Omar Sadr and Dahlia Abraham-Klein discuss Dahlia’s grandfather, a Persian-speaking Central Asian Jewish merchant. The Stateless Central Asian Merchant: The Life of Haim Aghajan Abraham (1897-1986).
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Imagine a world where borders shifted like sand dunes, where being “stateless” wasn’t just a legal technicality but a lived reality that shaped every business deal, every journey, and every decision about where to call home. Haim Aghajan Abraham navigated this world, traveling ancient trade routes within Central Asia, witnessing the rise of new nations, all while maintaining the cultural traditions and commercial networks that had sustained Bukharan/Persian Jewish communities for centuries.
From the twilight of the Russian Empire through the Soviet era and beyond, Abraham’s journal offers us a rare window into the lives of Persian-speaking Jewish merchants who formed the backbone of trade across some of the world’s most contested territories. His story intersects with the great migrations of the 20th century—the refugees fleeing Soviet collectivization, the communities scattered by war and revolution, and the gradual disappearance of Jewish life from places like Herat, Mashad, Balkhi, Ankhoy, Kabul in Afghanistan, where it had flourished for generations.
Today, through his granddaughter’s careful storytelling, we’ll explore what it meant to be a stateless merchant in a world being rapidly reshaped by nationalism and borders, and how one man’s meticulous record-keeping has preserved an entire world that might otherwise have been lost to history.
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Dahlia Abraham-Klein is a writer on Central Asian Jewish history and Jewish values. Her articles have appeared on Tablet, Chabad, Jewish Journal, and The Times of Israel. She is a teacher at Partners in Torah offering a personalized learning experience on the system of life through Jewish wisdom.
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Further readings:
Erich Brauer. 1942. “The Jews of Afghanistan: An Anthropological Report.” Jewish Social Studies. Vol 4. No 2. Pp. 121-138
Dahlia Abraham-Klein. Caravan of Hope
Dahlia Abraham-Klein. The Stateless Central Asian Merchant