How many Jews in Russia: percentage, exact number

Today, about 15 million Jews live in the world. Of these, only 43% are concentrated in the historical homeland, in Israel. The vast majority of the remaining 57% lives today in 17 countries: in the USA (their number exceeds 5 million people (39%), which is more than in other countries), Canada, France, Great Britain, Spain, Russia, Germany, Australia and a number of other countries. Despite this distribution, experts argue that numerical equality between Israeli Jews and the world diaspora is possible and will come by 2026, provided that the current trend of "return" to their historical homeland continues.

In this article, we find out how many Jews currently live in Russia.

The end of the twentieth century

The Jewish population has long been in a depressed state in our country. And a professor at Brandeis University, Jonathan Sarna, who spent many years studying the history of the Jewish people in the United States, wrote after a trip to Russia in 1986: “Every Jewish life in Moscow has been driven underground. Hebrew studies were declared illegal, most Jewish gatherings were banned, the Choral Synagogue (the only synagogue officially authorized in the capital) was overwhelmed with spies, and the most prominent representatives of the Jewish people were declared criminals and were in a hurry to leave Mother Russia forever. ”

What has changed today?

With the advent of the new millennium, attitudes toward Jews improved significantly. Now, arriving in Russia, Professor Sarna notes that Jewish practice is everywhere. At least four Jewish schools exist in Moscow. Jewish children are taught a number of religious and general subjects, including Hebrew. In 2005, the Department of Judaics was established at the Moscow State University on the basis of the Center for Jewish Studies and Jewish Civilization. Its staff studies Jewish history, Jewish languages, literature, politics and economics.

As for synagogues and religious communities, today there are 15 of them throughout Moscow. In general, such a number of religious centers is enough to meet the needs of the Jews living in the Russian capital. But what is their number throughout the country? How many Jews live in Russia?

Tough question

In order to answer the question posed above, it is necessary to refer to the data of censuses for several years. However, there is a problem. It’s not easy to say exactly how many Jews are in Russia. Why? First of all, because the most striking indicator in this matter is matzo - a traditional Jewish flat cake, or rather, the number of its customers. However, this figure is quite relative and does not show how many Jews in Russia actually are.

Another factor in the assessment is the number of people who identify themselves as Jews and those who find their Jewish roots on the maternal side. Such people are usually called halachic Jews. But what if, judging "by feelings", how many Jews live in Russia today, take into account those whose Jewish roots can be traced back to their father? Obviously, the established indicator can be exceeded at least twice!

Official performance

Let us now turn to the census data for previous years.

Analyzing official indicators, we can conclude that the Jewish population of Russia is gradually decreasing and today it is about 180 thousand people. It is important to note that the downward trend began in the late 80s, when a significant number of Jews emigrated to Israel from the territory of the former USSR. Representatives of national communities living in Moscow believe that many Jews who remained in the Soviet Union renounced or hid their identities in order to avoid persecution by the Soviet government and save lives.

According to the latest Soviet census, which was conducted in 1989, the number of Jews is estimated at 570 thousand people. Of these, 176 thousand lived in Moscow, 107 thousand people in St. Petersburg. In the photo above, these data are presented in percentage terms.

Jews after the collapse of the Soviet Union

A slight increase in the number of Jewish people in the territory of the former USSR occurs in the first years after the collapse of the Union. This is primarily due to the fact that people have ceased to be so afraid of openly reporting on their Jewish roots.

But, according to data for 2001, the number of Jews fell to 275 thousand people, which means that in percentage terms their number decreased by more than 50%.

Census results from 1989 to 2001 are presented in the table below.

How many Jews in Russia today?

According to the results of the 2002 census, Jews at that time made up only 0.16% of the total Russian population, while the Jewish community continued to decline.

How many Jews in Russia in 2002? Officially, 233 thousand people were recorded. Then, the pace of reduction remained virtually unchanged, and by 2010 only about 158 ​​thousand representatives of the Jewish people remained in Russia.

Currently, about 180 thousand Jews live in the Russian Federation. Moreover, fewer people are ready to identify themselves as Jews. More than 80% of the representatives of this people living in our country prefer to marry non-Jewish spouses. But how many percent of Jews in Russia? Relative to the total number of these people around the world, the number is not very large: only 1.3% live here.

The revival of Jewish culture

Jewish life and culture with the collapse of the Soviet Union began to experience a certain revival. In the early 1990s, Russian Jews began to show interest in a deeper study of their religious heritage. In January 1996, the publication of a Russian translation of the Talmud in Russia became the main event in the life of the Jewish community. This was the first publication of a holy book since the reign of the Bolsheviks, which marked the beginning of the preparation of a whole series of Talmudic translations that allowed Russian Jews to revert to studying the religion of their ancestors. Previously, there was nothing like this in Soviet Russia.

Then, in 1996, the first synagogue in Moscow from the time of the 1917 revolution was laid. In honor of this event, an article was published in the British newspaper Time with the following words: “Six years ago, Jews were still beaten in Minsk. Now three religious communities are organized there: Saturday school, youth movement and voluntary charity organization. ”

Finally, it cannot be denied that it was partly the Jews who played a significant role in the process of restoring the economy of post-Soviet Russia.

Jews and politics

Do you know how many Jews are in power in Russia? If we take into account that the economy is somehow connected with politics, then we can say with confidence that this number is very significant. It is enough to recall that at least the six most famous oligarchs of Russia had Jewish roots:

• Boris Berezovsky.
• Mikhail Khodorkovsky.
• Alexander Smolensky.
• Vladimir Gusinsky.
• Michael Friedman.
• Rem Vyakhirev.

It should be noted that the “pro-Jewish" sentiments of Russian President Vladimir Putin are an important factor in the revival of Jewish life in our country.

Berl Lazar, the chief rabbi of Russia, has fairly close ties with the head of state and explains that the views of V. Putin and his attitude to Jewry have been forming for a long period, starting from childhood, as the future president grew up in a rather poor family and for a long time spent with Jewish neighbors. Occupying the post of deputy mayor of Leningrad, V. Putin tried to help Jews in various matters. He gave permission to open the first Jewish school in the city. Later, when the construction of the Jewish Museum began in Moscow, he donated his monthly salary to this business. Today, the name of the President of Russia is indicated on one of the museum stands as a thank you for the assistance provided to the Jewish community.

Jews and the opposition

However, this does not limit the involvement of Jews in the political life of Russia. “Almost all liberal opposition leaders are either fully Jewish or have Jewish assistants,” says Michael Edelstein, a professor at Moscow State University.

So the opposition leader Boris Nemtsov, who died in 2015 under mysterious circumstances, had Jewish roots: he was a purebred Jew, although he considered himself a Christian.

Another well-known opposition politician, Mikhail Khodorkovsky, is a Jewish father. In 2001, he founded the Open Russia Foundation in support of liberal values. Two years later, Khodorkovsky was arrested on corruption charges and sent to prison. He was soon released and emigrated to Europe.

In this case, it is important to emphasize that, as a rule, many Russian businessmen are not afraid of being accused of corruption fraud, which cannot be said about Jews. They often find themselves at the crossroads of government repression. This is explained by the fact that despite a certain revival of Jewry in Russia and the obvious pro-Jewish sympathies of Vladimir Putin, anti-Semitic sentiments are still strong in the country, which at times are aggravated and alarming.

What are the reasons for Russian anti-Semitism, the question is serious, but this is not the topic of this article. Today we found out how many Jews are in Russia.