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Jewish ethnic group

The Georgian Jews are a community of Jews who migrated to Georgia during the Babylonian captivity in the 6th century BCE. It is one of the oldest communities in the region. They are also widely distinguished from the Ashkenazi Jews in Georgia, who arrived following the Russian annexation of Georgia. Prior to Georgia's annexation by the Russian Empire in 1801, the 2,600 year history of the Georgian Jews was marked by an almost total absence of antisemitism and a visible assimilation in the Georgian language and culture. The Georgian Jews were considered ethnically and culturally distinct from neighboring Mountain Jews. 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.

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). as of 2014, 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.

Georgian speaking Jewry is one of the oldest surviving Jewish communities in the world. The Georgian Jews have an approximately 2,600 year history in Colchis. The origin of Georgian Jews, also known as Gurjim or kartveli ebraelebi, is debated. The most popular 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. This claim is supported by the medieval Georgian historical account by Leonti Mroveli, who writes:

blockquote|Then King Nebuchadnezzar captured Jerusalem. The Jews who fled thence come to Kartli and requested from the mamasakhlisi [local ruler] of Mtskheta territory in return for tribute. He gave [a place] and settled them on the Aragvi, at spring which was called Zanavi, which was later renamed as Zanavi, the quarter of Jews.". According to the Georgian hagiography, Jewish communities existed in Georgia in the 1st century. A Georgian Jew called Elias was said to be in Jerusalem during the Crucifixion and brought Jesus' robe back with him to Georgia. He had acquired it from a Roman soldier at Golgotha. The Jews spoke Georgian, and later Jewish traders developed a dialect called Kivruli, or Judaeo Georgian, which included a number of Hebrew words. In the second half of the 7th century, the Muslim Empire conquered extensive Georgian territory, which became a province of the Arab caliphate. Arab emirs ruled in the Georgian capital Tbilisi and surrounding territory for nearly 500 years, until 1122. Genetic studies carried out on Georgian Jews as part of a wider survey showed close genetic links with other Jews, and in particular with Iraqi and Persian Jews. This seemed to prove the historical accounts of Jewish migration from Persia into Georgia.

There is not much documentation about Georgian Jews under the Arab domination. In the late 9th century, Abu Imran Musa al Za'farani (later known as Abu Imran al Tiflisi) founded a Jewish Karai sect called the Tiflis Sect ("Tiflisites"), which lasted for more than 300 years. The sect deviated from Rabbinic halakhah in its marriage and kashrut customs. This sect did not represent the great majority of Georgian Jews, who adhered to traditional Rabbinic Judaism while maintaining strong religious ties with Baghdad and other Jews of Iraq. The nature of Georgian Jew's observance to rabbinic law was also noted by Benjamin of Tudela and Abraham ben David (also known as the RABAD or RAVAD).

As a result of the 2008 South Ossetia War, some 200 Georgian Jews immigrated to Israel with assistance from the Jewish Agency.

According to the 1897 Russian Empire Census, there were 12,194 people whose native language was "Jewish" in the two provinces that largely covered today's Georgia: Tiflis Governorate (5,188) and Kutais Governorate (7,006). There were 3,419 Jews in Kutaisi city (10.5% of the population), 2,935 in Tiflis, 1,064 in Batumi. Georgia's population almost doubled between 1926 and 1970, then began declining, with dramatic declines in the 1970s and 1990s, when many Georgian Jews left and moved to other countries, especially to Israel.

Many Georgian Jews now live in Israel. In Israel, most Georgian Jews settled near the coast in cities such as Lod, Bat Yam, Ashdod, and Holon. There are Georgian Jews in Jerusalem as well, with several prominent synagogues.