TIFLIS

TIFLIS (Georgian Tbilisi), capital city of Georgia. Members of the Georgian Jewish community have lived in Tiflis for many generations. During the 19th century Jews from Russia began to settle there. They were mostly craftsmen and descendants of soldiers who had served in the Caucasus in the Russian army. There was also a small community of Jews of Persian origin. The Georgian Jews maintained their own community which was headed by a ḥakham. The attitude of the local Russian authorities to the Jews was favorable because of their usefulness as craftsmen. In 1876 there were 1,276 Jews in Tiflis, increasing to 3,668 (about 2.5% of the population) in 1897. During the early 1920s Tiflis was a transit station for ḥalutzim from Russia on their way to Palestine. In the 1959 census 17,311 Jews (2.5%) were registered in Tiflis, of whom 9,328 declared Georgian and 7,600 Russian to be their mother tongue. The Georgian Jews preserved their particular Jewish way of life, many adhering to religious tradition. There were two synagogues, a larger one for the Georgian Jews and a smaller one for the Ashkenazi Jews. The Tiflis Jewish community was regarded as the wealthiest in the Soviet Union. It employed 17 community workers for the synagogue, the mikveh, maẓẓah bakery, ritual slaughtering, and cemetery services. About ten students in the Moscow yeshivah (1956–62) came from Tiflis of whom only two or three finished their studies and were appointed as shoḥatim. Many Jews in Tiflis applied for exit permits to Israel in the framework of the reunion of families, particularly after 1968. By the early 21st century most of Georgia's remaining 5,000 Jews were living in the city. Jewish activities in Tiflis are vigorous, and an infrastructure has been established to preserve and develop the heritage of the Georgian Jews. The rabbi and the other heads of the Jewish community participate in all state activities and events, as well as in social events intended to foster a stronger connection between the Georgians and the Jews. There is a synagogue, a Jewish community center, a yeshivah, kindergarten, Sunday school, a women's center, and a youth center. (Yehuda Slutsky / Ruth Beloff (2nd ed)