Jews and Judaism in Tajikistan 1400279 219313068 2008-06-14T17:00:19Z Lightbot 7178666 Units/dates/other {{Disputed|date=March 2008}} '''[[Jew]]s and [[Judaism]] in [[Tajikistan]]''' have a long and varied history. Most Jews in Tajikistan were originally [[Bukharian Jews]].<ref>{{citebook|title=Ethnic Groups Worldwide: A Ready Reference Handbook|author=David Levinson|year=1998|publisher=Greenwood Press|id=ISBN 1573560197}}</ref> ==History== Jews first arrived in the eastern part of the [[Emirate of Bukhara]], in what is today [[Tajikistan]], in the 2nd century BC. After the [[Communists]] came to power they organized the country into [[republics]], including Tajikistan, which was first formed as an autonomous republic within [[Uzbekistan]] in 1924, and in 1929 became a full-fledged republic. In an effort to develop Tajikistan, [[Soviet]] authorities encouraged migration, including thousands of Jews from neighboring Uzbekistan. Most Jews settled in [[Dushanbe]], the [[capital]] of Tajikistan, where they opened the [[Dushanbe synagogue]]. During the [[Second World War]] a second wave of [[Ashkenazic]] Jews migrated to Tajikistan. In the [[USSR]], including Tajikistan, [[Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1970s|beginning in the 1970s]], Jews who were able, began to [[emigrate]] to the [[United States]] and also [[Aliyah|to Israel]]. By the late 1980s, many of Tajikistan's Jews [[Aliyah from the Soviet Union in the 1990s|had left]]. After the [[collapse of the Soviet Union]] in 1991, Tajikistan gained independence and the country fell into a state of [[civil war]]. In 1992-1993 most of the country's few thousand Jews were [[evacuate]]d to [[Israel]] or to the [[United States]]. They later gained an American/Israeli nationality and citizenship and no longer hold a citizenship or connection to Tajikistan. During the 1990s most the remaining 1,000 or so Jews emigrated. One tragic event in the Jewish community was the murder of [[journalist]] [[Meirkhaim Gavrielov]] in 1998. Today, only a hundred Jews are left in Tajikistan, [http://www.jafi.org.il/education/100/concepts/demography/demtables.html] most of them are [[Ashkenazi]]. Almost no Bukharian Jews are left in Tajikistan. [http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/28/international/asia/28tajikistan.html] ===Dushanbe Synagogue=== [[Image:Tajik synagogue 4.jpg|frame|right|A Tajik Jew outside of the Dushanbe Synagogue]] As of 2006, the [[Dushanbe synagogue]] was the last remaining synagogue in the country, and was actively being used for worship. However, the Tajik government gave the order to the local Jewish community to vacate the synagogue, which was going to be demolished for a new presidential palace. After the destruction of the community's [[mikvah]], kosher butcher, and several classrooms, as well as an international outcry, the demolition was halted, and the community is now rebuilding the synagogue at (their own expense). Because of this incident, many Americans and Israelis of Tajik Jewish descent have negative views towards Tajikistan. ==See also== *[[Bukharian Jews]]. ==References== {{refs}} {{Asia in topic|History of the Jews in}} [[Category:Bukharan Jews]] [[Category:Jews and Judaism in Tajikistan| ]] [[Category:Jews by country|Tajikistan]] {{Tajikistan-stub}} {{Jewish-hist-stub}} [[he:יהדות טג'יקיסטן]]