The Ancient, Embattled Jewish Population Of Daghestan

This was the scene at Makhachkala’s Uytash Airport on October 30 after it was stormed by mobs of men hunting for Jewish passengers from a flight that had just arrived from Israel on October 29.



 

Jews pray inside the Derbent synagogue in April 2023.

The Jewish population of Daghestan now say they are in fear for their lives. Recent images of the community are rare, but in April 2023, Russian photographer Dmitry Ermakov made an extensive photo report on the Jews of Derbent, a city in Daghestan where most of the minority resides. The following photos were made on that trip. 
 

Derbent Fortress in Daghestan

The arrival date of the first Jews in the territory of today’s Daghestan is not known for certain, but by the 17th century the Jewish population was sufficiently established for a German traveller to observe that "There are no Christians in the city of Derbent, as some writers say; only [Muslims] and Jews live here....”

Derbent’s Kele-Numaz Synagogue in May 2023

Before the Bolshevik Revolution, there were reportedly 11 synagogues in the city. Today only this one remains.
 

Children attend a Jewish kindergarten inside the Derbent synagogue in April 2023.

In the final years of the Soviet Union, Jews began emigrating en masse out of Daghestan and elsewhere in the North Caucasus.
 

David Abromavich, the custodian of Derbent’s Jewish cemetery

When the U.S.S.R. began to break up and wars in the Caucasus erupted, the outflow of Jews from Russia’s North Caucasus region continued and kidnappings of Jews by Islamic militants became widespread.
 

Ovadia Isakov poses with his son.

The population of Jews in Daghestan today is around "300-400 families," according to Ovadia Isakov, the chief rabbi of Derbent. Daghestan is home to a mostly Muslim population of around 3.2 million people.

A religious book in the Derbent synagogue

The October 29 violence is not the first time in recent years the Jewish population has been targeted. In 2013, Rabbi Isakov was shot through the chest in an assassination attempt, and in 2012 an explosive device went off next to the Derbent synagogue. 



 

A man climbs a hill overlooking Derbent.

After the October 29 airport violence, Rabbi Isakov told a local media outlet, “The situation is very difficult in Daghestan, the community is very afraid,” and added, “It’s not clear where to flee to."