Лекция «Еврейские фамилии» | Александр Разгон

Jews didn't use surnames until the 18th century, when virtually all European countries began assigning surnames en masse, to both Jews and other citizens. This was driven by the need in Russia, Austria-Hungary, the German principalities, and other countries to maintain a complete population census for tax collection and recruitment. Typically, surnames were given based on the parents' names: Izikson (son of Izik), Basin (son of Basya), or the name of a settlement: Shklovsky (Shklov), Brodsky (Brody). Quite often, surnames arose based on occupation: Khayat (tailor). However, each Jewish ethnic group has its own unique characteristics regarding the origins of surnames. At Alexander Razgon's lecture, attendees will learn how and why Jewish surnames arose, and how the surnames of Eastern European Jews reflected their communal, religious, and educational life. Alexander Razgon was born in Moscow. He graduated from the journalism department of Moscow University and worked in the national press. He moved to Israel in 1988, after eight years of attempts to leave the USSR (including three years of "refusal"). During these years, he worked in the underground Jewish press, publishing four periodicals himself and serving as literary editor for several more. In Israel, he initially worked in print media (daily and weekly periodicals), then founded and ran for 11 years the first online video information site, "We Are Israel," dedicated to the life of the country's Russian-speaking community (today, the arazgon1 YouTube channel). Recently, he has been working in documentary filmmaking. In 1988, Alexander Razgon was invited to process the archive of Nachum Tsemakh, the founder of the Habima Theater. Based on his correspondence with Miriam Goldina, his wife and an actress at the same theater, he created a play, which was staged in St. Petersburg three years ago.