Oni, located in western Georgia, is a town in Racha-Lechkhumi and Kvemo Svaneti region and is surrounded by high mountains. Oni Jews inhabited the city in the 18th century after the annexation of Georgia by Russia. In old times a lot of Jewish families lived there; at some point Oni was the most inhabited Georgian region by Jews. In 1972 the Jewish population was 3500.
Despite post-Soviet tendency towards migration, Oni still retains a small number of Jewish families - remnants of once powerful and large historic Jewish communities. Some of Jewish inhabitants are a part of one big family: Abraham and Simon are cousins. The main Street of Jewish district is called Baazov Street, where David Baazov used to live in 1903-1923 years; today this street is on the verge of destruction. David Baazov became the Rabbi of Oni, in 1904, after he returned to Georgia from Slutsk, where he studied.
Baazov...