At the Crossroads of Cultures: The Jews of Central Asia and the Caucasus

Research Center of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center (Moscow) together with the Ben-Zvi Institute (Jerusalem), the International Institute for Central Asian Studies (Samarkand) and "Silk Road" International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage (Samarkand) are organizing a conference "At the Crossroads of Cultures: The Jews of Central Asia and the Caucasus" devoted to the interaction, mutual influence of various Jewish groups and their ethno-confessional neighbors in Central Asia, the Caucasus and in the border regions during the "colonial era" of the 19th - 20th centuries and nowadays. We consider a wide range of topics related to Jewish life in Central Asia and the Caucasus, including, but not limited to:

• The impact of modernization on the life of Jewish communities, 

• Political regimes, 

• Relations and interactions with local and foreign populations, 

• Connections within Jewish communities and with other communities, 

• Cultural and assimilation processes, 

• Language policy

The conference will be held both in Russian and English on June 14 in Moscow (Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center), and then on June 16-18 in Samarkand ("Silk Road" International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage). You can listen to the reports in person and in online format, a link to the broadcast will be sent to all those who have registered.

PROGRAM

June 14

Jewish Museum and Tolerance Centre

Moscow 14:50 мск (16:50 UZT)

Registration of participants

15:00-15:30 мск (17:00-17:30 UZT)

Welcome speech

The conference will be opened by:

• Dr Assaf Tamari, Deputy Head, Ben-Zvi Institute for the Study of Jewish Communities of the East (Israel, online)

• Kristina Krasnyanskaya, CEO of Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

15:30-17:30 мск (17:30-19:30 UZT)

Mountain Jews: Challenges of Studying and Identity

Reports:

• Vladimir Kolesov (Krasnodar) 

Mountain Jews of the Caucasus in Relations with the Surrounding Peoples: Sociocultural Symbiosis? (rus)

• Magomedkhan Magomedov (Makhachkala)

The Identity of the Mountain Jews of Dagestan from the Late 1930s

• Svetlana Amosova (Moscow)

Mountain Jewish Community of Derbent: on the Issue of Self-identity (rus)

• Lyubov Solovyova (Moscow)

Krasnaya Sloboda Through the Eyes of a Photographer and Ethnographer (based on the fieldwork materials of 1970s) (rus)

Moderator — Vladimir Kolesov.

17:30-18:00 мск (19:30-20:00 UZT)

Coffee break

18:00-20:00 мск (20:00-22:00 UZT)

The Jewish Question in the Caucasus and Central Asia

Reports:

• Elena Fomenko (Moscow)

Mountain Jews’ Language Strategies as Part of Adaptive Practices (rus)

• Tanzila Chabieva (Moscow)

Judaism in the Caucasus: on the Issue of the Spiritual Component (rus)

• Irina Mukhamednazarova (Samarkand)

The Jewish Question in Central Asia (rus)

• Imanuel Rybakov (New York, online)

Merchant Estate of Bukharan Jews of the Late 19th — Early 20th  Centuries and its Contribution to the Development of the Economy of Central Asia (rus)

Moderator — Svetlana Amosova.

June 16

"Silk Road" International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage

Samarkand

10:30-11:00 UZT (08:30-09:00 мск)

Registration of participants, opening

The conference will be opend by prof. Joseph Hoffman, vice rector for education of the University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage "Silk Road"

11:00-11:45 UZT (09:00-09:45 мск)

Plenary Session (eng)

Speaker — Zeev Levin (Jerusalem)

Topic: Jews of Central Asia and Caucasus in the Colonial and Postcolonial Epochs: a Comparative Analysis 

11:45-12:00 UZT (09:45-10:00 мск)

Coffee break

12:00-14:00 UZT (10:00-12:00 мск)

Mountain Jews and Bukharan Jews in the Late 19th and the Early 20th Century: Interaction with the Imperial Authorities

Reports:

• Malika Zehni (Cambridge)

Documenting Liminal Subjects: Passports, Permits, and Practices of Bukharan Jews in Tsarist Central Asia

• Ekaterina Norkina (Saint Petersburg)

Problems of Communication of Mountain Jews in the Caucasus with Regional and Central Authorities (Late 19th — Early 20th Centuries) (rus)

• Maria Vyatchina (Helsinki/Tartu)

Mountain Jews, Combat Medics and the Production of Medical Knowledge in the Late Russian Empire (rus)

• Gultekin Shamilli (Moscow)

Jewish Musician and Society before and after the Constitutional Revolution in Persia in 1905-1911 (rus)

Moderator — Thomas Loy.

14:00-15:00 UZT (12:00-13:00 мск)

Lunch

15:00-16:30 UZT (13:00-14:30 мск)

Jewish Communities of Georgia and Central Asia in Soviet Era

Reports:

• Thomas Loy (Prague)

The End of the "Jewish Triangle" — Bukharan Jews Between Central Asia, Iran, and Afghanistan in the 1920s and 1930s

• Giorgi Zazunishvili (Tbilisi)

Towards the Issue of Jewish Collective Farms in Soviet Georgia: Documents and Self-Narrations

• Leora Eisenberg (Harvard)

Khamza in Yiddish: Jewish-Uzbek Creative Cooperation, the Friendship of the Peoples, and Antisemitism on the Pages and Stages of Evacuation to Uzbekistan

Moderator — Chen Bram.

16:30-17:00 UZT (14:30-15:00 мск)

Coffee break

17:00-19:00 UZT (15:00-17:00 мск)

Jewish Communities in the Modern World

Reports:

• Yulia Oreshina (Tbilisi)

Georgia’s Palimpsest of Modern Jewish History: a Complexity of Networks, Agencies and Relations

• Bella Lvovich (Haifa)

Transition from Traditional Community to Western Culture Community: the Changes that Occurred at the Bukhari Women Role in the Family in a Comparative Perspective between Women in Israel and the US (rus)

• Chen Bram (Jerusalem)

Jewish Identity in Transition: A Comparative Analysis of Georgia, Caucasus and Bukhara Jews

• Pyotr Pinkhasov (New York, online)

Jews of Central Asia from the Social Contract Theory Point of View (rus)

Moderator — Zeev Levin.

20:00 UZT (18:00 мск)

Dinner

June 17

"Silk Road" International University of Tourism and Cultural Heritage

Samarkand

10:00-12:00 UZT (08:00-10:00 мск)

Museums and Preservation of Cultural Heritage

Reports: 

• Olga Fattaeva (Samarkand)

From the History of the Exhibition Creation "Jews in the Region in the Past and Present" in Samarkand Local History Museum (rus)

• Nargiz Aituganova (Samarkand)

Project “Traditional Houses of Bukharan Jews”: Documentation and Conservation Strategies (rus)

• Lilija Wedel (Bielefeld, online)

Images, Identities, and Perception of Jewish Groups in Turkestan and Caucasus (rus)

Moderator — Irina Mukhamednazarova.

12:00-13:00 UZT (10:00-11:00 мск)

Lunch

13:00-14:30 UZT (11:00-12:30 мск)

Museums and Preservation of Cultural Heritage (part 2)

Reports:

• Sarit Cofman-Simhon (Jerusalem) 

Bukharan and Juhuri Theatres in the Soviet Union and in Israel

• Ekaterina Belkina (Saint Petersburg)

Palaeography of Jewish Manuscripts from Vladimir Ivanov’s collection of 1915 (rus)

• Roza Ashkenazi (Saint Petersburg) 

Creation of Elkan Nathan Adler’s Judeo-Persian Collection and His Contribution to the Studying of Iranian Jews

Moderator — Ekaterina Norkina.

14:30-15:00 UZT (12:30-13:00 мск)

Coffee break

15:00-16:30 UZT (13:00-14:30 мск)

Jewish Languages and Texts

Reports:

• Benjamin Arenstein (Chicago) 

Michael Zand at the Tajik Academy of Sciences: Rereading Medieval Islamicate Texts Through the Eyes of a Soviet-Jewish Intellectual

• Murad Suleymanov (Paris)

Language Shift among the Mountain Jews of Azerbaijan

• Arusyak Agababyan (Krasnodar, online)

Language Skills of Mountain Jews of the Caucasus (illustrated by the example of the Pyatigorsk, Stavropol Krai community)

Moderator — Ekaterina Belkina.

16:30-17:00 UZT (14:30-15:00 мск)

Coffee break

17:00-18:30 UZT (15:00-16:30 мск)

Round Table Discussion "Preservation of the Cultural and Historical Heritage of Bukharan Jews"

Participants:

• Mastira Sidikova (Samarkand) 

Cultural heritage of Bukhara Jews in Samarkand city

• Nargiz Nurilla-Khodzha (Samarkand) 

Judaism and the Silk Road

• Renata Abdurashitova (Bukhara)

• Rafael Nektalov (New York, online)

Moderators — Zeev Levin, Svetlana Amosova.

19:00 UZT (17:00 мск)

Dinner

June 18

Samarkand Cultural activities.

12+

Schedule
14 June 2023 (15:00-20:00)