Not only bad news comes from Afghanistan, there are also quite life-affirming news, though quite rare. One of these was announced by the popular blogger Vladimir Guriyev in his publication: the last Jew has just left the country:
“Well, that is, it sounds sad, but here is such an enchanting dude that it’s rather a plot for a black comedy.
First, he was the last Jew there for the last sixteen years, having successfully survived the Soviet invasion, civil unrest, the Taliban banned in the Russian Federation, and the American invasion.
Moreover, the Taliban, banned in the Russian Federation, still recalls him with dismay, because the last Afghan Jew faced the Islamists for the first time when there were two of the last Jews in Afghanistan.
Ours was Zablon Simintov, and the second one was Isaac Levi. They lived in the same synagogue, but they hated each other so much that they sat in the different corners and tried not to meet again.
This did not stop Isaac from informing the Taliban, banned in the Russian Federation, that Zablon was stealing Jewish relics in order to sell them on the black market.
Zablon replied to this that Isaac set up a brothel in the synagogue where he sells alcohol, and also switched to Islam. It's not very clear how the last accusation could have worsened Isaac's life, but the first two apparently worked, because in the end both were thrown into prison.
But they were soon released, because Zablon and Isaac began to fight every time they met and, roughly speaking, got their guards to hell.
In 2005, Isaac died, and Zablon was left alone. He lived and worked in the same synagogue, and until 2014 he was selling kebabs, but then he stopped this business, because hotels, by and large, were closed, and there were almost no buyers.
And so they decided to save him. In August, it was decided to bring a private plane to Afghanistan, which would take our hero to a safe place.
Our hero, on the whole, was not very opposed, but demanded that the sudden saviors first pay off his debts. As an honest man, he could not escape from Afghanistan without paying off his creditors.
The saviors were slightly stunned and said that this was not their responsibility.
However, they had their own conditions. Since the saviors were from Israel, they asked Zablon to divorce his wife, who has been living in Israel since 1998 and, in general, has long wanted to become a free woman.
Zablon simply did not come to this meeting.
But more than two weeks of daily negotiations still bore fruit, and two days ago he left.
According to rumors, he was persuaded to dump the neighbors who sent their children with him.
According to the same rumors, he nevertheless agreed to give his wife a divorce. But I haven’t given it yet. He will give it, but not today. Later.
I really think that he will still make it hot for his saviors. They will regret twenty times more that they got involved in this matter at all, they really have picked on the wrong person..."
P. S. Zablon Simintov was born in 1959. Afghan Jewish carpet merchant and restaurateur. Prior to his evacuation, he was widely known as the only remaining Jew still living in Afghanistan, as well as the caretaker of the only synagogue located in the capital, Kabul. On September 7, 2021, he left Afghanistan.