Zablon Simintov

Zablon Simintov (b. 1959, Turkmenistan ) is a Turkmen - Afghan carpet trader and the caretaker of the only synagogue in Kabul . As of 2008 , he is believed to be the sole remaining Jewish person in Afghanistan .¹ His name has also been transcribed in English as Zebulon Simentov , Zabolon Simentov and Zabolon Simantov .² The Jewish population in Afghanistan once numbered around 5,000, but most emigrated to either Israel or the United States . Simintov had lived with the second last remaining Jewish man in Afghanistan, Ishaq Levin , who died on January 26, 2005, aged around 80. The story of Simintov and Levin was the basis for a British play. Simintov deprecated Levin in an interview with British journalist Martin Fletcher . Levin had initially welcomed Simintov but the two fell out permanently when Simintov offered the caretaker help to emigrate to Israel to join the rest of the former Kabul community. Simintov is adamant that he made the suggestion only as he thought Kabul was too cold for the old man, but the older man took umbrage, thinking that Simintov was trying to take over the synagogue. A feud ensued, with the Taliban becoming involved after both men reported each other to the authorities for alleged wrongdoings ranging from running a brothel to misappropriating religious objects. Simintov says it is not easy to practise his religion alone. But he has obtained special permission from the nearest rabbi, in Tashkent , Uzbekistan , to slaughter his own meat in the kosher way that can normally only be done by a special rabbi. Simintov lives alone in a small room next to a crumbling synagogue in Kabul and receives donations from Jewish groups abroad and sympathetic Muslim locals. His wife and daughters live in Israel . When asked during a recent interview whether he would go to Israel, Simentov [sic] retorted, "Go to Israel? In a video interview by Al Jazeera on September 17, 2007, Simentov suggested he may be interested in moving to Israel to join his two daughters. The product of an Orthodox upbringing, Simintov boasts of receiving matzo packages for Passover from Afghan Jews living in New York. Sometimes, he says, Jewish foreigners visit his home for the high holidays. Simintov has been quoted as 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..." However he is careful to wear his yarmulke only in private, and is hesitant to take visitors inside the synagogue he calls home. He says that many in Kabul pressure him to become a Muslim. You throw it away without a second thought" . He keeps mostly to himself. The business owners on Flower Street, where he lives, call him "Zabolon the Jew". They say they don't know him well but greet him when he passes by. One exception is Karmatullah, a Muslim shopkeeper who stores some of his goods in Simintov's home and who considers Simintov a fellow Afghan. Zablon is not married but he has a bacha (a boy) which is popular amongst in the underworld of the Tajiki people as "Bacha Bazi" meaning boy play.³