Community in Estonia - World Jewish Congress

Estonia

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The Years of the Holocaust

Community Facts

Demography

Community Life

Religious and Cultural life

Information for visitors

Relations with Israel

According to information provided by the population register, there were 1,939 Jews living in Estonia in 2023. Jewish religious and cultural life in the region has completely revived in the past 35 years, after being nearly extinct at one time. Most Estonian Jews are Ashkenazi and participate in regional activities with the neighboring Jewish communities in both Latvia and Lithuania.

The Jewish community in Estonia is represented by the Jewish Community of Estonia – the Estonian affiliate of the World Jewish Congress.

WJC Affiliate

The Jewish Community of Estonia

Telephone: +372 6623034
Email: community@jewish.ee
Website: www.jewish.ee

Social Media:
Facebook: Jewish Community of Estonia
Instagram: @jewish_community_of_estonia
YouTube: Jewish Community of Estonia

Chairwoman: Alla Jakobson

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History

Individual Jews lived in Estonia as early as the 14th century, but there was no permanent Estonian Jewish community until the mid-19th century. Tsar Alexander II lifted a centuries-old prohibition on Jewish settlement in the region in 1865, allowing Jews to enter Estonia. Many of these initial Jewish settlers were former soldiers who had served with Russian garrisons in the region, and shortly after their arrival, Jews from other Baltic states began trickling into Estonia.

In the successive decades after the formation of the first Jewish communities in Estonia, the Jewish population spread to cities throughout the country. The early years of the 20th century saw a Jewish renaissance, as the majority of Estonian Jews at this time were tradesmen and artisans who came to Estonia mostly from Northern governates of the Pale of Settlement and Courland. Estonian Jewry, along with other minorities, enjoyed complete cultural autonomy in the 1920s.

The Republic of Estonia gained independence in 1918, ushering in a new era for Estonian Jews. Members of the Jewish community had fought in the War of Independence, resulting in Estonia developing a tolerance towards all inhabitants of the territory. The newly installed government actively sought to combat discrimination and persecution, and as a result, Estonian Jewry was able to grow politically and culturally in the years following the First World War. Estonian Jewry, along with other minorities, has enjoyed complete cultural autonomy since 1926. The Jewish Cultural Council acted as the community’s administrative body, and several Jewish religious, cultural, and political institutions were formed in Estonia during the interwar years.

However, antisemitism began to creep into the country in the late 1930s as Estonian nationalist groups, encouraged by Nazi Germany, began to espouse antisemitic sentiments and attack local Jews. The Estonian Jewish community’s autonomy remained untouched until the country’s annexation by the Soviet Union in 1940. The arrival of the Soviets saw the termination of autonomy for all minority groups, and the Jewish community saw all its political and cultural institutions closed. About 10% of the Jewish population (about 450 Jews) were regarded as “dangerous social elements" and were subsequently arrested and deported to Siberia or to Gulag concentration camps.

The aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust saw the return of many Jews who had fled to the Soviet Union. The aftermath of World War II and the Holocaust saw the return of many Jews who had fled to the Soviet Union. Due to the difficulty in gaining admittance to most higher education institutions in the Soviet Union, many young Jews from other parts of the U.S.S.R. came to Estonia to study at the University of Tartu. Estonia was generally more welcoming to Jews than other parts of the Soviet Union, and those who arrived found life in Estonia to be relatively stable.

Jewish cultural life did not resume, however, as the policies of the Communist Party in occupied states were hostile to “foreign” influences. The only Jewish prayer house in Estonia was in Tallinn. As a result, Jewish community life in Estonia was dormant, if not almost extinct, during the Communist era.

In 1989, as the Soviet Union began to slowly disintegrate and its influence was weakened, Jewish organizations and institutions began gradually popping up in Estonia. The Jewish Cultural Society, the first independent Jewish organization in the Soviet Union, was formed, and shortly after, a Jewish day school and other cultural clubs were established.

Estonian independence was restored in 1991, and Estonian Jews were once again able to defend their rights as a national minority. The Jewish Community was established in 1992, and for the first time in almost 50 years, Jewish life in Estonia had institutional support and representation. Today, Estonian Jewry continues to experience a rebirth in Jewish religious and cultural life.

The Years of the Holocaust

Starting on 22nd of June 1941, when started war between Nazi Germany and Soviet Union, with the Nazi army advancing, almost all the remaining Jews—around 3,000 people—were able to escape due to the amount of time it took for the Germans to eventually conquer Estonia. About 1,000 Jews who were left in Estonia at the end of the year were nearly all killed. This was largely done through collaborative efforts on the part of the Estonian police. Units of the Estonian Home Guard also collaborated with the Nazis and were directly involved in genocidal actions against Jews and the Roma. At the Wannsee Conference in January 1942, Estonia was declared Judenfrei ("Free of Jews") territory.

After the murder of Estonian Jews since September 1942 until summer 1944 about 13,000 Jews from other European countries were deported to Estonia. Some were murdered upon arrival, while others worked in the labor camps, providing resources for the German war machine. This was part of a larger plan to use the occupied Baltic states—Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania—as killing sites. Vaivara, a transit and work camp, and Klooga, a labor camp, served as the more infamous camps established in Estonia.

The advancement of the Soviet Army in 1944 saw thousands of Jews evacuated from Nazi camps in Estonia and moved to Germany and other locations. In a desperate attempt to "evacuate" the camp, the Germans killed some 2,000 prisoners from ghettos in Vilna and Kovno (Kaunas) at the Klooga camp. Only about 100 prisoners were able to survive. By the time Estonia was liberated in September 1944, only about 10 Estonian Jews were still alive.

In 1909, a Jewish cemetery was opened in Rahumäe, yet it was mostly utilized after the Holocaust. The cemetery is the final resting place for many notable figures, including Rabbi Brodovsky, buried in 1914; Samuil Gurin, the former director of the Tallinn Jewish Gymnasium; and Simon Levin, a well-known lawyer in Estonia, among others. In 1973, a Holocaust memorial was erected in a single night at the cemetery, consisting of a pyramid made of stones, symbolizing a stone dedicated to each victim buried there.

In 2001, at the suggestion of Rabbi Shmuel Kot, a separate area in the cemetery was designated for mixed families. In 2004, under the leadership of Boris Oks, chairman of the Jewish Congregation, a comprehensive survey and electronic map of the cemetery were created. This was one of the first digital cemetery registries, allowing easy search for grave locations based on the deceased's name or burial date. In 2009, the Holocaust memorial was reconstructed and moved to a new location at the entrance of the cemetery, due to funding provided by the Kofkin family foundation.

Community Facts

1. The first Jews to settle in Estonia were Jewish soldiers of the Russian army called Kantonists or Nikolai's soldiers.

2. An Estonian couple, Uku and Eha Masing from Tartu, was awarded the medal Righteous Among the Nations by the Yad Vashem Memorial Center for helping Isidor Levin, a Jewish student of Tartu University, to survive during the Nazi occupation of Estonia.

3. During Soviet times, Yiddish was illegal; teaching and learning Yiddish meant leading Zionist propaganda and was considered to be anti-Soviet. In the autumn of 1989, the Estonian Jewish Cultural Society began offering Yiddish classes.

Demography

Statistics Estonia, the Estonian governmental agency within the Ministry of Finance, places the Estonian Jewish population at about 1,950 people out of a total population of 1,320,097.

Most Estonian Jews live in Tallinn, the country’s capital, but there are other communities in cities such as Tartu, Narva, and Kohtla-Järve.

Community Life

The Jewish Community of Estonia acts as the representative communal body for Estonian Jewry. In recent years it has experienced active and rapid growth, with an increase in membership and its ability to provide Jewish-related activities for its members. Moreover, it shares many regional programs with neighboring Baltic Jewish communities in Latvia and Lithuania.

The Jewish Community Center (JCC) is committed to promoting and strengthening Jewish life and values within the Jewish community of Estonia. The JCC mission is to enrich Jewish life, build Jewish identity, and foster meaningful relationships through a wide range of community programs and activities for individuals and families. JCC's goal is to facilitate connections with Israel and Jews worldwide while providing year-round opportunities for lifelong Jewish engagement. A separate block of programs is dedicated to the organization of such one-time events as conferences, festivals of the Jewish Calendar, culture-related events, and educational seminars.

The projects of the Community Programs Centre are meant for community members of all ages as well as for a variety of interests. One can take part in the projects by themselves, with their families, or with friends. We have hobby clubs within various programs that are meant to preserve Jewish cultural values and to help people learn about different aspects of Judaism.

There is a Community Programs Centre in Tallinn that offers several Jewish programs and conferences and acts as a center for Jewish life in the capital. Special attention is paid to elderly members of the Estonian Jewish community, with several Jewish clubs available to them. The Social Centre of the Jewish Community of Estonia operates out of nine cities in Estonia and works as a relief organization that provides financial assistance to members of the Estonian Jewish community in need. The Women's International Zionist Organization (WIZO) is also active in Estonia and helps aid socially and economically disadvantaged members of the community.

Nowadays, the Jewish Community of Estonia is a very active and quick-growing organization. More than 1500 people are now members of JCE. The Jewish community provides valuable Jewish life for each member: children, youth, students, middle age, and seniors. Other parts of JCE work are concerned with organizing different events: conferences, Jewish holydays, cultural events, and educational seminars.

Yahad, meaning “together” in Hebrew, is an Estonian Jewish forum that attracts participants and lecturers from around the Jewish world who discuss many topics relating to various facets of Jewish life—religious, cultural, political, academic, etc. There are also options available for children interested in attending.

The Welfare Center of the Jewish Community of Estonia operates all over the country and works as a relief organization that provides social and financial assistance to members of the Estonian Jewish community in need—elderly people, low-income families with minor children, refugees. The Welfare Center operates a variety of programs designated for the wellbeing of elderly members of the Estonian Jewish community. Home care assistance in the amount of about 10,000 hours monthly is provided to clients whose overall physical condition doesn’t allow them to cope independently, primarily to Holocaust survivors.

Besides Jewish holiday celebrations, the Welfare Center socialization program offers more than ten different clubs and activities for elderly clients, with a focus on memory and cognitive ability preservation.

Religious and Cultural life

In terms of Jewish religious observance in Estonia, there is only one functioning synagogue, the “Beit Bella” in Tallinn. Beit Bella was built in 2007 and is presided over by Rabbi Efraim Shmuel Kot, who also acts as Estonia’s Chief Rabbi. There is also the Estonian Jewish Center.

Kosher Food

There is a kosher restaurant adjacent to the Beit Bella synagogue in Tallinn.

A small selection of kosher products is also available in supermarkets or ordering from www.kosher4u.eu.

Jewish Education

Almost all Jewish education in Estonia is run through the Jewish Community of Estonia. There is a community private school, Eshkol, established in 2019. Eshkol offers a complete Jewish education, lessons in Jewish traditions and the Hebrew language, and kosher food. Tallinn Jewish School, which was reopened in 1990 and is considered the first national minority school in the Republic of Estonia, now operates as a municipal school. A Jewish kindergarten, “Aviv,” is also run under the auspices of the Jewish Community of Estonia.

The Community Programs Center in Tallinn offers a number of activities and organizations aimed at providing Jewish learning to the Jewish youth of Estonia.

The Tallinn Jewish School (TJS) and the JCE closely work together, both in everyday activities and while arranging various events on the premises of TJS. Under the auspices of the JCE, several school classrooms were fixed and repaired. The Assembly Hall, where concerts, lectures, and meetings with fascinating people are held, was repaired thanks to the Ronald S. Lauder Foundation (USA).

Jewish Media

Since March 1991, Channel Radio 4 has been broadcasting the first program Shalom Aleyhem on Jewish culture and activities of the EJCS.

The library of the Jewish Community of Estonia has been operating since 1990. For all these years, the founder of the library, Regina Pats, has been laboring tirelessly on carefully preserving the existing collection and updating it with new interesting publications. Today, the library stock, including periodicals, contains over 10,500 items covering almost the entire scope of the topics of Jewish studies: history, Judaism, philosophy, politics, and fiction. The collection also includes dictionaries and non-fiction books about Jewish traditions, celebrations, and cuisine. The library was created and maintained by the Kofkin Family Foundation.

Youth

Many Jewish youth groups are run through the Jewish Community of Estonia, including a summer camp for younger children called “Bamba” and a spring camp for school-age children known as the School of Madrichim (ATID). Another organization, Maccabi, is also very active in Estonia.

The Makom Mifgash Youth Center and Sunday School Parpar provide children ages one to 17 with a wide range of programs and educational opportunities. From weekly activities and Shabbat celebrations to preschool day camps, overnight camps for school-aged kids, teen retreats, and regional leadership training, they aim to foster a sense of community and Jewish identity. The teenagers club, led by an elected teen board, follows the core values of the BBYO movement, empowering teens to create a movement of their own throughout the year.

Information for visitors

The first Jewish cemetery in Tallinn was located on Magasini Street, starting in 1856. This location also housed the burial society, Hevra Kadisha. The funds for its establishment were gathered by the community members themselves, often by selling their daily breadrations and other essentials. In 2023, with the support and participation of Tallinn municipality, after full reconstruction, the territory on Magasini Street became a place of memory. Jewish cemetery creates a special feeling of an integral urban space, linking the present with the past and, most importantly, with the future.

The Estonian Jewish Museum is dedicated to the history of Estonian Jews from the 19th century to present days and shows their contribution to Estonian life. The museum was opened on December 17, 2008, and includes a permanent exhibition, library with reading room, digitalized archive on the museum’s webpage, and large archive containing a variety of original documents, photos, and audio materials. The creation of the Estonian Jewish Museum was spearheaded by Mr. Mark Rybak (1945-2018). For such an important and significant contribution to the history of Estonian Jewry, he was awarded the Order of the White Star by the President of Estonia, Mr. Toomas Hendrik Ilves, in 2010.

The former site of the Klooga concentration camp contains a monument to the victims of the Shoah. Additionally, there are memorial markers on the sites of other concentration camps and mass killing fields throughout Estonia.

Relations with Israel

Israel and Estonia maintain full diplomatic relations, with Israel having recognized the independent Republic of Estonia almost immediately in 1991. Israel is represented in Estonia through its embassy in Helsinki, Finland.

The Estonian Jewish community takes an active role in advocating for Israel through cultural, educational, and diplomatic channels, emphasizing both Israel's achievements and the shared values between Estonia and Israel. The community fosters understanding by organizing events, cultural exchanges, and public discussions, often inviting diplomats, scholars, and community leaders to speak on Israel’s contributions to technology, science, and humanitarian efforts. Community initiatives, such as cultural events or Jewish heritage celebrations, serve as important platforms for educating the Estonian public about Israel’s history, modern society, and its significance to Jewish identity.

Additionally, the community works with local media and educational institutions to address misconceptions and promote accurate information about Israel. This is achieved by providing factual resources, supporting public speakers, and connecting with organizations that promote fair representation of Israel. By partnering with Estonian government representatives and pro-Israel groups, the Jewish community also helps organize conferences and public forums that support Israel and foster open dialogue.

Similarly, the Ukraine war has increased the community’s involvement in supporting Ukrainian refugees, providing aid, and participating in interfaith efforts. These crises have unified the community, boosting participation in humanitarian initiatives, advocacy, and public engagement, strengthening its voice in Estonia, and fostering connections with other European communities and organizations.

Embassy of Israel in Finland:
Yrjönkatu 36 A
00100 Helsinki

Telephone: +358-(0)9-6812020
Fax: +358-(0)9-13569
Email: info@helsinki.mfa.gov.il

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