BY JOSH SCHOENBERG, National Young Leadership Cabinet Israel and Overseas Vice Chair
I have had the honor to be a member of the National Young Leadership Cabinet (NYLC) of the Jewish Federations of North America (JFNA) for the past five years. In those five years, I have heard and seen first-hand from beneficiaries of JFNA’s work and in turn, the Jewish Federation of Delaware (JFD). Every year, our cabinet meets twice, once in the United States and once abroad, to see and understand the work of JFNA and its partner agencies (Jewish Agency for Israel [JFNA], the Joint Distribution Committee [JDC], and World ORT.
As I am writing this, I am returning from my latest international study mission in Baku, Azerbaijan. As the Israel and Overseas Vice-Chair for JFNA’s NYLC, I was tasked with leading this mission. When I first learned we would be travel to Baku, the reaction I received from everyone I spoke with was “you are going where?!” Located within a Muslim-Majority country, the Jewish Community of Azerbaijan is not one that gets much attention. What we saw and learned gives me a deep appreciation for some of the less-known Jewish communities.
I learned many interesting and wonderful facts about the Jewish community in Azerbaijan.
First, the town of Quba, about two and a half hours northwest of the capital of Baku, has been the historical home of the Mountain Jews for hundreds of years. It is known as the “Jerusalem of the Caucuses.”
We spent the day there and met community members who maintain the only completely Jewish town in the world outside of Israel. Although many of the families have moved to Russia, Western Europe, and the United States. Most of the families still maintain residences there and treat it like their vacation home. The community’s financial and emotional dedication to the historical nature of the town is compelling and admirable. They built a beautiful museum to tell the Mountain Jews’ story, maintain two synagogues, support a wedding hall, and mikvahs for both the men and women to use. The most heartwarming fact I learned about Quba is the town is divided by a river, where the Jews live on one side and the Muslim community lives on the other in harmony.
Second—keeping with the Jewish-Muslim relations topic—the two communities live, work, and play together every day. Everyone we spoke to, Jewish and not were quick to make the distinction that Azerbaijan is not a Muslim country, but a Muslim-majority country. At first, I did not understand the distinction, but after spending nearly 10 days there just because over 90% of the country is of the Islamic faith, it does not mean that the country mandates Islam as the national religion. We found that other religions (i.e. Jewish, Lutheran, Catholic, etc.) are free to engage in their religion and the government will not only not interfere but will ensure that the free practice of those religions are able to be maintained. Since the Muslim community is quite large (and the Jewish community is small,) there is a significant amount of intermarriage between the faiths. However, what I experienced from the community members on the ground is that more often, in the case of inter-marriage, the children are brought up practicing Judaism rather than Islam. The children identify as both, but acknowledge Judaism plays a bigger role in their lives.
Through support of the JFNA, JAFI and JDC play a daily role in the lives of the Jews living in Baku. JAFI maintains a summer camp in the community, bringing Jewish values and knowledge of Israel to the Baku Jewish children. JDC has programs for the senior citizens of the community to ensure their Jewish dignity is maintained throughout their life. There are other Jewish programs such as the Ohr Avner School, maintained and operated by Chabad with support from the Jewish community around the world. Three synagogues exist in Baku, the largest an Ashkenazi synagogue, and a Georgian synagogue and Mountain Jew synagogue.
Finally, there is incredibly strong ties between Israel and Azerbaijan. We were fortunate to meet in person with Israeli Ambassador George Deek—the only Arab-Christian Ambassador in Israel’s foreign service. Prior to our mission, we met via Zoom with the Azerbaijani Ambassador to Israel, Mukhtar Mammadov. Azerbaijan was the first Muslim-majority country to support direct diplomatic ties with Israel and establish an embassy in 2022. Five years ago, there were two direct flights between Tel Aviv and Baku a week. Now, in 2025, there are two direct flights between these two cities each day! I met with one of the members of the Israel-Azerbaijani Chamber of Commerce wherethese individual relationships are thriving. From a country-to-country relationship, Israel receives 40% of its oil and natural gas from Azerbaijan and in exchange, unofficially 60%–70% of Azerbaijani’s weapons come from Israel, including direct military personnel exchange programs.
Admittedly, when I first heard that the mission was going to Azerbaijan, I did not know what to expect from the country or the Jewish community. However, as I fly back home, “pleasantly surprised”, I cannot fully express how much I enjoyed learning about Azerbaijan, its history, and how strong a Jewish community can be within a Muslim-majority country. My goal was the figure out what “secret sauce” exists in Azerbaijan, where both communities can live together, when it seems that cannot be done to any significant degree anywhere else. What I found was that there is mutual respect as two Abrahamic religions, living under Community rule where everyone has the freedom to practice their faith in an independent way. The mutually beneficial relationships between Azerbaijan and Israel helps strengthen the religious ties between the communities as well.
In the end, the “secret sauce” does not come down to one magic thing. What I learned is that there are many things—local, governmental, and international – that all play a role in the Jewish community maintaining its long tradition in Azerbaijan while living in a Muslim-majority country. The mission was eye-opening on so many levels, and I look forward to discussing my trip with anyone who has questions or is interested in seeing that part of the world.
Azerbaijan is indeed a case-study in which we can all live side-by-side in peace and not fight over ideas that have plagued history for hundreds of years—there is hope.
