Mountain Jews are the first Jewish subethnic group to settle in Azerbaijan. They also outnumber the other Jewish subethnic groups residing in our country. The Mountain Jews call themselves “Juhuro.” According to popular belief, they were named as “Mountain Jews” by Russians, who invaded the Caucasus in the first half of the 19^th century. The Russian soldiers were greatly surprised when they saw Jews on horseback and dressed in felt cloaks in the mountainous areas of the Caucasus, and named them “Mountain Jews”.     

It is assumed that the ancestors of the Mountain Jews migrated and settled in the Eastern Caucasus, including Northern Azerbaijan, from Iran and Mesopotamia during the Sasanian period in the 5^th and 6^th centuries.

However, this does not mark the end of formation of the Mountain Jews subethnic group. According to researchers, this historical process continued into the mid-18^th century. Even the Jews immigrating from the Byzantine Empire contributed to the formation of the community of Mountain Jews.   

When speaking about the history of Mountain Jews in our country, it is necessary to mention the Girmizi Gasaba (Red Settlement) in Guba district. Because this settlement is considered a place in the post-Soviet space densely populated by Mountain Jews. Located on the left bank of the river Gudyalchay, the Girmizi Gasaba was founded in the 18^th century during the period of Guba Khanate. The settlement, which was earlier called the “Jewish settlement”, was once famous even as the “Jerusalem of the Caucasus”.   

The second oldest Jewish community to settle in Azerbaijan after the Mountain Jews are Georgian Jews, who call themselves “Ebraeli” or “Israeli”. Georgian Jews are members of a Jewish subethnic group, who settled in the Georgian territory since the ancient times and speak the Georgian language.

Georgian Jews first began migrating to Azerbaijan in the 18^th century. In subsequent years, the influx of Georgian Jews into Azerbaijan gathered pace and this process continued until the World War I. Currently, Georgian Jews are considered the smallest Jewish subethnic group in our country. They live mainly in Baku.   

As for the third Jewish community living in Azerbaijan, i.e. Ashkenazi Jews, this subethnic group emerged in the Central Europe during the Early Middle Ages. In the Jewish literature of the Middle Ages, the term “Ashkenazi Jews” referred to the Jews living on the banks of the river Rhine and later in German lands.  

This term derives from the name given to Germany by Jews in the Middle Ages. According to Jewish tradition, the progeny of legendary Ashkenaz, the grandson of Japheth (son of Noah), settled in German lands. Jews therefore called this country as such. Over time, this term as a subethnic notion applied not only to the Jews in Germany, but also to the Jews, who descended from them and migrated to other European countries.  

The mother tongue of Ashkenazi Jews is Yiddish, which originated between the 10^th and 14^th centuries from German dialects widespread in the Central and Eastern Europe in the Middle Ages, as well as Hebrew, Aramaic, Romanian and Slavic languages.

It should be noted that Ashkenazi Jews settled in Azerbaijan during the period of Czarist Russia, as the first Ashkenazi Jews settled in Baku in 1832. Due to the oil boom in Baku in the late 19^th and early 20^th centuries, there was a rapid growth in the number of Jewish populations of the city, including Ashkenazi Jews. In 1897, there were more than 2,000 Jews in Baku, most of whom were Ashkenazi Jews.

Furthermore, fleeing the pogroms that took place in Kishinev in 1903, in Odessa in 1905, in Bialystok in 1906 and in other parts of the Russian Empire, a lot of Ashkenazi Jews took refuge in Azerbaijan and settled in Baku. The Ashkenazi Jews, who came to Azerbaijan to survive the pogroms, found a second homeland in our country.

As for the situation of the Jews in modern Azerbaijan, it should be noted that they live mainly in Baku, Ganja and Sumgayit cities, as well as in Guba and Oghuz districts. The Jewish communities present in our country is surrounded with attention and care by the Azerbaijani state. The construction of a new synagogue for the Mountain Jews religious community of Baku at the initiative of President Ilham Aliyev is a good example of it. The synagogue, whose foundation was laid in 2010, was made available for believers in April 2011.    

In addition, every year the President of the Republic of Azerbaijan congratulates the Jewish community of our country on the occasion of the Jewish New Year, i.e. Rosh Hashanah holiday.

In this regard, the contributions made by the Heydar Aliyev Foundation under the leadership of First Vice-President Mehriban Aliyeva are especially noteworthy. In particular, the Heydar Aliyev Foundation and the Ohr Avner Foundation have built the Chabad Ohr Avner Education Center for Jewish children living in Baku within the framework of the project “Azerbaijan: Address of Tolerance”. The foundation laying ceremony of the Center was held with the participation of Mehriban Aliyeva, the president of the Heydar Aliyev Foundation, on May 31, 2007. The construction of the Education Center was finished in 2010. On October 4, 2010, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev, his wife Mehriban Aliyeva and Lev Leviev, the President of the Federation of Jewish Communities of the CIS and the Ohr Avner Foundation, attended the grand opening of the Education Center.

Furthermore, the Hebrew language is taught at Baku State University, as well as at secondary school No.46 named after Agabey Novruzbeyli in classes consisting of children of Jewish origin within the Russian department of the school.

It should also be noted that today the Jewish communities in Azerbaijan actively participate in public life through the Azerbaijan-Israel Friendship Society, the Jewish agency Sochnut, the major Jewish charities Joint and Vaad-I-Hetzola, the Humanitarian Association of Azerbaijan’s Jewish Women, Jewish religious schools (yeshivas), the Azerbaijan-Israel Cultural Relations Society, the women’s society Eva and other Jewish NGOs operating in the country.  

According to the official website of the State Committee of the Republic of Azerbaijan for the Work with Religious Organizations, there are seven synagogues and eight Jewish religious communities in the country.  

Thus, in modern age, Jews in Azerbaijan live in a tolerant environment free from anti-Semitism, which is no coincidence because Jews have felt like an equal member of the large family in our country throughout all historical periods and even in times of rampant anti-Semitism around the world, the people of Azerbaijan did not treat them as aliens, on the contrary, our compatriots of Jewish origin lived in an atmosphere of friendship, solidarity and mutual understanding.