Jewish history in Kazakhstan’s cities

Kazakhstan’s cities have different Jewish histories

In Semipalatinsk, the community is documented as far back as the Russian Empire. Verny, later Alma-Ata, developed its own pre-revolutionary urban life before becoming a major centre of the Soviet and post-Soviet community. Karaganda grew rapidly in the Soviet period, receiving people who arrived in Kazakhstan through industrial migration, evacuation, deportation and the camp system. Shymkent combines Soviet religious history with an early post-Soviet cultural revival and present-day religious infrastructure. Kyzylorda is known as a city that had a synagogue in the Soviet period, although its current official religious landscape is different.

The address of a historic synagogue, a cultural centre and a registered religious association refer to different kinds of institutions.

Pre-revolutionary records and the former synagogue in Semipalatinsk, now Semey

Museum research in East Kazakhstan dates the first precise information about Jews in Semipalatinsk District to 1825. Different studies give figures of 12 or 17 people, depending on the administrative area and counting method.

By the late nineteenth century, the community had become more visible. The official city page on monuments cites figures for 1895. Semipalatinsk Region had 343 Jews, including 248 in the regional capital. A Jewish school is also mentioned.

Buildings of former prayer houses have survived.

Nina Krutova’s archival study reconstructs the history of the synagogue on Loktevskaya Street in detail. It describes the community, Rabbi Kiva Rabinovich, the registration of the religious society in 1930 and the Soviet authorities’ actions that culminated in the seizure of the prayer building in 1932. Surviving documents reveal both the state’s decision and community life. They mention the community elder, worshippers, attempts to maintain prayer on Yom Kippur and an inventory of property.

The former synagogue is dated to both 1856 and 1913

Sources give different dates.

The state list of historical and cultural monuments of local significance identifies the building at 16 Kozbagarov Street as a “sports school (former synagogue), 1856”. This date is recorded in the official list of monuments.

An archival and museum reconstruction of Semipalatinsk’s Jewish community, however, dates the ceremonial opening of the large synagogue on Loktevskaya Street to 1913. A community telegram marking the opening and a reply from the imperial court dated September 1913 have survived.

The relationship between the dates has not been established. The state list dates the former synagogue at 16 Kozbagarov Street to 1856, while the archival study records the opening of a synagogue on Loktevskaya Street in 1913. The sources do not explain whether these dates concern different buildings or stages in the history of one building.

After the synagogue closed, secular institutions used the building

Following the dissolution of the religious community, the building housed secular institutions. A museum study from the mid-2000s reported that the Batyr sports complex had occupied it since 1997. Abai Region’s state list of monuments identifies the site as a sports school in a former synagogue building. These records establish secular use of the historic building but do not identify its current tenant.

The physical survival of a building does not mean its religious function has survived.

Semey’s post-Soviet community institutions

The Mitzvah Association’s archived website records a Jewish cultural centre, a library and, from 2004, a branch of Hesed Polina operating in post-Soviet Semipalatinsk. The archived pages do not establish that all these institutions continue to operate in 2026.

The current city page on religious affairs lists active religious associations in Semey and does not include a Jewish religious association among the published entries. This does not prove that the city has no Jews, families, cultural memory or informal community life. It means only that a historic cultural centre and contemporary registered religious infrastructure are not the same thing.

Verny / Alma-Ata / Almaty

In Verny, Alma-Ata and Almaty, pre-revolutionary history, migration in the 1930s and 1940s, Soviet religious life and post-Soviet cultural, social and religious organisations became intertwined.

Wartime migration and the rebuilding of Karaganda’s community

Unlike pre-revolutionary Semipalatinsk, Jewish life in Karaganda developed within a rapidly expanding Soviet industrial region. Work, war, evacuation, deportation and the wider context of the Karaganda camp system brought people there.

Personal recollections confirm the presence of evacuated Jewish families in wartime Karaganda. For example, the family of future Chabad emissary Rochel Pinson fled Leningrad and reached Karaganda before Passover. Her recollections describe the wartime city’s severe food shortages.

Rochel Pinson’s memoirs describe one family’s route and do not provide a demographic estimate of Karaganda’s Jewish population.

Post-Soviet institutions are documented in greater detail. Mitzvah’s archive reports that the Miriam Jewish cultural centre was established in 1991, and public celebrations of Jewish holidays are recorded from the early 1990s. The centre brought together cultural programmes and Hesed Miriam, describing itself as an umbrella organisation for the city’s Jewish institutions.

The archive describes Miriam’s structure in the 1990s; the city’s contemporary organisational landscape developed later.

Karaganda’s contemporary religious institutions are documented separately

The state register and Chabad directories confirm the city’s contemporary religious infrastructure.

The state register of mandatory requirements includes the local religious association “Jewish Community of Karaganda Region”. Chabad’s international directory also continues to list a centre in Karaganda, and Chabad of Kazakhstan’s 2024 overview includes the city among the network’s seven Kazakhstan centres.

The documents do not establish that all these names refer to one legal entity continuously operating since 1991.

Jewish life in Shymkent in the Soviet, post-Soviet and contemporary periods

The World Jewish Congress lists Chimkent among cities that had a synagogue in the Soviet period. Its later post-Soviet history is documented in greater detail.

The Mitzvah Association’s archive reports that Shymkent’s Jewish cultural centre was registered in 1989. Its programmes included Jewish culture, a Sunday school, Hebrew teaching, a library and social assistance. A separate directory lists Hesed Shimon, the Jewish community centre, cultural centre and religious community as distinct parts of the city’s institutions at that time.

Shymkent’s contemporary religious community

The official city list of religious associations includes the local religious association “Jewish Community of Shymkent”. The published information gives an address on Beket Batyr Street.

Shymkent’s religious community developed between 2018 and 2024

Chabad emissaries Mordechai and Shoshana Morozov arrived in the city in 2018. Chabad.org describes a small Jewish community already there, within which new religious infrastructure began to expand.

On 9 July 2024, Shymkent’s first mikvah, Mei Elazar, opened. The report associates the centre with prayer services, adult education and community programmes.

Chabad.org describes a base of more than 200 Jews with whom the centre works. This figure cannot be used as a state count of Shymkent’s Jewish population. It is a community organisation’s estimate of its own audience.

Shymkent’s sources describe a religious organisation, a Chabad centre and a mikvah. The reach of the centre’s programmes does not replace the city’s demographic statistics.

Historical sources describe a synagogue in Kyzylorda, but a contemporary community’s registration is not confirmed

The World Jewish Congress lists Kyzylorda among cities with a legally operating synagogue in the Soviet period. Kyzylorda Region is also connected with Levi Yitzchak Schneerson. He lived in exile in Chiili, now Shieli, before being allowed to move to Alma-Ata.

Kyzylorda’s 2025 report lists 32 religious associations representing seven confessions. These include Islam, Orthodoxy, Catholicism, Baptists, Pentecostals, Presbyterians and Jehovah’s Witnesses. Judaism does not appear in this city list.

The published list reflects registered religious associations, not the population’s ethnic composition. A Soviet-era reference to a synagogue does not establish that it operates today.

Kyzylorda in memoirs and the history of a Soviet synagogue

In chapter 18 of The Long Return, Esther Markish describes Kzyl-Orda in the 1950s through doctors, teachers and families who helped one another. They include physician Teimuraz Dolidze, his colleague Edi Pokhis and the Rautenberg couple. Louis worked as a radiologist, while Lotta taught German.

The same memoir describes two prayer rooms for European and Bukharan Jews, separated by a corridor. It also records the custom of taking turns to host visitors overnight. The recollection does not establish that these prayer rooms operate today or give the size of the whole community.

Chapter 18 of Esther Markish’s book

Pavlodar’s cultural centre, social work and religious community

Sources describe several stages in the emergence of Merkaz. The first meetings and the gathering of participants date to 1990. The national cultural centre was established in 1991 and officially registered in 1993. It worked on culture, language and traditions and maintained contact with former residents who had emigrated.

Hesed Rachel’s social organisation took shape in 2000 or 2001. Sources differ on the exact year when it began operating independently. The synagogue opened in September 2001. The cultural centre, charitable programmes and religious organisation are not one institution.

The regional list of religious associations dated 22 May 2025 names Shimon Ash as the head of the “Jewish Community of Pavlodar Region” at 162 Satpayev Street. Chabad identifies him as the centre’s rabbi. A register aggregator names Alexander Pliner for the same legal entity. Without a primary register extract, it is not possible to determine whether this reflects a change of leadership, different spiritual and legal roles, or inconsistent data.

Ust-Kamenogorsk’s historic heritage, cultural and religious life

Ust-Kamenogorsk’s historic cemetery marked on a city plan and the gravestones in Ushanovskoye Cemetery are different sites. Its post-Soviet history also distinguishes the Sion cultural initiative, the Jewish community centre, Hesed Faina’s social work and the synagogue opened in 2009.

An institutional profile of a cultural association, information on a charitable branch and a religious centre’s own account provide different levels of confirmation. Some dates, leaders and addresses differ; old programmes are not current service schedules.

Wartime lives, cultural activity and Kostanay’s synagogue

Kostanay’s history includes an early Jewish presence, wartime biographies, a cultural centre, Hesed and religious infrastructure. Writer Lipe Reznik’s life and director Yefim Lishansky’s work belong to a period long before the present synagogue building appeared (the ORT encyclopaedia on Lipe Reznik, the Encyclopedia of Modern Ukraine on Lishansky).

Reports of the synagogue’s opening and the later resumption of prayers do not establish uninterrupted operation. Sources separately describe the early cultural centre and the registration of Mishpaha; legal succession between the entities has not been established (Nasha Gazeta on the synagogue’s opening, Kostanayskiye Novosti on the synagogue, Mishpaha centre profile, the former Jewish centre’s profile).

An old community directory mentions Rudny and Lisakovsk, while a recent Chabad report documents an outreach programme in Rudny. This does not mean that each city has its own synagogue (Mitzvah’s archive on Kostanay Region, ChabadInfo on the Rudny programme).

Astana’s Jewish history predates its role as the capital

Akmolinsk’s pre-revolutionary history is reconstructed through accounts of a prayer house in 1866, a petition in 1895 and the 1897 census. Astana’s Jewish history cannot begin with the post-Soviet period.

Post-Soviet infrastructure developed gradually. Alef appeared in 1993, before the capital’s relocation. A library, community centre and Hesed developed subsequently. The religious community’s current registration history dates to 1999, while Beit Rachel opened in 2004.

Mitzvah’s old directories show a much wider post-Soviet map

The Mitzvah Association’s archived pages document cultural centres, Heseds, libraries and community programmes beyond the cities where religious infrastructure is particularly visible today.

The archive covers Petropavlovsk, Kokshetau, Taraz, Aktobe, Uralsk, Semipalatinsk, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Taldykorgan and other cities.

For example, the archive gives the following dates.

• The North Kazakhstan Jewish cultural centre in Petropavlovsk dates its establishment to 25 September 1992;
• Hatikva in Kokshetau dates its establishment to 1993;
• Shalom in Aktobe dates its establishment to January 1996;
• Shivat Zion in Taraz dates its establishment to December 1998.

These pages often retain old telephone codes, leaders’ names and programmes from the early 2000s. They are used as historical evidence, rather than a directory of current services.

Cultural and religious organisations form different networks

A state snapshot for the first quarter of 2025 records seven Jewish religious associations and six synagogues. These are dated administrative figures, not a description automatically updated on the day of reading.

Between 2024 and 2026, Chabad reported centres in seven cities. They were Almaty, Astana, Pavlodar, Kostanay, Ust-Kamenogorsk, Karaganda and Shymkent.

It cannot be assumed that Chabad’s seven centres correspond to the seven registered Jewish associations or that every centre has a separate place of worship. The state indicator counts legally registered religious associations and religious buildings; Chabad maintains its own network of centres and emissaries.

The disappearance of institutions is also part of urban history

In Semey and Kyzylorda, historic infrastructure and the contemporary religious landscape differ.

In one city, an old synagogue building survives, but the contemporary official list of religious associations does not include a Jewish community. In the other, a Soviet synagogue is historically documented, but the city’s current confessional list likewise does not include Judaism.

The disappearance, transformation or contraction of an institutional network is as much part of its history as the opening of a new centre or mikvah.

In brief

• Semey. One of Kazakhstan’s earliest Jewish histories is documented here, and a former synagogue building survives. The monument’s official date of 1856 differs from the archival date of the synagogue’s opening in 1913. This discrepancy requires separate examination.
• Almaty. The city’s Jewish history spans pre-revolutionary, Soviet and post-Soviet periods. One chapter concerns Levi Yitzchak Schneerson.
• Karaganda. The city’s history is linked to wartime migrations and Soviet industrialisation. The Miriam cultural centre was established in 1991. A registered religious community and a Chabad centre are documented today.
• Shymkent. Sources describe the city’s Soviet religious history, a cultural centre registered in 1989 and a contemporary registered community. Chabad has worked here since 2018, and the city’s first mikvah opened in 2024.
• Kyzylorda. Sources document a Soviet synagogue, but Judaism does not appear in the city’s current list of religious associations.
• Pavlodar. Meetings and self-organisation began in 1990. Merkaz was established in 1991 and registered in 1993. The synagogue opened in 2001. Information on current legal leadership differs.
• Ust-Kamenogorsk. Historic heritage, cultural, social and religious life are presented separately.
• Kostanay. The city’s history brings together wartime lives, cultural and charitable activity, a synagogue and regional initiatives. Legal succession between organisations remains a separate question.
• Astana. Akmolinsk’s Jewish history predates the capital era. Chabad’s Beit Rachel complex in Astana opened in 2004.
• First quarter of 2025. The state snapshot records seven Jewish religious associations and six synagogues. It does not cover every city where Jews live or cultural programmes operate.