In a communication to the Russian
Geographical Society, M. Pogodin makes the statement, that there still
exist a synagogue and a cemetery in the Crimea that belong to the
pre-Christian era. Some of the tombstones, bearing Jewish names, and
decorated with the seven-branched Menorah, date back to 157 B.C.E.;
while Chufut-Kale, also known as the Rock of the Jews (Sela'
ha-Yehudim), from the fortress supposed to have been built there by the
Jews, would prove Jewish settlements to have been made there during the
Babylonian or Persian captivity.[3]
Though the same antiquity cannot be established for other Jewish
settlements, we know that Kiev, "the mother of Russian cities," had many
Jews long before the eighth century, who thus antedated the Russians as
citizens. According to Joseph Hakohen they came there from Persia in
690, according to Malishevsky in 776. It is certain that their influence
was felt as early as the latter part of the tenth century. The Russian
Chronicles ascribed to Nestor relate that they endeavored, in 986, to
induce Grand Duke Vladimir to accept their religion. They did not
succeed as they had succeeded two centuries before with the khan of the
Khazars.
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