SIMFEROPOL:
Capital of the government of Taurida, Russia, a city on the Salghir river, near Sebastopol. In the beginning of the nineteenth century it had a considerable Jewish community, and at present Jews constitute one-fourth of a total population of about 50,000.
The Jews of Simferopol are divided into three classes: Mitnaggedim, Ḥasidim, and the so-called Krimchaks. Of the city's nine synagogues and prayer-houses seven belong to the Mitnaggedim, while the Ḥasidim and the Krimchaks have one each. There are three Jewish schools: a Russian elementary school and two Talmud Torahs. Of the latter, one is supported by the city; the other, which was founded in 1875, by private donations. The Talmud Torah supported by the city has five teachers and about eighty pupils, while the other has two teachers and about fifty pupils. A hospital was founded in Simferopol by Gabriel Jacob Günzburg in 1845. In 1887 the Jews organized a home for the aged, and a house of refuge in which travelers and non-resident poor are given temporary lodging and maintenance.
On May 14, 1905, a riot occurred at Simferopol in which no less than 140 stores belonging to Jews were destroyed by fire.
- Keneset ha-Gedolah, 1900, No. 1, p. 32;
- Geographichesko-Statisticheski Slovar;
- Rossiskoy Imperii, 1873, iv.;
- Entziklopedicheski Slovar, 1900, xxix.
