Decorah public opinion. (Decorah, Winneshiek County [Iowa]) 1895-1928, 1919-10-22
Highanders of the Caucasus Who
Have Kept Free From Gentle
Admixture.
sCORN THE PLAINS PEOPLE
Their Language and Many Of Their
Customs Are PecuIlar-Date and
Circumstances of Settlement in
That Region Unknown.


large. and certainly none presents
more striking contrast to the common
conception of the modern children of
Israel than the Jewish Highlanders of
the eastern Caucasus. Yet there are
probably none in all the world who
have kept the Jewish blood more pure
and free from gentle admixture, nor
any who have more faithfully pre-
served the traditions, beliefs and Gus
toms of the times before the exile.
Indeed, they hold themselves quite
aloof from the other Jews of the eau
casus region, refusing to intermarry
with them, TO worship with them, or
even to have social or commercial in
tercourse with them beyond the limits
of the barest necessity. No Scottish
Highlander ever scorned the LOwlander
one-half so much as these Highland
er Jews scorn their kinsmen of the
plains and of the urban ghetto.
Traditions Fail to Explain.
The date and the circumstances of
their settlement in the Caucasus high
lands are unknown, even in their own
traditions, but it is certain that they
have been there for nearly~a thousand
years. In that time their physical
characteristics have been materially
modified by their environment and
mode of life. With characteristic Jew
fish faces and complexion, they have
tall, stalwart, muscular bodies, re-
h.A HOS Of hn Of
India, or some of the giant Highland
ers OF Scotland. Their life Is of cburse
purely rural, since they have no con-
siderable towns, and they devote them
selves to agriculture, and the growing
of grapes and tobacco. From the
brandy, and of these beverages they
are heavy drinkers. Indeed they have
the unenviable reputation of being the
hardest drinkers in all that part of the
world-which might easily be, since
the Mohammedan tribes around them
are almost entirely total abstainers.
However, drunkenness is little known
among them, if at all.
They are also great fighters. That
is generally characteristic of noun
taineers, and i'm these highland Jews
1t is highly developed. They always
60 armed, as do the Montenegrins, and
are never backward In using their
weapons for defense. They do not,
however, share in any of the blood
feuds of the Circassian tribesmen, nor
do they join in their raids and quar-
rels.
Peculiar Language.
Their language Is neither Hebrew
nor that Of the country in which they
live, but rather what philologists term
Parsi.Tartar, or mingling of old Per
sian and Tartar. From this cireum-
stance it is inferred that their ances-
tors went to the Caucasus from Persia
in the days OF Cyrus the Great, or
Darius. Perhaps they were fugitives
from Persian captivity; or else they
preferred going TO the Caucasus
rather than back to Palestine. There Is
indeed one ancient legend which tells
that they wandered northward in quest
of Mount Ararat and the remains of
Noah's ark.
The patriarchal mode of life pre-
walls among them. When son mar
ries he does not establish home Of
his own. He simply builds wing on
his fathers house and Lives In 1t. In
this fashion there are often three or
four generations living In single
house, which consists of single story
spread over a large area of ground.
Each house has It's own allotment of
land, comprising grain field, tobacco
field, vegetable garden and vineyard.
and all are kept in a high state of cul-
tivation, though with primitive meth
DDS. Each garden is inclosed within
a wall of rubble and clay about six
feet high.
These highland Jews have no pabbis
and no religious head. They lave no
synagogues and no liturgy. They have
a scroll of the law. but 1t is used only
for reference. They observe the Sab
bath In the strictest Mosaic fashion.
doing no work and cooking no food all
food requiring 1t being cooked on the
preceding day. They keep the Pass.
over, not by eating unleavened bread,
because all their bread Is always I'M
leavened. but by eating an evening
meal in common in the open air. The
Feast of Tabernacles Is similarly OBJ.
served, and they have special cere-
mony OF their own at each new moon.
Girls must always be betrothed for
six months before marriage, and the
bridegroom, instead of receiving a
dowry with his bride, must pay her
father a price for her. This is usually
paid for in sheep, cattle or horses, but
always in eighteens or some multiple
thereof The price may be IS sheep
or 80 head of cattle, or IL the BRIDE
groom Is rich 1t may be ~ horses, but
for some reason, the origin of which
is lost In antiquity, the number must
always be eighteen or multiple OF
eighteen. There Is no religious mar
riage ceremony. but a civil contract IL
written and signed.
When a child is born 1t Is laid upon