Subbotniks

Russian religious movements

Subbotniks (, "Sabbatarians") is a common name for adherents of Russian religious movements that split from Sabbatarian sects in the late 18th century. The majority of Subbotniks were converts to Rabbinic or Karaite Judaism from Christianity. Other groups included Judaizing Christians and Spiritual Christians. There are three main groups of people described as Subbotniks:
Judaizing Talmudists: Subbotnik converts to Rabbinic Judaism, also described as "Gery" (Геры), "Talmudisty" (Субботники Талмудисты), or "Shaposhniki". or Karaite Subbotniks considering themselves as adherents of Karaite Judaism. They recognize only the scriptural authority of the Torah and reject the Talmud; however, it has been reported that they do not practice circumcision. A 1912 religious census in Russia recorded 12,305 "Judaizing Talmudists", and 4,092 "Russian Karaites", and 8,412 Subbotniks who "had fallen away from Orthodoxy".

Subbotniks, meaning sabbatarians for their observance of the Sabbath on Saturday, as in the Hebrew Bible, rather than on Sunday, arose as part of the Spiritual Christian movement in the 18th century. Imperial Russian officials and Orthodox clergy considered the Subbotniks to be heretical to Russian Orthodox religion, and tried to suppress their sects and other Judaizers. They also emphasized individual interpretation of the law rather than accepting the Talmud or clergy. The Subbotniks concealed their religious beliefs and rites from Orthodox Christians. The Russian government eventually deported the Subbotniks, isolating them from Orthodox Christians and Jews. The Subbotniks observed the Sabbath on Saturday, and were also known as sabbatarians. They avoided work and tried to avoid discussing worldly affairs. Apart from practicing circumcision of boys, many began to slaughter their food animals according to the laws of shechita when they could learn the necessary rules. Some clandestinely used phylacteries, tzitzit (ritual tassels), and mezuzot (doorpost markings), and prayed in private houses of prayer. As their practice deepened, some acquired Jewish "siddur" prayer books with Russian translation for their prayers. The hazzan (cantor) read the prayers aloud, and the congregants prayed silently; during prayers a solemn silence was observed throughout the house. According to the testimony, private and official, of all those who studied their mode of life in tsarist times, the Subbotniks were remarkably industrious; reading and writing, hospitable, not given to drunkenness, poverty, or prostitution. Up to 1820 the Subbotniks lived for the most part in the governments of Voronezh, Oryol, Moscow, Tula, and Saratov. After that year, the government deported those who openly acknowledged their membership in the sect to the foothills of the Caucasus, to Transcaucasia, and to the Siberian governments of Irkutsk, Tobolsk, and Yeniseisk. In 1912, the government's Interior Ministry recorded 8,412 Subbotniks; 12,305 Judaizing Talmudists; and 4,092 Russian Karaites. They Hebraized their surnames to assimilate. Within a short period, the descendants of Subbotnik Jews who arrived in Ottoman Palestine in the late 19th century had completely blended and inter married into the wider Jewish population of Israel.

Subbotniks in Nazi occupied areas of Ukraine were killed by SS Einsatzgruppen troops and local Ukrainian collaborators due to their Jewish self identity. They were relatively recent migrants to Ukraine from areas of Voronezh and considered outsiders by the peasants, who noted their practice of some Jewish customs. During the Holocaust, Nazis killed thousands of Subbotniks. By contrast, they did not attack Crimean Karaites, accepting the state's records that they were ethnic Tatars (or Khazars).

Following their massacre in the Holocaust, the Subbotniks came to have an increasingly nationalist self identification as Jews. However, after the War, the Soviet government ceased to recognize the "Subbotnik" as a legal ethnic category. They counted these people as a subset of the ethnic Russian population. Between 1973 and 1991, the Subbotniks of Ilyinka in Voronezh Oblast emigrated to Israel.

After the fall of the Soviet Union, a few thousand Subbotniks left Russia for Israel. This coincided with the 1990s Post Soviet aliyah to Israel of more than a million Russian Jews and members of their immediate families. Since that period, Subbotniks remaining in Russia have encountered status related problems. In the 21st century, the Shavei Israel organization for outreach to "lost Jews" and related communities, appointed a rabbi for the Subbotniks at Vysoky in Voronezh Oblast. The objective of teaching them Judaism and facilitate their formal conversion to Orthodox Judaism would make them eligible for aliyah to Israel. The ruling was abolished in 2014, with an attempt by the Interior Ministry to allow remaining Subbotnik families to immigrate to Israel.

It has been difficult to estimate the exact number of Subbotniks in Russia at any given time. The discrepancies between government statistics and the membership have varied widely. Official data from tsarist times placed the membership of the sect at several thousand. The writer E. Deinard, who was in personal contact with the Subbotniks, said in 1887 there were 2,500,000. Deinard may have included in his figures all of the Judaizing sects, and not just the Subbotniks, as this estimate is not supported by any other historians. Apart from their religious rites, the Subbotniks were generally indistinguishable from Russian Orthodox or secular Russians in terms of dress and lifestyle.

Besides Tambov, Subbotnik Karaites also lived in Saratov Oblast, Astrakhan Oblast, Volgograd Oblast, Stavropol Krai, Samara Oblast, Khakassia, Irkutsk Oblast along the Molochna River in Novorossiya, in Krasnodar Krai, Armenia and Azerbaijan and along the Russian Empire's borders with Iran. While not all statistics for all provinces are readily available, there are more than 2500 in Privolnoye, Azerbaijan alone.