Shavei Israel to Siberia: 3,000 Subbotnik Jews in Irkutsk?
Subbotnik Jews in Siberia
Following his visit to Rodnikovskaya, Russia, this summer (see our report here), Dr. Velvl Chernin, Shavei Israel’s coordinator for the Subbotnik Jewish community, took off for a new destination: Siberia. In particular, the town of Zima, in southeastern Siberia in a region known as Irkutsk. Of Irkutsk’s 30,000 residents, it is believed that at least ten percent of them are Subbotnik Jews or their descendants. Zima had a synagogue up until three years ago, when it was destroyed by the local authorities. A large Jewish cemetery remains.
While assimilation among the Subbotnik Jews of Siberia is high, “the community members have preserved their Subbotnik Jewish identity,” Shavei Israel’s Esther Surikova reports. Surikova heads Shavei’s desk for Russia and Eastern Europe. “They understand that Judaism is their religion and they refer to themselves as ‘the Subbotniks.’” Surikova continues.
Given that all that’s left in Zima is the cemetery, the community “takes Jewish burial very seriously and they try to maintain and renovate the cemetery,” Surikova adds. “They celebrate Jewish holidays, make matzah at Passover time, keep kosher on a basic level (they don’t mix milk and meat or eat pork) and keep the Jewish fasts. They call the fast on the Ninth of Av ‘Parents Day’ because of the local tradition to visit their parents’ graves then.”
The community is interested in renewing Jewish life in the village, including organizing public prayers, establishing a Sunday School and other Jewish activities. There were attempts in the past to register the community as an official organization, but this failed in part because of the lack of resources and the poverty of the community members.
Shavei Israel is now putting together a plan of how to help the Siberian Subbotnik Jewish community. This may include sending local teachers from Visoky to Zima or one of Shavei Israel’s Russian emissaries. A visit by Shavei Israel staff in Israel is also possible.
If you’d like to contribute to the rebuilding of Subbotnik Jewish life in Siberia, please visit our website. We welcome your donation!
Dr. Chernin sent us a few pictures below. The man in the cemetery is Gennady Il’ichev, the main caretaker. The black and white photo is of the synagogue that was destroyed in 2012.
