Marina Borukhova operates the mikvah at Samarkand's new city synagogue. Her grandfather was a rabbi in the old Samarkand synagogue (the Gumbaz) and her family always kept Shabbat, Pesach and kashrut. "We were always proud to be Jewish," Marina recalls. Today, Marina's three teenage children are members of a Hebrew choir. Most of their friends and relatives have emigrated to America and Israel. Marina explains, "Life here is not bad, but there is no future." She asks, "One question: who will my children marry?"

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