Zablon Simintov

Simintov was born into an Orthodox Jewish family in the city of Herat in 1959, where he spent most of his early life until his eventual relocation to Kabul. His residence was severely damaged during the Taliban's rise to power in the Second Afghan Civil War, which forced him to move into the city's only synagogue. Despite that most Jews had already departed from the country by this time, with the majority settling down in Israel, Simintov did not permanently relocate; he briefly lived in Turkmenistan but returned to Kabul in 1998, by which time the Taliban had officially established the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan. Simintov was detained, jailed and abused several times by Taliban militants during this period, and was also extorted by the group at his carpet warehouse in 2001. Simintov is also known during this time period for his heavily publicized feud with Yitzhak Levi (Ishaq Levin), another Afghan Jew; it has been claimed that the two were expelled from a Taliban-led jail due to their constant fighting.{{cite web |title='Last Afghani Jews' kicked out of Taliban prison for being too annoying |url=https://www.jpost.com/middle-east/taliban-kicked-arguing-last-afghani-jews-out-of-prison-stole-torah-606457 |website=The Jerusalem Post {{!}} JPost.com |access-date=15 July 2023}}

Simintov lived at the Kabul synagogue alongside Ishaq Levin, who was thought to be the only other Jew remaining in Afghanistan, until the latter's death on 26 January 2005 at around 80 years of age. The story of Simintov and Levin as the supposed only remaining Jews in Afghanistan served as the basis for a British play,{{cite web|url=http://www.totallyjewish.com/entertainment/features_and_reviews/?content_id=4097|title=Fringe benefits|author=Hannah Schraer|work=TotallyJewish.com|date=15 August 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061103130253/http://www.totallyjewish.com/entertainment/features_and_reviews/?content_id=4097|archive-date=3 November 2006}} as well as the Belgian-French documentary Cabal in Kabul.{{cite web |url=http://miamijewishfilmfestival.org/films/2008/cabal_in_kabul |title=Cabal in Kabul |work=Miami Jewish Film Festival}} Simintov deprecated Levin in an interview with British journalist Martin Fletcher; while Levin had initially welcomed Simintov into Kabul's synagogue following the latter's return from Turkmenistan in 1998, the two grew to greatly dislike each other due to personal feuds and religious disagreements.{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=12005855|work=NPR|title=In Afghanistan, a Jewish Community of One|first=Soraya Sarhaddi|last=Nelson|date=19 July 2007|access-date=28 November 2020}}

In an interview with the Jewish American magazine Tablet, Simintov highlighted the difficulties of being the isolated and only remaining practitioner of Judaism in Afghanistan. He had to obtain special permission from the nearest rabbi in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to slaughter his own livestock for meat in accordance with Jewish dietary laws, as this can normally be done only by a specially-trained Jewish butcher. Simintov received regular shipments of special kosher supplies on Passover from Afghan Jews living in New York. He has stated that he wore his kippah only in private and was hesitant to allow visitors into the synagogue in Kabul that he had been maintaining.{{cite web|last=Garfinkel|first=Jonathan|date=29 May 2013|title=A Congregation of One|url=http://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-life-and-religion/132099/a-congregation-of-one/2|access-date=28 November 2020|work=Tablet}}

Simintov lived alone in a small synagogue room and received donations from Jewish groups abroad, as well as from sympathetic Muslim locals. His wife, from whom he is estranged, and his two daughters reside in Israel. When asked during an interview whether he would also emigrate to Israel and join his family, Simintov retorted, "Go to Israel? What business do I have there? Why should I leave?" In a 2007 video interview with Al Jazeera, Simintov suggested that he may be interested in moving to Israel to join his two daughters.{{YouTube|Dj8tqcFyPtU|The last Jew in Afghanistan - 12 Sep 07}} However, he again expressed reluctance to leave in a 2019 interview, stating: "I don't speak Hebrew. I am an Afghan." Simintov has also said that he knows former Afghan President Ashraf Ghani personally.{{cite news|date=4 February 2019|title=When the Taliban realized, I was a Jew, they let me go|url=https://www.bild.de/politik/international/bild-international/zaboab-simintov-the-only-jew-who-lives-in-kabul-when-the-taliban-realized-i-was-61003116.bild.html|access-date=28 November 2020|work=Bild}}

In November 2013, Simintov announced that he would close his kebab restaurant in March 2014 due to declining business after the reduction of American and NATO forces in Afghanistan.{{cite web|last1=Donati|first1=Jessica|last2=Harooni|first2=Mirwais|date=12 November 2013|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-afghanistan-jews/last-jew-in-afghanistan-faces-ruin-as-kebabs-fail-to-sell-idUSBRE9AB0A120131112|title=Last Jew in Afghanistan faces ruin as kebabs fail to sell|work=Reuters|access-date=28 November 2020}}

In April 2021, Simintov announced that he would leave Afghanistan for Israel after the High Holy Days in September, fearing a resurgence of groups such as the Taliban after the US military began withdrawing.{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/afghanistans-last-known-jew-is-leaving-for-israel/|title=Afghanistan's last known Jew is leaving for Israel|work=The Times of Israel|first=Gabe|last=Friedman|date=4 April 2021|access-date=18 September 2023}} On 15 August 2021, three weeks before the first of the High Holy Days, the Taliban captured Kabul.{{cite news|url=https://www.dw.com/en/afghanistan-taliban-declare-victory-after-president-ghani-leaves-kabul/a-58868915 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |title=Afghanistan: Taliban declare victory after President Ghani leaves Kabul |date=15 August 2021 |access-date=16 August 2021}} Simintov remained in Kabul despite having been given chances to leave including by businessman Mordechai Kahana, who offered to pay for a private airplane to take him to Israel. Rabbi Mendy Chitrik of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States involved the Turkish government in the efforts to rescue him from Kabul.{{cite web|url=https://forward.com/news/474297/taliban-jewish-heritage-afghanistan-herat/|title=As Taliban take charge, uncertain future for Afghanistan's Jewish heritage sites|work=Forward|first=Arno|last=Rosenfeld|date=17 August 2021|access-date=14 September 2021}} While he insisted he would stay to take care of the country's last synagogue,{{cite video |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g6c-xAxQ_yY |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211221/g6c-xAxQ_yY |archive-date=21 December 2021 |url-status=live|title=Afghanistan's last Jew Zebulon Simentov had decided to stay on amid humanitarian crisis |publisher=WION |date=17 August 2021 |access-date=17 August 2021}}{{cbignore}}{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/last-jew-in-afghanistan-will-be-safe-taliban-official-tells-israeli-news/|title=Last Afghan Jew will be safe, Taliban spokesman (unwittingly) tells Israeli TV|work=The Times of Israel|date=17 August 2021|access-date=14 September 2021}} it was later reported that his decision may have been influenced by his refusal to give his wife a get (a Jewish religious divorce).{{Cite web|last=Pasko|first=Simcha|date=18 August 2021|title=Last Jew in Afghanistan refuses to give wife Jewish divorce|url=https://www.jpost.com/international/the-last-jew-in-afghanistan-is-staying-report-677002|access-date=18 August 2021|website=The Jerusalem Post|language=en-US}} Get refusal can lead to a prison sentence in Israel. Another report stated he refused to leave as he owes money to his neighbours and wished to honour his debts.{{cite web|url=https://www.lefigaro.fr/international/zebulon-simantov-dernier-juif-d-afghanistan-ne-quittera-pas-le-pays-malgre-les-talibans-20210820|title=Zébulon Simantov, le dernier juif d'Afghanistan, ne quittera pas le pays malgré les talibans|work=Le Figaro|first=Stanislas|last=Poyet|date=20 August 2021|access-date=14 September 2021}}

Eventually, he left in September 2021 with several neighbouring families, stating that it was not the Taliban, but the possibility of other, more radical Islamist groups such as IS-KP taking him hostage, which resulted in his exit from the country.{{cite web|url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/asia-and-australia/afghanistan-s-last-jew-leaves-after-taliban-takeover-1.10191647|title=Afghanistan's Last Jew Leaves After Taliban Takeover|work=Haaretz|agency=The Associated Press|date=8 September 2021|access-date=14 September 2021}} After leaving Afghanistan, Simintov granted his wife a divorce.{{cite web|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/last-jew-to-leave-afghanistan-divorces-wife-after-refusing-for-over-20-years/|title=Last Jew to leave Afghanistan divorces wife after refusing for over 20 years|work=The Times of Israel|date=26 September 2021|access-date=3 October 2021}}

• History of the Jews in Afghanistan
• Bukharan Jews

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{{cite news|url=https://www.jta.org/2019/10/31/global/the-last-jews-in-afghanistan-argued-so-much-the-taliban-kicked-them-out-of-prison-and-stole-their-torah|title=The last Jews in Afghanistan argued so much the Taliban kicked them out of prison and stole their Torah|work=Jewish Telegraphic Agency|author=Laura E. Adkin|date=31 October 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191101104550/https://www.jta.org/2019/10/31/global/the-last-jews-in-afghanistan-argued-so-much-the-taliban-kicked-them-out-of-prison-and-stole-their-torah|archive-date=1 November 2019|access-date=11 July 2020|url-status=live|quote=Unfortunately, their feuding also allowed the Taliban to run away with the synagogue's Torah. Scribed in the 15th century, the scroll was allegedly taken by Taliban's interior minister and sold on the black market.}}

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• [https://web.archive.org/web/20140811175140/http://afghanistan-photos.com/crbst_30.html History of Afghan Jews]
• [https://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/vjw/Afghanistan.html The Virtual Jewish Tour: Afghanistan]

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Category:1959 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Herat

Category:Afghan businesspeople

Category:Afghan Jews

Category:Afghan expatriates in Turkmenistan

Category:Afghan emigrants to Israel

Category:Afghan expatriates in Israel

Category:Bukharan Jews

Category:Turkmenistan Jews