Afghanistan's Jewish Past

And in Afghanistan decades-old Jewish synagogues in the west of the country have now been renovated. They are now serving as much needed schools in the war-torn nation.

Behind a parade of old mud brick shops, a tiny door opens onto a courtyard, where school children play alongside the ghosts of Afghanistan's Jewish past.

The Yu Aw is one of four synagogues in the old quarter of Herat city in western Afghanistan, which after decades of abandonment and neglect has been rebuilt and restored to provide desperately-needed space for a school.

When Israel was founded in 1948, around 280 Jewish families, descendants of a centuries-old community in Herat, began leaving and today no one remains.

Fatemeh Nezary, a teacher at the Suroosh school in the former synagogue, says most children are unaware of the place's history.

[Fatemeh Nezary, Teacher, Suroosh Institute]:
"These children don't know anything about this place. They are too young to understand right now and we tell our older students who are nearly the same age as I am, what this place was in the past, even though now it's a school."

The synagogue, made of a modest stone courtyard framed by of a series of small rooms, and the main prayer room, is over 100 years old.

Decades of rubbish had to be gutted from its cavity, revealing a natural a pool, thought to have been used for bathing rituals.

Jolyon Leslie is an architect who leads restoration projects in Herat's old city with the Agha Khan Trust for Culture.

[Jolyon Leslie, Architect, Agha Khan Trust]:
"There are four surviving synagogues. Some of them are actually in ruins, one of them is in the process, one has already been reconstructed, two are in the process of being rebuilt, and one will be used as a school. The other one is already converted into a mosque and there is another which is already used as a mosque."

A few kilometers away from the old quarter lies an open field where thorn bushes and weeds lie near white marble tombs inscribed in Hebrew.

The graves escaped decades of war and Taliban rule, although the families of those buried likely left the country.

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[deregna24]

@amixofeverything no fuck you

[mnclaboy9]

Jews are being used by the west against Islam to rule the middle east, They are more like hostage rather than invader.

[Killzoneguy117]

@graceinmay It would have to come from the top. When you reform a Political Government, an Economic Policy, or Social one, change will best come from the bottom. But when trying to change a Religious school of thought that is already conservative, it would have to come from the top. Unfortunately, as much as King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia says that he is tolerant, he only lies to mask the truth. I know the Pope doesnt want to anger the Muslim world again but its time he say something about this.

[graceinmay]

@Killzoneguy117 if that does happen, brother, then yes i can see the rest of the Muslim world becoming very tolerant, very fast. but with that level of tollerance and liberal thought comes a danger of secularization, too. the most populous and infuential Muslim nations seem to be the most conservative, and theocratic. getting these nations to consider a more open, secular society would be tough, and i think possibly only if, like you said, the trend came from the top.

[Killzoneguy117]

@graceinmay Haha. Yea. Well although it seems that Saudi Arabia might be the most difficult place to reform, but if it the reform was successful, all the other conservative Muslim nations would see their greatest influence change so drastically that it would force them to become liberal as well. It would be like a domino effect. If you change the very heart of the Muslim world for the better, you will change the rest of the Muslim world too. Quicker and with less bloodshed

[graceinmay]

@Killzoneguy117 interesting, i've never heard that proposed before. it would be a huge, huge leap forward for the theological minds of Saudi Arabia. do you think it is possible? Saudi Arabia seems like the most conservative, severe expression of Islamic practice and culture any where in the world. yet i hear that there are some reforms being considered, here and there. not sure exactly of what goes on there day to day, though.

[Killzoneguy117]

@graceinmay Which is why in my honest opinion, a reform would have to come within the place where all the other ideas of Islam come from. It would have to come from Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia is like the Vatican in the sense that all the major decisions for at least Sunni Islam come from there. Although a violent reform is necessary to change people into liberal, a peaceful reform is enough to force people like Abdullah out of power. That contradicts what i said before, it just entered my mind

[graceinmay]

@Killzoneguy117 but do you think a reform is realistic? true, there are moderate and liberal Muslims out there blogging and writing and speaking, but the tendency to enforce a brand of Islam which is very repressive and subjegating seems to the the general trend in many nations today. Indonesia, Pakistan, Egypt, Turkey, all of these nations are feeling pressure from inside to turn back the clock, and get tough. and young people tend to fuel these campains.

[Killzoneguy117]

@graceinmay Also, i find that this militarism will eventually lead to revolution. Liberal and reformist Muslims will have to unfortunately revolt to bring change as there is very little reasoning now with the growing number of extremists. I hope it does not come to that but if a revolution, even a violent one, were to bring Islam into the modern era and help get rid of people like bin Laden and Abdullah II, then it is a necessary sacrifice for the prosperity of all people of the book.

[Killzoneguy117]

@graceinmay It has to. Hatred only leads to more hatred and we have reached the point where that hate is starting to finally die out. Things will always get worse before they get better. I think it will be like the Protestant revolution in the sense that the theocracies will get so corrupt that liberal Muslims like myself will finally begin to take a stand against these people. Change will not come from outside of Islam. It will have to come from inside Islam. A reform is necessary.