The last Jew in Afghanistan left the country

At the beginning of the 20th century, it was estimated that about 40,000 Jews lived in Afghanistan, dating back 2,000 years. Zibulon Sementov was the last to still live in the country, and is now on his way to the United States.

Zebulun Sementov, last lived in Afghanistan good, apparently on its way to the United States, according to Cuthpress. The magazine wrote in a tweet on Twitter on Tuesday that the correspondent of the international Orthodox Jewish magazine “Ami Magazine” went to Kabul to rescue Sementov from the Taliban. Sementov “is safe and on his way to the USA.”

In an interview in mid-August, Sementov said he would remain in Kabul even after the Taliban returned to power. He turned down an opportunity to immigrate to the United States, where no one else could sponsor the synagogue.

Recently, Sementov has been criticized for his wife’s refusal to agree to a divorce for years. The head of the Conference of European Rabbis, Moscow Chief Rabbi Pinchas Goldschmidt, publicly agreed to travel to Afghanistan to settle the divorce, but Sementov refused, according to Goldschmidt’s tweet.

life in Afghanistan

The 62-year-old diamond and carpet dealer Sementov was born in the Afghan city of Herat and has lived in Kabul for most of his life. His wife is a Tajik JewishThe two daughters have lived in Israel since 1998.

According to estimates, about 40,000 people lived at the beginning of the 20th century Jewish In Afghanistan, its history goes back 2,000 years. When Israel was founded in 1948, most of them left the country. Almost all the remaining 300 or so Jewish He immigrated with the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan in 1969. Sementov is the last to live there good.

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