Judeo-Tat, or Juhuri, was once spoken by 22,000 Jews in the Eastern Caucasus Mountains. Born from an amalgamation of Persian, Hebrew, and Aramaic, the language stands as a testament to its dynamism and the migration of its speakers and the Jewish community as a whole. Today, though the language has grown to over 30,000 speakers, its status as an endangered language remains.
There are several theories explaining the origins of the Mountain Jews. The traditional view purports that the Jews arrived in the area after the destruction of Solomon’s temple and subsequent Babylonian exile in 586 BCE. Nebuchadnezzar, the Baylonean king deported the majority of the Judean population to his northern territories, including what is now modern day Azerbaijan. Even after Cyrus the Great allowed Jews to return to Jerusalem in 539 BCE a significant number of Jews remained in the Mountains. Those who remained in the Mountains would ensure the perpetuation of Judeo-Tat.
The language’s robust oral tradition eventually gave way to the publication of small newspapers. This first instance of transcription was a catalyst for more literature published in Judeo Tat. One such newspaper, Zahmetkes, was founded in 1928 in Derbent, an area of Modern day Russia once home to hundreds of thousands of Mountain Jews. Originally published using the Hebrew alphabet, the newspaper struggled to gain popularity in its first year.
In 1929, after switching to Latin—the accepted script of the time—the paper became more widely circulated. The newspaper even began publishing in Cyrillic in 1938 and renamed itself “Girmizine Astara.” This version’s last publication occurred in July of 1941, just before the start of the second World War, likely because of a ban on the Jewish newspaper.
Then, in early fall of 1942, during the Wehrmacht’s attempt to conquer the North Caucasus, over 2,000 Mountain Jews were murdered. In the aftermath, the remaining community, with help from the local population, convinced the Nazis that the Mountain Jews were of a different ethnic origin than Ashkenazi Jews. As a result, they were not subjected to mass extermination, although they did suffer continuous abuse. The endurance of Judeo-Tat is attributed to this survival.
Despite the forced hiatus, the newspaper is active today: a testament to the Mountain Jew’s survival during the war and the preservation of Judeo-Tat. In 1990 it was revived under the name Vatan, meaning “motherland.” The newspaper continuously publishes in Russian and Judeo-Tat for the past 34 years, running articles focused on the history of Mountain Jews, holidays, and events related to Mountain Jewish youth and the state of the international Mountain Jew community. Furthermore, as part of their mission, Vatan preserves Judeo-Tat by producing videos in conjunction with the International Charity Foundation teaching youth in Dagestan the language.
The last known community fluent in Judeo-Tat is found in Qırmızı Qəsəbə, Quba, Azerbaijan. There, the language is passed on from parent to child, allowing survival in this unique modern shtetl. The continuous transmission of this language and its oral traditions are crucial to Jewish culture and the importance of passing traditions on L'Dor Vador – from generation to generation.
As one 2012 Vatan article states: “Language is what binds and unites people. Only language transforms a community of people into a nation.” In this respect, to speak one’s language is to exert one’s national and communal identity. Vatan, “a voice for Mountain Jews living in Russia” works to sustain this unique nation; so too does the endurance of the language in Qırmızı Qəsəbə.
Rooted in movement and adaptation, these cases of linguistic survival reflect the broader story of diasporic Jewish communities whose histories span millennia. Despite threats of extinction and attempts to completely annihilate the community, Judeo-Tat prevails, emphasizing the Jewish strength to persevere through challenge and preserve distinctive cultural tradition.
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