Vanishing Heritage: The Last Echoes of Tajikistan's Jewish Community

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Vanishing Heritage: The Last Echoes of Tajikistan's Jewish Community

DUSHANBE, TAJIKISTAN — Tucked inside an alleyway, flanked by steep cement walls, is a vivid blue door. It’s not locked; it opens when you touch it. Inside, woven into the carpeted floors and the beautifully gardened courtyard are the last threads of a thousand years of Jewish history in this small Central Asian country.  On several dusky Friday evenings last summer, only four people came to Shabbat dinner at this modest synagogue: Ilya, a visiti…