Jews and Old Believers. What common?

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

Despite the fact that Jews and Old Believers are considered different cultures, even with a general acquaintance with them, you can notice a number of similarities. Similarities are evident everywhere, which is why many confuse these two different cultures. The Kramola portal offers to look at what makes these two groups, so unlike each other, related.

White Jews

Especially noteworthy is the fact that in the pre-war period on the territory of modern Latvia, Old Believers were called White Jews or Jews. The reasons for this nickname were the behavior of the Old Believers, their attitude to faith and a kind of strange isolation. For example, one of them even once said about Jews as black people. Others believed that Orthodox Jews are like Old Believers among the Russian people. Representations of this kind are quite common on the territory of modern Latvia. It is also worth remembering the fact that overly wealthy Old Believer merchants were often considered Russian Rothschilds.

In Orhei, a city in Moldova, a survey was conducted among local Jews and non-Jews. According to the survey, local residents believe that the Lipovan Old Believers are the closest to the Jews. In Latvia, they also saw similarities in the general cohesion of Jews and Old Believers in communities.

Culinary prohibitions and etiquette

In this issue, there are indeed similar common features. In regions without a Muslim population, food restrictions are observed among Jews and Old Believers. Moreover, the only ones. Nevertheless, despite the common features, there is a difference in the prohibition of the Old Believers and the Jewish kosher. For example, among the Jews, food restrictions are found on the 11th chapter of the book of Leviticus, and also on the provisions of the Talmud. Among the Old Believers, they are based exclusively on the People's Bible. There are also ideas about food that are not based on biblical dogma. For example, you cannot eat a rabbit, because it is born blind, and so on. Unlike the Jewish people, the Old Believers allow pork in their diet. Also, they completely lack the border between dairy and meat dishes. This border is one of the basic principles of kosher. But some researchers see the similarities of some of the food prohibitions with Jews, for example, the separation or non-separation of the hoof. On the basis of a split hoof, one can judge the ban on horse meat among Jews and Old Believers. Matzah, as food for ceremonies, was often compared to Easter cakes among the Old Believers.

The representatives of the Old Believers themselves, in an extremely unusual way, explained the reason for the prohibition of pork among the Jews and their lack of it. They believed that the pig buried Christ, saving him from reprisals. Therefore, the Jews considered it a sin to eat this animal.

In the city of Balta, in the Ukraine, Old Believers told that they had never bought bread in a store before. They were only bought from a Jewish baker. It was believed that he was clean both in the room and in the energetic sense of the word.

Language

If any ethnic groups have been living nearby for a long time, then sooner or later they begin to understand each other's language. And also borrow some words and expressions. A separate group of Jews and Old Believers is no exception to the rule.

On the territory of modern Lithuania, the Lithuanian language includes such words of Jewish origin as bakhur (boyfriend) and hebra (company). Also borrowing from the Hebrew language is worth noting the word "School", which was borrowed in the meaning of "Snagog". The Old Believers of Verkhneudinsk noticed an interesting word "Shabashniki", which means "Non-working", "Weekends". There is an obvious influence of the word Shabbat, which was borrowed from the Jewish people.

According to some local residents among Jews, the Old Believers even have their own language for saying prayers, which is inaccessible to ordinary understanding. In this case, the role of the Old Church Slavonic language can be compared with the role of Yiddish among the Jews. But theoretically, Church Slavonic is more correct to compare with Hebrew. In some areas, the Old Believers adopted Indish from the Jews as a colloquial dialect.

Traditional culture and imagery

Both Jews and Old Believers were advised to wear special clothing and distinctive signs of belonging to a particular group.

For example, in the fictional literature of the 19th century, you can find several examples of the distinctive features of Old Believer clothing. For example, one of the novels clearly indicates a long-length cloth sundress for men with a quadrangle of red cloth sewn on the back. The Jews also had their own clothes with distinctive signs. For example, well-known hats - yarmulkes, Crimean caps or dark, long-length caftans, which were girded with a sash. At a certain point, the Jews decided to replace the yarmulkes with caps that resembled those of the Old Believers. Remarkable is the fact that Jewish believers and Old Believers were forbidden to shave their beards. Because of this, outside observers could easily confuse representatives of such different groups.

Persecution by the authorities

Both those and others have been persecuted at all times by the status of a persecuted minority. The only difference is that the Jews were a religious-ethnic minority, and the Old Believers were ethno-confessional. Both groups were persecuted both during the empire and during the Soviet era. The Jews, according to general ideas, should have lived in the Pale of Settlement, and the Old Believers in remote corners. Despite the persecution, it is impossible to find features of the Settlement among the Old Believers; in the 19th centuries they calmly roamed and settled throughout the country. Similar features were observed in taxation: Double size was present in both Jews and Old Believers. There was also a ban on career growth: both Jews and Old Believers were forbidden to have ranks in government structures. In order to protect themselves and their families from persecution, both groups left Russia and the USSR. Both groups live in separate communities around the world.

Accusations of rituals using Orthodoxy

An interesting fact is that both Jews and Old Believers were accused of murdering children on religious grounds by certain groups of researchers. The Old Believers were also accused of this act by representatives of Orthodoxy up to the 19th and 20th centuries.

Ritual Purity Law

It is worth mentioning the separate dishes for strangers among the Old Believers. And the ritually clean dishes of the Jews, which are used only for dairy and meat products. Even the methods of cleaning ritually soiled dishes are similar. The Old Believers practice annealing, which is reminiscent of the Jewish kosher procedure. Non-blooming people have a ban on eating with people of other faiths. Such a meal was perceived as nothing less than peace.

Summing up, we can say that both groups have common features, for example, government persecution, minority status, the concept of religious purity, and so on. As a result, due to the historical similarity of the groups, a warm relationship arose between them. They are sharply discordant with the hostility towards Jews on the part of traditional society.