A scientist spoke about his research into a Jewish cemetery in Azerbaijan.

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The Mountain Jewish cemetery in the village of Krasnaya Sloboda was studied by Russian scientists; the earliest tombstone there dates back to the early 19th century. Residents of the village spoke about the difficulties they face, particularly financial and communal problems.

As part of a seminar on the study of Jewish civilization held on April 15 at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences in Moscow, led by Lev Gorodetsky and Evgenia Smagina, Mikhail Vasiliev, a researcher at the Department of Languages ​​of the Peoples of Asia and Africa at the Institute of Oriental Studies of the Russian Academy of Sciences, presented a paper on the study of the Mountain Jewish cemetery in Guba (Azerbaijan), a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent reports.

The Jewish community in Guba has long attracted the attention of researchers, but they were primarily interested in the community itself, not the cemetery.

Vasiliev noted that Guba, along with Derbent is the center of a Mountain Jewish community that has existed for several hundred years to this day. He explained that the community arose in the mid- to late 18th century through the resettlement of Jews from other villages and towns to Guba, who later formed a settlement known as Jewish Sloboda, and later as Krasnaya Sloboda. A cemetery also emerged at this time. "The Jewish community in Guba has long attracted the attention of researchers, but they were primarily interested in the community itself, not the cemetery," Vasiliev noted. According to him, the cemetery currently consists of three sections—Lower, Middle, and Upper—and contains approximately 3,000 graves dating from the 19th century to the present. Active study of the cemetery began in the 1990s. Thus, in 1991, the renowned epigrapher Natalia Kashovskaya visited the site; in 1994-1995, an expedition from the Center for Jewish Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem; and in 2019, the Israeli epigrapher Meir Gover. However, as the speaker noted, none of them set out to study the entire necropolis; only the most interesting matzevot (gravestones) were recorded. "The first attempt to do this was an expedition last August by the Sefer Center for Researchers and Teachers of Jewish Studies at Universities, with the support of the STMEGI Charitable Foundation (the international STMEGI Charitable Foundation - ed. "Caucasian Knot"). Prior to this, in 2018-2020, Sefer expeditions, with the support of the STMEGI Foundation, described 12 small Jewish cemeteries in southern Dagestan. "The expedition focused its efforts on the central section, as it was the largest. The three main areas of work were recording data from the monuments, photography, including photographing epitaphs, and measuring and describing the monuments' physical parameters," Vasiliev explained.

The earliest burials are located at the cemetery's southernmost boundary, right next to outbuildings and vegetable gardens.

In two weeks, the seven-hectare section was completely described, revealing approximately 1,200 tombstones. The earliest of these dates back to 1806 or 1807. The expedition also refuted Meir Gover's claims that he had discovered several 18th-century tombstones in the cemetery, firmly re-dating them to the mid-19th century. "During the research, it became clear that the cemetery filled up from the bottom up along the terrain, and then began to expand west and east, where the other two sections are located. The earliest burials are located at the southernmost boundary of the cemetery, right next to outbuildings and vegetable gardens. It's possible that some earlier graves ceased to exist as a result of economic activity," Vasiliev stated.

He also explained that the monuments were made of either shell rock or mountain boulders. While the former, thanks to the softness of the stone, allowed for quite beautiful carvings, the boulders typically only allowed for epitaphs. On the other hand, this same softness led to greater erosion of the shell rock monuments, while epitaphs on boulders were better preserved.

Vasiliev also noted that it was possible to trace a certain evolution of the monuments, with a gradual increase in the complexity of the carvings in the second half of the 19th century. The next significant changes date back to the Civil War, when monument designs were dramatically simplified and inscriptions in Russian appeared. Horizontal tombstones also appeared at this time. Since the 1950s, the greatest diversity of monument designs has been observed: with twisted columns, pointed arches, and so on. Finally, at the end of the 20th century, marble and diorite monuments appeared, but at the same time, attempts were also made to stylize monuments in a manner reminiscent of the past.

As for the language of tombstone inscriptions, Hebrew undoubtedly dominated until the early 20th century. The first Russian inscription appeared in 1912. Subsequently, Russian-language inscriptions became increasingly common, and by the 1950s, only the name and date of death remained in Hebrew. Recently, there have been (albeit very limited) insertions in epitaphs in Azerbaijani and Juhuri, but these are literally isolated cases.

Regarding the information included in epitaphs, the most common, according to Vasiliev, was age, marital status, and the presence of children. Less frequently, there was an indication of profession or occupation, origin, and educational information. Even less frequently, the circumstances of death were mentioned (here Vasiliev described an epitaph that immortalized the sad story of one family: first, a mother and three children were killed, and some time later, a father and another son died).

Vasiliev also said that after processing the materials from the expedition, which was conducted from October to March, they are currently being prepared for publication online.

Residents of Krasnaya Sloboda spoke about the difficulties of life in the village

A resident of the village of Krasnaya A resident of Sloboda, where the Mountain Jews actually live, who spoke on condition of anonymity, noted that the Jewish community in the village is very active. "They celebrate Shabbat, organize holidays attended by up to 100 people, and hold Torah classes," he told a "Caucasian Knot" correspondent on April 19, noting that despite this, the village's population is declining.

"The first reason is financial: it's hard to find work here, and salaries don't compete with Russian ones. Living conditions are also difficult—the electricity sometimes goes out, and there are problems with gas, which, incidentally, is also used for heating. Water is a major problem—after pipes were damaged some time ago, dirty, murky water often flows from the taps, and you have to wait for it to settle." "The third reason is education: it's better in Russia than here," a resident of the village emphasized.