The history of the Jews in

Tajikistan Tajikistan, officially the Republic of Tajikistan, is a landlocked country in Central Asia. Dushanbe is the capital city, capital and most populous city. Tajikistan borders Afghanistan to the Afghanistan–Tajikistan border, south, Uzbekistan to ...

(Tajik: яҳудиёни тоҷик/یهودیونی تاجیک Hebrew: יהודים טג'יקים) is long and varied. Many of the Tajik Jews were originally

Bukharan Jews Bukharan Jews, also known as Bukharian Jews, are the Mizrahi Jewish sub-group of Central Asia that dwelt predominantly in what is today Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Afghanistan. The group's name is derived from the Emirate of Bukh ...

History

Jews first arrived in the eastern part of the

Emirate of Bukhara The Emirate of Bukhara (, ) was a Muslims, Muslim-Uzbeks, Uzbek polity in Central Asia that existed from 1785 to 1920 in what is now Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan and Kazakhstan. It occupied the land between the Amu Darya and Syr Darya rive ...

, in what is today

, in the 2nd century BC. After the

Communists Communism () is a sociopolitical, philosophical, and economic ideology within the socialist movement, whose goal is the creation of a communist society, a socioeconomic order centered on common ownership of the means of production, d ...

came to power they organized the country into

republics A republic, based on the Latin phrase '' res publica'' ('public affair' or 'people's affair'), is a state in which political power rests with the public (people), typically through their representatives—in contrast to a monarchy. Although ...

, including Tajikistan, which was first formed as an autonomous republic within

Uzbekistan , image_flag = Flag of Uzbekistan.svg , image_coat = Emblem of Uzbekistan.svg , symbol_type = Emblem of Uzbekistan, Emblem , national_anthem = "State Anthem of Uzbekistan, State Anthem of the Republ ...

in 1924, and in 1929 became a full-fledged republic. In an effort to develop Tajikistan,

Soviet The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

authorities encouraged migration, including thousands of Jews from neighboring

. The Ashkenazi population of the country grew to almost 10,000 by 1989. Most Jews settled in

Dushanbe Dushanbe is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Tajikistan. , Dushanbe had a population of 1,564,700, with this population being largely Tajiks, Tajik. Until 1929, the city was known in Russian as Dyushambe, and from 1929 to 1961 as St ...

, the

capital Capital and its variations may refer to: Common uses * Capital city, a municipality of primary status ** Capital region, a metropolitan region containing the capital ** List of national capitals * Capital letter, an upper-case letter Econom ...

, where they opened the

Dushanbe synagogue The Dushanbe Synagogue (), also known as the Bukharian Synagogue (), was a former Bukharian Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in Dushanbe, the capital of Tajikistan. Constructed in the 19th century in one of the two Jewish Quarters in Du ...

. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, a second wave of

Ashkenazic Ashkenazi Jews ( ; also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim) form a distinct subgroup of the Jewish diaspora, that emerged in the Holy Roman Empire around the end of the first millennium CE. They traditionally speak Yiddish, a language t ...

Jews migrated to Tajikistan. In the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, including Tajikistan, beginning in the 1970s, Jews who were able, began to

emigrate Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

, as well as to the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. By the late 1980s, many of Tajikistan's Jews had left. After the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

in 1991, Tajikistan gained independence and the country fell into a state of

civil war A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

between the government and Islamist forces. Continuous military conflict kept Tajik Jews in severe poverty and in fear for their lives. In 1992-1993 most of the country's Jews were evacuated to Israel or the US. Between 1989 and 2002, all but 197 of the country's almost 15,000 Jews emigrated, largely to Israel. Those Jews who emigrated were stripped of their Tajik citizenship and no longer hold a connection to the country. As of the 2010 census, there are 36 Jews left in Tajikistan. All but two are Ashkenazi; the others are Bukharan, according to the 2010 census. They are mostly elderly, poor, and subjected to Antisemitic attacks and persecution. One tragic event in the community was the murder of journalist

Meirkhaim Gavrielov Meirkhaim Gavrielov (25 August 1927 – 9 June 1998) was a Bukharian Jewish journalist murdered in Tajikistan. Life Meirkhaim Gavrielov was a prominent member of the Tajikistani media for fifty years. Gavrielov was born in 1927 in Samarkand, ...

. The Jewish community is moribund, reportedly barely able to function, and relies on aid from world Jewish organizations to survive. The majority of the country's Jews live in

, which hosts the country's last synagogue. In January 15, 2021 the last Jew Jura Abaev of the city of

Khujand Khujand, sometimes spelled Khodjent and formerly known as Leninabad from 1936 to 1991, is the second-largest city of Tajikistan and the capital of Tajikistan's northernmost Sughd province. Khujand is one of the oldest cities in Central Asia, d ...

, Tajikistan, died.

Historical demographics

Tajikistan's Jewish population was almost non-existent in 1926, and it increased rapidly between 1926 and 1970. In 1970, Tajikistan's Jewish population was over fifty times larger than it was in 1926, numbering almost fifteen thousand people. Tajikistan's Jewish population continued growing between 1970 and 1989, but at a much slower rate. Since the

collapse of Communism The revolutions of 1989, also known as the Fall of Communism, were a revolutionary wave of liberal democracy movements that resulted in the collapse of most Marxist–Leninist governments in the Eastern Bloc and other parts of the world. Th ...

virtually all of the Jews in Tajikistan left and moved to other countries between 1989 and 2002. Most of the Tajik Jews who

emigrated Emigration is the act of leaving a resident country or place of residence with the intent to settle elsewhere (to permanently leave a country). Conversely, immigration describes the movement of people into one country from another (to permanentl ...

moved to Israel. In the late 1980s, around two-thirds of the population were Ashkenazi, and around one-third were Bukharian.

Dushanbe Synagogue

As of 2006, the

synagogue was the last remaining synagogue in the country, and was actively being used for worship. However, the Tajik government ordered the local Jewish community to vacate the synagogue, which was going to be demolished for a new

presidential palace A presidential palace is the official residence of the president in some countries. Some presidential palaces were once the official residences to monarchs in former monarchies that were preserved during those states' transition into republics. ...

. After the destruction of the community's

mikvah A mikveh or mikvah (, ''mikva'ot'', ''mikvot'', or ( Ashkenazic) ''mikves'', lit., "a collection") is a bath used for ritual immersion in Judaism to achieve ritual purity. In Orthodox Judaism, these regulations are steadfastly adhered t ...

kosher (also or , ) is a set of dietary laws dealing with the foods that Jewish people are permitted to eat and how those foods must be prepared according to Jewish law. Food that may be consumed is deemed kosher ( in English, ), from the Ashke ...

butcher, and several classrooms in February 2006, the demolition was temporarily halted due to protests from the Israeli and US embassies, as well as from worldwide world Jewish communities. The synagogue was finally razed by municipal court order in the end of June 2008, and the community was allocated a site in the western part of Dushanbe to build a new synagogue with financing from international Jewish organizations and private donors. Because of this incident, many Israelis and Americans of Tajik Jewish descent have negative views toward the Government of Tajikistan. The new synagogue of Dushanbe was opened on 4 May 2009 in an existing building donated for this purpose by Hasan Assadullozoda, a Tajikistani businessman and the brother-in-law of President

Emomalii Rakhmon Emomali Rahmon ( ; born 5 October 1952), born Emomali Sharipovich Rahmanov, is a Tajik politician who has served as the President of Tajikistan since 1994, having previously led the country as Chairman of the Supreme Assembly (Tajikistan), Su ...

.New Synagogue Opens in Dushanbe
Radio Free Europe, 5 May 2009. Retrieved on 9 June 2009 The opening ceremony was attended by U.S. Ambassador

Tracey Ann Jacobson Tracey Ann Jacobson (born 1965) is an American diplomat who currently serves as the chargé d'affaires of the Embassy of the United States, Dhaka, U.S Embassy in Dhaka. She formerly served as the United States ambassador to Turkmenistan, Tajikist ...

, Tajik Deputy Culture Minister Mavlon Mukhtorov, and Imam Habibullo Azamkhonov.Opening Ceremony of Dushanbe's New Synagogue
, U.S. Embassy in Tajikistan, 2009 press releases. Retrieved on 9 June 2009

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:History Of The Jews In Tajikistan

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

History

Historical demographics

Dushanbe Synagogue

See also

References