On the surface, the city of Batumi, situated on the beautiful Black Sea coast in the country of Georgia, can feel curated and manicured, like a vacation getaway for people from throughout the region. Fancy hotels and casinos line the promenade, with sleek architecture, playful fountains, and horticulture from throughout the world. Walking down Batumi Boulevard, I found myself fascinated not only by the Ferris wheel attached to the side of a hotel many stories above the ground (no, I would never ride it) but also by the international duck pond, featuring species ranging from Asia to South America.

But while Batumi has experienced remarkable growth in population, wealth, and visibility over the past two decades, some trajectories beneath the surface have moved in the other direction.

At its peak, in the 1920s, there were over 3,500 Jews in Batumi. A synagogue was built there in 1904 (for which there is an absolutely fascinating legend about the Jewish community agreeing to pray that Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra would be blessed with a son in exchange for the right to build the synagogue. Their son, Alexei Nikolaevich, would be born that same year.) The Jewish community was a small, but meaningful, part of Batumi, representing over 5% of the overall population.

By 1970, the Jewish community of Batumi numbered just over 1,300.

Today, the best estimate is that only about 150 remain, most of them older adults.

In fact, during my visit with the local Hesed, one of a network of Jewish welfare and community centers serving Jewish communities across the Former Soviet Union, yesterday,........

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