The Only One and last Jew in Afghanistan
Zebulon Simentov is a 50-year-old is believed to have become the last Jew in Afghanistan after the death of the caretaker of the only functioning synagogue in Kabul. It has emerged that the caretaker, Ishaq Levin, another Jew, aged about 80, died of natural causes. According to media around 5,000 Afghan Jews left the country after the creation of Israel in 1948, with others leaving after the 1979 Soviet invasion. Early biblical commentators regarded Khorasan as a location of the Ten Lost Tribes. Today, several Afghan tribes including the Durrani, Yussafzai, Afridi and Pashtun believe they are decedents of King Saul. They call themselves Bani-Israel, similar to the Hebrew, B’nai Israel, meaning the children of Israel. Even some Muslim scholars and writers accept this. In 2001, the Taliban stole all the synagogue’s supplies and the two Jews had to close their synagogue and leave the country. Worldwide Jewish organizations say that Jews have been in Afghanistan since the eighth century, mostly in Kabul and Herat. But in recent times many have emigrated to Central Asia and India.