The history of Jews in Afghanistan is shrouded in myth. From the Pashtun legend of Lost Tribe origin to the Jewish communal escape from Iran, one thing is clear: Jews have had a presence in Afghanistan for at least 1,000 years. But the story of the last Jew in Afghanistan remains the most well known. Or so you thought.

00:00 Intro
00:35 The "last Jew of Afghanistan"
00:56 The Pashtun
01:39 The reign of Cyrus the Great
02:01 The Jewish community in Afghanistan
02:23 The Mongols
02:53 Jews flee to Afghanistan from Iran
03:12 Oppression, Pogroms, and Expulsions of Jews in Afghanistan
04:20 World War 2 and the Holocaust
04:40 Immigration to Israel
04:53 Zebulon Simentov, the "last Jew" in Afghanistan
05:52 Isaac Levy, the "second-to-last Jew" in Afghanistan
06:10 The Taliban
06:45 Get refusal (Jewish divorce refusal)
07:10 The "last Jew" leaves Afghanistan
07:55 Tova Moradi, the real last Jew of Afghanistan
08:47 Tova Moradi escapes from the Taliban to Canada
09:25 Annihilation of minorities in Afghan society
10:12 The endurance of Afghan Jews

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Image and footage credits:
Wellcome Collection
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Dottie Bennett
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum
Yad Ben-Zvi
IsraAID
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Executive Producer:
— Barry Skolnick
Co-Executive Producer:
— Shmuel Katz
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Translation credits:
Portuguese: Saymon Pires, www.livrariasafra.com.br, @safralivraria

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#history #afghanistan #traditional