Georgian Jews (, ) are a community of Jews who are thought to have migrated into Georgia during the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE. It is one of the oldest communities in the region. As a result of a major emigration wave in the 1990s, the vast majority of Georgian Jews now live in Israel, with the world's largest community living in the city of Ashdod, although many also live in the United States.
Georgian Jews should be distinguished from the Ashkenazi Jews in Georgia, who arrived following the Russian annexation of Georgia, as well as from the neighboring Mountain Jews (მთის ებრაელები, mtis ebraelebi), who are considered ethnically and culturally distinct from the kartveli ebraelebi. Prior to Georgia's annexation by Russia in 1801, the 2300-year history of Georgian Jews was marked by few traces of antisemitism and by an assimilation in the Georgian language and culture.
History
The Georgian Jews traditionally lived separately, not only from the surrounding Georgian people, but also from the Ashkenazi Jews in Tbilisi, who had different practices and language.
The community, which numbered almost 60,000 as recently as the 1970s, has largely emigrated to Israel, the United States, the Russian Federation and Belgium (in Antwerp). , only about 1,500 Georgian Jews remained in Georgia. According to the 2002 First General National Census of Georgia, there are 3,541 Jewish believers in the country. For example, the Lezgishvili branch of Georgian Jews have families in Israel, Moscow, Baku, Düsseldorf, and Cleveland, Ohio (US). Several hundred Georgian Jewish families live in the New York tri-state area, particularly in New York City and Long Island.
Origins
Georgian-speaking Jewry is one of the oldest surviving Jewish communities in the world, although there are different accounts to how long they have lived in present-day Georgia, and what motivated their migration. By some accounts, Georgian Jews, also known as Gurjim or kartveli ebraelebi, have an approximately 2,600-year history in Colchis, but their origin is debated. The most widely held view is that the first Jews made their way to southern Georgia after Nebuchadnezzar's conquest of Jerusalem in 586 BCE and exile in Babylon.
The post-exile origin view is espoused by the medieval Georgian historian Leonti Mroveli, who wrote in the 11th Century: