Jewish Communities in Western Siberia in 19^th-21^st Centuries: Sociocultural Image

Abstract

The state of Jewish communities in Western Siberia in the historical perspective is analyzed. On the basis of a wide range of archival sources the author analyzes the specifics of the life of such communities during four historical periods: pre-revolutionary, change of political regimes (1917-1919), Soviet and post-Soviet. A special place in the article is given to the phenomenon of regional (Siberian) variant of Jewish identity. The purpose of the article is to analyze the transformations in the understanding and realization of the idea of community life of Jews living in Western Siberia for two centuries of the Jewish Diaspora in the region. The results of a quantitative survey conducted by the author in autumn 2018 are presented. On the basis of comparative analysis of the data, the author comes to a conclusion that the socio-cultural image of the West Siberian communities retains typical characteristics of the Jewish regional (Siberian) identity. At the same time, the main indicators of the level of religiosity, national and cultural identification, age and educational characteristics correspond to the general picture of Russian Jewry, which indicates a close connection between the provincial Jewry of different regions of Russia and Russian Jewry in general. The analysis of the dynamics of Jewish national and cultural life in Western Siberia gives grounds to consider the thesis of the observed crisis of the Jewish Diaspora in the Russian province premature.

Keywords

• jews
• jewish identity
• siberian jews
• jewish diaspora
• jewish religiosity