Subbotniks

Rabbi David Winitz Interviews Tatiana Resnikov We are interviewing Tatiana Resnikov. She and her family live in the city of Sajansk, near Zima. I ask her, “Tell me your history and your family’s, here in this place. And if you know, where did they come from?” Tatiana says, “My grandmother told me that in 1860, they sent her from the village in the middle of Russia, near Veroniz. The names of the Subbotnik families were:  Proligma, Maslava and Shashalnikov. Some of them lived in a part of Zima, called Old Zima and some lived in the area near here, in a village called Plavina. The grandfather’s family name was Maslov. He lived in “Zajinka” under the name Maslavoi. That is to say, only Subbotniks lived there and all of them had the family name of Maslov. The grandfather’s father was called Abraham Maslov.”  
Rabbi David Winitz Interviews Pavel Kzanichev (Zanin) “Welcome everybody!” “We are speaking with Pavel Kzanichev (Zanin) who is also a Subbotnik and lives in Zima.  
Rabbi Shlomo Zelig Avrasin has been appointed as the new emissary of the Shavei Israel organization to the Subbotnik Jews of Russia. His mission, which will begin during Hanukkah, will focus primarily on the community of Vysoky in southern Russia and will include teaching Hebrew and Judaism, organizing prayer services and conducting a range of diverse educational activities for the Subbotnik Jewish youth.  
In villages across the expanses of Southern Russia live many Jews, the descendents of Subbotnik converts. Alexander Zaid, Alexander Penn, Raful and perhaps, even Trumpeldor are their descendents. Vysoki, Southern Russia Various sources testify about the transition of the original Subbotniks, limited to Sabbath observance, to a fully observant Judaism. “These converts are actually Russian people,” wrote Joseph Klausner, “who accepted the Jewish faith at first only by a quarter, then by a third followed by a half and in the end, in full. From the research of Dr. Zev Chanin and Velvel Charnin, we learn that across Russia there are between 10,000 to 12,000 Subbotniks spread out in over a dozen communities. Some of them live in their traditional centers, in the Veronezh area, the Volga area, eastern and central Siberia and in the Caucasus region. In their homes they observe the laws of Kashrut and are even stringent to fulfill the ‘Positive commandment’ of drinking four cups of vodka at the end of each meal (even after breakfast). The local vodka, Smogon in their language, is pure and clear. Its alcohol content reaches up to 80 percent. At one time, they prayed every day but the generations have declined and they only gather for prayer on Mondays and Thursdays. At one time they would listen to the reading of the Torah from the mouth of ‘Grandpa Pinchas’ who learned in a Lithuanian Yeshiva. However, since he went on Aliya to Israel, the community has been left “orphaned.” After a train journey of 12 hours from Moscow, we arrived in the city of Voronezh in Southern Russia. From there, after another journey of about three hours, we arrived at a small village called Vysoki. There I found one of the most astonishing phenomena of the Jewish world in the shape of the Subbotniks. There is no need for a full description of Vysoki village beyond saying that it truly reflects the shtetle from Shalom Aleichem's or Shai Agnon's stories. The Subbotniks’ story is also the story of the Jewish faith and its resilience throughout the generations, in all the conditions of place and time.  
Hundreds of miles south of Moscow, in the heart of the Russian hinterland, lies one of the most compelling testimonies to the power and the appeal of Jewish identity.
It is here, in the small snow-drenched town of Vysoki, that some of the last remaining members of a group known as the Subbotniks cling tenaciously, though somewhat tenuously, to the religion of Moses and Israel. Though their origins are clouded in mystery, the Subbotniks, and all that they represent, demand our attention and our help. Over two centuries ago, a large group of Russian peasants in the Voronezh region decided to convert to Judaism, part of what historians describe as an inexplicable wave of "Judaizing sects" that appeared on the country's theological scene. They came to be known as "Subbotniks," thanks to their observance of the Subbot, or Sabbath, of the Jews. While it is unclear precisely why they chose to become Jews, one thing is certain: It took a whole lot of guts to defy the anti-Semitism and oppressive discrimination of Czarist Russia, which was hardly known as a bastion of philo-Semitism. The Jerusalem Post  
Dozens of Subbotnik Jews from Russia have been allowed to move to Israel after the Jerusalem-based Shavei Israel (www.shavei.org
) organization helped them overcome years of waiting due to bureaucratic delays.
The Subbotniks are descendants of Russian peasants in the Voronezh region, located hundreds of miles south of Moscow, who converted to Judaism nearly two centuries ago and clung to their new religion despite facing persecution and discrimination at the hands of the Czars.
They came to be known as "Subbotniks," as a result of their observance of the Subbot, or Jewish Sabbath. In the early 19th century, Czar Alexander I expelled them from their homes and deported them to various parts of his empire as punishment for their adoption of Judaism. During World War II, many Subbotniks in Russia and the Ukraine were murdered by the Nazis.
Following the exposure in NRG Maariv, about 20 Russian Jewish families suffering from Anti-Semitism where authorized to come to Israel Following the exposure in NRG Maariv, the Prime Minister’s office approved the immigration to Israel of about 20 Subbotnik families living in Russian villages. The number of Subbotniks is estimated at ten thousand people. They are the descendents of Russian villagers who converted [to Judaism]. At the beginning of the 19th century, the Russian czar, Alexander I, expelled them from their homes and dispersed them to various places across the country. With the establishment of the Soviet Union, the Subbotniks suffered persecutions by the Communist authorities but continued to keep their Jewish identity.