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The Jewish Traveler: Armenia
By Esther Hecht
Armenians and Jews share an ancient
reverence for the written word, and literary links between
the two peoples go back to the Bible and the 12 tribes.
Rose is the color of Yerevan, the capital of Armenia. From
the government buildings surrounding Republic Square, with
their colonnades and rows of arches, to a modern villa on a
hill overlooking the Opera House, all is stone, and almost
always pink volcanic tuff.
The city center is a bowl ringed by mountains and sliced by
broad avenues named after poets, composers and architects.
The tree-shaded boulevard that forms a horseshoe around the
center is a favorite promenade.
The Armenians’ love of aesthetic detail can be seen in all
the churches, but especially at the shuka, the closed market
at the foot of Mashtots Avenue. Flowers, animals and
geometric shapes in elaborate patterns adorn the metal
gates; inside, dried fruits are arranged in colorful,
intricately designed mounds.
To the south of Yerevan, row after row of snowcapped
mountains seem to stretch to infinity. But Armenia’s most
important mountain is the one that looms over the Rose City:
Ararat—where, the Bible tells us, Noah’s ark came to rest.
The mountain’s twin peaks were once the heart of Armenia,
but now the Turkish border cuts between that heart and
Yerevan, so that Ararat remains ever visible but just out of
reach, the object of endless yearning.
History
The literary links between Armenians and Jews go back to
antiquity. The Armenians speak of themselves in their
literature as “the Ashkenazi nation,” the descendants of
Noah’s grandson Ashkenaz. Jewish literature, too, sometimes
equates the geographic place Ashkenaz with Armenia.
Noblemen of the tribe of Benjamin are said to be the
forefathers of Armenian Jewry. Jewish scholars, starting in
the second century C.E., believed the Ten Lost Tribes were
to be found in Armenia.
Stories from the Middle Ages describe Armenia as the place
of “free Jews” or a Jewish state.
The historical links between Armenia and the Jews began with
the Armenian ruler Tigranes II, who brought Jews from the
land of Israel as captives in the first century B.C.E. There
were sizable Jewish communities in Armenian cities in the
4th century C.E., when the conqueror Shapur II deported many
thousands of Jews to Persia.
In the Middle Ages, after a succession of conquests by
Persian dynasties, the Armenian kingdom was restored by the
Bagratid feudal dynasty, which claimed King David as its
ancestor. Caravans laden with gold, perfume, precious
stones, gleaming silk and luxurious carpets followed the
Silk Road through the kingdom en route from China to the
West.
In 1375, when the Mamelukes conquered Armenia, the Jewish
communities disappeared; some were absorbed by Kurdish
Jewry. For the next five centuries, there is no physical
evidence of a Jewish presence in Armenia.
As a place of relative plenty and minimal anti-Semitism,
Armenia attracted Jews after World War II from other parts
of the Soviet Union, including Moscow.
A close tie between Armenia and Israel grew after the
devastating earthquake of December 1988, when the American
Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) brought an El Al
plane—the first Israeli plane allowed to land in the Soviet
Union—to take 65 victims to Israel for treatment.
Though Yerevan’s Jewish community attained formal status in
1991, the terrible privations during the war with Azerbaijan
in the early 1990’s caused many Jews to leave for Israel.
Today, nearly every family that stayed behind has family
ties to the Jewish state. Israeli diamond magnate Lev Leviev
employs hundreds of Armenians in a diamond-polishing factory
near Yerevan.
Another connection between Armenia and Israel dates back to
the 5th century C.E.; mosaics and manuscripts show that
Armenians had settled in Jerusalem, where they built dozens
of churches and monasteries. After 1099, Armenian kings and
queens ruled Jerusalem. The Armenian Quarter in the Old City
of Jerusalem is the center of the Armenian community in
Israel.
Community
Armenians say of themselves, “If you have three Armenians,
you have four political parties.” The tiny Jewish community,
numbering about 800 souls and concentrated mainly in Yerevan
(a city of 1.2 million), is no different: It is split
between two rival organizations.
Rabbi Gersh Burshteyn, a former medical biologist, heads the
Chabad Lubavitch-affiliated Jewish Religious Community of
Armenia. Rimma Varzhapetyan, a mechanical engineer, until
recently headed the (secular and Zionist) Jewish Community
of Armenia. Each group claims to represent the entire Jewish
community, provides educational and cultural activities and
produces a newspaper.
Burshteyn says he realized in the 1980’s that “religion,
rather than Zionism, was the answer.” He oversees a kosher
vegetable-canning factory and is also a ritual slaughterer
of chickens.
The JCA, on the other hand, is Israel-oriented and—unlike
the JRCA—welcomes mixed families, who are the overwhelming
majority of the Jewish population.
Everything appears to be done on a shoestring. “We are
highly educated,” Varzhapetyan says, “[but] there are no
rich people in the community.” The average monthly salary is
estimated to be $50; in October 2003, the average pension
was $13.50, and about half the Jews there are pensioners.
The JCA provides food parcels and medical care to the needy.
It also offers lectures, a Sunday school and Sabbath Eve
programs as well as summer camps.
Orot Hesed, a welfare organization sponsored by the JDC and
run by Lea Premliser, Burshteyn’s wife, provides hot meals
for 100 people a day. A dozen volunteers visit bedridden
pensioners, delivering food parcels and medicine, and
volunteer doctors refer patients to free medical care.
“New people keep coming to us for help,” says Premliser, who
has run the center since 1996.
A community of about 30 Jews, descendants of gerim—Russians
who converted to Judaism in the 18th century—lives in Sevan,
about an hour’s drive northeast of Yerevan. A few Jews live
in Gyumri, in the northwestern tip of Armenia.
Sights
In 1915, the Ottoman Empire embarked on the annihilation of
the Armenian people; more than a million Armenians were
killed. Turkey has never taken responsibility for, nor has
Israel ever recognized, the Armenian genocide. For the
Armenians, it remains an open wound.
Tsitsernakaberd (“Citadel of Swallows”) Park, on a hill
overlooking the city from the west, is the site of the
starkly plain Armenian Genocide Memorial and the Armenian
Genocide Institute–Museum. A round two-story structure, the
museum is built into the hill. Photographs on display depict
Armenian life before 1914 as well as the atrocities.
The memorial’s 12 massive stone columns lean inward,
surrounding an eternal flame. Next to the circle of columns
stands a thin pyramidal obelisk, split from top to bottom.
The 12 columns represent the 12 western provinces emptied of
their Armenian population; the obelisk symbolizes the
sundering of eastern and western Armenia. Thousands of
Armenians come each year on April 24, the memorial day, to
lay flowers around the eternal flame.
It was only in the 1990’s that Armenia’s Jewish community
was able to erect a Holocaust memorial. A simple granite
stone, inscribed “In the memory of Holocaust victims” in
Hebrew and English, stands at the corner of Moskovyan and
Teryan Streets, in Aragast Park, five blocks northeast of
Republic Square.
Nearby, close to the Opera House and the intersection of
Tumanyan and Koghbatsi Streets, the JCA has a modest office
on the ground floor of a rust-colored building.
If a history of genocide links Jews and Armenians, so does
their love of the written word. “Armenians have kept their
identity only because of their alphabet and their striving
for education,” says tour guide Lusine Ananyan. Their
alphabet was invented in 405 C.E. by the monk Mesrob
Mashtots, who also translated the Bible into Armenian. Just
a few blocks north of Aragast Park and the JCA office, the
Matenadaran–Mashtots Institute of Ancient Manuscripts honors
his name and his legacy. Containing more than 17,000 works
on parchment and paper, it is the world’s largest repository
of Armenian manuscripts as well as a research center.
The works cover nearly all fields of ancient and medieval
Armenian culture and science; many are beautifully
illuminated. Some are translations of important works whose
originals have been lost, including a pharmacopoeia by
Maimonides. Among the manuscripts on display in languages
other than Armenian is a Scroll of Esther, darkened with
age. The institute is at 53 Mashtots Avenue (374-1-562-578;
open Tuesday through Saturday 10 to 5; book English tours in
advance).
Biblical themes are the focus of an exhibition at the
Armenian Museum of Children’s Art, just two blocks southeast
of Aragast Park. Rich color, attention to detail and
expressiveness characterize the exhibit. Established in
1970, the museum claims to be the first in the world
dedicated to children’s art.
The Sergei Parajanov Museum offers another view of Armenian
art. To get there, follow Sayat Nova west until it becomes
Baghramyan Avenue, then turn left on Proshyan Street.
Sergei Parajanov, considered one of the top filmmakers in
the former Soviet Union, was also a prolific artist who was
imprisoned for refusing to follow Soviet artistic norms. He
died in Yerevan in 1990.
A film poster he created while in prison includes a Star of
David, reflecting his desire to unify religions. The Girl
and the Angel, a painting by Natalia Shnaider-Hachatyan, a
Russian Jewish artist, is a museum tribute to Parajanov.
The museum is in the Dzoragiugh Ethnographic Center.
Exhibits are labeled in English.
From the western edge of Republic Square, follow Khorenatsi
Street to Nar Dosa where, in a three-story ramshackle
building, a handful of men study Jewish texts with Burshteyn
on weekday mornings.
On Sundays, a dozen children, ages 8 to 14, come to learn
Hebrew, English, Torah and other Jewish subjects. In the
small synagogue on the top floor, the only one in Yerevan,
an image of a menora on a window and an embroidered velvet
Torah curtain are the sole adornments. Visitors often help
make up a minyan. The first floor of the building houses
Orot Hesed, the welfare organization.
Side Trip
Esther, God-fearing daughter of Michael, was engaged to be
married, but death claimed her in 1266 before she could
stand under the huppa. Her tombstone is one of 62 in a green
valley near the village of Eghegis, in the Vayotz Dzor
region, southeast of Yerevan. Esther’s memory would have
been lost forever but for the Armenian bishop Abraham
Mkrtchyan, who discovered the stones in 1996 in the Eghegis
River and in a nearby forest.
To reach the site, drive south from Yerevan one and
three-quarter hours in the direction of Yeghegnadzor. Turn
left (east) at the sign to Getap. About a 10-minute drive
past Getap, follow the sign to Eghegis. Drive through the
village and turn right down the hill, passing a Muslim
cemetery, to the bridge. Cross the bridge to get to the
Jewish cemetery.
The cylindrical granite stones, placed over the length of
the graves, bear inscriptions in Hebrew and Aramaic; the
latest date is 1337. They are the only physical evidence of
Jewish life in medieval Armenia: A thriving community of
some 150 Jews lived here in the 13th and 14th centuries,
when the Mongols controlled Armenia. The city was then a
provincial capital and an important commercial, intellectual
and government center. But since it was not on a major trade
route, its importance diminished after the Mongols lost
their hold on the area.
Michael Stone, who heads the Armenian studies department at
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, has completed surveying
the site with colleagues from the Institute of Archaeology
of the National Armenian Academy of Sciences. According to
Stone, this important site should be preserved but it is,
unfortunately, neglected.
Music, Reading, Films
Willy Weiner, who runs the Menorah cultural center in the
JRCA building, composes Jewish orchestral music with hasidic
themes. His first CD, Exodus, on the Narek label, is
available at www.narek.com.
The Heritage of Armenian Literature is a three-volume
anthology in English translation, starting with the oral
tradition and ending around the time of the genocide, edited
by Agop J. Hacikyan and others (Wayne State University
Press).
Franz Werfel’s novel The Forty Days of Musa Dagh (Carroll &
Graf) describes the valiant stand of 5,000 Armenian
villagers against Turkish troops on “the Mountain of Moses”
in Syria. Completed after Hitler’s rise to power in January
1933 and published in November of that year, the book is a
warning against racism.
It was banned in Germany two months after it appeared but
was soon translated into English and other languages. One of
the two books most widely read in the ghettos of Nazi
Europe, it inspired their inhabitants to rise up and fight
to the death. A 1982 movie of the same name, directed by
Sarky Mouradian, was released on video in 1987.
Atom Egoyan’s powerful film Ararat focuses on the long-term
effects of the 1915 genocide.
The documentary Jews in Armenia: The Hidden Diaspora,
provides an excellent introduction to Jewish life in
Armenia. Director Vartan Akchyan is a multimedia specialist
at the Center for New Designs in Learning and Scholarship at
Georgetown University, in Washington, D.C. The film is
available at www.jinafilm.net.
Personalities
Famous members of the (non-Jewish) Armenian diaspora include
writer William Saroyan, singer Charles Aznavour and painter
Arshile Gorky.
Henry Morgenthau Sr., who was Jewish, was honored by Armenia
for his actions relating to the Armenian genocide.
Morgenthau was the United States ambassador to the Ottoman
Empire in 1915. When he learned of the massacres and
deportations he tried, unsuccessfully, to intervene with the
Young Turk leaders of the empire. He sent to Washington
reports he had received from United States consulates
elsewhere in the empire and warned that “a campaign of race
extermination is in progress.” After returning to America in
1916, he raised funds for the survivors.
In April 1999, soil from Morgenthau’s New York grave was
interred at the Tsitsernakaberd genocide memorial site, in a
niche in the Wall of Honor, and covered by a plaque with his
name. The previous year an urn of soil from the Vienna grave
of Franz Werfel was placed in the wall and a plaque with his
name was affixed to it.
Recommendations
The deluxe Armenia Marriott Hotel, part of the architectural
ensemble that frames Republic Square, is close to the
synagogue and can accommodate kosher travelers (1 Amiryan;
374-1-599-000; fax: 374-1-599-001).
Best Eastern Ani Plaza, four blocks away, can provide kosher
meals to groups (19 Sayat Nova; 374-1-589-500; fax:
374-1-565-343; www.anihotel.com).
Armenia has no kosher restaurants, but almost every
restaurant offers a wide selection of fresh and cooked
vegetables, cheeses and other dairy products, fish and
lavash—a thin bread that goes well with everything.
Kavkaz Tavern in the city center has traditional live music
by a trio that includes a player of the duduk, the Armenian
folk oboe.
Long after you return home, the sweet and haunting sounds of
the duduk will conjure up memories of Armenia’s struggle for
survival, its vast snow-capped mountain ranges and its proud
but welcoming people.
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