NCSJ - April 2010

Past NCSJ President Visits Uzbek Jewish Communities

By Lesley Israel,
NCSJ President 2006-2008

Uzbekistan. Perhaps the last place any of us would think of when we imagine a safe, healthy Jewish community. True, most of the 120,000 Jews who lived there during the days of the Soviet Union have made aliyah or gone elsewhere, but the 4,000 that remain practice their religion freely.

My husband Fred and I visited with the Jewish communities in several cities as we followed the ancient Silk Road through the country. And in Tashkent, Bukhara, and Samarkand we found the local Jewish community had kept its own identity and worshiped freely. We visited active synagogues run by a mix of Israeli, American and local rabbis and connected with the Federation of Jewish Communities based in Tashkent.

It was fascinating to see the interplay of cultures. While Uzbekistan is overwhelmingly Muslim, it is far from the Islamic faith we see in the Arab countries. Except for a small number of women living near the madrasah, no one wore the hijab and we never saw a woman who was veiled. Instead, dress ranged from traditional peasant clothing – long, loose dresses made of shiny material, heavily embroidered, and babushkas, rather than scarves which completely covered the hair – to an equal number of women in skin-tight jeans or miniskirts and three-inch spike heels! There is even a Victoria’s Secret in Tashkent!

So the local Jews blend in, as do the mosques next to Orthodox churches, synagogues and Catholic churches.

We went to the old shul in Bukhara for Friday night services and found a scene which might have taken place a century ago. About 20 men sat downstairs, ages ranging from about 17 to elderly. Each had his own book and the service was led by a local rabbi. Throughout the service, some of them read newspapers – “The Menorah,” written in both Russian and Hebrew letters – and while there was some coordination (the rabbi sat down with no one leading for much of the time) each participant seemed to go at his own pace. Sometimes one of the congregants would go to the bima and appear to lead for a short time. From time to time, someone would bring a bowl of tea to the rabbi and to anyone else who wanted some. Upstairs, I was alone, watching this scene with fascination.

Will this community still be here in a decade? The young couple who served as our guides to the Jewish community in Tashkent already had their American green cards and are now in New Jersey, looking for work. But the country is relatively prosperous, with a decent educational system. The elections are primarily a charade, and the government, which owns all the land, is definitely not a democracy. There are valuable mineral deposits, but limited industry and job opportunities.

How many Jews will be in Uzbekistan by 2020 remains to be seen, but those who leave now do so for economic reasons, not because they cannot practice their religion freely or because they live in fear.