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The Jewish community of Armenia dates back almost 2,000 years. Many historians date the arrival of the first Jewish settlement in Armenia back to the destruction of the First Temple. During the conquest of King Tigranes II the Great, Tigranes brought with him 10,000 Jewish captives to Armenia when he retreated from Palestine, because of the Roman attack on Armenia (69 B.C.E.).
By 360-370 C.E., there was a massive increase in Jewish Hellenistic immigration into Armenia; many Armenian towns became predominately Jewish. During this period, however, the Persian Shapur II began deporting thousands of Jews to Iran.
Halakhic studies never prospered in Armenia, although there are a few references to the region in Jewish Hellenistic sources. During Medieval times, most of Armenian Jewry vanished as a distinct entity in the region, although many historians believe they became a part of the Kurdish Jewry.
Jews from Poland and Persia first began arriving in Armenia in the early 19th century. Since 1840, Jewish settlers established both Ashkenazic and Sephardic communities in Yerevan. Up to 1924, the Sephardic synagogue, Shiek Mordechai, was a leading institution among the Jewish community.
During and after World War II, hundreds of displaced Jews moved to Soviet Armenia. The Jewish population of Armenia grew to approximately 5,000 people. In 1959, the Jewish population peaked in Soviet Armenia at approximately 10,000 people.
Another wave of Jewish immigrants arrived in the country between 1965 and 1972, mainly intelligentsia, military, and engineers. These Jews arrived from Russia and Ukraine, attracted to the more liberal society.
Today, the Jewish community has fewer than 1,000 citizens due to emigration and assimilation. Between 1992 and 1994, more than 6,000 Jews immigrated to Israel because of Armenia’s political isolation and economic depression. In 1995, the Chabad House was established in Yerevan. The Chabad House provides free meals, offers classes in Hebrew and Jewish traditions, and cares for the community elderly.
The rate of intermarriage among Jews and Christian Armenians is very high. In an interview, Rabbi Berstein of the Yerevan Chabad described the Jewish community as “‘too small’ to be of great interest to most Jewish organizations.” Almost half of the Jewish population resides in Yerevan. Seven, Yerevan and Vanadzor have active Jewish community centers.
At the start of 2002, Rimma Varzhapetian became the president of the Jewish Community of Armenia. The only rabbi in Armenia is Rabbi Gershom Meir Berstein of the Chabad in Yerevan. In 2004, the Jewish community, through the assistance of Chabad, began producing kosher food. Slowly, the Jewish community is rebuilding itself in Armenia.
There are about 300-500 Jews presently living in the Republic of Armenia, mainly in the capital Yerevan. They are mostly of Ashkenazi origin and some are Mizrahi Georgian Jews. The Jewish Community in Yerevan is currently headed by Chief Rabbi Gershon Burshtein from the Chabad Lubavitch, and the sociopolitical matters are run by the Jewish Council of Armenia.
There is an ancient Jewish cemetery located in the region of Vayots Dzor, in the city of Eghegis, south and west of Yerevan. There are more than 40 tombstones dating back to the 13th century, 16 tombstones with Hebrew and Aramaic inscriptions.
Historically, Jews and Armenian Christians have had good relations. Both groups have ancient cultural and religious roots in Armenia that have helped them through modern persecutions. Nonetheless, Jews are considered aliens in Armenia and not full citizens.
Genetic studies of Jewish origins
Armenians and Georgians were also used as surrogate populations for the Khazars, who spoke a Turkic language unrelated to Georgian or Armenian. On this basis, a relatively strong connection to the Caucasus was proposed because of the stronger genetic similarity of these Jewish groups to modern Armenians, Georgians, Azerbaijani Jews, Druze and Cypriots, compared to a weaker genetic similarity with Palestinians.
This proposed Caucasian component of ancestry was in turn taken to be consistent with the Khazarian Hypothesis as an explanation of part of the ancestry of Ashkenazi Jews. Source