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'''Chala''' ({{lang-tg|чала}} {{IPA-fa|tʃala|}}) is a [[Tajik language|Tajik]] term meaning "neither this nor that," referring to [[Bukharan Jews]] who were allegedly forcibly converted to [[Islam]] beginning in the late eighteenth century. In response, these Chala Jews outwardly practiced Islam, but secretly retained their Jewish traditions. These [[crypto-Jews]] married among themselves and lived in their own neighborhoods that bordered on existing Jewish neighborhoods. The Chala Jews carry a very similar story to the [[Marranos]] of Spain.
Chala Jews were unable to return to their true Jewish faith due to the fatal consequences associated with leaving the Islamic faith. The Islamic rulership during this period imposed a death penalty against those renouncing their Islamic faith. Therefore, it was not until the emergence of Imperial
By the 19th century, there were Chala communities that emerged in the cities of: [[Samarkand]], [[Khiva]], [[Kokand]], [[Margilan]], and [[Shahrisabz]]. Often, it was not until two to three generations that Chala Jews would begin to intermarry with the local Muslim population and shed any remaining Jewish traditions.
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