SPECIAL REPORT: Afghanistan’s ‘last Jew’ finally makes it to Israel
When the Taliban took over in 2021, Zebulon Simantov insisted he had “protected” status as the last Jew, but the threats he faced became too much for him to stay
Jenni Frazer is a freelance journalist
The man who claims to have been the last Jew in Afghanistan finally arrived in Israel last week under the auspices of the Jewish Agency, after spending three years in Istanbul. He is understood to have gone first to Holon, outside Tel Aviv, and is now settling in Ashdod.
Zebulon Simantov, 72, was rescued from Kabul in September 2021 by the American-Israeli businessman and philanthropist, Moti Kahana, along with 30 Afghan neighbours.
The group first went to a safe house in Islamabad, Pakistan, before Simantov decided to go to Turkey rather than Israel.
The Afghan-born Simantov was the self-appointed curator of the dilapidated synagogue in Kabul’s Flower Street, where he lived in a certain amount of grandiose squalor, charging foreign journalists for interviews and glorying in his “victory” over his former rival for the title of last Jew, Isaak Levi.
Famously, the pair squabbled so much over ownership of the land on which the synagogue stood that they were first imprisoned by the Taliban, and then ejected from prison because of the constant verbal battles.
But Levi died in 2005, leaving Simantov king of the castle. His wife and daughters had emigrated to Israel — where his five siblings also lived — years before, but for a long time Simantov refused to grant his wife a get, or Jewish divorce.
When the Taliban, which had ruled Afghanistan between 1996 and 2001, took over the country for a second time in August 2021, Simantov insisted that he had “protected” status as the last Jew and kept telling anyone who asked that he would not move.
But Moti Kahana told him that he faced a gruesome end, not from the Taliban, but from Al-Qaeda and Isis. With reluctance, Simantov agreed to leave.
Once in Islamabad, Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, chief Ashkenazi rabbi of Turkey and director of the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, facilitated a Zoom get in order for Simantov to give his wife a kosher divorce. Kahana said he had spent “two weeks of being a shrink, a psychiatrist, talking to him like 10 times a day, and his neighbour at the same time to translate,” in order to persuade the recalcitrant Simantov to go through with the get.
Originally the plan was for the Afghani to stay only temporarily in Turkey, but he decided he liked living in Istanbul and rejected attempts to persuade him to move to Israel.
Finally, however, it seems to have been ill-health which triggered his move. Moti Kahana told Jewish News that Simantov was now in a wheelchair and was finding it increasingly difficult to live in Turkey.
Israel’s Walla News reported that Simantov’s brother Benjamin had received a call from another sibling. He said: “My younger brother called me on Thursday around 9-10 pm and said, ‘Mazaltov, your brother is in Israel’. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. By Saturday night, we were already on our way to see him at the place where he’s staying in southern Israel.”
Now Kahana says he hopes to fulfil his promise to Simantov to take him to the Western Wall in Jerusalem.
Thank you for helping to make Jewish News the leading source of news and opinion for the UK Jewish community. Today we're asking for your invaluable help to continue putting our community first in everything we do.
For as little as £5 a month you can help sustain the vital work we do in celebrating and standing up for Jewish life in Britain.
Jewish News holds our community together and keeps us connected. Like a synagogue, it’s where people turn to feel part of something bigger. It also proudly shows the rest of Britain the vibrancy and rich culture of modern Jewish life.
You can make a quick and easy one-off or monthly contribution of £5, £10, £20 or any other sum you’re comfortable with.
100% of your donation will help us continue celebrating our community, in all its dynamic diversity...
Engaging
Being a community platform means so much more than producing a newspaper and website. One of our proudest roles is media partnering with our invaluable charities to amplify the outstanding work they do to help us all.
Celebrating
There’s no shortage of oys in the world but Jewish News takes every opportunity to celebrate the joys too, through projects like Night of Heroes, 40 Under 40 and other compelling countdowns that make the community kvell with pride.
Pioneering
In the first collaboration between media outlets from different faiths, Jewish News worked with British Muslim TV and Church Times to produce a list of young activists leading the way on interfaith understanding.
Campaigning
Royal Mail issued a stamp honouring Holocaust hero Sir Nicholas Winton after a Jewish News campaign attracted more than 100,000 backers. Jewish Newsalso produces special editions of the paper highlighting pressing issues including mental health and Holocaust remembrance.
Easy access
In an age when news is readily accessible, Jewish News provides high-quality content free online and offline, removing any financial barriers to connecting people.
Voice of our community to wider society
The Jewish News team regularly appears on TV, radio and on the pages of the national press to comment on stories about the Jewish community. Easy access to the paper on the streets of London also means Jewish News provides an invaluable window into the community for the country at large.
We hope you agree all this is worth preserving.
