FROM THE EARLIEST JEWISH SETTLEMENT TO THE FIRST PARTITION OF POLAND

The remote past of the Russian Jews, like that of the Russians themselves and of other people of that land, is uncertain. Because of the scarcity of historical material, serious researchers as well as publicists echo old legends and traditions and lose themselves in conjecture. The main issues are: when did the Jews first arrive in Russia, whence and how did they come, where did they settle, and how were they received by the rulers and the local population? There is also the issue of whether Russian Jewry can be treated as a historical continuity.

This first period can be sub-divided as follows: the Crimea and the Caucasus; the Khazars; Kiev; Tatars, Genoese, Turks; and the Moscow period.

The Crimea and the Caucasus

In the legends of the Georgian Jews, the Mountain Jews of Caucasus and the Bukharan Jews, the arrival of Jews on Russian soil in the Caucasus and Central Asia is linked with the exile of the ‘Ten Tribes’ (720 BCE) or with the Destruction of the First Temple (586 BCE). According to the ‘Scythian’ theory, the Jews arrived in Scythia as prisoners straight from the Land of Israel and from there they reached Russia and settled in the region between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea in the years 635 to 610 BCE. The ‘Caucasian’ theory also links the arrival of Jews in Russia with the defeat of the Kingdom of Israel and the exile of its population.