The Hindu : International : Death ends feud of Kabul's last Jews

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Monday, May 09, 2005

International

International

Death ends feud of Kabul's last Jews

Declan Walsh

Sole Jew to take care of synagogue

KABUL: For years Afghanistan's last two Jews carried on a bitter feud. From the Taliban tyranny to the American occupation, Ishaq Levin and Zablon Simintov squabbled and plotted against each other in Kabul's Flower Street synagogue.

The only thing they could agree on was their mutual loathing. Now fate has decided the fight. On a chilly morning, Mr. Levin, in his 70s, was found dead in his ramshackle apartment. The Red Cross flew his remains to Israel, leaving just Mr. Simintov, a 45-year-old carpet seller, the last Jew in a Muslim country. And an unforgiving one. "The old man was crazy," said Mr. Simintov, screwing a finger against his temple.

Proud history

The row is an inauspicious coda to the proud history of Afghanistan's 800-year-old Jewish community. The population swelled to 40,000 at the turn of the 19th century as Persian Jews fled from forced conversions in neighbouring Iran. The numbers plummeted after Israel was established in 1948, and again after the 1979 Soviet invasion. By the time the Taliban seized power in the mid-1990s only Mr. Levin and Mr. Simintov, the quarrelsome, tragic-absurd "Odd Couple", remained.

The pair lived at opposite ends of the synagogue, refusing to speak except to exchange curses. Both were jailed and tortured by the Taliban. Each accused the other of betrayal.

"They beat me with cables and a Kalashnikov," said Mr. Simintov. "Ishaq paid them to put me in there. He told them I was a spy."

Mr. Levin, when alive, made almost identical accusations.

The acrimony first erupted in 1998 when, according to Mr. Simintov, Jewish elders told him to bring the elderly Mr. Levin to Israel. Mr. Levin refused to go, and each man accused the other of wanting to sell the synagogue. The rift deepened when the Taliban took their Torah scrolls, a lambskin containing Jewish law. When Mr. Levin died, police suspected Mr. Simintov of murder until a post-mortem examination showed natural causes. Now Mr. Simintov is alone in this two-storey complex of empty rooms.

- Guardian Newspapers Limited 2005

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