Jews in Armenia

Last week, a fellow PCV posted a link to this site, created (I think) by another PCV, whom I have not met - http://yeghegis.syunikngo.am/ - coincidentally (or not), I had just been reading about this in the Bradt guide. There’s an 800-year-old Jewish cemetery in Armenia, one of the oldest known in the world. It was rediscovered in 1996 and excavations have been in the works since 2000, through the Jewish University of Jerusalem. Several of the gravestones have Hebrew lettering on them. You can reach the cemetery via a rickety footbridge over the Yeghegis River. Built in the 1930s, the bridge supports include some of the gravestones; another bridge may be built and then the gravestones would be restored to the cemetery. Over 60 gravestones have been identified, some with decipherable inscriptions. Interestingly, some of them have the same symbols and decorative motifs – such as the spiral wheel – that are seen on some of the early Christian stones. There’s speculation that the same craftsmen may have carved stones for both this cemetery and Christian ones (makes sense to me). The Bradt guide says that the Jews in the area worked in flour milling. They came in the 13th century after the Mongol invasion and left in the 15th after the Ottoman invasion.

You may have already guessed that the way to this cemetery (and also to a couple of monasteries and a fortress) is near Yeghegnadzor and that we couldn’t get to it because of the road that was washed out. If the road is repaired before I leave, I’d go back to see this – it sounds like a fascinating bit of history and something unique to see. I enjoyed seeing the Jewish cemeteries and quarters of Morocco, after all! Or maybe I will just go back to Yegh to go tubing on the river with Emily, Meag and others – that would be fun.

Another volunteer has been working on some English translations – see http://jewish.am/?page_id=36&lang=en. If you look at a map, it makes sense that Armenians would have gotten to Israel and Jews would have gotten here; it’s not far. One day I did an internet search and found the address for a synagogue in Yerevan. Gordon, Jeanne and I were out for a walk one day and he didn’t feel well so he went home; Jeanne and I weren’t ready to call it a day yet, so I suggested we check it out. It was hard to find – we went up and down the street, and then a local figured out what we were looking for and pointed to a narrow, residential alleyway; we went though and found it. It was undergoing renovation and was empty; a menorah in front and some books with Hebrew lettering inside were the only clues that we were in the right place. Then the rabbi came along and talked to us for a while. He invited us to the re-opening, but it was the same day as our COS meeting, so we couldn’t go. I’m not sure I’ll make it back there but here’s a look at it now - http://hetq.am/eng/news/1757/

Who knew?

July post script, or why I am still reading tour books even though I am almost finished, part two – because I learn things. Near the sculpture of the hands from twin city Carrara (see May 28) and the tree-of-life sculpture that is a replica of one Yerevan gave to Carrara in return (July 14) is Yerevan’s monument to the Holocaust. According to the Bradt guide, the Hebrew is wrong. Still, it was nice to find this sculpture.