Afghanistan’s last Jew leaves the country following Taliban takeover

Zebulon Simentov, the last known Jew living in Afghanistan, lights the candles in 2009 at the start of Shabbat in the synagogue he cared for in Kabul (David Goldman/AP)

The last member of Afghanistan’s Jewish community has left the country following the Taliban takeover.

Zebulon Simentov, who lived in a dilapidated synagogue in Kabul, kept kosher and prayed in Hebrew, endured decades of war as the country’s centuries-old Jewish community rapidly dwindled.