Quiz: The Final Knesset Count and the Cloud-Patterned Silk. How Well Did You Follow This Week’s Bukharian News?

Israel’s Central Elections Committee published the final results of the Oct. 27 election early Friday, and a Queens congregation is preparing the first Bukharian Ikat Arts Festival in Astoria for Sunday. Test what you know. Every answer comes from the reports linked below, and the answers with explanations follow the questions.

1. What voter turnout did the Central Elections Committee report for the Oct. 27 election?

• A. 67.9%
• B. 70.6%
• C. 77.9%
• D. 81.2%

2. How many seats did Shas win in the final count?

• A. 6
• B. 7
• C. 9
• D. 11

3. Rabbi Yosef Elnatanov, described as the Bukharian community’s representative on the Shas list, held which place on that list?

• A. 6
• B. 7
• C. 11
• D. 15

4. How many valid votes did a list need to cross the 3.25% electoral threshold?

• A. 84,947
• B. 134,947
• C. 184,947
• D. 234,947

5. On what date will the committee submit the results to President Isaac Herzog?

• A. Oct. 30
• B. Nov. 1
• C. Nov. 4
• D. Nov. 10

6. In Central Asia, ikat is also called abr. What does abr mean?

• A. Silk
• B. Cloud
• C. River
• D. Garden

7. According to the Jewish Museum in New York, what was the main role of Jewish artisans in 19th-century Central Asian ikat production?

• A. Weaving cotton
• B. Raising silkworms
• C. Cold dyeing, primarily with indigo
• D. Hot dyeing in red and yellow

8. Aron Aronov, who will speak at Sunday’s festival, founded the Bukharian Jewish Museum in which Queens neighborhood?

• A. Astoria
• B. Forest Hills
• C. Kew Gardens
• D. Rego Park

Answers and explanations

1. C. 77.9%. The committee said 5,716,665 votes were counted, of which 5,690,778 were valid and 25,887 were invalid, Israel National News and Ynet reported.

2. A. 6. Shas finished with 6 seats, down from 11 in the outgoing Knesset and one fewer than in the partial count published on Oct. 28. The largest party was Likud, with 27 seats, followed by Gadi Eisenkot’s Yashar! with 21 and Naftali Bennett’s Together with 12.

3. C. 11. Elnatanov, principal of the Beit Yosef Talmud Torah in Holon, held 11th place. With Shas at 6 seats, he will not enter the Knesset. The other four candidates with Bukharian roots or ties also finished outside: Yaniv Badalov (No. 15, Otzma Yehudit, 7 seats), Adi Mordechayev (No. 23, Yisrael Beytenu, 7 seats), Zhanna Cohen (No. 45, Together, 12 seats) and Yiska Haimov of Noam, a list that won no seats.

4. C. 184,947. The threshold is 3.25% of valid votes. Lists below it receive no seats, and Israel National News reported that every list other than the 11 that won seats failed to cross it.

5. C. Nov. 4. The committee said that, subject to minor corrections, the results will be submitted to the president on Wednesday, Nov. 4. The Times of Israel reported that the new Knesset is to be sworn in on Nov. 10. The committee said it will spend the coming days re-examining polling-station data, correcting typing and transcription errors and reviewing inquiries from the public and the lists.

6. B. Cloud. The Jewish Museum, which mounted the exhibition “Ikat: Splendid Silks of Central Asia” in 1999, says the name is believed to refer to the blurred edges of the patterns, which resemble clouds reflected in still water. The word ikat itself comes from a Malay-Indonesian term meaning to tie or to bind, because the threads are bound and dyed before weaving.

7. C. Cold dyeing, primarily with indigo. According to the museum, Uzbek and Irani artisans were predominantly weavers, Tajiks specialized in hot dyeing with red and yellow, and Jews did the cold dyeing with indigo and controlled the indigo trade with India. Silkworms were tended in homes, mostly by women.

8. D. Rego Park. A 2025 report by the Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences says Aronov, born in 1938, emigrated from Tashkent in the early 1990s and built a collection of clothing, textiles, household items, books and photographs. The museum is open by appointment. Sunday’s festival, hosted by Ashreynu and Yesodot at 31-21 31st Street in Astoria, runs from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. and also features Bukharian pastries, ikat-inspired art workshops and a private collection of joma robes.

Sources: Israel National News, final results, Oct. 30, 2026; Ynet, Oct. 30, 2026; The Times of Israel live blog, final results; Bukharian Jewish Post, candidate profiles, Oct. 26, 2026; Ashreynu, Bukharian Ikat Arts Festival page; Ticket Tailor festival listing; The Jewish Museum, “Ikat: Splendid Silks of Central Asia”; Oriental Institute of the Czech Academy of Sciences, March 7, 2025.