Afghanistan today hardly seems a place for a Jew to call home, yet for hundreds of years it hosted a large, flourishing Jewish community. With roots in antiquity, the Afghan Jewish community built rich lives in the face of political upheaval and many other challenges. Read on for 14 facts about the Jews of Afghanistan.
1. Jews Have Lived in Afghanistan for Over 2,500 Years
Many scholars believe Jews arrived in Afghanistan after the Babylonian Exile (6th century BCE), when Jews were dispersed throughout the Persian Empire—including regions that now make up Afghanistan. The Book of Esther describes the Persian Empire as spanning 127 provinces,1 which may have included parts of Afghanistan. Since Afghanistan was part of the Khorasan kingdom under the Achaemenid Empire, it’s likely that Jews were living there during the time of the Purim story.
Archaeological finds with Hebrew inscriptions and strong oral traditions indicate that Jewish life once thrived in ancient cities like Balkh and Samangan.
2. A Famous Medieval Traveler Mentions Afghan Jews
In the 12th century, Rabbi Benjamin of Tudela, a Jewish traveler from Spain, documented Jewish communities across the Middle East and Asia. He noted a Jewish population in Ghazna (modern-day Ghazni), reflecting a vibrant Jewish presence during medieval times.2
3. Afghan Jews Welcomed Refugees From Persia and Bukhara
A major wave of Jewish immigration to Afghanistan occurred in 1839, when the Mashhad Jews of Persia were forced to convert to Islam under a fundamentalist Shia regime. Many of these conversos fled to Herat, a Jewish hub near the border, where they were able to openly return to Jewish practice.
In the early 20th century, Jews from Russia and Bukhara also fled to Afghanistan to escape persecution. Each group brought its own customs (minhagim), language dialects, and food traditions, adding to the tapestry of Afghan Jewry.
4. Herat and Kabul Were Jewish Centers
By the late 1800s, Herat and Kabul were home to most of Afghanistan’s Jews.
Herat had four synagogues (some still standing today), a Jewish cemetery, and community schools teaching Torah and the Hebrew and Persian languages.
The Jewish community in Kabul was more modernized. Jews there worked in trade, carpet weaving, herbal medicine, and goldsmithing, contributing significantly to the local economy.
Read: A Torah’s Journey From Jerusalem to Afghanistan to Hong Kong
5. They Faced Hardships and Persecution
Despite their contributions, Jews in Afghanistan often faced discrimination. They were sometimes confined to Jewish-only neighborhoods (mahallas), subjected to strict dress codes, and barred from certain professions.
Warring factions caused further turmoil in the region, with the Jews inevitably caught in the middle. In 1857, for example, Persian forces invaded Herat and expelled the Mashhadi Jews from their homes. They were imprisoned in poor conditions and faced illness and hunger. It took two years before the survivors were allowed to return to their homes.3
6. The Holy Land Was Always in Their Hearts
Afghan Jews maintained strong spiritual ties to the Land of Israel. They regularly contributed to halukkah (charity) funds supporting Jews in Jerusalem and Safed. Beginning in the late 19th century, some began making aliyah, mostly settling in Jerusalem’s Bukharian Quarter.
By 1950, after the founding of the State of Israel, the majority of Afghan Jews had made aliyah, fulfilling a long-held belief that Jews belong in their ancestral homeland.
Read: 15 Facts About Jerusalem
7. Strong Bonds With Persian and Bukharian Jews
Afghan Jews were part of a broader Judeo-Persian cultural sphere. They shared language (Judeo-Persian and Judeo-Tajik), food, religious customs, and even liturgical texts (Tafsir) with Jewish communities in Iran, Uzbekistan, and Tajikistan. Cross-border marriages were common, and communal leaders often collaborated on religious and financial matters.
In Jerusalem, Afghan, Persian, and Bukharian Jews continued to live together, marry each other, and attend shared yeshivas.
8. Kids Created Personal Torah Notebooks
One of the most unique Afghan Jewish traditions was the dastak—a handmade Hebrew-learning notebook created by children. These colorful, illustrated books were both educational and artistic, often featuring religious poetry and biblical verses.
Some dastaks survive today in private collections and museums.
9. They Put a Jewish Spin on Afghan Cuisine
Afghan Jewish food combined kosher dietary laws with local flavors. Shabbat meals often featured pulao Shabbati, a slow-cooked rice-and-meat dish inspired by the national dish kabuli pulao. Other favorites include:
- Gondi (spiced meatballs in Persian style)
- Chalaw Sanzi (greens and rice)
- Ashak (leek dumplings)
Food played a central role in Jewish holidays, especially Purim pastries, lamb on Passover, and Tu Bishvat fruit platters.
10. The World’s Oldest Known Hebrew Prayerbook
In the early 2010s, researchers uncovered the Afghan Genizah, a treasure trove of Jewish manuscripts hidden in caves near Bamyan. These documents date from the 11th to 13th centuries and include legal texts, biblical commentaries, and personal letters in Hebrew, Judeo-Arabic, and Judeo-Persian.
Among the discovered treasures was the “Afghan Siddur,” possibly the oldest known Hebrew prayerbook, dating to the 8th or 9th century.
11. The Pashtuns’ Mysterious Origin
Some traditions suggest that the Pashtuns—Afghanistan’s largest ethnic group—may be descendants of the Ten Lost Tribes of Israel.4 This theory, based on the oral tradition of Pashtun elders and shared customs, points to parallels such as:
- Yibbum (levirate marriage)
- Lighting candles on Friday nights
- Tribal names resembling those of ancient Israel (e.g., Yusufzai = sons of Yosef, Rabani = Reuben, Garji = Gad, Afridi = Ephraim)
- Circumcision of boys at a young age
- Resting on Shabbat, and not on Friday like other Muslims
- Eating their own slaughtered meat, and not eating camel meat
- Not shaving their beard and sideburns
- Wearing a shawl resembling a tallit
However, many are skeptical, and the theory remains a subject of debate.
12. Unique Afghan Jewish Customs (Minhagim)
Afghan Jews developed distinctive religious traditions, including:
- Shavuot is known as the “Festival of Flowers” (Chag Mo’ed Gol). During the Torah reading, congregants stand in two lines and shower the Torah scroll with rose petals, based on the midrash about Mount Sinai blooming with flowers.
- Shabbat Zachor is celebrated with decorated eggs and a playful egg-breaking challenge, accompanied by the chant: “Destroy the remembrance of Amalek; do not forget!”
- Torah Education: Boys and girls were taught Torah from a young age in private Jewish schools (chamullahs). Girls were especially educated in the laws of kashrut, including the detailed preparation and nikur (removal of forbidden fats and veins) of kosher meat, baking matzah, and so on.
13. The Rebbe Took a Keen Interest in Afghan Jews
Even after most Jews had emigrated from Afghanistan, the Rebbe included it on the itineraries of the roving rabbis, who would bring Jewish supplies to the remaining community and see what could be improved. Based on the assessment of Rabbi Shmuel Bogomilsky, who visited in 1963, the Rebbe urged leaders of the New York Afghan Jewish community to re-establish synagogues that had fallen into disrepair and rebuild the local mikvah in Kabul, which they did.5
14. The Afghan Jewish Community Lives On—Abroad
By 1979, after the Soviet invasion and growing instability, nearly all Jews had left Afghanistan. The last known Jew in Kabul, Zebulon Simentov, maintained the only functioning synagogue until he left in 2021 after the Taliban’s return to power.
Today, Afghan Jewish communities thrive in Israel, especially in Jerusalem, Beit Shemesh, and Bnei Brak, as well as in New York, Los Angeles, and London. They continue to preserve their unique traditions, blending Afghan heritage with Sephardic and Mizrahi Jewish identities.
The author thanks Rabbi Dr. Hertsel Simantov and C. Y. for their invaluable assistance in preparing this article, and to Isaac Gad and Osnat Gad for assistance with the photographs.
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