Zevulonov House Synagogue, Samarkand

Samarkand, Uzbekistan
“As we flew over Uzbekistan, I watched the steppes below in trepidation – there was not a single sign of life to be seen: no roads, homes, streets, not even trees. We landed in Tashkent and walked down the stairs from the plane in absolute blackness. We arrived shivering and exhausted in Samarkand in the early morning darkness and made our way through the unlit streets to the makhla, the Jewish quarter.

“Family synagogues were built at a time when it was forbidden for Jews to build synagogues. The room at the Zevulonov house which was used as a synagogue was also now used by the family as living room, dining room and bedroom. We knew that the Zevulonovs were likely to leave within a year for one of the major centers of the Jewish world – either the New World or the Promised Land. That questions was on their agenda the evening we visited.”
Excerpted from “And I Shall Dwell Among Them”, Aperture Press, New York 1995