Zebulon Simentov
Zebulon Simentov (also Zablon Simintov , * 1960 in Herat ) is a carpet dealer and probably the last Jew in Afghanistan .
After Israel was founded in 1948 and exit restrictions were lifted in 1951, most of the then 5000 Afghan Jews emigrated to the new Jewish state. After the Soviet intervention , almost all of the 300 remaining Jews fled. In 1996 there are said to have only been around ten people, mostly in the capital Kabul . During the rule of the Taliban, only two Jews remained in the country: Simentov and Isaak Levi, who was around 35 years older.
The last two Jews in Afghanistan were united in warm enmity. Both lived in the building of the last synagogue in Kabul and regarded themselves as the legal administrators of the church and custodians of the handwritten Torah scroll that was supposedly 400 years old . Both accused each other of Torah theft and reported each other to the Taliban, with the result that both Simentov and Levi were temporarily detained and tortured by the Taliban.
For many years, the elder Levi was solely responsible for the synagogue built in the 1960s. In 1998 Simentov moved in and was initially welcomed by Levi. The dispute began when Simentov suggested Levi follow his family to Israel because the climate in Kabul with its cold winters was uncomfortable for an elderly man. He also accused Levi, who prophesied the future of Muslim women and sold love potions, that his trade was against the Jewish religion. The reasons with which Simentov and Levi reported each other to the Taliban ranged from running a brothel to espionage. During their first (joint) imprisonment, the Taliban ransacked the synagogue and stole valuable furnishings, including four silver bells and a silver Torah hand . When Simentov wanted to bring the Torah to Israel in safety, Levi accused him to the Taliban of selling the valuable scroll for his own benefit. In 1999, the Taliban also confiscated the controversial Torah, which has since been lost.
The seven-year hostility of the last two Afghan Jews ended when Levi died in mid-January 2005. Simentov found him lying dead on the synagogue floor and declared that he was not sad about it, on the contrary, now he was finally the leader.
Today Simentov lives alone in the ruined Kabul synagogue in great poverty. He had to give up his carpet trade in 2001 after a Taliban attack in which he lost all his belongings. Today he runs a kebab restaurant called "Balkh Bastan" in the synagogue. His wife and two daughters live in Israel.
The conflict-ridden relationship between Simentov and Levi was inspired by the news reports of the reporters accompanying the US troops about the two of them - as a template for two plays : The last two Jews of Kabul ("The Last Two Jews of Kabul") by the Playwright Josh Greenfeld ; it was staged in New York in 2002, another time the British tragic comedy My Brother's Keeper by Michael Flexer (2006).
Web links
- Jason Motlagh: The last Jew in Afghanistan. Alone on Flower Street: He survived Soviets, Taliban - and outlasted even his despised peer. In: San Francisco Chronicle , September 2, 2007
Individual evidence
- ^ A b c Afghan Jew Becomes Country's One and Only. In: The Washington Post. January 27, 2005 ( washingtonpost.com ).
- ↑ BBC News: 'Only one Jew' now in Afghanistan. January 25, 2005.
- ↑ a b c d e Now I'm the only Jew in the city. In: The Times. January 29, 2005 ( timesonline.co.uk ).
- ↑ Zebulon Simentov is the last Jew in Afghanistan. That's why he's staying in Kabul. Retrieved November 1, 2019 .
- ↑ totallyjewish.com : Fringe benefits. August 15, 2006.
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Simentov, zebulon |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Jewish Afghan carpet dealer |
| DATE OF BIRTH | 1960 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Herat , Afghanistan |