteenth and has found its home in Armenia on century Jewish cemetery in the Armenian the shores of Lake Sevan since the begin- highlands. According to Dr. Michael Winter/Spring 2003 [8 3] JEWS IN AR M E N I A Stone, a professor at the Hebrew Univer- and a range of other Jewish program s . sity of Jerusalem and head of excavations The fall of the Iron Curtain and the at the site, indications of Jewish commu- emergence of pluralism and democrat i z a - nities in Armenia have been vague and tion have, in turn, led to the awakening of sp o r adic: “We didn’t know that Armenia Jewish identity in post-Soviet Armenia.
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