Raḥamim (newspaper)

The founder of the newspaper was Rahamim Davidbayev, a wealthy businessman in the Skobolev.^[1][2] He brought costly printing equipment from Lublin at his own expense in order to launch the newspaper.^[1][3] The name of the newspaper alluded to the name of its founder.^[2] The first issue came out on May 27 [O.S. May 14] 1910.^[4] Raḥamim was distributed among Bukharian Jewish communities in cities across Central Asia.^[5] It was the first newspaper published in Judeo-Tajik: a Judeo-Persian dialect.^[3][6][2][7] It was printed in Rashi script: a 15th-century Sephardic semi-cursive handwriting.^[8] The weekly newspaper was published from Skobelev (present-day Fergana in Uzbekistan) between 1910 and 1913, and from Kokand (Turkestan Krai) between 1913 and 1916.^{[9][1][10][8]}

Issues of the newspaper contained two or four pages.^[2] The newspaper consisted mainly of correspondent telegrams.^[11] Local news stories as well as reporting on world events were translated from Russian language.^[1][2] Hitherto Judeo-Tajik had not been used much as a written language, and the newspaper frequently employed Russian loanwords to fill gaps in vocabulary.^[2] Raḥamim also covered Jewish community affairs to some extent, including both private and official correspondence.^[3][2] There were translations from Hebrew of works from the Haskalah movement by Eastern Jewish publicists.^[3] The publication sometimes carried religious and fictional stories.^[3] The newspaper would carry adverts for local businesses, train schedules and a financial supplement with foreign currency exchange rates.^[2]

Davidbayev recruited a number of gifted young men to work on the publication and the editorial office of Raḥamim soon became a hub for Bukharian Jewish intellectual life.^[3] The staff included Nisim Tadzhir, Rafael Galibov (writer and translator), rabbi Shlomo ben Pinkhas Babadzhan and Mulla Azare Yusupov.^[3][5][12] Tadzhir and Galibov served as the editors of the newspaper.^[8][13] Khie Batchaev (father of the poet Muhib) was the correspondent of Raḥamim in Mari.^[5][14]

The last issue published from Skobelev was dated January 9, 1913 [O.S. December 27].^[9] The newspaper reappeared, published from Kokand on June 26, 1913.^[9] Per secondary sources publication of Raḥamim continued from Kokand from 1914 to 1916, albeit sporadically.^[9][12][15]