Kabul’s last Jew appeals for help

Isaac Levy looks much older than his 57 years. The former shoemaker has the arduous distinction of being Kabul’s last remaining Jew - an identity increasingly difficult to maintain in Taliban-controlled Afghanistan. Since 1994, the Taliban’s strict form of fundamentalism has been incongruent with Islam’s message of peace and tolerance, and its ability to coexist with other religious and ethnic groups. On 3 August, faced with deteriorating health as result of a severe beating by Taliban militiamen two years ago, Levy appealed to UN agencies and the State of Israel for help. “Please save me - I cannot stay here,” he told IRIN. “I want to go to Israel,” he cried. With Taliban guards constantly monitoring his house from the outside, such fear does not seem unfounded. After two decades of war and a devastating drought, life is becoming increasingly difficult in Afghanistan, and being different only compounds it. The Taliban pride themselves as a pure society of Islamic belief, and Levy is clearly an outsider. While he says tha,t for the most part, he is left alone, he admits people are afraid of maintaining any type of contact with him for fear of reprisal. “I’m a Jew and I’m different,” he lamented. “Even the children know me as that,” he added. If there was ever a Jewish quarter in Kabul it was Flower Street. Named after the flower sellers that once lined the street, it was here that a small Jewish community of 60 or 70 families lived and thrived. Levy recalls fondly how his neighbours would come to worship in the small synagogue above his home - the same synagogue he lovingly maintains today. “There were no problems then and life was good,” he explained. Originally from the western city of Herat, Levy came to Kabul 26 years ago where many of his relatives lived. His wife and five children left for Israel 13 years ago when factional fighting first erupted in the city. They now live in Tel Aviv. However, due to financial constraints, he stayed behind in Kabul where he has remained ever since. Levy’s recent troubles began when someone he refers to as a “relative” moved in three years ago. This man, Levy claims, took away all his religious books, including the local synagogue’s Torah, which was currently in the possession of the Taliban interior ministry. Accused of sorcery two years ago, he was incarcerated for 57 days in a local prison, and repeatedly beaten and threatened. “They sat on my neck and waist and beat me, demanding that I convert to Islam; they threatened to execute me,” he said. Asked how he had responded, he said: “Even if you kill me I will not convert.” Fear of the Taliban and what they might do have left him feeling afraid and persecuted. He explained that routine harassment by the police of the Taliban’s Ministry for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice was common now. “They have taken all my books, and are trying to get me to sign my property over to them,” he claimed. Such acts were unheard of when he was younger. Islam had always been a unifying force for bringing together the country’s diverse and multi-ethnic peoples, and had traditionally remained tolerant of other people’s religions and beliefs, Levy said. For generations, Hindus, Sikhs and Jews lived in harmony with Muslim Afghans and, until 1992, played a significant role in the economy. Their rights were respected and they regarded themselves as Afghans as much as Afghan as Tajiks, Pashtuns, Hazaras, or Uzbeks born and raised in the country. But today, Afghanistan has only a tiny non-Muslim community, primarily several thousand Hindus and Sikhs. Most are looked on with suspicion. A Muslim activist in Kabul told IRIN that if an Afghan converted to another religion, the punishment was death. “There can be no greater sin as far as the Taliban are concerned,” he warned. Similarly, those who work to convert Muslims face stiff prison sentences. “Just carrying a Bible can result in a prison sentence,” he added. Examples of discriminatory action against Afghanistan’s remaining minority community are growing. The Taliban have called on Hindu women to cover themselves in public like Muslim women. In another, more recent, edict, western ears were horrified when it was declared that Hindus would have to wear tags identifying them as non-Muslims, a policy sounding dangerously similar to the Nazi policy of forcing Jews to wear yellow stars. But Taliban officials contend that such a policy would “protect” non-Muslims by distinguishing them from Muslims and allowing them to avoid harassment for not observing Islamic laws. Following strong international condemnation and criticism from Pakistan, the Taliban’s staunchest ally, the edict remains to be implemented, but the issue of the country’s minority human rights has yet to be addressed. Meanwhile, back on Flower Street, Levy prays five times a day with a small Torah and some religious books he keeps hidden in his home. Asked if he communicates with his family in Tel Aviv, he maintains he sends letters, but does not receive responses. “The letters don’t get to them,” he said. He added, however, that he had spoken with his wife a few months earlier, but the family could not afford his coming. Impoverished and alone, he feels his only hope now is to leave. Asked what message he wanted sent out of Afghanistan, he said: “Please inform the Israeli government that Isaac Levy is the only Jew in Kabul. I want to come to Israel and be reunited with my family - please help.”