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OtherWorldly

Banned
Dec 3, 2018
2,857

Meet Zabulon Simentov, 66, who is believed to be the last remaining Jew in Afghanistan. Emran Feroz recently profiled Simentov for Foreign Policy and uncovered some incredible stories about the feisty Afghan — including that the Taliban once imprisoned him for arguing with a fellow Jew, then kicked him out because the constant bickering became too annoying.

When the Taliban took over Afghanistan in the late 1990s, Simentov went to Israel with his family, where his wife, daughters and sisters now live, but returned to Kabul after just two months.

"I did not want to stay there. Afghanistan is my homeland," he told Foreign Policy.

When he returned, Simentov encountered Yitzhak Levi, nearly two decades his senior, living at the Kabul synagogue. The two did not hit it off: They "fought viciously about which of them was the rightful owner of the land," according to a 2017 Jewish Telegraphic Agency profile of Simentov. They moved into different wings of the synagogue.

In 1998, Levi wrote to the Taliban interior minister to accuse Simentov of theft of Jewish relics. Simentov retorted by telling the Taliban that Levi ran a secret brothel where he sold alcohol, which Levi denies. Simentov also spread rumors that Levi had converted to Islam, which Levi denied as well.

"I don't talk to him, he's the devil," Simentov told The New York Times in 2002. "A dog is better than him … I don't have many complaints about the Taliban, but I have a lot of complaints about him." Levi replied that Simentov was "a thief and a liar.'"

The Taliban was so annoyed by their constant fighting that they threw them in jail. But they eventually kicked them out when they continued to fight inside the prison. Levi died in 2005.

"[The Taliban] beat me a lot," Simentov told Foreign Policy. "I was imprisoned several times because of this charlatan Levy [sic]. He wanted to get rid of me to sell the synagogue. But thank God he was not successful."
Costanza ?
 

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
User banned (1 week): inappropriate joke in a sensitive thread
This is going to be the finest movie Woody Allen has ever made. And he also needs to cast Larry David as Simentov. Allen can play Levi.

I have a fantastic title, but it's kinda (extremely) racist. So I'm absolutely not typing it. I gift it freely to any Jewish resetera member who can own it or disown it. But it's a pun on:

The Kite Runner.
 
Oct 31, 2017
10,057
This is going to be the finest movie Woody Allen has ever made. And he also needs to cast Larry David as Simentov. Allen can play Levi.

I have a fantastic title, but it's kinda (extremely) racist. So I'm absolutely not typing it. I gift it freely to any Jewish resetera member who can own it or disown it. But it's a pun on:

The Kite Runner.

I think you're going to need a Mel Brooks for that one
 

Acorn

Member
Oct 25, 2017
10,972
Scotland
tumblr_lsa1cwQOGM1r0hwkoo1_400.gif
 

Powdered Egg

Banned
Oct 27, 2017
17,070
Even the Talibans beatings couldn't stop them from arguing wth.

"Soon as the Taliban are done whipping my ass I know exactly what argument I'm going to own him with".
 

mbpm

Member
Oct 25, 2017
23,629
I was looking up this story and read they actually both had separate synagogues which they guarded vehemently.

1 person synagogues for each other bc they were that fussy.
 

Deleted member 6173

User-requested account closure
Banned
Oct 25, 2017
2,088
This reminds me of the story about two people being the last people who spoke a language. But they refused to speak to one another because they didn't like each other. So the language died with them.
 

CassCade

Banned
Nov 2, 2017
2,037
That was a funny read, impressed that their dire situation didn't stop them from truly embracing their feelings.
 

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
That was a funny read, impressed that their dire situation didn't stop them from truly embracing their feelings.
I apologize if my reply was out of place. As a jew I found the post in question just as hilarious as the OP.

I got banned for cause. I was too casual with the term (I never actually used the term, but it's offensive and I should have been more circumspect even in hinting at it. My Jewish GF who I lived with and agreed to convert for, or rather for her parents, used the ACTUAL term all the time and I couldn't bring myself to utter it verbally even then) and my hesitation to type it should have been sufficient cause to pause.

Anyway I hope nobody thought for a second I intended that to be harmful or negative in the context of that post.
 

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
Shit man, at least being born a jew means you don't have any memories of the event. As an adult I think it'd be traumatic.

you will not be shocked to learn she was more or less atheist in real life - and so was her mom but she asked and since I didn't care one way or the other it was like agreeing to take up salsa dancing as a gesture of love rather than actually religious.

or like getting married in church out of familial obligation. I admit that it looked harder to pass the tests than I hoped.

like, can't you just dunk me in water or something?
 

Ary F.

Member
Oct 30, 2017
736
As a Jew, this is so damn Jewish. Haven't laughed like this since John Mulaney's bit on Jewish girls.
 

Deleted member 8257

Oct 26, 2017
24,586
This is a Coen Brothers movie in the making.
 
Oct 26, 2017
8,686
you will not be shocked to learn she was more or less atheist in real life - and so was her mom but she asked and since I didn't care one way or the other it was like agreeing to take up salsa dancing as a gesture of love rather than actually religious.

or like getting married in church out of familial obligation. I admit that it looked harder to pass the tests than I hoped.

like, can't you just dunk me in water or something?

You probably know this already but Judaism sees itself kind of like the Hardcore Gamers and Dark Souls of mainstream religions. And converting is kind of like a casual earning their gamer cred.
 

Stinkles

Banned
Oct 25, 2017
20,459
You probably know this already but Judaism sees itself kind of like the Hardcore Gamers and Dark Souls of mainstream religions. And converting is kind of like a casual earning their gamer cred.

yeah I'd probably have had to photoshop my achievements. We ended up getting married by a Unitarian pastor so the wedding could look religious to the old people but absent of specific details. He asked us if we believed in god and we mumbled something about the universe being really big and he just nodded and signed the contract (days before the ceremony in his office).
 

Jag

Member
Oct 26, 2017
11,673
I got banned for cause. I was too casual with the term (I never actually used the term, but it's offensive and I should have been more circumspect even in hinting at it. My Jewish GF who I lived with and agreed to convert for, or rather for her parents, used the ACTUAL term all the time and I couldn't bring myself to utter it verbally even then) and my hesitation to type it should have been sufficient cause to pause.

Anyway I hope nobody thought for a second I intended that to be harmful or negative in the context of that post.

So you converted for the jokes?

 

Jegriva

Banned
Sep 23, 2019
5,519
This guy is marvelous. He should be interviewed more often.

I can see him agitating his fist to the air shouting: "CHARLATAN LEVY!!!"
 

Ary F.

Member
Oct 30, 2017
736
Look
I've dated Jewish women. I almost died on the floor during that bit. My wife of Norwegian Lutheran descent just shook her head at me.
My sisters and I had tears streaming down our faces after that bit. My
dad kept saying "amen."
I just want to find a partner who talks about me like John does his wife 😭
"She's a tiny, bossy, Jew, and I LOVE HER."