At the same time, the South Ossetian capital, Tskhinvali was known for its sizable Georgian Jewish population, where the community had its own quarter.

In Tskhinvali, Khvolis founded a school and synagogue, and he taught European rabbinical thought to Georgian Jews.

Today, the synagogue Khvolis founded sits abandoned on a desolate street with what appears to be a hole from an artillery shell in its facade.

Their number declined later as they moved to bigger cities of Soviet Union or emigrated to Israel or other countries.

[7] As of September 2018, only one Jew remained in South Ossetia, a single elderly woman living in Tskhinvali called Rebecca Jinjikhashvili, known to locals as 'Rybka', her childhood name.