House of Kalontar

After the conquest of Samarkand by Russia (1868), the situation of the Jews changed for the better. A very curious fragment is found in one of the Russian editions of 1870 (published with the author’s notes): “The Jews occupy a special quarter in the north-eastern part of the city. The Jews here are not European. They are neat in clothes, and in life they are meek and hospitable. Under the emirs, they were oppressed and annually paid huge fees for the right to live in Samarkand. Between them is remarkable their old aksakal (old-timer) and kalontar (head of the community) with the name of the prophet Moses (Moshe) – an honest person and generally worthy of respect for the mind and influence on their co-religionists. It has a considerable fortune, a large and beautiful family, several houses and gardens. When in 1868 a gang of Kenegeses took him away and beat him half to death to protect the old man from new insults, several Samarkand citizens wrapped a turban on his head – a cloak forbidden to Jews, and brought him home. Calontar is now 55 years old. In his youth, he traveled to Western Europe and Palestine. In Samarkand he built a synagogue and a school, and therefore, I believe, some call him a rabbi. Although, in our opinion, he is just aksakal”.