The Last Jew in Afghanistan

One man, living alone in a small room next to a crumbling synagogue is the only remaining Jew in Afghanistan. He is the last of 4,000 and a thriving community that has been decimated by years of war and oppression. Zabolon Simantov believes that he has to keep the Jewish history in Afghanistan alive:

"I don't want my Jewish heritage erased. My father was a rabbi, my grandfather was a rabbi. We were a big, religious family. I feel like the lion of Afghanistan, nobody can touch me."

But Zabolon has faced a fair amount of persecution at the hands of fundamentalists and radicals, who constantly pressure him to convert.

"They are dumb. For me, that kind of talk is like a matchstick you use to light a cigarette. You throw it away without a second thought," he says.
However, he is doubtful that any Jews will return to Afghanistan and, if he leaves, hundreds of years of tradition will no longer have a representative.