Some Bukharan Jews May Eventually Return to Central Asia, One of Their Number Says

Paul Goble

            Staunton, May 17 – Khana Danielova (Tolmas), a Bukharan Jew who moved to Israel at the end of Soviet times and became a leading international specialist on that community, says that few Bukharan Jews now would consider moving back to Central Asia permanently but that many want to visit, some to work there, and a few may eventually return permanently.

            One of the founders of the International Association of the Creative Intelligentsia of Sogdiana and the author of a dozen books about the Bukharan Jewish community in Central Asia and elsewhere says that interest in Tajikistan among the returnees remains high (asiaplus.news/news/tajikistan/society/20230516/vernutsya-li-buharskie-evrei-v-tadzhikistan).

            Danielova’s research and her list of contacts, as contained in the extensive AsiaPlus interview, represents an important way into the history and current state of a community that most have assumed is passing from the scene even though the Bukharan language is now taught at the University of Jerusalem.