Georgian Jews in Israel
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| (75,000 - 80,000) | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Lod, Bat Yam, Ashdod, Holon, Rehovot, Jerusalem and many other places. | |
| Languages | |
|
Hebrew (Main language for all generations); Older generation: Georgian language and Judaeo-Georgian |
|
| Religion | |
| Judaism |
Georgian Jews in Israel, also known as Gruzinim (From Hebrew גרוזינים Gruzínim, meaning Georgians), are immigrants and descendants of the immigrants of the Georgian Jewish communities, who now reside within the state of Israel. They number around 75,000 to 80,000.
The Georgian Jews have traditionally lived separately, not only from the surrounding Georgian people, but also from the Ashkenazi Jews in Tbilisi, who had different practices and language.
Beginning in 1863, groups of Jews began making aliyah, mostly for religious reasons. By 1916, 439 Georgian Jews lived in Mutassarifate of Jerusalem, mostly in Jerusalem city near the Damascus Gate. Most Georgian Jews who made aliyah were poor and worked as freight-handlers in Jerusalem.
After the Six Day War, huge numbers of Soviet Jews began protesting for the right to immigrate to Israel, and many applied for exit visas. Georgian Jews made up a large percentage of this number. They were among the very first to begin protesting, and were among the most militant of campaigners. In August 1969, eighteen families wrote to the Human Rights Commission of the United Nations demanding permission to make aliyah. This was the first public insistence by Soviet Jews for immigration to Israel. The Israeli government and the Jewish world campaigned heavily on behalf of the plight of the Soviet Jewry. In July 1971, a group of Georgian Jews went on a hunger strike outside a Moscow post office. The determination of Soviet Jewish activists and international pressure led the Soviets to lessen their harsh anti-Jewish policies. During the 1970s, the Soviets permitted limited Jewish emigration to Israel, and about 30,000 Georgian Jews made aliyah, with thousands of others leaving for other countries. Approximately 17% of the Soviet Jewish population emigrated at this time. In 1979, the Jewish population in Georgia was 28,300 and, by 1989, it had decreased to 24,800. Thus, the community, which had numbered about 80,000 as recently as the 1970s, largely emigrated to Israel.
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