Jews and Judaism in Tajikistan - History

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 World War II, a second wave of Ashkenazic Jews migrated to Tajikistan.

In the Soviet Union, including Tajikistan, beginning in the 1970s, Jews who were able, began to emigrate to Israel, as well as to the United States. By the late 1980s, many of Tajikistan's Jews had left. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991, Tajikistan gained independence and the country fell into a state of civil war between the government and Islamist forces. Continuous military conflict kept Tajik Jews in severe poverty and in fear for their lives. In 1992-1993 most of the country's Jews were evacuated to Israel or the US. They lost their Tajik citizenship, and no longer hold a connection to the country. Between 1989 and 2000, a total of 10,800 out of the country's 20,000 Jews went to Israel alone.

Today, only a hundred Jews are left in Tajikistan. Approximately 40% are Bukharan, and the rest Ashkenazi. They are mostly elderly, poor, and subjected to Antisemitic attacks and persecution. One tragic event in the community was the murder of journalist Meirkhaim Gavrielov. The Jewish community is barely able to function, and relies on aid from world Jewish organizations to survive. The majority of the country's Jews live in Dushanbe, with smaller communities in Shakhrisabz, Leninabad Oblast, and the Fergana Valley.