Jewish Life Along the Silk Road: Samarkand, Bukhara, and Beyond

The Online Jewish Travel Club hosts a two-part journey into the Jewish communities of Central Asia’s ancient spice routes, exploring how families in Bukhara kept their traditions alive under strict Islamic rule, built wealthy trade dynasties, and survived Soviet persecution before their mass exodus in the 1990s. Part one covers life on the Silk Road, hidden courtyard mansions, women’s traditions, and secret home synagogues. Part two examines the rise of Jewish cotton tycoons, underground kosher networks in the Soviet era, and the emotional farewell to ancestral homes.