▪
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
The Jews of Afghanistan
the Exile and with all the
tragedies and wanderings,
the tribal origins had been
forgotten. "In that case,"
said the king, "it appears
that I am the real Jew be-
cause I can tell you my exact
origins."
The startled Michael
Gul stood in astonish-
ment as the king pro-
ceeded to outline his
entire genealogy: "I am
from the tribe of Benja-
min, the son of Jacob,"
the king said, and he
went down the line all the
way back to Piton, the
son of Micah, the son of
Jonathan, the son of
Saul, the first King of Is-
rael.
Many of the Pathans in
Afghanistan circumcise
their children at the age of
eight days (also a Moslem
practice), and their wives
By WARREN FREEDMAN
NEW YORK—One of the
oldest Jewish communities
(allegedly descended from
King Saul of ancient Israel)
is found in Kabul (popula-
tion 450,000), the capital
city of Afghanistan.
In Huna's commentary on
the Talmud, Sabbath 54a, it
is written: "In Kabul there
are people chained to silver
and gold."
As of 1972 the Jewish
population was but 25
families in Kabul, aild 26
f_amilies in Herat, with a
tal of less than 500 Af-
„flan Jews. (In 1980 there
were less than 400 Afghan
Jews.)
During the 1870s there
were 40,000 Afghan Jews,
but the ancient, small
Jewish communities in
Kandahar, Ghazni and
Balkh have virtually-disap-
peared.
There appears to be
religious tolerance and
respect for Jews in Af-
ghanistan because most
Afghans believe that
these remaining Jews are
descended from the "Lost
Ten Tribes of Israel.”
The Pathans of Afghanis-
tan are believed to be the
remnants of the "Lost Ten
Tribes," driven into exile at
the time of Assyria some
2,700 years ago. Some of the
Pathan tribes still bear
names reminiscent of the
Ten Tribes of Israel: Ephridi
(Ephraim), Reavani (Re-
uven), and Shnavari (Shi-
mon).
A Jew from Afghanistan,
Michael Gul, years ago de-
scribed his presence as a
young child at a meeting be-
' tween the then king of Af-
ghanistan — a Pathan —
and a representative of the
Jewish community.
The king asked the Jew
from which tribe of Israel he
was descended, and the lat-
ter explained that following
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Linowitz: Podhoretz's Days
at AJCommittee 'Numbered'
NEW YORK — In a re-
cent address to the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee, Sol
M. Linowitz, special envoy -
to the Middle East under
former President Jimmy
Carter, told of Norman
Podhoretz's recent actions
as editor of Commentary
(an AJCommittee maga-
zine) and the effect of those
actions on the Jewish corn-
munity.
The address was quoted
in an article in the__New
York Daily News as-follows:
"As long as Podhoretz,
like any other Talmudist,
stuck to esoteric intellec-
tual matters, no one really
important in the Jewish
community noticed. But
then two things happened.
"First, Podhoretz began
to run articles by Jeane
Kirkpatrick (who later was
named U.S. Ambassador to
the UN) favoring support
for El Salvador and other
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first oil exploration dig in
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vestment company. It will
also be the first use of re-
search data worked out by
the late Prof. Raphael
Freund, former head of the
Hebrew University geology
department who died a year
ago.
Trial digs are to be
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JERUSALEM — Conduc-
tor Leonard Bernstein was
awarded an honorary
degree from the Hebrew
University in recent cere-
monies at the school's Mt.
Scopus campus.
named Benno Schotz, a 90-
year-old sculptor from
Glasgow, Scotland, and
honorary fellow, citing his
decades of service in the
Hebrew University Glas-
gow Friends Society.
Tributes to Bernstein
were read by Knesset
Member Abba Eban and
Teddy Kollek, the mayor of
Jerusalem. The Jerusalem
Chamber Orchestra pro-
vided a musical tribute to
the world-renowned con-
ductor.
Meanwhile, Judith Bar-
El, a graduate student at
the university, was
awarded the first Prof. Ab-
raham I. Katsh Prize in
Jewish Studies and Hebrew
Literature. Miss Bar-El is
currently working towards
her PhD in Hebrew Litera-
ture.
The university also
Four Named
to JTS Posts
NORMAN PODHORETZ
`moderately repressive'
autocratic goyernments.
Second, Podhoretz began to
express similar views on TV
as the editor of the commit-
tee's magazine.
"Podhoretz thereby
took on the men who put
up the money and not just
the boys who argue in the
coffee shops. Anything
that smacks of extremism
in the name of Judaism is
frightening to the
mainstream of the
Jewish community . . .
"My own hunch, bolstered
by conversations with
Jewish leaders, is that un-
less Podhoretz returns to an
all-out human rights posi-
tion, his days as editor and
spokesman for the Ameri-
can Jewish Committee are
numbered."
Inflation Debate
TEL AVIV (ZINS) —
Economists in Israel are
giving varying estimates
for the projected rate of in-
flation for the coming year.
The Finance Ministry
predicts that the inflation
rate will be 120 percent,
compared to this year's 133
percent, and that the value
of the shekel will drop to 16
to each U.S. dollar by next
March.
The shekel is presently
Worth 10.5 per $1.
Private economists, how-
ever, believe that the infla-
tion rate will be closer to
150 percent, and that the
shekel will reach 19 per $1.
TEL AVIV — Haim Shiff,
head of Israel's largest hotel
chain, has been selected to
receive the "Leader Del
Turismo" - (Leader in
Tourism) award by the
European Center for Eco-
nomic and Social Progress.
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29
Named for Award
Bernstein Receives an Honorary
Degree from Hebrew University
NEW YORK — Four new
appointments have been
made at the Jewish
Theological Seminary of
America (JTS). They are:
Dr. Neil Gillman, associate
provost; Rabbi Joel Roth,
dean of the Rabbinical
School; Dr. Paula Hyman,
dean of the Seminary Col-
lege of Jewish Studies; and
Rabbi Martin Cohen, assis-
tant to the librarian.
-
STATE OF ISRAEL BONDS
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scrupulously observe the
laws of ritual purity. One
Jewish merchant reported
that deep in the hills of
Pathan country he saw a
young boy with an amulet
bearing in Hebrew-Ashuri
writing the words "Shema
Yisrael ."
Despite the small number
of Jews, there is a daily mi-
nyan in Kabul for 100 Jews.
They also practice their an-
cient Sephardic rituals, re-
plete with homemade bread
and green wine following
Friday evening service.
Many Jewish shopkeep-
ers are found in Kabul's
Royal Marketplace, the
Serai Shazedeh.
Since 1948, 4,000 Afghan
Jews have settled in Israel
and the future of Afghan
Jewry is indeed bleak, espe-
cially following the Soviet
invasion of 1980.
Friday, June 12, 1981
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