Zablon Simintov is an Afghan carpet trader and restaurateur who is believed to be the last remaining Jew living in Afghanistan. He is also the caretaker of the only synagogue in Kabul.
Personal life
Simintov was born and grew up in the western city ofHerat, before moving to Kabul. His house was damaged during the bloody civil war forcing him to move into the synagogue. For a few years he was in Turkmenistan but he returned to Kabul in 1998, during the Taliban regime. He was put to detention and beaten several times by the Taliban. His carpets warehouse was robbed by them in 2001. Simintov had lived in the synagogue with the second last remaining Jewish man in Afghanistan, Ishaq Levin, who died on January 26, 2005, aged around 80. The story of Simintov and Levin was the basis for a British play. Simintov deprecated Levin in an interview with British journalistMartin Fletcher. Levin had initially welcomed Simintov but the two fell out permanently when Simintov offered the caretaker help to emigrate to Israel to join the rest of the former Kabul Jewish community. Simintov was adamant he made the suggestion only as he thought Kabul was too cold for the old man, but the older man took umbrage, claiming Simintov was trying to take over the synagogue. A feud ensued, with the Taliban becoming involved after both men reported each other to the authorities for alleged wrongdoings ranging from running a brothel to misappropriating religious objects. After Levin's death, Simintov said he was not sad and would not miss him. Simintov says it is not easy to practice his religion alone. However, he has obtained special permission from the nearest rabbi, in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, to slaughter his own meat in line with kosherdietary laws which can normally only be done by a specially trained Jewish butcher. Simintov lives alone in a small room next to an old synagogue on Flower Street in Kabul and receives donations from Jewish groups abroad and sympathetic Muslim locals. His wife and two daughters live in Israel. When asked during an interview whether he would emigrate to Israel, Simintov retorted, "Go to Israel? What business do I have there? Why should I leave?" In a video interview by Al Jazeera on 17 September 2007, Simintov suggested that he may be interested in moving to Israel to join his two daughters. He says that he receives special kosher packages for Passover from Afghan Jews living in New York. Sometimes, he says, Jewish foreigners visit his home for the high holidays. Simintov has also been quoted as saying: "I don't want my Jewish heritage erased. My father was a rabbi, my grandfather was a rabbi. We were a big, religious family..." However he wears his yarmulke only in private and is hesitant to take visitors inside the synagogue he calls home. In November 2013 Simintov announced that he would close his kebab restaurant in March 2014 due to a decline in business, after the reduction of NATO forces, specifically there has been a fall in both the numbers of people eating out in Kabul and hotel catering orders. In a 2019 interview, Simintov said "I don't speak Hebrew. I am an Afghan." He also claims to know President Ashraf Ghani personally.
