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Bukhara

Men gather for Friday evening prayers at Bukhara's oldest synagogue, one of just two still functioning, in the old city of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, October 17, 2025. (Sue Surkes/Times of Israel)
December 12, 2025, 3:50 pm
In an ancient oasis in Bukhara, a tiny Jewish community relies on its Muslim neighbors
Once an influential Jewish hub on Central Asia’s Silk Road, urban center in Uzbekistan is now home to just several hundred Jews, unthreatened by antisemitism, struggling to keep tradition alive
By Sue Surkes
Girls in Bukahara, Uzbekistan, try out the technology of Israeli company Watergen, which makes drinking water out of air. (Youtube screenshot)
November 1, 2019, 4:44 pm
Israeli company that makes water out of thin air signs deal with Uzbekistan
Dry, landlocked Central Asian nation to buy thousands of Watergen atmospheric water generators in deal likely worth several million dollars
By Sue Surkes
A general view of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, taken from the legendary Kalyan minaret with the Mir-I-Arab Madrassa in the foreground, November 21, 2001 (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis)
From the WebApril 8, 2018, 3:32 am
In Bukhara, 10,000 Jewish graves but just 150 Jews
New York Times travels to Uzbek city that used to house one of the world’s oldest and biggest Jewish communities
A Bukharian Jewish woman presenting her cooking at a community event in Kiryat Gat, Israel, November 3, 2014. (Courtesy of Bukharim.com/JTA)
October 25, 2016, 3:01 am
Dwindling at home, Central Asia’s Bukharian Jews thrive in Diaspora
Tight-knit communities, strong identity and lack of intermarriage keep the culture alive and prospering in the US, Europe and Israel
By Cnaan Liphshiz
Shirin Yakubov visiting the main synagogue of Bukhara, Uzbekistan, with her son, in orange shirt, his friend and the site's two Muslim caretakers, September 9, 2016. (Cnaan Liphshiz/JTA)
September 15, 2016, 5:07 am
Why Uzbekistan’s Jews already miss the iron fist of their late ruler
While stability comes at the cost of certain personal liberties, some in the small community of 13,000 prefer it that way
By Cnaan Liphshiz
In this file photo taken on Friday, July 10, 2015, Uzbekistan's President Islam Karimov gestures at the Shanghai Cooperation Organization summit in Ufa, Russia. (AP/Ivan Sekretarev)
September 4, 2016, 11:27 pm
Uzbek chief rabbi: No worries for Jews after president’s death
Islam Karimov, who died last week, had ‘excellent relations’ with dwindling community of 13,000, last remaining rabbi says
By JTA
Illustrative: Rabbi Yona Yaakobi stands in front of the larger synagogue currently active in the Jewish Azerbaijani town of Krasnaya Sloboda. (Courtesy)
June 22, 2016, 4:10 pm
A glimpse into Azerbaijan’s hidden all-Jewish town
Even as its future is uncertain, the unique north Caucasus community of Krasnaya Sloboda is experiencing a religious revival
By Lee Gancman
A poster asking for information about a string of arsons is displayed in the Forest Hills section of Queens in New York, Monday, Dec. 7, 2015. Over the past six weeks, an arsonist has torched six buildings in the same tight-knit section of eastern Queens, police say. Police aren't sure whether the victims are being targeted for their religion, their architectural taste, or for no reason at all. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
December 9, 2015, 2:23 am
Police, Jewish NYC neighborhood flummoxed by serial arsonist
Motive behind torchings unclear; at one fire scene, someone left behind encrypted note apparently intended to throw off investigators
By JAKE PEARSON
December 8, 2015, 3:31 am
NYPD sends elite units to arson-stricken Bukharian neighborhood
Strategic Response Unit dispatched to Queens’ Forest Hills after seven Jewish homes set alight since October
By JTA
ewish Children with their Teacher in Samarkand. Early color photograph from Russia, created by Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii as part of his work to document the Russian Empire from 1909 to 1915. (Public Domain via Library of Congress)
From the WebAugust 5, 2015, 2:04 am
Bukhara Jews thrive in New York but are almost gone in Bukhara
National Geographic: Just 100 or so Jews remain in Uzbek city, but community in Big Apple flourishes with over 50,000
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