Bulldozers Threaten Tajik Jews' Last Refuge

Tajikistan’s small Jewish community is up in arms over plans to demolish the only synagogue in the centre of the capital, with some claiming it will spell the end of the community.

The issue of the synagogue’s demolition and relocation to a new site in the suburbs has been a subject for heated discussion for the last four years.

City authorities in Dushanbe first came up with plans to demolish the building in 2004, saying they needed to clear the area to start work on a new “Palace of the Nation”, a complex devoted to cultural events and entertainment. (See Tajikistan’s Only Synagogue Awaits End, RCA No. 439, 18-Mar-06.)

From the start, the plans stirred an outcry from Jewish leaders.

The chief rabbi for Central Asia, Abe Dovid Gurevich, made his disagreement clear and following appeals from a range of Jewish figures to President Imomali Rahmon, the authorities offered some concessions over the selection of a new site.

Nurali Saidov, from the mayor’s office, told IWPR the Jewish community had been given six sites to choose from.

Saidov said Rabbi Gurevich had consented to a new plot on the city’s Karabaev avenue, about 15 minutes’ drive from the centre, but other members of the community had rejected this “for reasons that are not clear to us”.

Meanwhile, the small Jewish community in Dushanbe remains worried about where to move to, and whether they should have to relocate in the first place.

Jura Abaev, 70, said the Dushanbe synagogue was the only remaining holy place for Jews in Tajikistan.

After the synagogue in his hometown of Khujand closed owing to a lack of worshippers, Dushanbe was the only place left to pray in.

“For Tajik Jews, this synagogue in Dushanbe is our last refuge,” said Abaev in a voice full of emotion. “We are full citizens of this country, so the state should feel obliged to preserve this refuge.”

Abaev maintained that the synagogue merited preservation not only as a holy place but as a historic building.

“During Stalin’s time, worship in the synagogue was prohibited and we gathered in private houses to perform our rites and services,” he recalled.

When it reopened, he said, “You cannot describe in words the atmosphere that reigned inside the synagogue This is not simply a place to worship God. Here, the rabbi taught us to live as humans according to the commandments of Moses, and now they want to demolish it.”

Boris Medvedev, 60, another worshipper, said he had heard that the building would be demolished as soon as March 3.

“Where will we pray?” he asked. “This is the only place for all Jews, where we feel at home and have the opportunity to meet one another.”

Boris Gerdel, 65, who heads an association of Second World War army veterans, said it was sinful to demolish any holy site, be it Muslim, Buddhist, or Jewish.

“The state should maintain this shrine that has been here since 1905,” he declared. “This is a great sin and the responsibility for it will lie with those who pay for the synagogue’s demolition.

“Even [al-Qaeda leader Osama] Bin Laden and the other terrorists did not touch holy places, for they know perfectly well that this is a sin.”

The rabbi of Dushanbe, Mikhail Abdurakhmanov, is equally distressed. He opposes relocating the synagogue to the outskirts of the city on the grounds that elderly people will find it difficult to walk there.

“Jews have been living in Dushanbe for over a century and have never disturbed anyone,” he said. “The synagogue is the place where members of the community can meet. It’s our hearth and home, where a Jew feels he is among his own people.”

Jews have been part of the fabric of Central Asian society for centuries. The most famous community was in Bukhara, a city-state now in Uzbekistan.

In the Soviet era, about 30,000 Jews lived in Tajikistan. But in the late Eighties, as travel restrictions eased, Jews began to emigrate from all over the Soviet Union. During the civil war in Tajikistan from 1992 to 1997, almost all remaining Jews packed their bags.

According to the 2000 census, there were only 200 left in Tajikistan, though Rabbi Abdurakhmanov disputes this figure, claiming up to 650 Jews remain in the country, of whom 300 live in the capital.

Most are elderly people who do not want to leave for Israel or the West.

They fear they will never muster the resources to erect a new synagogue, whatever site they are granted.

Yulian Chelmodinov, 77, a retired engineer, said that before demolishing the existing synagogue, the government ought to offer a new building rather than an empty plot.

“If it’s just demolished, there will be an international scandal that will damage the country’s image,” he warned.

But Dushanbe’s city authorities remain adamant that the synagogue must go.

Nazira Dodkhudoeva, from the Committee for Religious Affairs, part of the culture ministry, told IWPR that there would be no reprieve.

She said the current synagogue was not in keeping with the planned architectural layout of the new city centre, which was to be given over to “The Palace of the Nation”.

“In city centres all over the world, modern elite buildings promote the prestige of the country,” she said.

“They can build a new, modern, building,” she said of the Jewish community. “I don’t know where they will get the resources but the synagogue is certainly going to be demolished.”

Many single-storey houses near the synagogue have already been knocked down.

According to Rabbi Abdurakhmanov, all the land near the synagogue has been dug up.

“The electricity supply to the synagogue has been cut off,” he said. “When there is a winter frost, we have to pray in the cold. Many elderly worshippers get sick because of the low temperatures.”

Some Muslim residents of the capital say the Jews should be left in peace in the city centre.

But others maintain it would be unfair to leave the synagogue in the city centre when nearby mosques have been scheduled for demolition.

“If the Jews are allowed to keep their synagogue in the city centre, near the new presidential palace, the other confessions should be allowed the same,” said one Dushanbe pensioner.

“Let a Muslim mosque and an Orthodox church be there, too. Why should they have such privileges?” he asked.

Mukammal Odinaeva Mukammal Odinaeva is an IWPR contributor in Dushanbe. Lola Olimova is IWPR’s Tajikistan editor.