Zablon Simintov’s departure from the war-torn country will mark the end of the more than 2000-year-old historic Jewish community.
By Nosson Shulman: Licensed Tour Guide of VIP Israel Tours & Authentic Virtual Tours (click here to check out his free trailer videos)
The end of an era is approaching. Afghanistan’s ancient Jewish community (once numbering as high as 40,000) is about to come to an end when its last Jew, Zablon Simintov makes Aliyah (emigrates to Israel) after the High Holidays this coming September/October.
Simintov’s announcement of his imminent departure has left many people worldwide in shock, as he is infamous for being the last Jew in the country since 2005! His resilience for staying under the most trying of circumstances have made him somewhat of an international figure. Although his wife and two daughters have lived in Israel since 1998, he himself refused to leave saying, “I don’t speak Hebrew, I am Afghani”.
The 61-year old’s life in Afghanistan has seen many ups and downs. He was at one time an extremely successful carpet trader and restauranteur, but when the Taliban came to power in 1996, his life drastically changed. Being a Jew, the Taliban seized his rug business, including $300,000 worth of carpets, severely beat him multiple times, and stuffed him into third world jail cells at will. His home was destroyed, forcing him to live in one of the rooms of the last remaining Synagogue. The country’s last Torah scroll was seized by the government, never to be returned. Despite the oppression, he refused to leave, saying “I don’t want my Jewish heritage erased. My father was a rabbi, my grandfather was a rabbi. We were a big, religious family in Afghanistan”.
In 2014 due to a reduction of NATO troops, the streets of Kabul (Afghanistan’s capital city) became even more dangerous. The locals were afraid to venture out of their homes for leisure and dining, thus causing him to close his once successful Kebab business. Since then he has become impoverished, living on donations from Jewish communities around the world.
Even through all of the difficulty, Zablon Simintov has remained a devout religious Jew. He keeps strictly Kosher (he learned how to ritually slaughter chickens for himself according to Jewish law), keeps Shabbat and dons tefillin daily (as seen in the above picture). For Passover, he receives packages from the Afghan Jewish community of New York. Though there are very few Jewish visitors every year to the country, those that do come to visit him bring kosher food and religious items for his needs.
As decades of suffering from his family’s absence, secure livelihood, and physical safety were not enough to chase him out of the country, his announcement comes as a major surprise that few saw coming. Why is he leaving now? According to Simintov, with the promised withdrawal of US troops in the country and the threat of another Taliban resurgence, he has finally had enough.
Like most Muslim countries, Afghanistan has a rich Jewish history with a presence which predates the arrival of Islam. According to local tradition, the first Jewish arrivals came after the destruction of the First Temple in 422 BCE (some say 586 BCE). In 1870, the country passed anti-Semitic laws which led to 35,000 Jews emigrating. By 1948 when Israel was established, 5000 Jews called Afghanistan home, with the vast majority living in Herut, today the country’s third largest city. Most of the remaining population left in the 1960s. By 1970 only 300 remained, the majority of whom left after the Soviet invasion in 1979.
Nosson Shulman is a journalist and Licensed Tour Guide in Israel specializing in Biblical tours. To allow tourists to experience Israel during the Corona era, he created the new hit Israel tour video series which brings Israel to the home of viewers by simulating actual tours. To check out his free sneak preview tour videos, click here.
Unique Sites of Israel Blog 