TULA JEWISH tourist route

There were a lot of talented and extraordinary personalities among Tula Jews who left their memory in the history of Tula. The results of the Tula Jews' activities are truly amazing. They opened the first cinema, made the first street lighting, paved the Epifansky Bridge, the current Demidovsky Bridge, rented cheap housing, and engaged in commerce. Throughout the century, these were famous teachers, doctors, musicians, designers, builders, and military leaders.

• The guests will learn about the history of the appearance of Tula Jews in the city and about the aspects of their religious life at different times;
they will visit the synagogue, the Museum of Jewish History in Tula, the Hasdai Nashama Jewish Charity Center;
they will have lunch in the Jewish dining hall;
they will visit the historical necropolis, an ancient Jewish cemetery where the Tula people, who made a great contribution to the development of Tula, are buried;
they will see the legendary samovar collection of the Jewish Basin family;
learn about the Tula victims of the Holocaust and the heroes of the Great Patriotic War;
they will see documents about famous people of Tula and exhibits from bygone eras;
They will stroll through the streets of old Tula, where Jews once lived/worked/prayed/studied.

The TULA JEWISH tourist route will be interesting to anyone who wants to get acquainted with the life of Jews in Tula at different times. 

Content:

Tula Jewish History Museum:

An excursion about the history of the appearance in the city and the life of Tula Jews:

• Catherine the 2nd, sections of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Pale of Settlement;
• Nicholas the 1st, the law on the recruitment of Jews into the army, prisoners and schools of cantonists;
• Imperial Tula Arms Factory and mobile disabled companies;
• The story of a Jewish recruit, Meyer Isaakovich Zafren, who became a Tula rabbi, a merchant of the 1st guild and an honorary citizen of Tula;
• The lifestyle of Tula Jews, Jewish cemetery, prayer houses;
• The indulgences of Alexander the 2nd, the growing Tula Jewish community, the glorious Jewish dynasties of the Tula region (Basiny, Kurkovsky and others);
• The revolution, the closure of prayer houses and the nationalization of all Jewish property;
• The underground life of the Tula Jewish community, the "Jewish Funeral Brotherhood";
• The history of the Sanevich family, the beginning of charitable activities, the list of Gabai Zukin;
• Creation of the Tula regional charity center Hasdai Nashama, charitable programs, acts of charity, religious and community life;
• The new Hesed building, which combines under its roof a synagogue, a mikva, a kosher canteen, a library, lecture halls, a computer lab, a Jewish kindergarten, a Jewish school, a Sunday school, a home for the elderly, offices for social programs, offices for community programs (Neshama newspaper, Museum of the History of Jews in Tula, Klezmer ensemble, Kabbalat-Shabbat, creative groups) and much more;
• Jewish religious traditions: Shabbat, Kashrut, public worship in the synagogue, Minyan, Beit Knesset and Beit Midrash, Torah scroll, Tefillin commandment;
• Jewish holidays: Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, Purim, Passover, Shavuot;
• Tula heroes of the Great Patriotic War and residents of Tula who spent their childhood years in fascist ghettos;
• An exhibition of paintings by Academician of the Academy of Arts of the Russian Federation A.M.Mayorov dedicated to the Holocaust.

Guided tour of the streets of old Tula, where Jews once lived/worked/prayed/studied (3.5 kilometers):

• Governor's House
• Vereshchagina's House
• Veresaev House Museum
• Goldenblatt House
• Konopatsky House
• House of Smirnov
• Peter and Paul Church
• Friedrich Engels Street and central lane
• Vasily Lomov's House
• The Puppet Theater
• Bukhonovsky lane
• House of Crafting
• Belyavsky House
• Goltweiger House
• Pushkin Square
• Central Cinema
• Drama Theater
• Ermolaev-Zverev House
• Philharmonic named after Mikhailovsky
• The Noble Assembly
• The building of the noble boarding house
• Davydov's House
• St. Seraphim's Church
• The House of Clevezal
• The House of Khrushchev

Governor's House:

• The Office of the 6th Guards Tauride Grenadier Regiment, stationed in Tula;
• The Golden Age of Vladimir Karlovich Schlippe;
• The governorship of Mikhail Mikhailovich Osorgin;
• Withthe biggest secular scandal in Tula under Artsimovich's governorship;
• The turbulent years of Dmitry Kobeko's rule;
• The first ambulance under Governor Lopukhin;
• The arrest of the last Tula governor Troinitsky.

Collection of samovars of the Jewish Basin family:

The collection is registered with the Ministry of Culture of the Russian Federation and is part of the private non-governmental museum fund of the country.

The Basins are one of the most glorious Jewish dynasties of the Tula region. Along several genealogical lines, they gave the Fatherland teachers, scientists, entrepreneurs, curators of collections, actors, and military figures. Two outstanding personalities among the Basins in Tula: in the XIX century -Israel and in the XX – Yakov, both Naumovichi.

Israel Basin, a native of the petty bourgeoisie of the city of Mstislavl, Mogilev province, a retired Nikolaev soldier and merchant, arrived in Tula in 1863. Israel Basin has established a tile production in Tula, which has become famous throughout Russia for its scale and quality of products.

And the founder of the branch to which samovar collectors belong is Hatskel Basin, Israel's brother, who kept a concoction in Tula. His son, Naum Khatskelevich, received certificates from the Tula Craft Council at the beginning of the century "for the free production of craftsmanship in Tula", became an apprentice, and then a master of watchmaking. And already under the Soviets, Nakhim Khatskelevich opens his watchmaking workshop, which is becoming the most popular in Tula. In 1941, when leaving for the evacuation, Naum safely hid his most expensive and beloved things (a watch, a samovar) in the basement of his house. During the war months, the house was looted, but the antiques survived. And this served as the starting point for the lifelong hobby of the eldest son, Yakov Naumovich. He received two educations: he graduated from the factory college and the Faculty of History and Philology of the Tula State Pedagogical Institute. He worked at the Tula arms Factory, selected rare breeds of chickens and aquarium fish, but Basin's calling card remained his collections: samovars, kettles, small dishes, figurines, postcards and much more.... During his long and vibrant life, and he died at the age of 92, the collector did a lot. His personal collection was admired not only by famous cultural figures of our country, but also by guests from other countries. In 2006, Yakov Naumovich received an official certificate of inclusion of his collection in a non-governmental museum fund. At a celebration dedicated to this event, Basin announced that he was passing the collection on to his son Basin Alexander Yakovlevich.

The old Jewish cemetery in Chulkov (near the cartridge factory):

The cemetery has the status of a historical necropolis, in fact, it is an open-air museum.

The cemetery was founded in 1858, and since 1860 the Jewish Religious Society of Tula has been taking care of the cemetery. Area: 9657 sq.m.

Number of burials: 1610.

There are a lot of talented and extraordinary personalities buried here, who have left a memory of themselves in the history of Tula. The results of the Tula Jews' activities are truly amazing. They opened the first cinema, made the first street lighting, paved the Epiphany Bridge, the current Demidovsky Bridge, rented out cheap housing, engaged in commerce and always helped out Russians by giving them a debt. At that time, and throughout the century, these were famous teachers, doctors, musicians, designers, builders, and military leaders.

One of the most significant families for Tula, for the Jewish community, of those who are buried at the Chulkovsky cemetery, is, of course, the Zafren family. A native of Kovel, Tula Rabbi Meer Zafren served in a disabled company in the 19th century under duress, and then became a merchant of the 1st guild and an honorary citizen of Tula.

The Jewish funeral tradition.

Burials: Schneidermans, Basins, Zafren, Goldenblatt, Litinetsky, Goldweigers and others.

Cost:750 full, 450 reduced