Subbotniks
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Subbotniks (Russian: Субботники, IPA: [sʊˈbotnʲɪkʲɪ], "Sabbatarians") is a common name for adherents of Russian religious movements that split from Sabbatarian sects in the late 18th century.[1][2]
The majority of Subbotniks were converts to Rabbinic or Karaite Judaism from Christianity. Other groups included Judaizing Christians and Spiritual Christians.[3][4]
There are three main groups of people described as Subbotniks:
- Judaizing Talmudists: Subbotnik converts to Rabbinic Judaism, also described as "Gery" (Russian: Геры), "Talmudisty" (Russian: Субботники-Талмудисты), or "Shaposhniki".[1][4]
- Karaimites[5][6] or Karaite Subbotniks[1] (Russian: Субботники-Караимиты): also described as "Russian Karaites" (Russian: Русские Караимы),[7] considering themselves as adherents of Karaite Judaism.[8] They recognize only the scriptural authority of the Torah and reject the Talmud;[9] however, it has been reported that they do not practice circumcision.[9][10][4]
- Subbotnik Molokans (Russian: Молокане-субботники): in contrast to the other Subbotnik sects, they recognize the Gospel, but also practice some of the rules and precepts of the Old Testament.[11]
A 1912 religious census in Russia recorded 12,305 "Judaizing Talmudists", and 4,092 "Russian Karaites", and 8,412 Subbotniks who "had fallen away from Orthodoxy".[4]
On the whole, the Subbotniks probably differed little from other Judaizing societies in their early years.[12] They first appeared toward the end of the 18th century during the reign of Catherine the Great. According to official reports of the Russian Empire, most[citation needed] of the sect's followers circumcised their boys, believed in a unitary God rather than in the Christian Trinity, accepted only the Hebrew Bible, and observed the Sabbath on Saturday rather than on Sunday as in Christian practice (and hence were called "sabbatarians"). There were variations among their beliefs in relation to Jesus, the Second Coming, and other elements of Eastern Orthodox doctrine.
Prior to the
Subbotnik families settled in the
History
Subbotniks, meaning sabbatarians for their observance of the Sabbath on Saturday, as in the Hebrew Bible, rather than on Sunday, arose as part of the Spiritual Christian movement in the 18th century.[12] Imperial Russian officials and Orthodox clergy considered the Subbotniks to be heretical to Russian Orthodox religion, and tried to suppress their sects and other Judaizers. They also emphasized individual interpretation of the law rather than accepting the Talmud or clergy. The Subbotniks concealed their religious beliefs and rites from Orthodox Christians. The Russian government eventually deported the Subbotniks, isolating them from Orthodox Christians and Jews.
The Subbotniks observed the Sabbath on Saturday, and were also known as sabbatarians. They avoided work and tried to avoid discussing worldly affairs. Apart from practicing circumcision of boys, many began to slaughter their food animals according to the laws of shechita when they could learn the necessary rules. Some clandestinely used phylacteries, tzitzit (ritual tassels), and mezuzot (doorpost markings), and prayed in private houses of prayer. As their practice deepened, some acquired Jewish "siddur" prayer books with Russian translation for their prayers. The hazzan (cantor) read the prayers aloud, and the congregants prayed silently; during prayers a solemn silence was observed throughout the house.
According to the testimony, private and official, of all those who studied their mode of life in tsarist times, the Subbotniks were remarkably industrious; reading and writing, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, poverty, or prostitution. Up to 1820 the Subbotniks lived for the most part in the governments of
Under Alexander I and Nicholas I
Under Alexander I's policies of general tolerance, the Subbotniks enjoyed a great deal of freedom. But the Russian clergy opposed them and killed about 100 Subbotniks and their spiritual leaders in Mogilev, in present-day Belarus, including the former archbishop Romantzov[citation needed]. In addition, Romantzov's young son was tortured with red-hot irons before being burned at the stake. The Subbotniks came to an agreement with the Russian Orthodox priests and succeeded in gaining a measure of peace for a period. To compensate the Church for any loss of finances due to the Subbotniks leaving their congregations, the members of the sect undertook to pay the Church the usual fee of two Russian rubles for every birth and three rubles for every marriage. The tsar permitted the Subbotniks to profess their faith openly, but prohibited them from hiring rabbis or proselytizing among Christians.
Under Nicholas I, the Subbotniks began to feel restless. Some wanted to embrace Judaism and traveled into the Pale of Settlement in order to learn more about Judaism. Upon learning this, the Russian government sent a number of priests to the Subbotniks to try to persuade them to return to Russian Orthodoxy. When the priests did not meet with any appreciable success, the government decided to suppress the Subbotniks with force. In 1826, the government decided to deport those who lived openly as Subbotniks to internal exile in the above-mentioned regions in the Caucasus, Transcaucasia, and Siberia. At the same time, it prohibited Jews and members of the Russian Orthodox Church from settling among any Subbotniks.
Zionism and settlement in Ottoman Palestine
Subbotnik communities were among early supporters of Zionism. During the First Aliyah at the end of the 19th century, thousands of Subbotniks settled in Ottoman Palestine to escape religious persecution due to their differences with the Russian Orthodox Church. Some Subbotniks had immigrated to Ottoman Palestine even prior to the First Aliyah.
The Subbotniks faced hurdles when intermarrying into the wider Jewish population, as they were not considered Jews according to halakha. They were noted for often being more religiously observant than the mostly secular Jewish Zionist population in that period.[15] They Hebraized their surnames to assimilate. Within a short period, the descendants of Subbotnik Jews who arrived in Ottoman Palestine in the late 19th century had completely blended and inter-married into the wider Jewish population of Israel.[16]
Soviet period
Holocaust
Subbotniks in
Post-WW2
Following their massacre in the Holocaust, the Subbotniks came to have an increasingly nationalist self-identification as Jews. However, after the War, the Soviet government ceased to recognize the "Subbotnik" as a legal ethnic category. They counted these people as a subset of the ethnic Russian population.
Between 1973 and 1991, the Subbotniks of Ilyinka in Voronezh Oblast emigrated to Israel.
Post-Soviet era
After the fall of the Soviet Union, a few thousand Subbotniks left Russia for Israel. This coincided with the
State of Israel
In the early 21st century, the issue arose of the Jewish identity of some members of Moshav
Statistics
It has been difficult to estimate the exact number of Subbotniks in Russia at any given time. The discrepancies between government statistics and the membership have varied widely. Official data from tsarist times placed the membership of the sect at several thousand. The writer E. Deinard, who was in personal contact with the Subbotniks, said in 1887 there were 2,500,000.[19] Deinard may have included in his figures all of the Judaizing sects, and not just the Subbotniks, as this estimate is not supported by any other historians. Apart from their religious rites, the Subbotniks were generally indistinguishable from Russian Orthodox or secular Russians in terms of dress and lifestyle.
Subbotnik Karaites
Distribution
Besides Tambov, Subbotnik Karaites also lived in
Characteristics
From 1870 they began to use the "Everyday Prayers for Karaites" by Abraham Firkovich (1870, Vilnius) for their liturgy, which in 1882 they were allowed to publish in Russian as "Порядок молитв для караимов" (tr. Poryadok molitv dlya karaimov).[22] It was based on the Siddur Tefillot keMinhag haKaraim by Isaak ben Solomon Ickowicz. The Subbotnik Karaites had contacts with the Crimean Karaites, who, to a degree, exemplified for them "a Jewish model to be imitated", "were occasional and never formally arranged since, in particular, normative Karaism denied the acceptance of proselytes and regarded the very existence of a community of Karaites of non-Jewish origin senseless."[21]
Distribution
Due to tsarist persecution, Subbotniks spread out creating a wide diaspora, living since the 19th century in the following countries and regions:[23]
- Armenia[23]
- Australia[23]
- Azerbaijan[23]
- Belarus[23]
- Bulgaria (Southern Dobruja region)[23]
- France[23]
- Georgia[23]
- Iran[23]
- Israel[23]
- Moldova[23]
- Poland[23]
- Romania (Northern Dobruja region)[23]
- Russia[23]
- Ukraine[23]
- Uruguay[23]
- United States[23]
- Uzbekistan[23]
Notable people
- Andrey Dubrovin (1863–1967), farmer and Zionist pioneer
- Alexander Zaïd (1886–1938), founding member of two Jewish self-defense militias
See also
- Christianity and Judaism
- Ger toshav
- Judaizers
- Khazars
- Messianic Judaism
- Noahides
- Proselyte
- Righteous among the Nations
- Righteous gentiles
- San Nicandro Jews
- Spiritual Christianity
References
- ^ a b c Chernin, Velvl (2007). "The Subbotniks". Rappaport Center for Assimilation Research and Strengthening Jewish Vitality.
- ^ Khanin, Ze’ev; Chernin, Velvl. "Identity, Assimilation and Revival: Ethnosocial Processes among the Jewish Population of the Former Soviet Union".
- ^ This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Hurwitz, S (1901–1906). "Subbotniki ("Sabbatarians")". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - ^ Karaites.
- ^ "Bulgakov". Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ H. Gray (2013). "8. 'Recrudescent forms' subsection C 'Karaimites'". Judaizing. Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. 7. p. 612.
(c) Karaimites or Karimit ("Karaitizers'), who, like the Karaites q.v. recognize only the Pentateuch and reject the Talmud, but who do not observe all the Pentateuchal laws, e.g. that regarding circumcision
- ^ "Overview of Russian sects and persuasions" by T.J. Boutkevitch pages 382–384
- ^ "www.karaimskajazizn.estranky.cz – 7. Из архива караимского духовного правления". www.karaimskajazizn.estranky.cz. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ a b Gray, Louis Herbert (1914). "Judaizing". In Hastings, James (ed.). Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. Vol. 7. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. p. 612. Retrieved 7 June 2020 – via Internet Archive.
- ^ S.V. Bulgakov "Handbook of heresies, sects and schisms" under Караимиты
- ^ Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary Жидовствующие:
- ^ a b Berdyaev, Nikolai (1999) [1916]. "Духовное христианство и сектантство в России" [Spiritual Christianity and Sectarianism in Russia]. Russkaya Mysl (Русская мысль, "Russian Thought"). Translated by Janos, S.
- ^ a b "Dr. Ruchama Weiss ▪ Rabbi Levi Brackman, "Russia's Subbotnik Jews get rabbi"". Ynetnews. 9 December 2010. Retrieved 22 August 2015.
- ^ Eichner, Itamar (11 March 2014). "Subbotnik Jews to resume aliyah". Israel Jewish Scene. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- ^ Itamar Eichner, "Subbotnik Jews to resume aliyah" Published: 3 November 2014, Israel Jewish Scene
- ^ "Subbotnik Jews in Russia and Israel (Евреи-субботники в России и Израиле)", 5 June 2013
- ^ Ari Ben Goldberg"'Abandoned' in the Jordan Valley", The Jerusalem Report, 19 November 2001, reprinted at Molokane website
- ^ [1] Itamar Eichner Published: 3 November 2014
- Ha-Meliẓ, 1887, No. 75
- ^ "Valvl Chernin "The Subbotniks"" (PDF). Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ a b "Velvl Chernin, "Subbotnik Jews as a sub-ethnic group"". Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ "Alexander Lvov. Plough and Pentateuch: Russian Judaizers as Textual Community (summary)". lvov.judaica.spb.ru. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r "The Subbotnik Information Exchange". Retrieved 4 June 2019.
Bibliography
- Astyrev, N. "Subbotniki v Rossii i Sibiri". In Syeverny Vyestnik, 1891, No. 6.
- Dinard, E. In Ha-Meliẓ, 1887, No. 75.
- ISBN 9780814335970.
- Kostomarov, Russkaya Istoriya, vol. i.
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Rosenthal, Herman; Hurwitz, S (1901–1906). "Subbotniki ("Sabbatarians")". In Singer, Isidore; et al. (eds.). The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.
{{cite encyclopedia}}
: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) - Univ. Isr. 1854, p. 396.
External links
- Armenian Subbotniks
- Articles from the Shavei Israel website:
- Save the Subbotniks (17 February 2005)
- Saving the Subbotniks (22 March 2005)
- Saving Russia’s Subbotnik Jews (20 May 2005)
- Russian Runaround (30 April 2006)
- Ken sos los Subbotniks? "Who are the Subbotniks?" (article is in Ladino), Turkey
- The Subbotniki Information Exchange website (Cубботники, Subbotniks) ...preserving our Subbotnik heritage.