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| Afghanistan |
| Caretaker of Kabul synagogue called "last Jew in Afghanistan" |
| 2009-10-04 |
| Zebulon Simentov lives, eats and prays alone as he is the last known Jew in a country dominated by conservative Muslim culture. Mr Simentov is the caretaker and sole member of Afghanistan's only working synagogue. The last eight or nine Jewish families left after the 1979 Soviet invasion, he said. Fond of whisky and aged about 50, Mr Simentov lives in the dilapidated two-story synagogue in Kabul and gets by on donations from Jews abroad and sympathetic local Muslims. In the late 19th century, Afghanistan's Jews numbered about 40,000, many of them Persian Jews who had fled forced conversion in neighboring Iran. Beginning with an exodus to Israel after it became a state in 1948, the community has been in decline ever since. Mr Simentov's wife and children moved to Israel years ago, but he stayed even through the Taliban regime. He was born in the western Afghan city of Herat in 1959 and says Afghanistan is home. But having survived numerous beatings under the Taliban, he now only wears his yarmulke, or skullcap, in private. Until 2005, Mr Simentov shared the house with one other Jew, but the two feuded and lobbed allegations at each other of having let a sacred Torah scroll go missing and of having spread rumours that resulted in Taliban beatings. When his 80-year-old housemate died, Mr Simentov said he was happy to be rid of him. Though Mr Simentov has a Muslim friend who visits a few times a week, he spends most of his days in the company of his pet partridge, reading a Hebrew prayer book and watching Afghan TV in a small room whose pink walls are adorned with an Afghan flag and the picture of an orthodox rabbi. There are some interesting photos at the link. |
| Posted by:ryuge |
| #2 I guess that now that they're down to one Jew, they can afford to be multicultural. You don't think that Torah scroll was desecrated, do you? |
| Posted by: gorb 2009-10-04 23:03 |
| #1 A |
| Posted by: borgboy 2009-10-04 15:26 |