Dear Friends,
Leaving Afghanistan clandestinely this week, taking five days over-land to get to a neighboring country, and then arriving in Israel! Such is the journey of Zebulon Simentov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, the caretaker of Kabul’s last synagogue, until this past Monday, Erev Rosh Hashanah, when he finally left Afghanistan.
It is timely. In Deuteronomy, this week, we read of Moses’ final oration and his passing the baton to Joshua to lead the Israelites out of the desert and into the Promised Land of Canaan, in our day to become the State of Israel. Moses was the last Jew to remain behind in the wilderness.
Journeying and migrating has been our lot. Yes, we have quite a few multi-generation Jewish families at Temple Beth Jacob – but more have come in recent decades, and many children have left in recent decades. Relocating has been our lot, and Deuteronomy reminds us of that, as Moses encouraged his successor, saying to Joshua, “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go forth with this people into the land that the Eternal swore to their fathers to give them.” (Dt. 31:7)
Reading of the stubbornness of Zebulon Simentov over the last several weeks – he had refused to leave Kabul for financial reasons, and had endured at least four arrests by the Taliban and others over the decades – I both admire that he was strong and resolute for the history of Afghan Jewry – at its peak there once were 40,000 Jews in Afghanistan, or he was taking advantage of the publicity and interviews which he craved and received, and for which he collected fees. Ultimately, an Israeli undertaking spirited him and others out of the country on Erev Rosh Hashanah. Yet his story is compelling: one Jew holding out against and on behalf of history, to be certain that even as we close Deuteronomy and another chapter in Jewish history, that we hold on as tightly as we can.
Yet, every scroll must be rolled to its end. The only consolation is what Moses spoke to Joshua: “Be strong and resolute…”
Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
Leaving Afghanistan clandestinely this week, taking five days over-land to get to a neighboring country, and then arriving in Israel! Such is the journey of Zebulon Simentov, the last Jew in Afghanistan, the caretaker of Kabul’s last synagogue, until this past Monday, Erev Rosh Hashanah, when he finally left Afghanistan.
It is timely. In Deuteronomy, this week, we read of Moses’ final oration and his passing the baton to Joshua to lead the Israelites out of the desert and into the Promised Land of Canaan, in our day to become the State of Israel. Moses was the last Jew to remain behind in the wilderness.
Journeying and migrating has been our lot. Yes, we have quite a few multi-generation Jewish families at Temple Beth Jacob – but more have come in recent decades, and many children have left in recent decades. Relocating has been our lot, and Deuteronomy reminds us of that, as Moses encouraged his successor, saying to Joshua, “Be strong and resolute, for it is you who shall go forth with this people into the land that the Eternal swore to their fathers to give them.” (Dt. 31:7)
Reading of the stubbornness of Zebulon Simentov over the last several weeks – he had refused to leave Kabul for financial reasons, and had endured at least four arrests by the Taliban and others over the decades – I both admire that he was strong and resolute for the history of Afghan Jewry – at its peak there once were 40,000 Jews in Afghanistan, or he was taking advantage of the publicity and interviews which he craved and received, and for which he collected fees. Ultimately, an Israeli undertaking spirited him and others out of the country on Erev Rosh Hashanah. Yet his story is compelling: one Jew holding out against and on behalf of history, to be certain that even as we close Deuteronomy and another chapter in Jewish history, that we hold on as tightly as we can.
Yet, every scroll must be rolled to its end. The only consolation is what Moses spoke to Joshua: “Be strong and resolute…”
Shabbat Shalom and Shanah Tovah,
Rabbi Douglas Kohn
