Town of Senaki

Senaki, located on the right bank of the river Tekhuri, is a town in western Georgia, specifically in Samegrelo-Zemo Svaneti region. We come across the Jews of Senaki or Tskhakaia for the first time in sources from the 19th century. According to one of the sources Itzhak Israelashvili had a debt of 200 Georgian Maneti (Russian Ruble). In 1869 traveler J. Chorny visited Senaki and pointed out in his writings that the Govern of Senaki promised to give him a permit to inhabit Kutaisi, because there was no place to pray in the town. There was a time when 3000 Jews inhabited this area; the number came down to one by the 2018 statistics; by this year there was just one man named Simon Tsitsuashvili left from the community. The Jewish sites you can find in Senaki are Synagogue, which was built in 1969 and the Jewish graveyard. In the 1940s or 1950s there were two active synagogues in the town. One, located in the center of the city, was built in 1880 and was destroyed by the government in 1946. Second one was located at the same place and was a two floor building; it was burnt down in 1963 but by the help of local Jews it was reconstructed. The synagogue was taken away from the Jews and was redesigned into a factory for cooling drinks.