Friday, August 24, 2001
The Jewish community in Afghanistan was once a proud one, with 40,000 people, flourishing businesses and a distinctive Torah design.
But the population eroded through the last century, and recent decades have seen the Soviet invasion, civil war and the rise of the radical Islamic Taliban movement to power.
Now, as far as anyone knows, the community has dwindled to just two men -- and they dislike each other. What's worse, their sole remaining Torah has been confiscated.
Afghanistan's last two Jews -- Ishaq Levin and Zebulon Simentov -- live at separate ends of the same decaying synagogue in the Afghan capital and are feuding, each claiming to be the rightful owner of the synagogue and its paraphernalia.
``Sometimes he tries to talk to me but I don't like him. I turn my head,'' Simentov said.
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Religion-Today.html
posted at 4:40 PM