Every day, Rabbi Gershon Burstein, 56, opens the door of Armenia’s only synagogue and waits for the faithful to enter. They very rarely do so.

Though believed to date back centuries, Armenia’s Jewish community – roughly estimated to number anywhere from 500 to 2,000 people – can be easily overlooked. Amidst economic collapse and war with Azerbaijan, an indeterminate number of Jews emigrated to Israel during the early 1990s, and many of those who remain do not observe Jewish religious practices, community members say.

Indeed, so few Jewish Armenians now attend the country’s sole synagogue, located on a lane in downtown Yerevan, the Armenian capital, that worship services occur only a couple of times a year. If at least 10 Jewish males over the age of 13 are not present in the three-storey building on off Nar-Dos Street, a service cannot occur.