Kabul , Afghanistan ( CNN ) -- Zablon Simintov is always guaranteed the best seat in his local synagogue here , but the privilege comes with a downside : he 's the last Jew in Afghanistan . The country 's 800-year-old Jewish community -- an estimated 40,000 strong at its peak -- is now a party of one . But Simintov , for his part , is n't going anywhere soon . For more than a decade , he has refused to join his wife and two teenage daughters in Israel . `` My family call me all the time and say , 'Come here , you 're the last Jew in Afghanistan , what are you doing there ? ' `` he says . Simintov , a former carpet dealer , refuses to answer that question . `` I do n't know why I 'm still living here , '' he says . `` It 's God 's will . '' He has n't seen his daughters -- now ages 14 and 16 -- since his one trip to Israel 12 years ago . But the bald and bespectacled Simintov says he is content guarding a cupboard full of dusty prayer books -- one is 400 years old , he says -- spending holidays with visitors from Europe and the U.S. and surviving off donations from Jews around the world . Historical evidence suggests a sizable Jewish community in Afghanistan since the Middle Ages , according to the American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise , a nonprofit group . Afghanistan 's Jewish population reached 40,000 in the mid-19th century , the group says , and began declining around 1870 with the passage of anti-Jewish measures . Israel 's creation in 1948 drew most of Afghanistan 's remaining Jews . Simintov 's synagogue -- the last in Afghanistan 's capital -- sits inconspicuously in a courtyard behind busy city streets , though a close inspection reveals Stars of David in second-story metal railings . The interior is adorned only by broken light fixtures and ceiling fans . But Simintov says he is hardly in hiding . `` They 're all like my brothers here , '' he said of his fellow Afghans . `` It does n't make a difference whether I 'm here or in Israel . '' That was n't the case under Taliban rule , which ended with the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan in 2001 , though Taliban forces have been resurgent in parts of the country . Simintov says he was arrested four times under Taliban rule and that he was beaten while in custody . `` The Taliban was a problem , '' he says . `` They interfered in everyone 's business , but now they 're gone , they 're finished . '' Which means that Simintov is more inclined than ever to stay put .
Afghan Jews peaked at 40,000 in mid-19th century ; now there 's only one left . Zablon Simintov wo n't join his wife and teen daughters in Israel . Simintov spends holidays with visitors and survives off donations from Jews . He was arrested four times and beaten while in custody under Taliban rule .