the distinct Krymchak community dramatically. By 1900 there were 60,000 Ashkenazim and only 6,000 Krymchaks in Crimea. In the mid-19th century the Krymchaks became followers of Rabbi Chaim Hezekiah Medini, also known by the name of his work the Sedei Chemed, a Sephardi rabbi born in Jerusalem who had come to Crimea from Istanbul. His followers accorded him the title of gaon. Settling in Karasubazaar, the largest Krymchak community in Crimea, Rabbi Medini spent his life raising their educational standards. By 1897, the Krymchaks stopped being "the majority of Talmudic Jews on the Crimean Peninsula". After the Russian Revolution of 1917, civil war tore apart Crimea. Many Krymchaks were killed in the fighting between the Red Army and the White Movement. More still died in the famines of the early 1920s and the early 1930s. Many emigrated to the Holy Land, the United States and Turkey. Under Joseph Stalin, the Krymchaks were forbidden to write in Hebrew and were ordered to employ the Cyrillic alphabet to write their own language. Synagogues and yeshivas were closed by government decree. Krymchaks were compelled to work in factories and collective farms. Holocaust and after Unlike the Crimean Karaites, the Krymchaks were targeted for annihilation by the Nazis following the Axis capture of Crimea in 1941. Six thousand Krymchaks, almost 75% of their population, were killed during the Holocaust. Moreover, upon the return of Soviet authority to the region in 1944, many Krymchaks found themselves forcibly deported to Central Asia along with their Crimean Tatar neighbors. By 2000, only about 600 Krymchaks lived in the former Soviet Union, about half in Ukraine and the remainder in Georgia, Russia, and Uzbekistan. Some 600–700 Krymchaks still clinging to their Crimean identity live in Israel, and others in the United States and Canada. Culture The Krymchaks practice Orthodox or Talmudic Judaism. Their unique nusah, or prayer book, known as Nusah Kaffa, emerged during the 16th century. Kaffa was a former name of the Crimean city of Feodosia. Traditional occupations for the Krymchaks included farming, trade, and viticulture. The dress and customs of the Krymchaks resembled that of the nearby Karaites and Crimean Tatars. The Krymchaks considered themselves a distinct group and rarely intermarried with Karaites or the Crimean Tatars. The Krymchaks used to practice polygamy but then adopted monogamy by the late 19th century. See also Jews in Russia Crimean Karaites Meir Ashkenazi References Sources Blady, Ken.