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The Literature of the mountain Jews of the Caucasus(Part 2)Michael Zand aa Professor of Persian and Tadzhik Literature , Hebrew University of JerusalemPublished online: 19 Jun 2008.

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SOVIET JEWISH AFFAIRS, vol. 16, no. 1, 1986

The Literature of the Mountain Jews ofthe Caucasus (Part 2)

MICHAEL ZAND

The years of stagnationThe 'Great Terror' of 1936-3861 struck a heavy blow at the culture, inparticular the literature, of the Mountain Jews. Herd Rawinovich-Gorsky, Yafliil Matatov, Yasha'yo Binyaminov-'Ammi, 'Asoil (Asael)Binayev and the folklore researcher and lexicologist 'Avadyo'Avadyayev were arrested, mainly in late 1937-early 1938. With theexception of Binayev, all of them perished in Soviet jails and forcedlabour camps.

By the end of the 1930s Ya'ghii Aharunov and Divyo (Tuvya)Baklishiev had permanently abandoned Judeo-Tat literary work ofany kind; Aharunov had become a prominent Party apparatchik inAzerbaydzhan, Bakhshiev a lecturer on Party history in higher educa-tion establishments in Moscow and, from the late 1940s onwards, aprolific author of popular books on this subject. Since the late 1930sthere has been no reliable information about Zakoy Khudaynatov, S.Rubinov, A. Badalov, Natan Salomonov, Zavulun Nabinovich andZavulun Bakhshiev. Their names do not appear in any publications.Thus, by the end of the 1930s the literature of the Mountain Jewshad, in one way or another, lost about half of its authors.

As already stated, at the turn of 1937-38 all publishing in Judeo-Tat ceased in Azerbaydzhan. The only Mountain Jewish literary circlewhich remained in existence was that of Derbent; this became theDerbent-Makhachkala circle, because a number of leading MountainJewish writers came to live in the Daghestan capital. The main, andafter 1941, the sole publisher in Judeo-Tat was the Daghestan Gosiz-dat, with its poor polygraphic facilities.

Part 1 of this article appeared in Soviet Je wish Affairs, vol. 13, no. 2, 1983.

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This state of affairs led to a sharp decrease in publications inJudeo-Tat. In 1937 the overall number of published books andbrochures in Judeo-Tat was 63 (original: belles-lettres 3, text-books 7;translations: belles-lettres 28, text-books 7, political literature 10;other, mainly medical brochures 8). By 1938 this number had droppedto 27 (original: belles-lettres 4, textbooks 2; translations: belles-lettres6, text-books 6, political literature 3, others 6). The decline was evenmore acute in 1939, when only 19 titles appeared (original: belles-lettres 0, text-books 5; translations: belles-lettres 1, text-books 5,political literature 7, others 1). After a slight increase in 1940 to 24titles (original: belles-lettres 2, folklore 2, text-books 6; translations:belles-lettres 9, text-books 1, political literature 4), the year 1941,when the Soviet-German war began, again brought a sharp decreaseto 13 titles (original: belles-lettres 0, text-books 3; translations: belles-lettres 4, text-books 1, political literature 4; others: I).62

As we have said, one month after the beginning of the war thelast Judeo-Tat newspaper ceased to appear. Several Mountain Jewishwriters were conscripted; of them ManuvaH Dadashev and Ya'ghiiBirorov fell on the front. No publication in Judeo-Tat appeared in1942-45.

Publishing was resumed in late 1946, when two tiny brochurestranslated from Russian appeared. They contained the regulationsconcerning the elections to the Supreme Soviets of the DaghestanAutonomous Republic and the RSFSR. On 21 July 1947 a 4-pageweekly newspaper in Judeo-Tat, Ghirmizind 'aldm (The RedBanner), was started in Derbent. But on 25 April 1952 it was closeddown, without, as far as is known, any reason being given."

The publication of books and brochures in 1947-52 is as follows.In 1947 there appeared two original books—a collection of poems byvarious poets edited by Daniil Atnilov, the most active MountainJewish litterateur of the early post-war years, and the above-mentioned collection of Hizghiyo Dadashev's tales—and two politicalbrochures translated from Russian. In 1948 only one book—a collec-tion of poems and stories by Atnilov—appeared. In 1949 nothingwritten originally in Judeo-Tat was published, but two small collec-tions (69 and 34 pages respectively) of Pushkin's works translated byAtnilov appeared. In 1950 there appeared the first post-war book byMishi Bakhshiev (who was then still in active service), Odomihoy Yaki(Kith and Kin), a collection of poems, stories and plays. SergeyIzgiyayev (Siyiin Hizghiyoyev, 1922-1972) published the first post-warcollection of works by Mountain Jewish authors and seven topical

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political brochures appeared. Nothing was published in 1951, andthe 1952 output consisted of only one book, an 86-page collection ofpoems by Izgiyayev.

The closure of the 'Tat' theatre in Derbent in 1946, officially onthe pretext that it had attracted a small audience," was a heavy blowtoJudeo-Tat culture. The closure of this theatre, the last functioningMountain Jewish theatre, put an end to Judeo-Tat dramaturgy.

Like all the indigenous languages of Daghestan Judeo-Tat hadbeen used since 1938 as a medium of instruction for all disciplines on-ly at the elementary school level (l-4th forms).65 Apparently in thelate 1940s (the exact date is unclear), however, Judeo-Tat as amedium of instruction was abolished completely and instruction at alllevels was henceforth in Russian alone. Several years later it was saidin justification of this step that the authorities had complied with thedesire of the Mountain Jewish population for Russian culture.66

The continuing decline of Mountain Jewish cultural activities inStalin's last years (1946-53) must be seen against the background ofthe so-called zhdanovshchina and the high tide of antisemitism in thecountry. The name of Andrey Zhdanov (1896-1948) was attached topolicies and measures adopted in the first post-war years aimed attightening Party control over culture, especially literature. In Dagh-estan these measures were implemented rigorously. From August1946, when the zhdanovshchina was inaugurated, until 1952, theParty committee of Daghestan discussed literary problems on six oc-casions. In the same period, literary problems in the light of Partydemands were discussed on nine occasions at conferences of Dagh-estani writers; on three of these occasions Daghestan Party leaderstook a leading part in the discussions. The official Party organ in Rus-sian, the Dagestanskaya pravda, published eight articles on Partyguidance in the field of literature and implementation by writers ofParty decisions on literature.67

The antisemitism of 1948-53—the so-called 'Black Years ofSoviet Jewry'—seems to have affected Mountain Jewish culture aswell. By the late 1930s, the language of the community, which wasusually described in Russian publications as 'Tat (Mountain Jewish)',was sometimes labelled 'Tat' only; in the post-World War II periodthis became the rule. (Judeo-)Tat continued to be one of the nine of-ficial languages of the Daghestan ASSR,68 but the Mountain Jewsbecame the first indigenous group in whose schools Russian was madethe only language of instruction. In 1954 the same happened to threeother indigenous ethnic groups of Daghestan —the Rutul, the

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Tsakhur and the Agul.69 However, whereas the languages of these lat-ter ethnic groups were accorded the lowest sociolingual grading—.thatof 'unwritten'—Judeo-Tat had the highest grading as a literarylanguage.

With the closing down of Ghirmizina 'dldm in 1952, Judeo-Tatbecame the only official indigenous language without its ownnewspaper.70 At the same time, a newspaper was being published inNoghay, a language which then had no constitutional standing.71 Theexistence of a discriminatory policy was evident when in 1952 literaryperiodicals in all the indigenous 'official' languages were launched,except Judeo-Tat.72 Furthermore, not one Mountain Jewish writer ap-peared either in the 'Evenings of Daghestan Culture and Literature',-which were arranged in Moscow in 1950, or in any literary eveningsand meetings with readers which were regularly held in the towns andvillages of Daghestan at that time.73 The chronological survey of theactivities of the Writers' Union of Daghestan does not indicatewhether the union's Mountain Jewish section operated during theseyears and whether the matter of its activity or otherwise ever appearedon the union's official agenda.74

The post-Stalin periodIn 1953 Mishi Bakhshiev, one of the leading Mountain Jewish authorsof the 1930s, returned to Daghestan after twelve years of military ser-vice. In 1955 Hizghil Avshalumov, one of the most promising writersof the last pre-war years, also returned after fourteen years of militaryservice. The return of these two strengthened significantly the ranksof the Mountain Jewish writers but had little impact on the frequencyand quantity of the printed output in Judeo-Tat; they themselveswrote during these years in Russian as well as in their mother tongue.

The only book in Judeo-Tat published in 1953 (after Stalin'sdeath) was a collection of poems by Atnilov. In 1954 the publishedoutput in Judeo-Tat was two political brochures translated from Rus-sian. In 1955 a limit of two original belles-lettres publications per yearappears to have been established. This supposition is upheld by thestatistics of Judeo-Tat publications compiled by the author of thispaper for the period up to 1980. There were, indeed, some years—1958, 1961, 1969—when the output was nil, and others—1956, 1965,1967—when only one original belles-lettres volume appeared.However, these 'lean' years were counterbalanced by 'fat' ones, whenthree original belles-lettres books were published—1966, 1974,1979-orevenfour-1963, 1968, 1971, 1976, 1977. On occasion, po-

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litical brochures translated from Russian were published too (1970: 1;1974: 1; 1977: 3; 1978: 2; 1979: 1). Only two translated belles-lettresbooks appeared during the whole period—in 1968, a collection ofpoems by the best known contemporary Daghestani poet, RasulHamzatov, translated not from the Avar original but from Russian,and, in 1978, Brezhnev's volume of memoirs, 'The Virgin Lands'.

In 1959 one of the,two volumes published was Nuvusddgorhoytati (Tat Writers), an almanac intended as an annual; since 1960 ithas been entitled Vatan Sovetimu. It did not appear in 1961, 1967,1969, 1972 and 1980. In 1980 an anthology of Mountain Jewishpoetry also entitled Vatan Sovetimu was evidently a substitute for it.

The editor (or, in Soviet terminology, the 'compiler') of the firstthree issues of the annual was H. Avshalumov; subsequently there hasbeen a number of changes of editor. Since 1962 the annual has ap-peared in a format standard for a number of Soviet republican oroblast literary magazines, 7cm XI lcm, with the number of pagesvarying from 76 to 110.

As Judeo-Tat books were virtually unavailable outside Daghes-tan, many Mountain Jews beyond the borders of Daghestan were un-aware that books in their language were being published. As a result,Judeo-Tat literature became the literature of the Daghestan Moun-tain Jews only. The number of readers of these publications con-stantly decreased in Daghestan too. After the elimination of Judeo-Tat as the language of instruction in schools, a growing number ofMountain Jews had difficulties in reading in the mother tongue andknew it only as a second language if at all, their main language beingRussian. One result of the decline of the Judeo-Tat language is that anumber of Mountain Jewish writers use Russian and not Judeo-Tat,their knowledge of which is either inadequate or non-existent. Themost prominent of these are the poet Lazar Amirov, the prosaistFeliks Bakhshiev (the son of M. Bakhshiev), the playwright MayaNakhshunova (NaHshunova), the critic and prosaist Manashir(Menashshe) Azizov, the critic Manashir (Menashshe) Yakubov(Ya'ghiibov), the critic and literary historian Galina Musakhanova,whose principal concern is Qumyq literature, and the anti-religiouspublicist Lyudmila Avshalumova (the daughter of H. Avshalumov).

These writers occasionally deal with Mountain Jewish or generalJewisli themes or introduce Jewish themes into their other writings.Their works appear in translation in Vatan Sovetimu. However, theyare essentially writers with no ethnic affiliation, something that isunusual in Daghestan, the multi-ethnic character of which exists

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alongside strong feelings of ethnic self-identification. The sole excep-tion is Lyudmila Avshalumova, whose theme, the Jewish religion, isexplicitly Jewish. However, she handles this theme in the mannertypical of Soviet vulgarized atheistic propaganda.

The presence in this group of the daughter of H. Avshalumov andthe son of M. Bakhshiev is characteristic of the second generation ofthe Soviet Mountain Jewish cultural elite who—like the secondgeneration of the Soviet Yiddish-language cultural elite—have aban-doned their mother tongue, at least as a means of literary self-expression, in favour of Russian.

Notwithstanding the above, an open letter in 1961 to anAmerican newspaper, signed by five prominent Mountain Jews, in-cluding H. Avshalumov, M. Bakhshiev and G. Davydova, claimed theMountain Jews 'enjoy broad opportunities for developing ourlanguage and our culture.'75 In 1964 a prominent Daghestaniphilologist, Ahed Aghaev, noted that 'due to its restricted social func-tions' Judeo-Tat was not a 'literary language' but a 'written language'(pis'menny yazyk).n In Soviet sociolinguistics, this is an intermediategroup between the literaturnye (literary) and razgovornye (colloquial)languages. Aghaev's statement, however, contradicts the position of(Judeo-)Tat according to the constitution of Daghestan, which stillrecognizes it as one of the official, ergo literary, languages of theAutonomous Republic.

ProseUnlike in the 1920s, when dramaturgy was the leading genre ofJudeo-Tat literature, and the 1930s, when poetry occupied this posi-tion, since the 1950s prose has been at the forefront.

M. Bakhshiev and H. Avshalumov are the central figures inprose. A former war correspondent, Bakhshiev dealt with war themesin, among others, his series of documentary stories Vokhurddiho (En-counters, 1968-1971), which are essentially war reminiscences, andthe story A ruzhoy dov'o (In Days of War), published posthumously in1978. In the years immediately following his return to DaghestanBakhshiev published several collections of works in Russian: Rasskazyo moikh zemlyakakh (Tales About My Countrymen); a collection ofshort stories, Prostye lyudi(The Common People, 1958); and a collec-tion of documentary feature stories (ocherkz) about collective farmers,Zashumyat sady (The Gardens Will Rustle, 1962). He and Avshalu-mov are praised as two of the most outstanding documentary featurestory writers of Daghestan in that period (on two of Avshalumov's

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stories of this kind see below).77

A characteristic feature of these works is the author's insistenceon being seen not primarily as a Mountain Jewish but as an all-Daghrstani writer. Only a few of the works in these collections dealwith subjects derived from the life of the Mountain Jews. The bestamong them is the documentary story Gyul'boor (published also inJudeo-Tat as Gillbohor in M. Bakhshiev, Odomihoy vatanma.Vikhda omora nuvusdd chiho (People of My Homeland. SelectedWorks, Makhachkala, I960)). This story concerns the life ofGiilbohor Davydova (Dovidova), a collective farmer from Derbentwho was awarded the title Hero of Socialist Toil for her achievementsin viticulture. But the majority of characters in Bakhshiev's Russian-language works—e.g. the short stories Animat, Uma Khanum,Zhaloba ne sostoyalas (No Complaint Was Made) and the documen-tary stories IskateV (The Seeker), Pereselentsy (The Migrants),Zashumyat sady chereshnevye (The Cherry Gardens Will Rustle) andParaubkie mayaki (The Lighthouses of Paraul)—are not MountainJews but members of other Daghestani ethnic groups.

M. Bakhshiev's greatest achievement in prose is his novelKhushahoy ongur (Bunches of Grapes, 1963). An abridged version ofit was published in Russian under the title U sten Naryn-Kaly (At theWalls of Naryn-Kala, 1st ed. —1967; the second edition (1979) alsoincludes several of his short stories). The author notes that he wrotethe novel in 1959-61,78 However, a play which tackles one facet of thenovel's plot, Ghismdt mdrdd ndmdrd nixuru (What is Destined for aReal Man Must Not Fall to the Lot of a Villian), appeared already in1959 in the first, pre-Vatan Sovetimu issue of the Judeo-Tat annualand reappeared in 1960 in his afore-mentioned Odomihoy vatanma.

'Bunches of Grapes' is the first multi-plotted novel in MountainJewish literature. Its main plot is typical of the so-called 'kolkhoznovel', a genre which was widespread in Soviet literature in the 1950sand 1960s and concerned a clash between the innovator in workingmethods in viticulture and those favouring old-fashioned methods.But this plot is interwoven with several others—a family saga, a wartheme, a picaresque theme (the exploits of the 'merchant' Hanuko),and the life story of the writer 'Asoil Binayev which is told mainly bymeans of a flash-back device. This last theme contains criticism ofaspects of life under Stalin. Novels of this kind, mainly by Russianauthors, began to appear in the latter 1950s and early 1960s but weresoon throttled by Party censorship.

Mishi Bakhshiev develops this theme in a rather hesitant way, in-

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dicating self-censorship. Binayev's real sufferings are considerablytoned down in the novel. For instance, in reality, Binayev was ar-rested in 1938 and released in 1939 during the 'release of the victimsof slander', a show campaign which affected only a fraction of thosedetained during the 'Great Terror'; in the novel, Binayev is only ex-pelled from the Party, not arrested. In reality, Binayev's arrest wasnot an exceptional case but part of the campaign of liquidating theold Party cadres to whom he belonged; in the novel, his detention isan error. The crowning moment of this theme in the novel is the final,albeit delayed, victory of justice: shortly before his death, Binayev isrestored to Party membership. The author's repeated emphasis on thefact that Binayev's case was atypical gives the impression that at hearthe holds a quite different view. Though hesitant and inconsistent,Mishi Bakhshiev was, in fact, the only Mountain Jewish writer in theUSSR to attempt to 'square accounts' with the Stalin era.79

Avshalumov writes less on the war than Bakhshiev. Three storiesby him on this theme appeared in Dusdi (Friendship, 1956), the firstcollection he published following his demobilization. He subsequentlydealt with this subject surprisingly rarely. Syn (Son, 1985), a shortstory on the war written in Russian, as was a number of his otherworks, is worthy of mention. Here the narrator identifies the adoptedson of a mountain shepherd as the son of a fellow soldier. This recallsan earlier story by M. Bakhshiev, also in Russian, Dock' (Daughter,1950), whose main character identifies a mountain carpet-weaver ashis daughter who, he believes, died while he was on active service.

All-Daghestani themes too are less pronounced in Avshalumov'sprose than in that of Mishi Bakhshiev, though their number issubstantial. Thus, many of Avshalumov's humorous and satiricalwritings of the late 1950s and early 1960s deal with the DaghestaniMuslim environment. In the short story Vokhurdai an sdr bilogh (En-counter at the Spring) Avshalumov portrays humorously but in apositive light the men from a Daghestani Muslim village who, con-trary to tradition, help their wives to bring water from the spring. Inthe short story Mughoray soymishiho (The Lovers' Cave), alsopublished under the title Odokhluy an pird Fatmd (Old Fatma'sSweetheart), the abduction of the bride, a deeply rooted traditionamong the Muslims of the Caucasus, is reduced to a mere farce. Theshort story Dardhoy pird Hasan (The Sufferings of Old Hasan) depictsthe feelings of an old Muslim about pig-breeding in his kolkhoz.

The best work by Avshalumov on a general Daghestani theme ishis Russian-language novella Tolmach imama (The Interpreter of the

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Imam, 1967). The hero is a Russian soldier captured by Muslim in-surgents who befriends his captors, marries a local girl and becomesthe interpreter of the imam Shamil, the leader of the anti-Russianstruggle of the Caucasian mountain Muslims in 1834-59.80

Many of Avshalumov's stories portray the present-day life of theMountain Jews of Daghestan. Two of his documentary stories areabout the Mountain Jewish Heroes of Socialist Labour, the viticultur-ists Gulbohor Davydova (mentioned above) and Shalmu (Shlomo)Rabayev. He describes with gentle irony the everyday life of the Jewishvillage in the short stories 'Ajdl zdnho (Women's Death, also publish-ed under the title Akhir an bddd ovozd (The End of a Bad Reputa-tion)), Shuvdr an dii HOW. (The Husband of Two Wives) and,Masla'iiat nd hinghdr (Edifying Talk and [the popular dish] hinghdr),all written in the mid-1950s-early 1960s.

Avshalumov's principal interest is the traditional way of life ofthe Mountain Jews. As Agarunov put it: 'Avshalumov reminds the oldof things past and acquaints the young with customs we once had.'81

The novella Zdnbiror (The Sister-in-Law, 1971) deals with the life ofthe social elite of the Mountain Jews in Derbent at the time of theRevolution. While Avshalumov portrays this circle of wealthy Moun-tain Jews far from uncritically, his detailed reconstruction of thetraditional way of life betrays his interest in it.

The time span of the novella Kuk gudil (The Jester's Son, 1974)is the years 1908-17.82 A Russian version entitled Vozmezdie (Retribu-tion) appeared in 1965. A first, shorter version of the novella Dukhddrnakhhchi (The Shepherd's Daughter) was completed in 1963, and anabridged Russian version entitled Pod chinarami (Under the PlaneTrees) appeared as early as 1960. In this novella too the authordescribes the traditional Mountain Jewish way of life on the verge ofits disappearance. The portrayal of many of the characters—theirdress, living quarters, leisure pursuits —is effected with almostsculptural detail and an ethnographer's precision. By this means, avibrant picture of the life of the Mountain Jewish village immediatelyprior to the Soviet period is conveyed. There is a deep inner con-tradiction in this novella. On one hand, the way in which Avshalu-mov describes the traditional Mountain Jewish way of life obviouslyexpresses his nostalgia for its lost integrity; on the other hand, hisideological aim is to create, on the model of the Russian revolutionaryepic, a Mountain Jewish epic canvas of the Revolution which was tobring about this loss.85

Avshalumov's story Dovid—vdzir khon an Tabasaru (David,

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Vizir of the Ruler of Tabasaran, mid-1950s) is an adaptation of aMountain Jewish legend concerning the establishment of the villageNiigdi (Miishgiir). According to the legend, the Jewish founders ofthe village fled from Tabasaran on learning that the ruler was con-templating converting them to Islam. This motif of the Jews' readi-ness to abandon a place they had inhabited for hundreds of yearssolely in order not to betray their religion is unacceptable to Avsha-lumov. In his adaptation therefore, the Jews escape from Tabarasanbecause the ruler wishes to avail himself of the tus primae noctis, aright non-existent among the Muslims, including those of Daghestan.Another addition to the legend is the 'friendship of the peoples'theme—a must for a Soviet writer, in particular a non-Russian one.Thus, while, according to the legend, only the Jews flee fromTabasaran, in Avshalumov's adaptation they are accompanied by anumber of Tabasaranis and Lezgis. Avshalumov pays, however,much attention to preserving the characteristic style of the MountainJewish legends and his story therefore appears fairly authentic. Healso portrays lovingly the personality of the titular hero of the legend,David the Wise, a character which has parallels in the folklore ofmany Jewish communities. Avshalumov also drew on Mountain Jew-ish folklore for his series of humorous short stories based on the folk-lore figure of Shimi Darbandi.

The short stories by Amladan Kukullu which appear in the col-lection Sinamishi (The Test, 1968), intended for primary schoolchildren, have a didactic purpose. But this feature combines discreet-ly with a simple but tasteful plot, descriptions of Daghestani land-scapes and the relations between the young heroes and their parents,which are conveyed lyrically. The fact that Kukullu's works are in-tended for Mountain Jewish school children is ironical since thechildren now learn Russian at school and hence read Russian and notJudeo-Tat, the teaching of which, as we have seen, was abolishedabout two decades before the appearance of this small volume.

The afore-mentioned novella Birorho (Brothers) by MikhoilDadashev merits attention as a quasi-artistic response to the present-day emigration movement among the Mountain Jews. Though Biro-rho was published in 1980 it was written (or completed) in 1977,M

during the high tide of the emigration of the Mountain Jews to Israel.It was written in Derbent,85 where, at that time, hardly a Jewish fami-ly was not influenced by the spirit of aliya, (emigration to Israel).'Brothers' is a biography of sorts set against the background of thehistory of Derbent in the Soviet period. Fourteen of its sixteen

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chapters are devoted to the period up to 1922, while the remainingchapters hastily summarize the period since 1922. At the beginningand in the main part of the story, the hero Oshir is a poor youngMountain Jew (the author prefers the designation 'Tat') from Derbentwho joins the Bolsheviks and fights heroically against their enemies, ofwhom the Zionists are presented as the most insidious. At the end ofthe story, Oshir is a retired colonel and director of a large factory.Oshir's brother Shanda leaves his native land at an early stage but wehear of his trials and tribulations in the USA and—worse—in Israel.He eventually dies from a heart attack brought on by his joy when,after several refusals, the Tel Aviv authorities permit him to return toDerbent. In this way, a Soviet phenomenon —the denial of the rightto leave—is projected by the author on to Israel.

PoetryPost-Stalin Mountain Jewish poetry remained for the most part on thesame artistic level as that in the 1930s. Thus, for instance, one of Y.Semyonov's last poems, Md shohidiim (I Am a Witness), is a song ofpraise to the Soviet system absolutely indistinguishable from this kindof 1930s song, except for the fact that Stalin is not mentioned.

M. Bakhshiev too published poetry from time to time. His pre-ferred theme remains the liberation of the woman, a theme which oc-cupied a central place in Judeo-Tat poetry in the 1920s and 1930s. Hedeals with this theme in the same way as he did in the poems he wrotein the 1930s, although the situation of the Mountain Jewish womanchanged considerably in the meantime. In his long poem AgronomMishi Bakhshiev praises a young Mountain Jewess who has acquired anew, 'masculine', profession. In another long poem, Igidjofo (Heroof Labour), he praises once again the viticulturist GulbohorDavydova, who was extolled by him and by Avshalumov in thedocumentary stories mentioned above, as well as by D. Atnilov and S.Izgiyayev.86 Bakhshiev's sole innovation in relation to the poetry hewrote in the 1930s is a shift from Mountain Jewish to generalDaghcstani subjects, similar to the shift in some of his prose works.Thus in his poem Zdnhoy doghi (The Women Mountaineers) eachfour-line stanza praises a woman who belongs to one of the ethnicgroups of Daghestan in the following order: a Lezgi, a Dargwa, anAvar, a Mountain Jewess (designated a 'Tat'), a Qumyq and a Lakk.The meter and rhyme in all these poems are in accordance with Rus-sian prosody models. However, Bakhshiev's Ndnny-ndnam (Lullaby)imitates the intonation and style of a Mountain Jewish folkloristic

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lullaby. The poem exudes the warmth of a lullaby, notwithstandingthe last stanza in which the motif of comparing the bad old days withthe good new ones is repeated for the umpteenth time. In his poemChastushkahoy kolkhozi (Kolkhoz Chastushkas) M. Bakhshiev adaptsa Russian folkloristic genre. (A chastushka is a four-line song ofhumorous or satirical content.)

The most remarkable poet of these years is Daniil Atnilov. Dur-ing the period under discussion Atnilov lived permanently in Moscow,where he was isolated from everyday Judeo-Tat speech. This was,evidently, the reason for his acute sensitivity for the language; indeed,his Judeo-Tat is much purer and his loans from Russian fewer than isthe case with poets who lived within the Judeo-Tat speaking com-munity. Intent on demonstrating the richness of his mother tongue,Atnilov uses words which are archaic in everyday speech, includingHebrew words displaced by Russian and Azerbaydzhani borrowings.His poetry also shows the influence of his Moscow circle of Russianpoets, who in the late 1950s intensively sought new forms and meansof poetic expression. The posthumous collection of poems, Giilhoy in-soni (The Flowers of Mankind, 1971), which sums up Atnilov's poetryin the 1950s and 1960s, includes poems with a free .meter, a varyingnumber of lines per stanza, and rhymes intentionally lacking inprecision—the latter are characteristic of the innovative Russian poetsof the time and are known as 'Evtushenko rhymes', after the well-known Soviet poet who was among the first to use this type of rhyming.

Atnilov wrote few poems on specific Mountain Jewish themes,possibly on account of his isolation from the Mountain Jewish milieu.Of his poems on such themes, 'Azizd odomi(The Dear Man), Deputatvatan (Representative of the Homeland) about the aforementionedGiilbohor Davydova, Parchdbof Dina (Dina the Weaver) and Chihrdtbdbdy ma (Image of My Father) should be mentioned.

Atnilov's major subjects are partly of an all-Soviet and partly ofan all-Daghestani character. Examples of his all-Soviet subjects aretwo of his large poems, Zoya, about the renowned partisan ZoyaKosmodemyanskaya, and Valentino Tereshkova, about the Sovietwoman cosmonaut (this was his last big work). Examples of his all-Daghestani themes are Zavod Dagogni (The Plant 'Lights ofDaghestan') (the Russian word zavod was adopted by Judeo-Tat),Ghdldy Ddrbdnd (The Fortress of Derbent), Kholi Asanat (Asanat'sCarpet) (about a Tabasarani carpet weaver) and 'Azizd Dagestan(Dear Daghestan). The use of the Russian form 'Daghestan' instead ofthe Judeo-Tat 'Doghistu' in this last poem stresses the all-Daghestani

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character of the poem since Russian is the common language of allethnic groups of Daghestan.

Atnilov is the most outspoken exponent in Mountain Jewishliterature in general of the thesis that the Mountain Jews are not apart of the Jewish people but comprise a sui generis ethnic entity,namely 'Tats'. This thesis was apparently first advanced by N.Anisimov in 1932 in a book which was the first and, alas, the onlygrammar of Judeo-Tat in Judeo-Tat.87 At that time the thesis was soalien to the community that it was still-bom. It was revived in themid-1970s in Mountain Jewish publications, when an acute feeling ofJewishness was inclining thousands of Mountain Jews towardsemigrating to Israel. The main exponent of the thesis was L. Avshalu-mova. Paradoxically, while expounding this thesis, she proudly listsby name and in detail the great sons of the Jewish people and pas-sionately describes its heroism in the anti-Nazi struggle.88 In the sameperiod M. Dadashev had the principal positive non-Jewish characterin his novella 'Brothers' declare almost as a self-evident truth that'The Tats are not Jews'.89 In 1981 M. Matatov made an attempt toprovide a scholarly justification of this thesis.90 However, this attemptis seriously flawed even in terms of the Soviet theory of ethnicity, aswas demonstrated by an article in Sovetish Heymland.9*

Atnilov began to propagate the view that the Mountain Jews arenot part of the Jewish people in the late 1950s. In 1960 he published apoem under the title Khdlgh tati (The Tat People), in which hedescribes 'the Tat people' as one of the forty-plus peoples ofDaghestan and a 'tiny people' of Iranian origin.92 In an undated poemin praise of his mother tongue, A zuhun tati (In the Tat Language),published posthumously, Atnilov refers to 'my Tat people'.95 A groupof Soviet Jewish activists described this phenomenon in a 1984 discus-sion as a tendency 'to sever ties with the Jewish people by declaringthemselves the descendants of ancient nations who adopted Judaismbut have nothing in common with Jews.' They stressed that thistendency had received various degrees of support on the part of theauthorities.94

Another outstanding poet of the period—and a prolific one—isSergey Izgiyayev. Many of his poems contain reminiscences of thewar, in which he was an active participant; there is much pathos andrhetoric, as in so much Soviet war poetry in general, but sincerity too.The poem Usdo (the Master) depicts his meeting as a youth with theold vxa'nikhu Shoul Simandu. The ma'nikhu here symbolizes thetradition of Mountain Jewish poetry, and the poem may be seen as a

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declaration by the poet that his work is a continuation of a reveredtradition.

Topical themes occupy considerable place in the poems of Shim-shun Safonov as in the works of most Mountain Jewish poets; theirquality differs little from other works of this genre. However, many ofSafonov's poems about landscapes of Daghestan are distinguished bysincerity and refinement of description. This is the case with some ofthe poems in his collection Parza, ma'ni ma (Fly, My Song, 1968),and several others which appeared in Vatan Sovetimu. A number ofbeautiful poems about the Caspian Sea are to be found in A.Kukullu's collection Odomiva daryoh (The Man and the Sea, 1966).

Zoya Semenduyeva (Simanduyeva) began to publish poetry inthe 1960s. Her collections Voygdy dill (The Heart's Desire, 1967),Komuna (The Rainbow, 1974), and Uchitel'(The Teacher, 1981) areaimed at schoolchildren and generally deal with topical subjects, buther unremitting search for new poetic forms must be held to hercredit.

In the late 1970s, anti-Zionist poems were published parallelwith the Jewish emigration of the period. An example of this genre isPashmuni (Repentance), which is written in the form of a statementin rhyme by Mountain Jewish emigrants to Israel. The author of thepoem is the literary veteran B. Gavrilov.

DramaturgyThere were few works of drama in Judeo-Tat in the post-Stalinperiod. As with poetry these works are not superior to the average ar-tistic level of Mountain Jewish dramaturgy of the 1930s. There seemsto be a direct correlation between this fact and the diminishing role ofthe Mountain Jewish theatre. As we have said, the authorities closeddown the last professional Mountain Jewish theatre in 1946. Its actorsdispersed in various directions, and it seems that only two of themtook up employment in Mountain Jewish collective farms as instruc-tors in amateur theatrical circles.95 Only in the early 1960s was a widerframework for amateur theatrical activity established, on the basis oftwo existing dramatic circles. This 'Inter-kolkhoz Tat Theatre' ofDerbent was renamed the 'Tat People's Theatre' in 1966.96

One play of above-average quality is M. Bakhshiev's Dii daddy(Two Mothers, 1965), which centres on a confrontation between anatural and an adoptive mother. M. Bakhshiev also used this plot forhis short story Ghistomon, after the name of the adoptive mother.The play by Semyon (Shim'iin) Yusufov (now in Israel), Jufdd

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parusdäkho (A Pair of Swallows, 1966-68), which deals with contem-porary Mountain Jewish life, as well as Avshalumov's comedy Domorn'a 'ärüs (Bridegroom and Bride, 1960) and his stage adaptation of his'Dovid—väzir an Khon Tabasaru' (named Tozä maskän, The NewDwelling Place), should be mentioned.

Notes

61 On the 'Great Terror' in Daghestan generally see M. Zand, 'Dagestan v gody velikogo ter-rora' (Daghestan During the Great Terror), introduction to N. Ilishaev, Nakazanie bezprestupleniya (Punishment Without Crime) (Tel Aviv 1982), 5-14.

62 The numbers of Judeo-Tat publications per annum in this article are calculated accordingto the following sources: for the years 1937-41, 1946-47, 1949-52: Knizhnaya letopis': for theyears 1942-46, 1948, 1953-80: Ezhegodnik knigi. Whenever possible the bibliographical en-tries were counterchecked de visu with the books; on this basis the Knizhnaya letopis' data for1975 and 1979 were corrected.

63 See item 6965 in Gazety SSSR . . . . . vol. 3, 246.64 Y. Yagudayev (Yahudoyev), 'Yorovurdiho äz zindäguni teatr tati' (Reminiscences of Tat

theatrical life), part 2, VS, 1979, 76, conveys the official reason as follows: 'People did notcome to the performances . . . This compelled the authorities to close down our theatre in1916.'

65 See G. Daniyalov, 'Ot narodnosti k natsii' (From narodnost to natsiya) in M. Vagabov (ed.),Oktyabrskaya revolyutsiya i reshenie natsionalnogo voprosa v Dagestane (The OctoberRevolution and the Solution of the National Question in Daghestan) (Makhachkala 1967),301. On instruction in Judeo-Tat 'before the Great Patriotic War' see M. Ikhilov, 'Gorskieevrei' (The Mountain Jews) in Narody Kavkaza (The Peoples of the Caucasus), vol. 1(Moscow 1960), 561.

66 ' In his paper in Narody Kavkaza (1960) M. Ikhilov vaguely refers to 'after the war' as the timewhen Judeo-Tat was abolished as a medium of instruction. In 1955, however, he still main-tained that 'instruction in the lower forms is given in the maternal Tat tongue, in the higherforms—in Russian.' See M. Ikhilov, 'Gorskie evrei' (The Mountain Jews), in M. Kosven, Kh.M. Khashaev, Narody Dagestana (The Peoples of Daghestan) (Moscow 1955), 240. In thispaper he also stated that the Ghirmizmä 'äläm was still appearing, although its publicationhad been discontinued three years prior to the appearance of this paper.

67 See the chronology of literary events of those years in 'Hist. Dagh. Lit.', vol. 1, 382-92.68 See Konstitidsiya (Osnovnoy zakon) Dagestanskoy Avtonomnoy Sovetskoy SotsiaUsticheskoy

Respubliki (s izmeneniyami :' dopolneniyami, prinyatymi na I sessii Verkhovnogo SovetaDagestanskoy ASSR tret'ego sozyva (Constitution (Fundamental Law) of the DaghestanAutonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (With Amendments and Additions Adopted at the 1stSession of the Third Daghestan ASSR Supreme Soviet)), articles 24, 78, 111, 112 inKanstitutsiya (Osnovnoy zakon) RSFSR. Konstitutsii (Osnovnye zakony) avtonomnykh sovet-skikh sotsialisticheskikh respublic vkhodyashchikh v sostav RSFSR (Constitution (Fundamen-tal Law) of the RSFSR. Constitutions (Fundamental Laws) of Autonomous Soviet SocialistRepublics of the RSFSR) (Moscow 1952), 94, 103-4, 110-111.

69 See Sh. Mikailov, 'Literatumye yazyki Dagestana' (The literary languages of Daghestan) invoprosy yazykoznantya (The Problems of Linguistics), no. 6, 1955, 95.

70 For newspapers of that time in other indigenous official languages see Gazety SSSR, item7025 (vol. 3, 254)-Avar; items 2720 (vol. 2, 161), 6021 (vol. 3, 109). 6041 (vol. 3,112)-Dargwa (Dargin); item 9260 (vol. 3, 592)-Lakk; items 6394 (vol. 3, 166), 9119 (vol.3, 571), 9225 (vol. 3, 587), 10503 (vol. 4, 161)-Lezgi; item 8030 (vol. 3, 406) — Qumyq;item 5764 (vol. 3, 70)—Tabasarani. For all-Daghestani Avar, Dargwa, Lezgi and Qumyqnewspapers of the period under discussion see also I. Pashaev, 'Osobennosti massovo-pnliticheskoy raboty KPSS v usloviyakh mnogonatsionalnoy Tespubliki' (Specific features ofmass political work of the CPSU in the multi-national republic) in Torzhestvo leninskoy nat-sionalnoy politiki KPSS (Triumph of the Leninist Nationalities Policy of the CPSU)

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(Makhachkala 1968), 136.71 See item 7091 in Gaiety SSSR, vol. 3, 265.72 See 'Hist. Dag. Lit.', vol. 1, 389-90 and 392-4. For quarterlies in Avar, Dargwa, Lakk, Lezgi

and Qumyq, and an annual almanac in Tabasaran, see ibid., 393-4.73 Ibid., 381-93.74 Ibid.75 Morgn Fmyhayt, 22 January 1961, quoted in B. Pinkus, The Soviet Government and the

Jem, I948-1967. A Documented Study, (Cambridge 1984), 464 (document 170). OnGülbohor Davydova see below.

76 See A. Agaev, 'O nekotorykh aspektakh razvitiya kultur narodnostey SSSR v protsessestroitelstva kommunizma' (On some aspects of the development of the cultures of Sovietnarodnosti in the process of building communism) in Dagestansky gosudarstvenny unwersitetim. V. I. Lenina. Sbornik nauchnykh soobshchenty (filologiya) (Daghestani Lenin StateUniversity. Collected Scholarly Papers (Philology)) (Makhachkala 1964), 13.

77 See 'Hist. Dag. Lit.', vol. 1, 298-9; A. Agaev, Nasushchnye problemy dagestanskoy sovetskoyliteratury vsvete reshenty XXIIs'ezda KPSS (Vital Problems of Daghestani Soviet Literaturein the Light of the Decisions of the 22nd CPSU Congress) in Uchenye zapiski Dagestanskogogosudarstvennogo untversiteta imeni V. I. Lenina (Proceedings of the Daghestani LeninState University), vol. 13, 1963, 4.

78 M. Bakhshiev, Khushähoy ongur (Bunches of Grapes) (Makhachkala 1963), 333.79 N. Ilishayev published in Israel a novel on the 'Great Terror' in Daghestan. See his

Prestuplenie bez nakazaniya (Punishment Without Crime) (Tel Aviv 1982). Ilishayev was themain target of an article by O. Ibragimov, 'Kto vystupaet v roli sionistskikh zazyval?' (Whoare acting as Zionist instigators?), Sovetsky Dagestan, no. 3, 1978, 38-43 (Judeo-Tat transla-tion, VS. 1979, 58-65).

80 On the ideological and political controversy in the USSR regarding Shamil see L. Tillet, theGreat Friendship (Chapel Hill, N.C. 1969), 30-47, 194-221 et passim.

81 Y. Agarunov, 'Chütar yaratmish birgā liteiaturay tati' (How Tat literature emerged), part 3,VS. 1977. 71.

82 The chronology of events is not given explicitly in the novella. See H. Avshalumov, Kukgudil (The Jester's Son) (Makhachkala 1974), 48, 91. 148, 171, 185.

83 This did not go unnoticed by a Soviet reviewer of the last print of the Russian version of thenovella —Kh. Avshalumov, Vozmezdie. Povest. Rasskazy (Retribution. Novella. ShortStories) (Moscow 1978). 3-186)—although it is expressed rather evasively: ' . . . the socialemphasis [zaostrennosl] of the novella, correct though it is in itself, is at times excessivelystraightforward.' See S. Akhmedov, 'Povest' i rasskazy' (Novella and short stories)in SovetskyDagestan, no. 1(81), 1979, 73.

84 See M. Dadashev. Birorho (Makhachkala 1980), 174.85 Ibid.86 On the image of Gülbohor Davydova in Mountain Jewish literature see G. Musakhanova,

'Chihrät zänho ä Uteraluray tali" (The image of women in Tat literature), VS, 1979, 71.87 See N. Anisimov, Grammatik zuhun tati (Grammar of the Tat Language) (Moscow 1932).

21-6.88 See L. Avshalumova, "Iudaizm hisdi din-do'ot an mohlugh juhure äz dä khälghhoygäy 'ūlom

dur, jäylä sokhdäi' (Judaism is a religion which distances and separates Jews from otherpeoples of the world), VS. 1976, 68-78, in particular 76-7.

89 M. Dadashev. Birorho, 163.90 See M. Matatov, 'K voprosu o tatskom etnose' (On the question of the Tat ethnos), Sovet-

skaya etnografiya, no. 5, 1981, 109-12.91 See V. Chemin, 'Tsu neytikn zikh hipotezes in a visnshaftlekher argumentatsiye? Vegn M.

Matatovs artikl "Tsu der frage vegn dem tatishn etnos" ' (Do hypotheses need scholarlyreasoning? On M. Matatov's article 'On the question of the Tat ethnos'), Sovetish Heymland,no. 10. 1982. 132-8.

92 See D. Atnilov. "Khälgh tati' (The Tat people), VS, 1960. 31.93 Idem and Gülhoy insoni (The Flowers of Mankind) (Makhachkala 1971), 38.94 See Insight. Soviet Jews, London, vol. 10, no. 6, 1984, 2. On another oriental Jewish group

in the USSR see the Bolshaya sovelskaya entsiklopediya, 3rd edition, vol. 13, 1973, col. 1540,in which the Krymchaks are described as 'a nationality small in number . . . The language

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thry speak belongs to the Turkic group but most of them regard Russian as their mothertongue. The believers adhere to Judaism. Their ethnogenesis has not been establisheddefinitively . . . '

95 See Y. Yagudayev, 'Yorovurdiho . . . . part 2, VS. 1979, 76.96 On the establishment of the 'inter-kolkhoz theatre' see ibid. According to Istoriya Dagestana

(The History of Daghestan), vol. 4 (Moscow 1968), 239, this theatre had been established by1960. However, it is not mentioned in the list of Dagestan theatres in 1967 given in G.Daniyalov, 'From narodnost to natsiya', 334-5. On the change of name see Almoni(Anomymous), 'Ha-yehudim ha-hararim' (The Mountain Jews) in David Prital (ed.), 'TheJewish Intelligentsia in the Soviet Union' (in Hebrew), vol. 3, (Jerusalem 1979), 51. Here thethratre is said to have been formed out of three amateur circles. The information given byYarudayev, however, would seem to be more reliable as it was provided by a participant inthr events.

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