Subbotniks

The Subbotniks (Russian: Субботники, IPA: [sʊˈbotnʲɪkʲɪ], "Sabbatarians") is a common name for Russian sects of Judaizers of Christian origin, who split from other Sabbatarians in the 19th century.[1][2] 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]
  • Karaimites[3][4] or Karaite Subbotniks[1] (Russian: Субботники-Караимиты): also described as "Russian Karaites" (Russian: Русские Караимы),[5] considering themselves as adherents of Karaite Judaism.[6] They recognize only the scriptural authority of the Torah and reject the Talmud;[7] however, it has been reported that they don't practice circumcision.[7][8]
  • Subbotnik Molokans (Russian: Молокане-субботники) sect: in contradiction to the previous Subbotnik sects, they recognize the Gospel, but also practice some of the rules and precepts of the Old Testament.[9]
For other uses, see Subbotnik (disambiguation).

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".[10]

On the whole, the Subbotniks probably differed little from other Judaizing societies in their early years.[11] 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 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 First Partition of Poland in 1772, few Jews had settled in the Russian Empire.[10] The Subbotniks were originally Christian peasants of the Russian Orthodox Church. During the reign of Catherine the Great (1729–1796), they adopted elements of Mosaic Law from the Old Testament and were known as "Sabbatarians", part of the Spiritual Christianity movement.[10]

Subbotnik families settled in the Holy Land at the time part of the Ottoman Empire, in the 1880s, as part of the Zionist First Aliyah in order to escape oppression in the Russian Empire and later mostly intermarried with other Jews. Their descendants included Israeli Jews such as Alexander Zaïd, Ariel Sharon and Major-General Alik Ron.[12][13]

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.[11] 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 Czarist 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 Voronezh, Oryol, Moscow, Tula, and Saratov. After that year, the government deported those who openly acknowledged their membership in the sect to the foothills of the Caucasus, to Transcaucasia, and to the Siberian governments of Irkutsk, Tobolsk, and Yeniseisk. In 1912, the government's Interior Ministry recorded 8,412 Subbotniks; 12,305 Judaizing Talmudists; and 4,092 Russian Karaites.[10]

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. 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
Alexander Zaïd

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. Their descendants include Israeli Jews such as Alexander Zaïd.[14] Major-General Alik Ron,[14] former head of the Israeli Police's northern district, is also descended from some Subbotnik ancestors, as is the mother of Ariel Sharon.[13]

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 Nazi-occupied areas of Ukraine were killed by SS Einsatzgruppen troops and local Ukrainian collaborators due to their Jewish self-identity. They were relatively recent migrants to Ukraine from areas of Voronezh and considered outsiders by the peasants, who noted their practice of some Jewish customs. During the Holocaust, Nazis killed thousands of Subbotniks. By contrast, they did not attack Crimean Karaites, accepting the state's records that they were ethnic Tatars (or Khazars).

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 1973–1991, the Subbotniks of Ilyinki 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 1990s Post-Soviet aliyah to Israel of more than a million Russian Jews and members of their immediate families. Since that period, Subbotniks remaining in Russia have encountered status-related problems. In the 21st century, the Shavei Israel organization for outreach to "lost Jews" and related communities, appointed a rabbi for the Subbotniks at Vysokaye, a town in Brest Oblast, Belarus. The objective of teaching them Judaism and facilitate their formal conversion to Orthodox Judaism would make them eligible for aliyah to Israel.[12]

State of Israel

In the early 21st century, the issue arose of the Jewish identity of some members of Moshav Yitav, located in the Jordan Valley north of Jericho in the West Bank, who were Subbotniks, immigrants from former Soviet Georgia. In 2004, the Sephardic Chief Rabbi of Israel Shlomo Amar ruled the Subbotniks were not defined as Jewish and would have to undergo an Orthodox conversion. The Interior Ministry classified the Subbotniks as a Christian sect and ineligible for aliyah to Israel, because no one knew if their ancestors had formally converted to Judaism (and there is much historic evidence that they did not).[17] The ruling was abolished in 2014, with an attempt by the Interior Ministry to allow remaining Subbotnik families to immigrate to Israel.[18]

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 czarist 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 Saratov Oblast, Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Stavropol Krai, Samara Oblast, Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast along the Molochna River in Novorossiya, in Krasnodar Krai, Armenia and Azerbaijan and along the Russian Empire's borders with Iran. While not all statistics for all provinces are readily available, there are more than 2500 in Privolnoye, Azerbaijan alone.[20][21]

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".[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 Czarist persecution, Subbotniks spread out creating a wide diaspora, living since the 19th century in the following countries and regions:[23]

Notable people
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See also

Bibliography
  • Kostomarov, Russkaya Istoriya, vol. i.;
  • Entziklopedicheski Slovar, s.v.;
  • E. Dinard, in Ha-Meliẓ, 1887, No. 75;
  • N. Astyrev, "Subbotniki v Rossii i Sibiri," in Syeverny Vyestnik, 1891, No. 6;
  • Univ. Isr. 1854, p. 396.
  •  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "article name needed". The Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls.

References
  1. Velvl Chermin, "The Subbotniks", Rappaport Center for Assimilation Research and Strengthening Jewish Vitality, 2007
  2. Ze’ev Khanin & Velvl Chernin, "Identity, Assimilation and Revival: Ethnosocial Processes among the Jewish Population of the Former Soviet Union"
  3. "Bulgakov". Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  4. H. Gray's entry "Judaizing" section 8 "Recrudescent forms" subsection C "Karaimites" on page 612 in Volume 7 of "Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics" 2013:
    "(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"
  5. "Overview of Russian sects and persuasions" by T.J. Boutkevitch pages 382–384
  6. "www.karaimskajazizn.estranky.cz – 7. Из архива караимского духовного правления". www.karaimskajazizn.estranky.cz. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  7. Gray, Louis Herbert (1914). "Judaizing". In Hastings, James (ed.). Encyclopædia of Religion and Ethics. 7. Edinburgh: T&T Clark. p. 612. Retrieved 7 June 2020 – via Internet Archive.
  8. S.V. Bulgakov "Handbook of heresies, sects and schisms" under Караимиты
  9. Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary Жидовствующие:
  10. Dynner, Glenn (2011). Holy Dissent: Jewish and Christian Mystics in Eastern Europe. Wayne State University Press. p. 358–9. ISBN 9780814335970. There were very few Jews in the Russian empire before 1772 and there is no indication of direct contact between Jews and the early Spiritual Christians... Most dramatically, in the late eighteenth century, the so called Subbotniks or Sabbatarians – ethnic Russians from the central and southern provinces – even turned away from the fundamental Christian doctrines of the Incarnation and the messiahship of Jesus to embrace the Mosaic law of the Old Testament. As the work of Aleksandr Lvov, Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Panchenko, Sergey Shtyrkov, and Nicholas Breyfogle demonstrate, these Russian sabbatarians developed strong communities that survived the severe persecution of both the imperial and Soviet governments. Although the Subbotniks did not, as a rule, follow the Talmud, some of them began follow other practices of different Jewish communities, both talmudic and non-talmudic, even as they retained their separate ethnic identity. In the religious census of 1912, the Department of Spiritual Affairs of the Interior Ministry noted the presence of 8,412 Subbotniks who had fallen away from Orthodoxy, 12,305 Judaizing Talmudists, and 4,092 Russian Karaites.
  11. Berdyaev, Nikolai (1999) [1916]. translated by S. Janos. "Духовное христианство и сектантство в России" [Spiritual Christianity and Sectarianism in Russia]. Russkaya Mysl (Русская мысль, "Russian Thought").
  12. Dr. Ruchama Weiss ▪ Rabbi Levi Brackman, "Russia's Subbotnik Jews get rabbi", Ynet, 9 December 2010, accessed 22 August 2015
  13. Itamar Eichner (11 March 2014). "Subbotnik Jews to resume aliyah". Israel Jewish Scene. Archived from the original on 9 April 2014. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
  14. Russia's Subbotnik Jews get rabbi Ynet, Published: 12 September 2010
  15. Itamar Eichner, "Subbotnik Jews to resume aliyah" Published: 3 November 2014, Israel Jewish Scene
  16. "Subbotnik Jews in Russia and Israel (Евреи-субботники в России и Израиле), 5 June 2013
  17. Ari Ben Goldberg"'Abandoned' in the Jordan Valley", The Jerusalem Report, 19 November 2001, reprinted at Molokane website
  18. Itamar Eichner Published: 3 November 2014
  19. E. Deinard, in Ha-Meliẓ, 1887, No. 75
  20. "Valvl Chernin "The Subbotniks"" (PDF). Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  21. "Velvl Chernin, "Subbotnik Jews as a sub-ethnic group"". Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  22. "Alexander Lvov. Plough and Pentateuch: Russian Judaizers as Textual Community (summary)". lvov.judaica.spb.ru. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
  23. The Subbotnik Information Exchange, accessed 4 June 2019
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