The Jewish Community of Afghanistan
Afghanistan
افغانستان
د افغانستان اسلامي جمهوریت - Islamic Republic of Afghanistan
Khorasan or Khurasan in medieval Muslim and Hebrew sources
A state in central Asia.
21st Century
In 2018 there were no Jews living in Afghanistan.
HISTORY
Early Karaite and Rabbanite biblical commentators regarded Khorasan as a location of the Lost Ten Tribes. Afghanistan annals also trace the Hebrew origin of some of the Afghan tribes, in particular the Durrani, the Yussafzai, and the Afridi, to King Saul (Talut). This belief appears in the 17th century Afghan chronicle Makhzan-i-Afghan and some British travelers in the 19th century spread the tradition. Because of its remoteness from the Jewish center in Babylonia, persons unwanted by the Jewish leadership, such as counter-candidates for the exilarchate, often went to live in or were exiled to Afghanistan.
Medieval sources mention several Jewish centers in Afghanistan, of which Balkh was the most important. A Jewish community in Ghazni is recorded in Muslim sources, indicating that Jews were living there in the 10th and 11th centuries. A Jew named Isaac, an agent of Sultan Mahmud (ruled 998-1030), was assigned to administer the sultan’s lead mines and to melt ore for him. According to Hebrew sources, vast numbers of Jews lived in Ghazani but while their figures are not reliable, Moses ibn Ezra mentions (1080) over 40,000 Jews paying tribute in Ghazani, and Benjamin of Tudela (c.1170) describes “Ghazni the great city on the river Gozan, where there are about 80,000 (8,000 in a variant manuscript) Jews.”
A Jewish community in Firoz Koh, capital of the medieval rulers of Ghur or Ghuristan, situated halfway between Herat and Kabul, is mentioned in Tabaqai-i-nasiri, a chronicle written in Persian (completed around 1260) by al-Juzjani. About 20 recently-discovered stone tablets, with Persian and Hebrew inscriptions dating from 1115 to 1215, confirm the existence of a Jewish community there. The Mongol invasion in 1222 annihilated Firoz-Koh and its Jewish community. An inscription on a tombstone from the vicinity of Kabul dated 1365 , erected in memory of a Moses b. Ephraim Bezalel, apparently a high official, indicates the continuous existence of a Jewish settlement there.
The Mongol invasion, epidemics, and continuous warfare made inroads into Jewish communities in Afghanistan throughout the centuries, and little is known about them until the 19th century when they are mentioned in connection with the flight of the anusim of Meshed after the forced conversions in 1839. Many of the refugees fled to Afghanistan, Turkestan, and Bukhara, settling in Herat, Maimane, Kabul, and other places with Jewish communities, where they helped to enrich the stagnating cultural life. Nineteenth century travelers state that the Jewish communities of Afghanistan were largely composed of these meshed Jews. Mattathias Garji of Herat confirmed: “our forefathers used to live in meshed under Persian rule but in consequence of the persecutions to which they were subjected came to Herat to live under Afghan rule.”
The language spoken by Afghan Jews is not the Pushtu of their surroundings but a Judeo-Persian dialect in which they have produced fine liturgical and religious poetry. Their literary merit was recognized when Afghan Jews moved to Eretz Israel toward the end of the 19th century. Scholars of Afghanistan families such as Garji and Shaul of Herat published Judeo-Persian commentaries on the Bible, Psalms, the Torah, piyyutim, and other works, at the Judeo-Persian writings press established in Jerusalem at the beginning of this century. The Jews of Afghanistan did not benefit from the activities of European Jewish organizations . Economically their situation in the last century was not unfavorable; they traded skins, carpets, and antiquities.
Approximately 5,000 Jews were living in Afghanistan in 1948. Of these, about 300 remained in 1969. They were concentrated in Kabul, Balkh, and mainly Herat. Jews were banished from other towns after the assassination of King Nadir Sah in 1933. Though not forced to live in separate quarters, Jews did so and in Balkh they even closed the ghetto gates at night. A campaign against Jews began in 1933. They were forbidden to leave a town without a permit. They had to pay a yearly poll tax, and from 1952, when the military service law ceased to apply to Jews, they had to pay ransoms for exemptions from the service (called harbiyya). Government service and government schools were closed to Jews, and certain livelihoods forbidden to them. Consequently, most Jews only received a heder education. There were only a few wealthy families, the rest being poverty-stricken and mostly employed as tailors and shoemakers. Until 1950 Afghan Jews were forbidden to leave the country. However, between June
1948 and June 1950, 459 Afghan Jews went to Israel. Most of them had fled the country in 1944, and lived in Iran or India, until the establishment of the State of Israel. Jews were only allowed to emigrate from Afghanistan from the end of 1951. By 1967, 4,000 had gone to Israel. No Zionist activity was permitted, and no emissaries from Israel could reach Afghanistan. There was a hevrah (community council) in each of the three towns in which Jews lived. The hevrah was composed of the heads of families; it cared for the needy, and dealt with burials. The hevrah sometimes meted out punishments , including excommunication. The head of the community (called kalantur), represented the community in dealings with the authorities and was responsible for the payment of taxes.
According to the reports of the Institute of the World Jewish Congress there were 10 Jews living in Afghanistan in 1997.
ELJORASANI
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives. The family name Alkharsani means "from Khorasan" in Arabic. Khorasan is an area in eastern Persia. In medieval Spanish documents the name is sometimes spelled Alcarcan. The name (and variants) is recorded as a Jewish family name in the following examples: in the 14th century, Yehudah Bar Rabbi Yosef Alkhorsani was a rabbi and astrologer who went from Khorasan to Fez, Morocco (about 1365), and author of 'Aron Ha-Edut' and of an essay on astrology; Jento Alcarcan is mentioned as landlord of the house of the Jewish community of Pamplona, Spain, in a tax account of the royal treasurer of Navarre dated 1367; in the 18th century, Abraham Alkhorasani is mentioned in trial documents of the Beth Din of Fez, Morocco, dated 1733, concerning the murder of Jacob Ben Kamoun.
BENALKHORASANI
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The family name Alkharsani means "from Khorasan" in Arabic. Khorasan is an area in eastern Persia. In medieval Spanish documents the name is sometimes spelled Alcarcan. The name (and variants) is recorded as a Jewish family name in the following examples: in the 14th century, Yehudah Bar Rabbi Yosef Alkhorsani was a rabbi and astrologer who went from Khorasan to Fez, Morocco (about 1365), and author of 'Aron Ha-Edut' and of an essay on astrology; Jento Alcarcan is mentioned as landlord of the house of the Jewish community of Pamplona, Spain, in a tax account of the royal treasurer of Navarre dated 1367; in the 18th century, Abraham Alkhorasani is mentioned in trial documents of the Beth Din of Fez, Morocco dated 1733, concerning the murder of Jacob Ben Kamoun.
ALKHORASANI
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
The family name Alkharsani means "from Khorasan" in Arabic. Khorasan is an area in eastern Persia, now Iran. In medieval Spanish documents the name is sometimes spelled Alcarcan. The name (and variants) is recorded as a Jewish family name in the following examples: in the 14th century, Yehudah Bar Rabbi Yosef Alkhorsani was a rabbi and astrologer who went from Khorasan to Fez, Morocco (about 1365), and author of 'Aron Ha-‘Edut' and of an essay on astrology; Jento Alcarcan is mentioned as landlord of the house of the Jewish community of Pamplona, Spain, in a tax account of the royal treasurer of Navarre dated 1367; in the 18th century, Abraham Alkhorasani is mentioned in trial documents of the Bet Din ("rabbinical court") of Fez, Morocco dated 1733, concerning the murder of Jacob Ben Kamoun.
ALKHARASANI
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
These names indicate that the bearer came from Khorasan, one of the five divisions of Persia, now Iran. The Jewish family name dates from talmudic times, where it is found in the Aramaic form Korsana (Simeon Bar Korsana, 3rd century) and is recorded in medieval Spain as Alcarcan. In Morocco the name is first documented when Yehuda Bar Rabbi Yosef Alkhorsani migrated from Khorasan to Fez in 1365. In the 18th century, Alkhorsani is recorded as Jewish family name with Samuel Ben Abraham Alkhorsani, mentioned as a witness in a document of the Bet Din ("rabbinical court") of Fez, Morocco, in 1733.
ELKHORASANI
(Family Name)Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birth place, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives. The family name Alkharsani means "from Khorasan" in Arabic. Khorasan is an area in eastern Persia. In medieval Spanish documents the name is sometimes spelled Alcarcan. The name (and variants) is recorded as a Jewish family name in the following examples: in the 14th century, Yehudah Bar Rabbi Yosef Alkhorsani was a rabbi and astrologer who went from Khorasan to Fez, Morocco (about 1365), and author of 'Aron Ha-Edut' and of an essay on astrology; Jento Alcarcan is mentioned as landlord of the house of the Jewish community of Pamplona, Spain, in a tax account of the royal treasurer of Navarre dated 1367; in the 18th century, Abraham Alkhorasani is mentioned in trial documents of the Beth Din of Fez, Morocco dated 1733, concerning the murder of Jacob Ben Kamoun.
BALKHIYEV
(Family Name)BALKHIYEV, BALKHIEV
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name is a toponymic (derived from a geographic name of a town, city, region or country). Surnames that are based on place names do not always testify to direct origin from that place, but may indicate an indirect relation between the name-bearer or his ancestors and the place, such as birthplace, temporary residence, trade, or family-relatives.
This name is derived from the name of the town Balkh in the Balkh Province of Afghanistan near the city of Mazar-e Sharif. The Russian ending "-ev" means "of/from". Places, regions and countries of origin or residence are some of the sources of Jewish family names. But, unless the family has reliable records, names based on toponymics cannot prove the exact origin of the family. This family name is found among the Jews of Bukhara.
Balkhiev is documented as a Jewish family name with Tamara Balkhiev (1915 – 2010), a former resident of Petah Tikva, Israel
Miriam Bezalel, Afghanistan, 2018
(Video)Miriam Bezalel was born Miriam Raphael in Kabul, Afghanistan. She recalls her life in Afghanistan and then her immigration to Israel.
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This testimony was produced as part of Seeing the Voices – the Israeli national project for the documentation of the heritage of Jews of Arab lands and Iran. The project was initiated by the Israeli Ministry for Social Equality, in cooperation with The Heritage Wing of the Israeli Ministry of Education, The Yad Ben Zvi Institute, and The Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot.
The Oster Visual Documentation Center, ANU - Museum of the Jewish People. The film was produced as part of the Seeing the Voices project, 2019