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Lone Tajik synagogue razed

By · June 26, 2008

Tajikistan’s lone synagogue was demolished.

The 19th century Dushanbe shul was razed last weekend to make way for a park, the Tajiki Jewish
community reported.

The government has promised to allocate land for a new synagogue, though details on the plan are sketchy.

“It’s painful to lose something very dear, something that cannot be valued in money terms,” said a rabbi,
Mikhail Abdurakhmanov, in an interview with Reuters. “At the moment the existence of Tajikistan’s only Jewish community is under threat.”

The community, which numbers some 350 people, is descended from Persian-speaking Bukharan Jews who have lived in Central Asia for centuries. Many Tajiki Jews left for Israel after Tajikistan won independence from Soviet rule.

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