Jewish people kissing a Mezuzah before entering the synagogue in Kutaisi, Georgia; 2008. x
The Jewish community of Georgia is one of the oldest surviving Diaspora Jewish communities and claim to be descendants of the Ten Tribes exiled by Shalmaneser V when he conquered Samaria. Jewish traders developed a Jewish language called Qivruli which contained words in Georgian and Hebrew.
When the Mongols conquered Georgia in 1236, many Jewish people moved to the western region, which remained independent. There they formed small communities along the Black Sea, but their poverty forced them into serfdom. For 500 years, beginning in the end of the 14th century, the Jews of Georgia belonged to the kamani, or serf class. Due to constant military conflicts in the 15th and 16th centuries, their situation worsened. Jewish serfs were sold, which broke apart family units and communities and decimated the already destitute Jewish community by making it nearly impossible to maintain religious Jewish life.
During the 15th and 16th centuries, a large number of Jews left for Crimea due to starvation, destitute poverty, and attempts to escape serfdom. In the 19th century, Georgia was conquered by Russia which led to the abolition of serfdom and Jewish former serfs attempting to recreate Jewish communities. Blood libels were also common in this time period, with major events occurring in 1852, 1878, 1881, 1882, 1883, and 1884.
Beginning in 1863, groups of Jews began making Aliyah, mostly for religious reasons. By 1916, 439 Georgian Jewish people lived in Eretz Yisrael, most of whom lived in Jerusalem near the Damascus Gate. Under the Soviet Union, the situation of Georgian Jews worsened and when the Soviet Union conquered Georgia, up to 2,000 Jewish people fled Georgia, over 1,000 of whom settled in Eretz Yisrael with the remainder fleeing to Istanbul. Blood libels continued under the Soviet Union and took place at Sachkhere in 1921, Tbilisi in 1923, and Akhalzikhe in 1926. Jewish cultural and religious institutions were also shut down and suppressed; in September 1937, nine hakhamim were arrested in Tzkhinvali and murdered without a trial. Further blood libels continued in Georgia; in Tzkhaltubo in 1963, Zestafoni in 1964, and Kutaisi in 1965.
After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, over 20,000 Georgian Jews have made Aliyah to Israel. Today, there are less than 3,000 Jewish people in Georgia but the community there has strong ties with the worldwide Jewish community and efforts are being made to rebuild Jewish life there.
