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افغان یهودان יהודי אפגניסטן | |
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![]() Jewish cemetery in the city of Herat, 2009 | |
Total population | |
10,300 | |
Regions with significant populations | |
Israel | 10,000 |
United States | 200 families |
United Kingdom | 100 |
Afghanistan | 0[1] |
Languages | |
Hebrew, Dari, Pashto | |
Religion | |
Judaism | |
Related ethnic groups | |
Other Jews |
Part of a series on |
Jews and Judaism |
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Part of a series of articles on |
Religion in Afghanistan |
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Majority |
Sunni Islam |
Minority |
Historic/Extinct |
Controversy |
History of Afghanistan |
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Timeline |
The history of the Jews in Afghanistan goes back at least 2,500 years. Ancient Iranian tradition suggests that Jews settled in Balkh, an erstwhile Zoroastrian and Buddhist stronghold, shortly after the collapse of the Kingdom of Judah in 587 BCE.[2] In more recent times, the community has been reduced to complete extinction due to emigration, primarily to Israel.[3][4] At the time of the large-scale 2021 Taliban offensive, only two Jews were still residing in the country: Zablon Simintov and his distant cousin Tova Moradi. When the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan was re-established by the Taliban in August 2021, both Simintov and Moradi made aliyah on 7 September 2021 and 29 October 2021, respectively, leaving Afghanistan completely empty of Jews. Today, the overwhelming majority of the Afghan Jewish community resides in Israel, with a small group of a few hundred living in the United States and the United Kingdom.
In Afghanistan, the Jews had formed a community of leather and karakul merchants, landowners, and moneylenders.[citation needed] Jewish families mostly lived in the cities of Herat and Kabul, while their patriarchs traveled back and forth on trading trips across Afghanistan; they carved their prayers in Hebrew and Aramaic on mountain rocks as they moved between the routes of the Silk Road.[2]
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