NMJHS Annual Business Meeting & Speaker Program

A Portrait of the Daily Lives of Afghan Jews

Dr. Sara Koplik

June 7, 2026

Temple Beth Shalom

205 E Barcelona Rd, Santa Fe, NM 87505

1pm: NMJHS Annual Business Meeting (for current members)

1:45pm: Speaker Program - A Portrait of the Daily Lives of Afghan Jews

About the Program:

Numbering no more than 5,000 souls in modern times, the Jews of Afghanistan developed unusual patterns of daily life. This was due to the demands of trade, their primary source of income. Men often left home for long stretches of time, engaging in trade throughout Afghanistan, the British and Russian empires and beyond. As a result, women ran their households independently for much of the year. This talk will examine these patterns in more detail including personal accounts from those who lived in this remote and sometimes almost hidden community.

About the Speaker:

Sara Koplik, Ph.D. is the director of the Aaron David Bram Hillel House at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. She received a doctorate in Middle Eastern history from the School of Oriental and African Studies at the University of London. Sara is the author of A Political and Economic History of the Jews of Afghanistan which was nominated for a Jewish Book Award in 2015. She edited the New Mexico Jewish Link for a decade; and served as president of the North Campus Neighborhood Association for 12 years. In August 2025, Sara received a New Mexico Humanitarian Award from the Albuquerque JCC for her work with Jewish students.