Ketevan Kakitelashvili

Ketevan Kakitelashvili

PhD in History

Ivane Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University.

Associate professor.

Tbilisi, Georgia

https://orcid.org/0009-0002-0923-2775

ketevan.kakitelashvili@tsu.ge

Sovietization and the Shift in the Jewish Identity Model in Georgia in the 1920s[1]

Abstract

The paper analyzes the shift in the dominant identity model of Georgian Jews after Sovietization. During the 1870s-1910s, several concepts of Georgian Jewish identity coexisted. Following the medieval model of identity construction, Jewishness was predominantly defined by religion. The term Uria referred to a practitioner of Judaism. However, the social and economic modernization of the Russian Empire brought about the actualization of ethnic and national aspects of identity. In this context, Uria along with its equivalent Jew, came to denote a member of an ethno-religious group.

From the 1870s, the term Georgian Jew emerged alongside Uria and Jew to denote a specific group that underwent acculturation through centuries of living in Georgia, absorbing elements of Georgian culture and becoming culturally "Georgianized." Georgian Jew, Georgian French, and Georgian Muslim represented similar identity constructs.

From the beginning of the 20^th century, the terms Israeloba and Georgian Israelite were established. Israeloba, synonymous with Judaism, along with Catholicism and Islam were recognized as religions that Georgians professed, apart from Christian Orthodoxy. Accordingly, Georgian Israelites denoted the part of the Georgian nation that professed Judaism.

In the 1910s, a small group of Georgian Jewish intellectuals developed a concept of Georgian Israelites. They believed that Georgian Jews belonged to the Georgian nation since Georgians and Jews shared culture, language and lifestyle for centuries. They preferred to term Georgian-speaking Jews as Georgian Israelites and not the Georgian Jews as the later described nationality.

In 1918, when the Democratic Republic of Georgia was declared, "Christianity, Islam, and Israeloba/Judaism" were recognized as religions of the "Georgian nationality." The term Georgian Israelite became established in legislative terminology. Georgian Israelites were granted the status of a religious minority. They were given representation in the legislature, distinct from "other Jews" such as Ashkenazim, who were recognized as a separate from Georgian Israelites' national minority.

Thus, within the framework of the Democratic Republic of Georgia, the dominant identity model of Georgian Jews was defined based on religion. However, in the 1910s, the opposite concept of Jewish identity was formed, which focused on the national aspect of Georgian Jewish identity.

This model elaborated by Rabbi Davit Baazov (1883-1947), viewed world Jewry as a national entity and considered Georgian Jews as its constituent part. Baazov preferred the term Jews of Georgia, thus emphasizing the national rather than the religious aspect of Jewish identity. The voice of supporters of this concept was relatively peripheral during the period of the Democratic Republic of Georgia.

From 1921, after the Sovietization of Georgia, the concept of Georgian Israelite lost its legitimacy along with the Democratic Republic of Georgia. At the same time, in the context of the Soviet national policy of Korenization, the group of supporters of the Jewish national idea tried to strengthen its position. In the 1920s, they founded the cultural organization "Tarbuti", the 102^nd Jewish Labor School, a theater troupe, and also published several issues of the Georgian-language Hebrew newspaper "Makaveeli".

Their work aimed to strengthen the Jewish national identity through the teaching of Hebrew, history and Jewish tradition. These and other activities carried out in the 1920s and 1930s, together with other political, social, and economic factors, significantly determined the strengthening of the national dimension of Georgian Jewish identity in the Soviet period.

Keywords: Georgian Jews, National Identity, David Baazov, Soviet Union.