History of the Jews in Syria

History of the Jews in Syria 

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Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: those who inhabited Syria from early times and the Sephardim who fled to Syria after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492 AD). There were large communities in Aleppo, Damascus, and Qamishli for centuries. In the early 20th century, a large percentage of Syrian Jews immigrated to the U.S., Central and South America and Israel. The largest Syrian-Jewish community is located in Israel and is estimated at 80,000.

Following the Syrian Civil War and rise of ISIS, the majority of the remaining Jews of Syria have fled. In November 2015, it was reported that only 18 Syrian Jews remain in the entire country.[1]

Second Temple period

The tradition of the community ascribes its founding to the time of King David (1000 BC), whose general Joab occupied the area of Syria described in the Bible as Aram Zoba:[2] this name is taken by later tradition as referring to Aleppo. (Modern scholarship locates Aram Zoba in Lebanon and the far south of Syria: the identification with Aleppo is not found in rabbinic literature prior to the 11th century.[3] ) Whether or not Jewish settlement goes back to a time as early as King David, both Aleppo and Damascus certainly had Jewish communities early in the Christian era.

Post Second Temple

In Roman times about 10,000 Jews lived at Damascus, governed by an ethnarch.[4]Paul of Tarsus succeeded, after a first rebuff, in converting many of the Jews of Damascus to Christianity (49 AD). This irritated the Jewish ethnarch to such a degree that he attempted to arrest Paul; and the latter's friends only saved his life by lowering him in a basket out of a window built in the wall of the city. Many Jews were murdered by the pagan inhabitants upon the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War.[5] Later, Damascus, as the coins show, obtained the title of metropolis; and under Alexander Severus, when the city was a Christian colony, it became the seat of a bishop, who enjoyed a rank next to that of the Patriarch of Antioch. In the fifth century, under the rule of the Byzantine Empire, being the Talmudic time, Jews were living at Damascus; for the rabbi Rafram bar Pappa went to pray in the synagogue of Jobar.[6]

An early Jewish community is likely to have existed in Aleppo during the 5th century, when a synagogue was constructed there.[7] Also in the fifth century,Jerome reports the presence in Beroea (Aleppo) of a congregation of Nazarenes(Jewish Christians) using a Hebrew gospel similar to that of Matthew.[8]

During the conflicts between the Byzantines and the Persians Damascus frequently suffered heavily. When Syria was conquered by the Persians (614), the Jews of Damascus, profiting by the presence of the invaders, joined with their coreligionists of Palestine to take vengeance on the Christians, especially those of Tyre. In 635 Damascus fell into the hands of the Muslims. The inhabitants voluntarily surrendered and succeeded in saving fifteen Christian churches.

After the Islamic conquest

Damascus

The rule of the Umayyads brought a new period of splendor to the city, which now became the capital of that caliphate. This period terminated with the advent of theAbbasids, and the city suffered during the following centuries from continuous wars. The Jewish community continued, and certainly existed in 970; "for," says a historian, "Joseph ben Abitur of Cordoba, having lost all hope of becoming the chief rabbi of that city, went to Palestine in that year, and settled at Damascus".[9] Fortunately for the Jews, it resisted the siege of the Second Crusade (1147). Some time afterward a large number of Palestinian Jews sought refuge at Damascus from the enormous taxes imposed upon them by the Crusaders, thus increasing the community. Little information exists concerning the Jews in Damascus during the following centuries. The few data are given by travelers who visited the place. In 1128 Abraham ibn Ezravisited Damascus (though compare the note of Harkavy.)[10] According to Edelmann,[11] Judah ha-Levi composed his famous poem on Zion in this city; but Harkavy[12] has shown that "ash-Sham" here designates Palestine and not Damascus. In 1267Nahmanides visited Damascus and succeeded in leading a Jewish colony toJerusalem.

Benjamin of Tudela visited Damascus in 1170, while it was in the hands of theSeljukian prince Nur ad-Din Zangi. He found there 3,000 Rabbinite Jews and 200Karaites. Jewish studies flourished there much more than in Palestine; according to Bacher it is possible that during the twelfth century the seat of the Palestinian academy was transferred to the city. The principal rabbis of the city were: Rabbi Ezra and his brother Sar Shalom, president of the tribunal; Yussef ִHamsi, R. Matsliaִh, R. Meïr, Yussef ibn Piat, R. Heman, the parnas, and R. Tsadok, physician.

About the same time Petaִhiah of Regensburg was there. He found "about 10,000 Jews, who have a prince. The head of their academy is Rabbi Ezra, who is full of the knowledge of the Law; for Rabbi Samuel, the head of the Academy of Babylon, ordained him".[13] It was a Damascus rabbi, Judah ben Josiah, who, toward the end of the twelfth century, was "nagid" in Egypt.[14] At a later period another nagid, David ben Joshua, also came from Damascus.[15]

In 1210 a French Jew, Samuel ben Simson, visited the city. He speaks of the beautiful synagogue situated outside the city (Jobar) and said to have been constructed byElisha.[16]

Under Saladin the city again enjoyed considerable importance; but upon his death the disturbances began anew, until in 1516 the city fell into the hands of the Turks, since which time it has declined to the rank of a provincial town.

It seems probable that Yehuda Alharizi also visited Damascus during the first decade of the 13th century. At least he mentions the city in the celebrated 46th "Makamah."

Toward the end of the 13th century Jesse ben Hezekiah, a man full of energy, arose in Damascus. He was recognized by Sultan Qalawun of Egypt as prince and exilarch, and in 1289 and in June 1290, in conjunction with his 12 colleagues, he put the anti-Maimonists under the ban.[17]

The letters of the rabbis of Damascus and of Acre have been collected in the "Minִhat Qena'ot " (a compilation made by Abba Mari, grandson of Don Astruc of Lunel). No data are available for the 14th century. Estori Farִhi (1313) contents himself with the mere mention of Damascene Jews journeying to Jerusalem.[18] A manuscript of David Kimhi on Ezekiel was written by Nathan of Narbonne and collated with the original by R. ִHiyya in Damascus, Ab 18, 1375.[19] The Jewish community of Damascus continued its existence under the sultans (Burjites andMamelukes) of Egypt, who conquered Syria; for the Jewish refugees of Spain established themselves among their coreligionists in that city in 1492, constructing a synagogue which they called "Khata'ib." The anonymous author of the "Yiִhus ha-Abot"[20] also speaks of the beauties of Damascus; and of the synagogue at Jobar, "half of which was constructed by Elisha, half by Eleazar ben Arach".[21]

Elijah of Ferrara (1438) had come to Jerusalem and had a certain jurisdiction in rabbinical matters over Damascus as well. He speaks of a great plague which devastated Egypt, Syria, and Jerusalem; but he does not say in how far the Jews of the first-named city suffered.[22] Menaִhem ִHayyim of Volterra visited Damascus in 1481, and found 450 Jewish families, "all rich, honored, and merchants." The head of the community was a certain R. Joseph, a physician.[23]

Obadiah of Bertinoro (1488) speaks in one of his letters of the riches of the Jews in Damascus, of the beautiful houses and gardens.[24] A few years later (1495) an anonymous traveler speaks in like eulogistic terms.[25] He lived with a certain Moses Makran, and he relates that the Damascene Jews dealt in dress-goods or engaged in some handicraft. They lent money to the Venetians at 24 per cent interest.

Aleppo

Maimonides, in his letter to the rabbis of Lunel, speaks of Aleppo as being the only community in Syria where some Torah learning survived, though the effort devoted to it was in his opinion less than impressive.[26]

Benjamin of Tudela visited Aleppo in 1173, when he found a Jewish community of 1,500 (or on another reading 5,000) souls with three noteworthy rabbis attending to their spiritual needs: Moses Alconstantini, Israel, and Seth.[27] Petaִhiah of Regensburg was there between 1170 and 1180, and Alִharizi fifty years later. The former calls the citadel the palace of King Nour-ed-din, and says that there were 1,500 Jews in Aleppo, of whom the chief men were Rabbis Moses Alconstantini, Israel, and Seth. Yehuda Alharizi, author of the Taִhkemoni has much to say in praise of the Aleppo Jews.[28] In 1195 the leading Jew was Joseph ben Judah, who had migrated from the Maghreb by way of Egypt, where he was the friend of Maimonides, who wrote for him the Guide for the Perplexed. Other men of learning were Azariah and his brother Samuel Nissim, the king's physician Eleazer, Jeshua, Jachin Hananiah, and Joseph ben ִHisdai. Although he respected them far more than their Damascene counterparts, Alharizi thought little of the Aleppo poets, of whom he mentions Moses Daniel and a certain Joseph; the best was Joseph ben Tsemah, who had good qualities but wrote bad verse. Their piety must have been extreme, for Eleazer is held up to scorn for having traveled on the Sabbath, although at the sultan's command. Alharizi died in Aleppo and was buried there.

In 1260 the Mongols conquered Aleppo, and massacred many of the inhabitants, but many of the Jews took refuge in the synagogue and were saved.[29] In 1401 the Jewish quarter was pillaged, with the rest of the city, by Tamerlane; and a Jewish saint died there after a fast of seven months.

Arrival of Spanish Jews in Syria

After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sephardi Jews settled in many of the Islamic countries bordering the Mediterranean, including Syria, which then formed part of the Mameluke sultanate of Egypt. For the most part they founded their own communities, but they often assumed positions of rabbinic and communal leadership in their new homes. A social distinction remained between the newly arrived Sephardim and the native communities, which took several decades to accept them. Aleppo Jews of Spanish descent have a special custom, not found elsewhere, of lighting an extra candle at Hanukkah: it is said that this custom was established in gratitude for their acceptance by the local community. In both Aleppo and Damascus, the two communities supported a common Chief Rabbinate. Chief Rabbis were usually but not always from Spanish-descended families: in Aleppo there were five in a row from the Laniado family.[30]

The Sephardic presence was greater in Aleppo than in Damascus which maintained closer ties to the Holy Land. In particular, the Damascus community was strongly influenced by the Safed Kabbalistic school of Isaac Luria, and contributed several notable personalities, including ִHayim Vital and Israel Najara. This explains certain differences in customs between the two cities.

Captain Domingo de Toral, who visited Aleppo in 1634, mentions over 800 houses of Jews who spoke Castilian.[31] An anonymous Jewish traveler[32] who arrived a few years after the Spanish immigration, found at Damascus 500 Jewish households; also a Karaite community whose members called themselves "Muallim-Tsadaqah"; and a more important Rabbanite community, composed of three groups and possessing three beautiful synagogues. One of these belonged to the Sephardim; another, to the Moriscos (Moorish Jews) or natives; and the third, to the Sicilians. In each synagogue there was a preacher, who read the works of Maimonides to the pious every day after the prayer. The preacher of the Sephardim was Isִhaq Mas'ud, that of the natives Shem-ִTob al-Furani, and that of the Sicilians Isaac ִHaber. There were also two small schools for young students of the Talmud, containing respectively thirty and forty pupils.

Sixty Jewish families were living in the village of Jobar, one mile from Damascus, who had a very beautiful synagogue. "I have never seen anything like it," says the author; "it is supported by thirteen columns. Tradition says that it dates from the time of the prophet Elisha, and that he here anointed King Hazael.[33] R. Eleazar ben Arach (a tannaite of the first century) repaired this synagogue." In order to indicate, finally, that the city was even then under the Ottoman rule, the narrator adds that the people of Damascus had just received a governor ("na'ib") from Constantinople.

Under the Ottoman Empire

In 1515 Selim I defeated the Mamelukes and Syria became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The "Chronicle" of Joseph Sambari (finished 1672) contains the names of a number of rabbis of note who lived in Damascus during the 16th century. He says that the Jewish community lived chiefly in Jobar, and he knows of the synagogue of Elisha (Central Synagogue of Aleppo) and the cave of Elijah the Tishbite. At the head of the community was a certain Abu ִHatseirah (so-called from a peculiar kind of headdress which he wore), who was followed by 'Abd Allah ibn Naִsir. Of the rabbis of Damascus proper he mentions Joseph ִHayyaִt; Samuel Aripol, author of "Mizmor le-Todah"; Samuel ibn 'Imran; Joseph al-ִSa'iִh; Moses Najara, author of "Lekaִh ִTob"; ִHayim Alshaich; Joseph Maִtalon; Abraham Galante.[34] In this home of learning there was also a model-codex of the Bible called "Al-Taj" (the Crown[35] ). In 1547 Pierre Belon visited Damascus in the train of the French ambassador M. de Fumel. He speaks of the large number of Jews there; but makes the singular confusion of placing in this city the events connected with the famous Ahmad Shaitan of Egypt.[36]

Among the spiritual leaders of Damascus in the 16th century may be mentioned:Jacob Berab, who, in the interval between his sojourns in Egypt and at Safed, lived there for some years (c. 1534); ִHayim Vital the Calabrian (1526–1603), for many years chief rabbi of Damascus, and the author of various cabalistic works, including "Etz ִHayim"; Samuel ben David the Karaite (not "Jemsel," as Eliakim Carmoly[37] has it), who visited Damascus in 1641, mentions the circumstance that the Karaites there do not read the Haftarah after the Pentateuch section.[38] Moses Najara; his son, the poet Israel Najara; Moses Galante (died in 1608), the son of Mordecai Galante; and Samuel Laniado ben Abraham of Aleppo were also among the prominent men of the 16th century.

The most celebrated rabbis of the 17th century were Josiah Pinto, a pupil of Jacob Abulafia, and author of the "Kesef-Nibִhar",[39] and his son-in-law, Samuel Vital, who transcribed and circulated a large number of his father's Kabbalistic manuscripts. At the same time in Aleppo ִHayyim Cohen ben Abraham wrote "Meqor ִHayyim", published at Constantinople in 1649, and at Amsterdam by Menasseh ben Israel in 1650. Other Aleppo worthies are Samuel Dwek and Isaac Lopes in 1690 followed by Yehudah Kassin, Isaac Berachah and Isaac Atieh in the 18th century.

From the 17th to the 19th century, several Jews of Spanish and Italian origin settled in Syria for trading reasons. Whenever possible, they kept their European nationality in order to be under the jurisdiction of the consular courts under the Ottoman Capitulations, rather than being treated as dhimmis under Islamic law. These European Jews were known as Señores Francos and maintained a sense of social superiority to the native Jews, both Musta'arabi and Sephardi. They did not form separate synagogues, but often held services of their own in private houses. There were also Jews of Baghdadi origin who claimed British nationality through family connections in India.

Some information is obtainable from travellers who visited Damascus during the 19th century. Alfred von Kremer, in "Mittel-Syrien und Damaskus" (1853), states that in the municipal government of the city two Christians and one Jew had places; the number of Jews was 4,000, only 1,000 of whom, however, paid the poll-tax; the last Karaite had died there some fifty years previously, the Karaite synagogue being then sold to the Greeks, who turned it into a church.[40] The traveller Benjamin II gives the same number of inhabitants. He describes the synagogue at Jobar (to the north-east of the city) thus:[41]

"The structure of this ancient building reminds one of the Mosque Moawiah; the interior is supported by 13 marble pillars, six on the right and seven on the left side, and is everywhere inlaid with marble. There is only one portal by which to enter. Under the holy shrine . . . is a grotto . . . the descent to which is by a flight of about 20 steps. According to the Jews, the Prophet Elisha is said to have found in this grotto a place of refuge. . . . At the entrance of the synagogue, toward the middle of the wall to the right, is an irregularly formed stone, on which can be observed the traces of several steps. Tradition asserts that upon this step sat King Hazael when the Prophet Elisha anointed him king".

Benjamin II also speaks of valuable copies of parts of the Bible to be found in Damascus; though the dates he gives (581 and 989) are unreliable. Neubauer mentions a copy of the Bible which belonged to Elisha ben Abraham ben Benvenisti, called "Crescas," and which was finished in 1382.[42]

Damascus had eight chief rabbis during the 19th century, namely: (1) Joseph David Abulafia (1809–16). (2) Jacob Antebi (1816–1833). (3) Jacob Perez (1833–48). (4) Aaron Bagdadi (1848–66). (During the next two years the office of chief rabbi was vacant, owing to internal quarrels.) (5) ִHayim Qimִhi of Constantinople (1868–72). (6) Mercado Kilִhi of Nish (1872–76). (7) Isaac Abulafia (1876–88). (8) Solomon Eliezer Alfandari, commonly called "Mercado Alfandari" of Constantinople, who was appointed by an imperial decree in 1888 (still in office in 1901). A more recent chief rabbi was Nissim Indibo, who died at the end of 1972. Other Damascus Rabbis are Mordechai Maslaton, Shaul Menaged and Zaki Assa.

During the 19th, century the Jews of Damascus were several times made the victims of calumnies, the gravest being those of 1840 and 1860, in the reign of the sultanAbdülmecit I. That of 1840, commonly known as the Damascus affair, was an accusation of ritual murder brought against the Jews in connection with the death of Father Thomas. The second accusation brought against the Jews, in 1860, was that of having taken part in the massacre of the Christians by the Druze and the Muslims. Five hundred Muslims, who had been involved in the affair, were hanged by the grand vizier Fuad Pasha. Two hundred Jews were awaiting the same fate, in spite of their innocence, and the whole Jewish community had been fined 4,000,000 piastres. The condemned Jews were saved only by the official intervention of Fuad Pasha himself; that of the Prussian consul, Dr. Johann G. Wetzstein; of Sir Moses Montefiore of London, and of the bankers Abraham Salomon Camondo of Constantinople and Shemaya Angel of Damascus. From that time to the end of the 19th century, several further blood accusations were brought against the Jews; these, however, never provoked any great excitement.

Prominent Aleppo rabbis include Eliahu Shamah, Abraham Antebi and Mordechai Labaton in the 19th century, Jacob Saul Dwek who died in 1919, followed by Ezra Hamwi and Moses Mizrahi who was prepared to be burnt with the Torah Scrolls but was removed by the Arab mob from the Jamilieh Synagogue during the pogrom of 1947. He was followed by Moses Tawil, Shlomo Zafrani and Yomtob Yedid.

Jewish wedding in Aleppo, Syria, 1914.

In the 19th century, the commercial importance of Aleppo and Damascus underwent a marked decline. Beginning around 1850, and with increasing frequency until the First World War, many families left Syria for Egypt, and later moved from there to Manchester in England, often following the cotton trade.[43] Later still a considerable number left Manchester for Latin America, in particular Mexico and Argentina.

Jews continued to emigrate from Syria into the early 20th century. From around 1908, many Syrian Jews migrated to New York City, where the Brooklyn community is now the world's largest single Syrian Jewish community. For these communities at the present day, see Syrian Jews.

French Mandate and independence era

With anti-Jewish feeling reaching a climax in the late 1930s and early 1940s, many Jews considered emigrating. Between 1942 and 1947, around 4,500 Jews arrived inPalestine from Syria and Lebanon.[44]

On 17 April 1946, Syria became independent from France.[45] After independence, the Syrian government banned Jewish immigration to Palestine, and those caught trying to leave faced the death penalty or imprisonment with hard labor. Severe restrictions were also placed on the teaching of Hebrew in Jewish schools.[46] [47]

In 1947, there were 15,000 Jews in Syria. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations approved a Partition Plan for Palestine, which included independent Jewish state. Pogroms subsequently broke out in Damascus and Aleppo. The December 1947pogrom in Aleppo in particular left the community devastated; 75 Jews were killed, hundreds were injured, and more than 200 Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues were destroyed.

Thousands of Syrian Jews illegally immigrated to Palestine as a result.[46]

In August 1949, the Menarsha synagogue in Damascus suffered a grenade attack, killing 12 people and injuring dozens.

Post-1948

In 1948, Israel was created as a Jewish state and defeated an Arab coalition that involved Syria during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During that war, the Syrian Army invaded the Galilee, but its advance was stopped, and the Syrians were pushed back to the Golan Heights.

Despite an exodus to Israel or other countries of Jews that occurred throughout the Muslim world, Syrian Jews were not expelled, but remained banned from emigrating. Despite this, the wave of illegal emigration that began following the pogroms of 1947 continued, and increased following Israel's establishment. Initially,Lebanon allowed Syrian Jews escaping to Israel free passage through its territory. This ended when the Syrian government began confiscating the passports of Jews, and Lebanon announced that it could not allow persons through its borders without travel documents.[48] Between 1948 and 1961, about 5,000 Syrian Jews managed to reach Israel. Many Syrian Jews also immigrated to Lebanon, but a few were deported back to Syria upon the Syrian government's request.[47] The Syrian Jews in Lebanon, along with the rest of the Lebanese Jewish community, would largely leave that country for Israel, Europe, and the Americas in later years.

The Syrian government passed a number of restrictive laws against the Jewish minority. In 1948, the government banned the sale of Jewish property. In 1953, all Jewish bank accounts were frozen. Jewish property was confiscated, and Jewish homes which had been taken from their owners were used to house Palestinian refugees.[47]

In March 1964, a new decree banned Jews from traveling more than three miles from their hometowns.[47] Jews were not allowed to work for the government or banks, could not acquire drivers' licenses, and were banned from purchasing property. Although Jews were prohibited from leaving the country, they were sometimes allowed to travel abroad for commercial or medical reasons. Any Jew granted clearance to leave the country had to leave behind a bond of $300–$1,000 and family members to be used as hostages to ensure they returned. An airport road was paved over the Jewish cemetery in Damascus, and Jewish schools were closed and handed over to Muslims. The Jewish Quarter of Damascus was under constant surveillance by the secret police, who were present at synagogue services, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other Jewish gatherings. The secret police closely monitored contact between Syrian Jews and foreigners and kept a file on every member of the Jewish community. Jews also had their phones tapped and their mail read by the secret police.[46] [49]

After Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, restrictions were further tightened, and 57 Jews in Qamishli may have been killed in a pogrom.[50] The communities of Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishli were under house arrest for eight months following the war. Many Jewish workers were laid off following the Six-Day War.

The Zeibak sisters: Four Syrian-Jewish girls (three sisters and their cousin) who were raped, killed, and mutilated while trying to flee to Israel in 1974

In 1954, the Syrian government temporarily lifted the ban on Jewish emigration; Jews who left had to leave all their property to the government. After the first group of Jewish emigrants left forTurkey in November 1954, emigration was swiftly banned again. In 1958, when Syria joined the United Arab Republic, Jewish emigration was temporarily permitted again, again on condition that those leaving relinquish all their property, but it was soon prohibited again. In 1959, people accused of helping Jews escape Syria were brought to trial.[47]

As a result, Syrian Jews began escaping clandestinely, and supporters abroad helped smuggle Jews out of Syria. Syrian Jews already living abroad often bribed officials to help Jews escape. Judy Feld Carr, a Canadian-Jewish activist, helped smuggle 3,228 Jews out of Syria to Israel, the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Carr recalled that Syrian-Jewish parents were "desperate" to get their children out of the country.[51] Those who were caught attempting to escape faced execution or forced labor. If an escape was successful, family members could be imprisoned and stripped of their property. Often with the help of smugglers, escapees attempted to sneak across the border into Lebanon or Turkey, where they were met and assisted by undercover Israeli agents or local Jewish communities. Most escapees were young and single men. Many single men decided to put off marriage until they escaped, as they wanted to raise their children in freedom. As a result, the ratio of single men and women became heavily imbalanced, and Syrian Jewish women were often unable to find husbands. In 1977, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, as a gesture to US President Jimmy Carter, began allowing limited numbers of young women to leave the country, and some 300 left in total under this program.[46] [52] [53]

In 1974, four Jewish girls were raped, murdered and mutilated after attempting to flee to Israel. Their bodies were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains northwest of Damascus along with the remains of two Jewish boys, Natan Shaya 18 and Kassem Abadi 20, victims of an earlier massacre.[54] Syrian authorities deposited the bodies of all six in sacks before the homes of their parents in the Jewish ghetto in Damascus.[55]

In 1970, the Israeli government began receiving intelligence of the situation Jews faced in Syria, and the efforts of many Jewish youths to flee in spite of the danger. That year, Israel launched Operation Blanket, a series of individual attempts to bring Jews to Israel, during which Israeli naval commandos and Mossad operatives made dozens of incursions into Syria. The operation only succeeded in bringing a few dozen young Jews to Israel. During a 10-year period in the 1980s, a collection of Jewish holy objects was smuggled out of Syria through the efforts of Chief Rabbi Avraham Hamra. The collection included nine bible manuscripts, each between 700 and 900 years old, 40 Torah scrolls, and 32 decorative boxes where the Torahs were held. The items were taken to Israel and placed in the Jewish National and University Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.[56] [57]

In 1975, President Hafez al-Assad explained why he refused to allow Jewish emigration: "I cannot let them go, because if I let them go how can I stop the Soviet Union sending its Jews to Israel, where they will strengthen my enemy?"[58]

As a result of emigration, mainly clandestine emigration, the Syrian Jewish population declined. In 1957, there were only 5,300 Jews left in Syria, out of an original population of 15,000 in 1947. In 1968, it was estimated that there were 4,000 Jews still in Syria.[47]

Pupils at the Maimonides school in Damascus. This photograph was taken shortly before the exodus of the remaining Syrian Jews in 1992

In November 1989, the Syrian government agreed to facilitate the emigration of 500 single Jewish women, who greatly outnumbered eligible Jewish men. During the 1991 Madrid peace conference, the United States pressured Syria to ease restriction on its Jewish population following heavy lobbying from Americans of Syrian-Jewish descent. As a result, Syria lifted many restrictions on its Jewish community, and allowed Jews to leave on condition that they not immigrate to Israel. Beginning on the PassoverHoliday of 1992, 4,000 remaining members of the Damascus Jewish community (Arabic Yehud ash-Sham) as well as the Aleppo community and the Jews ofQamishli, were granted exit permits. Within a few months, thousands of Syrian Jews left for the United States, France or Turkey with the help of philanthropic leaders of the Syrian Jewish community.[59] Some 300 remained in Syria, most of them elderly.[60]

Of the Syrian Jews who left for the United States, 1,262 were brought to Israel in a two-year covert operation. Most of them settled in Tel Aviv, Holon, and Bat Yam. More than 2,400 others stayed in the U.S. and settled in New York.[46] [60] Israel initially kept the news of their emigration censored, fearing that it would imperil the rights of the remaining Syrian Jews to leave if they wished. After concluding that the Jews remaining wanted to stay and would not leave, Israeli authorities cleared the story for publication.

The Jews who stayed in the United States initially faced many difficulties. To save face, President Assad had demanded that the departures not be called emigration, forcing the Jews to purchase round-trip tickets, and the United States agreed to officially admit them as tourists. As a result, they were granted political asylum and received temporary non-immigrant visas, rather than being admitted as refugees with a view to full citizenship. Therefore, they were unable to obtain U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, and thus could not leave the country, work in their chosen professions, obtain licenses, or apply for public assistance. In 2000, a bill was proposed in Congress that granted them citizenship.[49]

21st century

With the start of the 21st century, there was only a small, largely elderly community left in Syria. Jews were still officially banned from politics and government employment, and did not have military service obligations. Jews were also the only minority to have their religion mentioned on their passports and identification cards. Though they were occasionally subjected to violence by Palestinian protesters, the Syrian government took measures to protect them. There was a Jewish primary school for religious studies, and Hebrew was allowed to be taught in some schools. Every two or three months, a rabbi from Istanbul visited the community to oversee the preparation of kosher meat, which residents froze and used until his next visit.[46]

The community gradually shrank. From 2000 to 2010, 41 Syrian Jews made aliyah to Israel, and its numbers further dwindled as members of the largely elderly community died.

In 2001, Rabbi Huder Shahada Kabariti estimated that there were still 200 Jews in the country, of whom 150 lived in Damascus, 30 in Aleppo, and 20 in Qamashli.

In 2003, the Jewish population was estimated to be fewer than 100.

In 2005, the U.S. State Department estimated the Jewish population at 80 in its annual International Religious Freedom Report.[61]

As of December 2014, fewer than 50 Jews remained in the area due increasing violence and war.[62]

In October 2015, with the threat of ISIS nearby, nearly all of the remaining Jews inAleppo were rescued in a covert operation and moved to Ashkelon, Israel. It was estimated in November 2015 that only 18 Jews remain in Syria.[1]

See also

• Aleppo Codex
• Baqashot
• Central Synagogue of Aleppo
• History of the Jews in Muslim lands
• History of the Jews in Turkey
• Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands
• Mizrahi Jews
• Musta'arabi Jews
• Pizmonim
• Sephardi Jews
• Syrian Jews

References

Endnotes

1. Shah, Khushbu (27 November 2015). "Rescuing the last Jews of Aleppo". CNN. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
2. 2 Samuel 10
3. Zvi Zohar, "Vayyibra Artscroll et Ḥalab be-tsalmo" (And Artscroll Created Aleppo in its Image, review of Sutton, Aleppo: City of Scholars), in Y. T. Assis (ed.), Aleppo Studies, vol 2 (Jerusalem 2013: Hebrew) pp. 222-250 at p 233.
4. "Acts 9:2 and asked him for letters to the synagogues in Damascus, so that if he found any there who belonged to the Way, whether men or women, he might take them as prisoners to Jerusalem.". bible.cc. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
5. Josephus, Jewish War, ii. 20, § 2; vii. 8, § 7
6. Babylonian Talmud, Berachot 50a
7. Kligman, Mark L. Maqām and liturgy: ritual, music, and aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn. p. 24.
8. Jerome's commentary on Matthew. It is unclear whether he was referring to theGospel of the Hebrews, the Gospel of the Nazoraeans or the Gospel of the Ebionites, and whether these names refer to the same or different books.
9. Abraham ibn Daud, Sefer ha-Qabbalah in Neubauer, Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 69; David Conforte, Qore ha-Dorot, 5b
10. ִHadashim gam Yeshanim, vii. 38
11. Ginze Oxford, p. ix.
12. ִHadashim gam Yeshanim, vii. 35
13. Travels, ed. Benisch, p. 53
14. Sambari, in Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 133
15. Grätz, Geschichte ix., note i.
16. see below; compare Otsar ִTob, 1878, p. 38; Itinéraires de la Terre Sainte des XIIIe, XIVe, XVe, XVIe et XVIIe siècle [i.e. siècles]; traduits de l'hébreu, et accompagnés de tables, de cartes et d'éclaircissements par E. Carmoly. Bruxelles: A. Vandale, 1847; p. 136
17. Grätz, Geschichte vii. 186-195
18. Zunz, Gesammelte Schriften ii. 269
19. Neubauer, Cat. Bodl. Hebr. MSS. No. 316
20. 1537; published by Uri b. Simeon in 1564
21. Carmoly, Itinéraires; p. 457; compare similar accounts by Raphael of Troyes andAzulai, ib. p. 487
22. Carmoly, Itinéraires. p. 333
23. Jerusalem, i. 211
24. ed. Neubauer, p. 30
25. ed. Neubauer, p. 84
26. Responsa and Letters of Maimonides: Leipzig 1859 p. 44.
27. Massa'ot, ed. Adler, New York, p. 32.
28. Makamat, Nos. 18, 46, 47, 50
29. Ashtor, pp. 268-9.
30. Yaron Harel, "The Controversy over Rabbi Ephraim Laniado's Inheritance of the Rabbinate in Aleppo", Jewish History (1999) vol. 13 p. 83.
31. Judíos en la literatura española, p. 251, at Google Books
32. see Shibִhe Yerushalayim, 51b; and Graetz, History (Hebrew translation), vii. 27
33. see also Sambari in Neubauer, Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 152
34. Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 152
35. Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 119. Today the Jewish National and University Library holds two manuscripts described as the "Damascus Keter"; one is ms. Heb 5702 and dates from tenth century Palestine, and the other is ms. Heb 790and dates from Burgos in 1260.
36. Revue Etudes Juives, xxvii. 129
37. Itineraires, p. 511
38. Itineraires, p. 526; but see Zunz, Ritus, p. 56
39. Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 153; Qore ha-Dorot, 49b
40. Monatsschrift, iii. 75
41. Eight Years in Asia and Africa, pp. 41 et seq.
42. Medieval Jewish Chronicles i. 21
43. Collins, Lydia, Pedigrees and Pioneers.
44. Zenner, Walter P. (2000). A global community: the Jews from Aleppo, Syria. Wayne State University Press. p. 82. ISBN 0-8143-2791-5.
45. Shambrook, Peter (1998). French Imperialism in Syria, 1927–1936. Ithaca Press.ISBN 978-0-86372-243-1.
46. "Jews in Islamic Countries: Syria".
47. "Syria Virtual Jewish Tour".
48. Levin, Itamar, 2001: p. 205
49. Congressional Record, V. 146, Part 10, July 10 to July 17, 2000
50. http://www.sixdaywar.co.uk/jews_in_arab-countries_syrua.htm
51. "Rescuing Syrian Jews - UJA Federation of Greater Toronto". jewishtoronto.com. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
52. Levin, Itamar, 2001, pp. 200-201
53. Shulweitz, Malka Hillel: The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands
54. Friedman, Saul S. (1989). Without Future: The Plight of Syrian Jewry. Praeger Publishers. ISBN 978-0-275-93313-5
55. Le Figaro, March 9, 1974, “Quatre femmes juives assassiness a Damas,” (Paris: International Conference for Deliverance of Jews in the Middle East, 1974), p. 33.
56. Johnson, Loch K.; Strategic Intelligence: Understanding the hidden side of government, p. 72
57. "The Jews of Aleppo". jewishgen.org. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
58. "'Thank God, There Are Almost No Jews in Syria Now'". National Review Online. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
59. Parfitt , Tudor (1987) The thirteenth gate : travels among the Lost Tribes of Israel. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson.
60. Israel reveals immigration of over 1,200 Syrian Jews. Associated Press (18 October 1994)
61. "Syria: International Religious Freedom Report 2005". U.S. State Department. 2005. Retrieved 15 September 2015. There are approximately 80 Jews. ~. The few remaining Jews are concentrated in Damascus and Aleppo.
62. Entous, Adam (2014-12-01). "A Brief History of the Syrian Jewish Community". The Wall Street Journal. wsj.com. Retrieved 2015-09-15. By 2008, when Mr. Marcus visited Syria to research a book on the Jewish community there, the number of Jews had shrunk to between 60 and 70 in Damascus. Another six Jews remained in Aleppo, he said. “You could say it was a community on the way to extinction,” he said. “The internal war in Syria has just expedited that process.” Around 17 Jews remain in Damascus today, according to community leaders.

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Singer, Isidore; et al., eds. (1901–1906). "Syria". Jewish Encyclopedia. New York: Funk & Wagnalls Company.

Bibliography

• Ades, Abraham, Derech Ere"tz: Bene Berak 1990
• Ashtor, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Mitzrayim ve-Suriyah taḥat ha-Shilton ha-Mamluki (History of the Jews of Egypt and Syria under the Mameluke Sultanate): Jerusalem 1944-51
• Cohen-Tawil, Abraham, Yahadut Ḥalab bir'e ha-dorot: al ha-historiah ha-ḥebratit-tarbutit shel yahadut Ḥalab (Aram Tsoba) (Aleppo Jewry through the Ages: on the socio-cultural history of Aleppo Jewry): Tel Aviv 1993
• Collins, Lydia, The Sephardim of Manchester: Pedigrees and Pioneers: Manchester 2006 ISBN 0-9552980-0-8
• Harel, Yaron, Bi-Sefinot shel Esh la-Ma'arab (By Ships of Fire to the West: Changes in Syrian Jewry during the Period of the Ottoman Reform 1840-1880) (Hebrew)
• Harel, Yaron, Syrian Jewry in Transition, 1840-1880 (English: largely a translation and expansion of the preceding)
• Harel, Yaron, Sifre Ere"tz: ha-Sifrut ha-Toranit shel Ḥachme Aram Tsoba (The Books of Aleppo: Torah Literature of the Rabbis of Aleppo): Jerusalem 1996summarized here
• Harel, Yaron (ed.), Syrian Jewry: History, Culture and Identity: Ramat Gan 2015 (Hebrew and English)
• Laniado, David Tsion, La-Qedoshim asher ba-are"ts: Jerusalem 1935 (2nd edition 1980)
• Laniado, Samuel, Debash ve-ִHALAB al-leshonech: Jerusalem 1998/9 (Hebrew)
• Shamosh, Y., Qehillat Ḥalab be-Suriyah, Mahanayim 1967
• Sutton, David, Aleppo: City of Scholars: Artscroll 2005 ISBN 1-57819-056-8(partly based on Laniado, La-Qedoshim asher ba-are"ts)
• Zenner, Walter P., A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria: Wayne State University Press 2000 ISBN 0-8143-2791-5

External links

• History: The Jews of Aleppo
• Ritual: Sephardic Pizmonim Project
• Bible: Aleppo Codex Website
• Synagogues: Robert Lyons, Silenced Sacred Spaces

Syrian Jews 

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Syrian Jews (Hebrew: יהודי סוריה‎‎ Yehudey Surya, Arabic: الْيَهُود السُّورِيُّون‎‎ al-Yahūd as-Sūriyyūn, colloquially called SYs in the United States) are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syria, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times (known as Musta'arabi Jews, and sometimes classified as Mizrahi Jews, a generic term for the Jews with an extended history in the Middle East or North Africa); and from the Sephardi Jews (referring to Jews with an extended history in the Iberian Peninsula, i.e. Spain and Portugal) who fled to Syria after the Alhambra Decree forced the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

There were large communities in Aleppo ("Halabi Jews", Aleppo is Halab in Arabic) and Damascus ("Shami Jews") for centuries, and a smaller community in al-Qamishli on the Turkish border near Nusaybin. In the first half of the 20th century a large percentage of Syrian Jews immigrated to the U.S., Latin America and Israel. Most of the remaining Jews left in the 28 years following 1973, due in part to the efforts of Judy Feld Carr, who claims to have helped some 3,228 Jews emigrate; emigration was officially allowed in 1992.[2] The largest Syrian Jewish community is located in Brooklyn, New York and is estimated at 75,000 strong.[3] There are smaller communities elsewhere in the United States and in Latin America.

In 2011 there were about 50 Jews still living within Syria, mostly in Damascus.[4] [5]

As of May 2012, only 22 Jews were left in Syria.[6] This number was reported to be down to 18 in November 2015.[7]

History

Chief Rabbi Jacob Saul Dwek, Hakham Bashi of Aleppo, Syria, 1907.

There have been Jews in Syria since ancient times: according to the community's tradition, since the time of King David, and certainly since early Roman times. Jews from this ancient community were known as Musta'arabim("Arabizers") to themselves, or Moriscos to the Sephardim.[8]

Many Sephardim arrived following the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and quickly took a leading position in the community. For example, five successive Chief Rabbis of Aleppo were drawn from the Laniado family.

In the 18th and 19th centuries, some Jews from Italy and elsewhere, known as Señores Francos, settled in Syria for trading reasons, while retaining their European nationalities.

Jews who are members of the Kurdish community (hailing from the region of Kurdistan) represent yet another sub-group of Syrian Jews. They are Middle Eastern maternal origin Syrian Jews whose presence in Syria predates the arrival of Sephardic Jews following the reconquista.[9] The ancient communities of Urfa and Çermik also formed part of the broader Syrian community and the Aleppo community included some migrants from these cities.

Today, some distinctions between these sub-groups are preserved, in the sense that particular families have traditions about their origins. However, there is considerable intermarriage among the groups and all regard themselves as "Sephardim" in a broader sense. It is said that one can tell Aleppo families of Spanish descent by the fact that they light an extra Hanukkah candle. This custom was apparently established in gratitude for their acceptance by the more native Syrian based community.

In the 19th century, following the completion of the Suez Canal in Egypt in 1869, trade shifted to that route from the overland route through Syria, and the commercial importance of Aleppo and Damascus underwent a marked decline. Many families left Syria for Egypt (and a few for Lebanon) in the following decades, and with increasing frequency until the First World War, many Jews left the Middle East for western countries, mainly Great Britain, the United States, Mexico and Argentina. Further emigration, particularly following the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, was largely caused by repetitive Muslim aggression towards the Jewish communities in Syria.

Beginning on the Passover holiday of 1992, the 4,000 remaining members of the Damascus Jewish community (Arabic Yehud ash-Sham), as well as the Aleppo community and the Jews of Qamishli, were permitted under the government of Hafez al-Assad to leave Syria provided they did not immigrate to Israel. Within a few months, thousands of Syrian Jews made their way to Brooklyn, with a few families choosing to go to France and Turkey. The majority settled in Brooklyn with the help of their kin in the Syrian Jewish community.

Present-day Syrian Jewish communities

Israel

Syrian Jews worship in Ades Synagogue. Renowned as a center forSyrian Hazzanut (Syrian Jewish liturgical singing), Ades is one of only two synagogues in the world that maintains the ancient Syrian Jewish tradition of Baqashot, the marathon Kabbalistic singing held in the early hours of Shabbat morning to welcome the sunrise over winter months.

There has been a Jewish Syrian presence inJerusalem since before 1850, with many rabbinical families having members both there and in Damascus and Aleppo. These had some contact with their Ashkenazi opposite numbers of the Old Yishuv, leading to a tradition of strict orthodoxy: for example in the 1860s there was a successful campaign to prevent the establishment of a Reform synagogue in Aleppo. Some Syrian traditions, such as the singing of Baqashot, were accepted by the mainstream Jerusalem Sephardi community.[10]

A further group immigrated to Palestine around 1900, and formed the Ades Synagogue inNachlaot. This still exists, and is the main Aleppo rite synagogue in Israel, though its membership now includes Asiatic Jews of all groups, especially Kurdish. There is also a large Syrian community in Holon and Bat Yam.

Many Jews fled from Syria to Palestine during the anti-Jewish riots of 1947. After that, the Syrian government clamped down and allowed no emigration, though some Jews left illicitly. In the last two decades, some emigration has been allowed, mostly to America, though some have since left America for Israel, under the leadership of Rabbi Albert Hamra.[11] [12]

The older generation from prior to the establishment of the Israeli state retains little or no Syrian ethnic identity of its own and is well integrated into mainstream Israeli society. The most recent wave is integrating at different levels, with some concentrating on integration in Israel and others retaining closer ties with their kin in New York and Mexico.

There is a Merkaz 'Olami le-Moreshet Yahadut Aram Tsoba (World Center for the Heritage of Aleppo Jewry) in Tel Aviv, which publishes books of Syrian Jewish interest.[13] [14]

Britain

The main settlement of Syrian Jews was in Manchester, where they joined the localSpanish and Portuguese synagogues, which had a mixed community that included North African, Turkish, Egyptian and Iraqi as well as Syrian Jews. This community founded two synagogues; one (Shaare Tephillah) in north central Manchester, which has since moved to Salford, and the other (Shaare Hayim) on Queenston Road inWest Didsbury, in the southern suburbs. A breakaway synagogue (Shaare Sedek) was later formed on Old Lansdowne Road with more of a Syrian flavor; it and the Queenston Road congregation have since merged, while retaining both buildings. They are still known as the Lansdowne Road synagogue and the Queen's Road synagogue, after the names those streets bore in the 1930s. While there are still Sephardim in the Manchester area, a number have left for communities in the Americas. Despite their reduced numbers, there is currently an initiative to acquire a new site for a synagogue in Hale, to be closer to the current centers of the Sephardic and general Jewish populations.

United States

Syrian Jews first immigrated to New York in 1892. The first Syrian Jew to arrive was Jacob Abraham Dwek, along with Ezra Abraham Sitt. They initially lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Later settlements were in Bensonhurst, Midwood,Flatbush, and along Ocean Parkway in Gravesend, Brooklyn. There had been a further wave of immigration from Syria in 1992, when the Syrian government underHafez al-Assad began allowing emigration of Jews.[15] Jerry Seinfeld, comedian, is of Syrian Jewish descent from his mother's side.[16]

Argentina

The largest Jewish community in Argentina is in the capital Buenos Aires. The majority are Ashkenazim, but the Sephardim, and especially the Syrians, are a sizeable community. Syrian Jews are most visible in the Once district, where there are many community schools and temples. For some decades there has been a good-natured rivalry between the Shami (Damascene) community of "Shaare Tefila (Pasito)" synagogue and the Halebi (Aleppan) community of "Sucat David" across the street. The most influential rabbinic authority was Rabbi Isaac Chehebar from the "Yessod Hadat" congregation on Lavalle street; he was consulted from all across the globe, and had an influential role in the recovery of parts of the Aleppo Codex. There are many kosher butchers and restaurants catering to the community. There were important communities in La Boca and Flores neighborhoods as well. Many Syrian Jews own clothing stores along Avellaneda avenue in Flores, and there is a community school on Felipe Vallese (formerly Canalejas) street. Some important clothing chains such as Chemea and Tawil, with tens of shops each, were started by Syrian Jews. Carolina Duer is an Argentine-Syrian Jewish world champion boxer.

Brazil

The majority of the Syrian community of Brazil come from Beirut, Lebanon, where they had lived since their expulsion from Syria following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent violent anti-Jewish pogroms perpetrated by their Muslim neighbours. They left Beirut in wake of the first Lebanese Civil War. Most Syrian Jews established themselves in the industrial city of São Paulo, being attracted there by the many commercial opportunities it offered. The community became very prosperous, and several of its members are among the wealthiest and the politically and economically most influential families in São Paulo. The community first attended Egyptian synagogues, but later founded their own synagogues, most notably the Beit Yaakov synagogues in the neighbourhoods of Jardins and Higienopolis. The community has its own school and youth movement, and claims a strong Jewish identity and low assimilation rate. The majority of the community affiliates itself with Jewish Orthodoxy, though few could be described as fully Orthodox. There are approximately 7,000 Syrian Jews in Brazil.

Chile

With its liberal immigration policy, Chile attracted some Syrian Jews, particularly from Damascus, beginning in the late 1800s.[17] Many Syrian Jews also escaped from Syria and Palestine, provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I. At present there are 2,300 Syrian Jews in Chile.

Mexico

There have been Syrian Jews from Damascus and Aleppo in Mexico City since the early years of the 20th century.[18] Originally they worshipped in a private house transformed into a synagogue – Sinagoga Ketana (Bet Haknesset HaKatan) located in Calles de Jesús María. The first organized Jewish community in Mexico was Alianza Monte Sinai founded on June 14, 1912, mainly by natives of Damascus (together with a few Sephardi Jews) and led by Isaac Capon. They later founded the first synagogue, Monte Sinaí, on Justo Sierra street in downtown Mexico City, originally led by Rabbi Laniado, which still holds a daily service of mincha (afternoon prayer). The Damascene community also bought the first Jewish burial place in Tacuba street on June 12, 1914, which is in use to this day and has been expanded by the recent purchase of the adjacent land.

The Rodfe Sedek synagogue, for Aleppan Jews, was established in 1931, largely through the efforts of Rabbi Mordejay Attie. This synagogue, known also as Knis de Cordoba, is situated at 238 Cordoba Street in the Colonia Roma quarter of Mexico City. At the time this neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Jews from Aleppo in Mexico City. The first mikveh (ritual bath) in Mexico was established within the Rodfe Sedek synagogue. In 1982 a funeral house was built in the courtyard of the synagogue.

Also in the 1930s the members of Monte Sinaí established a large synagogue for Damascene Jews situated at 110 Querétaro Street in the Colonia Roma area. They have welcomed Jews of all backgrounds into their midst, which has allowed tremendous growth over the years. In 1938 Jewish immigrants from Aleppo set up Sociedad de Beneficencia Sedaká u Marpé, which evolved into a separate Jewish community: since 1984 it has been known as Comunidad Maguen David. Monte Sinai and Maguen David are now the largest Jewish communities in Mexico, having more than 30 synagogues, a community center and a school each, with Maguen David having at least 5 schools and plans for more (Colegio Hebreo Maguen David, Yeshiva Keter Torah, Beit Yaakov, Emek HaTorah, Colegio Atid and Colegio Or HaJaim). Monte Sinai is led today by the philanthropist and Jewish leader Marcos Metta Cohen.

Panama

Panama also received a large number of Syrian Jewish immigrants, mostly from Halab (Aleppo), where they constitute the largest group in Panama's 10,000 strong Jewish Sephardic community. Most of the immigrants arrived in the late 1940s after riots in Aleppo due to the Arab–Israeli conflict. The community consists of many synagogues all united under its flagship, Shevet Ahim Synagogue, where their late Chief Rabbi Zion Levy officiated. The community maintains close contact with their counterparts in North America as well as Israel. In his later years, Rabbi Levy oversaw the construction of new synagogues in Panama City and worked for smooth relations with the country’s Arab and Muslim communities. He frequently phoned the country’s imam for a talk. By the time of his death, the Shevet Ahim community numbered 10,000 Jews, 6,000 of whom are Torah-observant. The community now includes several synagogues, mikvahs, three Jewish schools, a yeshiva, a kollel, and a girls' seminary, along with several kosher butchers.

Jamaica

There is a large community of Lebanese Jamaicans, estimated at about 20,000, a number of whom remain practising Jews to this day. Studies have estimated that there are over 400,000 descendants of Jamaican Jews in Jamaica.

Norval Marley, the father of Bob Marley, was of Syrian Jewish descent.[19] [20] [21]

Halabi/Shami divide in diaspora

As Syrian Jews migrated to the New World and established themselves, a divide frequently persisted between those with roots in Aleppo (the Halabi Jews, alternately spelled Halebi or Chalabi) and Damascus (the Shami Jews), which had been the two main centers of Jewish life in Syria.[22] [23] This split persists to present-day, with each community maintaining some separate cultural institutions and organizations, and to a lesser-extent, a preference for in-group marriage.[22] [23]

Traditions and customs

Liturgy

Rabbi Jacob Saul Dwek, Rabbi Reuven Ancona and officials of the great synagogue of Aleppo.

Jewish wedding in Aleppo, Syria, 1914

There exists a fragment of the old Aleppo prayer book for the High Holy Days, published inVenice in 1527, and a second edition, starting with the High Holy Days but covering the whole year, in 1560. This represents the liturgy of theMusta'arabim (native Arabic-speaking Jews) as distinct from that of the Sephardim proper (immigrants from Spain and Portugal): it recognizably belongs to the "Sephardic" family of rites in the widest sense, but is different from any liturgy used today. For more detail, see Old Aleppo ritual.

Following the immigration of Jews from Spain following the expulsion, a compromise liturgy evolved containing elements from the customs of both communities, but with the Sephardic element taking an ever larger share.[24] In Syria, as in North African countries, there was no attempt to print a Siddur containing the actual usages of the community, as this would not generally be commercially viable. Major publishing centres, principally Livorno, and laterVienna, would produce standard "Sephardic" prayer books suitable for use in all communities, and particular communities such as the Syrians would order these in bulk, preserving any special usages by oral tradition. (For example, Ḥacham Abraham Ḥamwi of Aleppo commissioned a series of prayer-books from Livorno, which were printed in 1878, but even these were "pan-Sephardic" in character, though they contained some notes about the specific "minhag Aram Tsoba".) As details of the oral tradition faded from memory, the liturgy in use came ever nearer to the "Livorno" standard. In the early years of the 20th century, this "Sephardic" rite was almost universal in Syria. The only exception (in Aleppo) was a "Musta'arabi" minyan at the Central Synagogue of Aleppo.

The liturgy of Damascus differed from that of Aleppo in some details, mostly because of its greater proximity to the Holy Land. Some of the laws specific to Eretz Yisrael are regarded as extending to Damascus,[25] and the city had ties both to theSafed Kabbalists and to the Jerusalem Sephardic community.

The liturgy now used in Syrian communities round the world is textually speaking Oriental-Sephardic. That is to say, it is based on the Spanish rite as varied by the customs of Isaac Luria, and resembles those in use in Greek, Turkish and North African Jewish communities. In earlier decades some communities and individuals used "Edot ha-Mizraḥ" prayer-books which contained a slightly different text, based on the Baghdadi rite, as these were more commonly available, leaving any specifically Syrian usages to be perpetuated by oral tradition. The nearest approach to a current official prayer book is entitled Kol Ya'akob, but many other editions exist and there is still disagreement on some textual variants.

The musical customs of Syrian communities are very distinctive, as many of the prayers are chanted to the melodies of the pizmonim, according to a complicated annual rota designed to ensure that the maqam (musical mode) used suits the mood of the festival or of the Torah reading for the week.[26] See Syrian Cantors and the Weekly Maqam.

Pizmonim

Syrian Jews have a large repertoire of hymns, sung on social and ceremonial occasions such as weddings and bar mitzvahs. Pizmonim are also used in the prayers of Shabbat and holidays. Some of these are ancient and others were composed more recently as adaptations of popular Arabic songs; sometimes they are written or commissioned for particular occasions, and contain coded allusions to the name of the person honoured. There is a standard Pizmonim book called "Shir uShbaha Hallel veZimrah", edited by Cantor Gabriel A. Shrem under the supervision of the Sephardic Heritage Foundation, in which the hymns are classified according to the musical mode (maqam) to which the melody belongs. As time passes, more and more pizmonim are getting lost, and therefore efforts are being made by the Sephardic Pizmonim Project, under the leadership of Dr. David M. Betesh, to preserve as many pizmonim as possible. A website to facilitate its preservation was set up at Pizmonim.com.

Baqashot

It was a custom in Syrian Jewish communities (and some others), to sing Baqashot(petitionary hymns), before the morning service on Shabbat. In the winter months, the full corpus of 66 hymns is sung, finishing with Adon Olam and Kaddish. This service generally lasts about four hours, from 3:00am to 7:00am.

This tradition still obtains full force in the Ades Synagogue in Jerusalem. In other communities such as New York, it is less widespread; though the hymns are sung on other occasions.

Pronunciation of Hebrew

The Syrian pronunciation of Hebrew is similar to that of other Mizrahi communities and is influenced both by Sephardi Hebrew and by the Syrian dialect of Levantine Arabic. The Syrian pronunciation of Hebrew is less archaic than the Iraqi Hebrew ofIraqi Jews, and closer to standard Sephardic Hebrew. This affects especially the interdentals. Nevertheless, Syrian and Iraqi Hebrew are very closely related owing to close geographic proximity and their location, as is the case with most eastern Jewish communities in an Arabic environment apart from Yemenite Jews. Particular features are as follows:

• ב (Bet without dagesh) is traditionally , but in Israel is often now under the influence of Israeli Hebrew[27]
• ג (Gimel without dagesh) is often pronounced , like Arabic غ (voiced velar fricative)[28] 1.8.2.
• ד (Dalet without dagesh) is pronounced as in Israeli Hebrew, not as in Yemenite Hebrew.
• ה (He with mappiq) is often pronounced with a very short postpended schwa [28]1.11.2.
• ו (Waw) is pronounced , not [29]
• ח (Heth) is pronounced , like Arabic ح (voiceless pharyngeal fricative)[28] 1.10.2.
• ט (Teth) is pronounced , like Arabic ط (pharyngealized voiceless alveolar plosive)[30]
• כ (Kaph without dagesh) is often pronounced , like Arabic خ (voiceless velar fricative )
• ע (Ayin) is pronounced , like Arabic ع (voiced pharyngeal fricative),[28] 1.10.1.
• צ (Tsade) is pronounced , like Arabic ص (pharyngealized voiceless alveolar fricative); that is, like English voiceless "s" but with the tongue a little retracted[28]1.6.2.
• ק (Qoph) is "supposed" to be , like Classical Arabic ق (voiceless uvular stop) but sometimes slips: historically, into , a glottal stop as in colloquial Syrian Arabic, and today, into in conformity with English or with Israeli Hebrew[31]
• ת (Taw without dagesh) is pronounced as in Israeli Hebrew, not as in Yemenite and Iraqi pronunciation.[28] 1.2.2.

The retention of distinct emphatic sounds such as and differentiates Syrian pronunciation from many other Sephardic/Mizrahi pronunciations which have failed to maintain these phonemic or phonological distinctions, for example between and .

Vowels are pronounced as in most other Sephardi and Mizrahi traditions: for example there is no distinction between pataḥ and qamats gadol , or betweensegol, tsere and vocal sheva .[32] Ḥiriq is sometimes reduced to or in an unstressed closed syllable, or in the neighbourhood of an emphatic or guttural consonant.[33]

A semivocalic sound is heard before pataḥ ganuv (pataḥ coming between a long vowel and a final guttural): thus ruaḥ (spirit) is pronounced and siaḥ (speech) is pronounced .[28] 6.4.2.

Aleppo Codex

The Aleppo Codex, now known in Hebrew as Keter Aram Tsoba, is the oldest and most famous manuscript of the Bible. Written in Tiberias in the year 920, and annotated by Aaron ben Asher, it has become the most authoritative Biblical text in Jewish culture. The most famous halachic authority to rely on it was Maimonides, in his exposition of the laws governing the writing of Torah scrolls in his codification of Jewish law (Mishneh Torah). After its completion, the Codex was brought to Jerusalem. Toward the end of the 11th century, it was stolen and taken to Egypt, where it was redeemed by the Jewish community of Cairo. At the end of the 14th century the Codex was taken to Aleppo, Syria (called by the Jews Aram Zobah, the biblical name of part of Syria)—this is the origin of the manuscript's modern name.

For the next five centuries, it was kept closely guarded in the basement of theCentral Synagogue of Aleppo, and was considered the community's greatest treasure. Scholars from round the world would consult it to check the accuracy of their Torah scrolls. In the modern era the community would occasionally allow academics, such as Umberto Cassuto, access to the Codex, but would not permit it to be reproduced photographically or otherwise.

The Codex remained in the keeping of the Aleppo Jewish community until the anti-Jewish riots of December 1947, during which the ancient synagogue where it was kept was broken into and burned. The Codex itself disappeared. In 1958, the Keter was smuggled into Israel by Murad Faham and wife Sarina, and presented to the President of the State, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi. Following its arrival, it was found that parts of the Codex, including most of the Torah, had been lost. The Codex was entrusted to the keeping of the Ben-Zvi Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, though the Porat Yosef Yeshivah has argued that, as the spiritual heir of the Aleppo community, it was the legitimate guardian. Some time after the arrival of the Codex,Mordechai Breuer began the monumental work of reconstructing the lost sections, on the basis of other well-known ancient manuscripts. Since then a few other leaves have been found.

Modern editions of the Bible, such as the Hebrew University's "Jerusalem Crown" and Bar-Ilan University's "Mikraot Gedolot ha-Keter", have been based on the Codex. The missing sections have been reconstructed on the basis of cross-references in the Masoretic Text of surviving sections, of the notes of scholars who have consulted the Codex and of other manuscripts.

The codex is now kept in the Israel Museum, in the building known as "The Shrine of The Book." It lies there along with the Dead Sea Scrolls and many other ancient Jewish relics.

Syrian Jews had a distinctive traditional sharḥ (translation of the Bible into Syrian Judaeo-Arabic), which was used in teaching children, though not for any liturgical purpose. One version of this was printed in about 1900: another (from the so-called Avishur Manuscript) was printed by the Merkaz Olami le-Moreshet Yahadut Aram Tsoba in 2006, with pages of translation facing pages from the "Jerusalem Crown". This print contains the Torah only, but volumes for the rest of the Bible are planned.

Attitudes to conversion

At the time of the Mahzor Aram Soba of 1527 and 1560, conversions were clearly accepted, as there are blessings in the Mahzor on the rituals of conversions. However, in the early 20th century the Syrian Jewish communities of New York and Buenos Aires adopted rulings designed to discourage intermarriage. The communities would not normally carry out conversions to Judaism, particularly where the conversion is suspected of being for the sake of marriage, or accept such converts from other communities, or the children of mixed marriages or marriages involving such converts.[34]

Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel, then Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel, was asked to rule on the validity of this ban. He acknowledged the right of the community to refuse to carry out conversions and to regard as invalid conversions carried out by other communities in which marriage is a factor. At the same time, he cautioned that persons converted out of genuine conviction and recognized by established rabbinic authorities should not be regarded as non-Jewish, even if they were not allowed to join the Syrian community.

The ban is popularly known within the Syrian community as the "edict" or "proclamation" (in Hebrew, takkanah). Every 20 years or so, the edict is reaffirmed by all leaders and rabbis of the community, often with extra clauses. A full list is as follows:

• Buenos Aires, 1937 (R. David Setton)
• New York, 1935 (Hacham Hayim Tawil)
• New York, 1946 "Clarification"
• New York, 1972 "Affirmation"
• New York, 1984 "Reaffirmation"
• New York, 2006 "Reaffirmation"

There has been some argument as to whether the ruling amounts to a blanket ban on all converts or whether sincere converts from other communities, not motivated by marriage, may be accepted. The relevant sentence in the English language summary is "no male or female member of our community has the right to intermarry with non-Jews; this law covers conversions which we consider to be fictitious and valueless". In the 1946 "Clarification" a comma appears after the word "conversions", which makes it appear that all conversions are "fictitious and valueless", though this understanding is contested, and there is no equivalent change in the Hebrew text.

However, there are exceptions to the rule, such as conversions for the sake of adoptions always being permitted. Additionally, communal rabbis (such as the late Chief Rabbi Jacob S. Kassin) have occasionally recognized conversions carried out by certain rabbis, such as members of the Chief Rabbinate of Israel. Nonetheless, these rulings strongly discourage people from converting into the Syrian Jewish community as they require them to show commitment to Judaism above and beyond what is required by the normative rabbinical laws of conversion.

Supporters of the edict argue that it has been demographically successful, in that the rate of intermarriage with non-Jews in the Syrian community is believed to be less than 3%, as opposed to anything up to 50% in the general American Jewish population. Opponents argue that this fact is not a result of the edict, but of widespread attendance at Orthodox day schools, and that a similarly low rate of intermarriage is found among other Orthodox day-schooled Jews despite the absence of any equivalent of the edict.[35]

Cuisine

As in most Arab and Mediterranean countries, Syrian Jewish food is fairly similar to other types of Syrian food, although some dishes have different names among Jewish members. This is partly because of the eastern Mediterranean origins of Judaism as such and partly because the similarity of the Islamic dietary laws to theKashrut laws. Syrian (and Egyptian) recipes remain popular in Syrian Jewish communities around the world. There are traditions linking different dishes to the Jewish festivals.

Popular dishes are as follows:

• Kibbeh Nabulsieh: minced meat with pine nuts and pomegranate seeds in aburghul torpedo shaped fried shell often served with peas
• Kibbeh ħamda: meat balls in soup made with lemon juice, garlic and vegetables
• Kibbeh bisfarjal: same as above but with quince instead of potatoes; eaten on (Rosh Hashanah)
• Kibbeh Yakhnieh: Meat balls with chick peas and spinach
• Kibbeh bisfiha: meat burgers with eggplant
• Fawleh blahmeh or Loubieh blahmeh: Lamb or veal cubes with string beans or black-eyed peas
• Ijjeh or eggah: egg dish, similar to a Spanish omelette with parsley, potato or cheese
• Ijjeh blahmeh: fried meat burgers with eggs served with lemon and radishes
• Muħshi Badinjan: Stuffed eggplant with rice & meat and chick peas
• Muħshi Kousa: Stuffed zucchini with rice & meat, nana mint and lemon
• Yaprak: Stuffed vine leaves with rice and meat
• Kebab: Meat balls (sometimes with cherries or pomegranate paste)
• Chicken sofrito: chicken sautéed with lemon juice, turmeric and cardamom
• beida bi-lemoune: chicken soup mixed with an egg and lemon
• Dfeena: Shabbat meat and bean stew equivalent to cholent
• Ḥammin eggs: hard-boiled eggs stained brown by being baked with dfeena or boiled with onion skins, sometimes adding tea leaves or coffee grounds[36]
• Laħmajeen (or Laħmabajeen): meat (sometimes with pomegranate paste or prune juice) on small round pastry base
• Maoudeh: A stew of fried cubicle shaped potatoes with lamb, beef or chicken meat
• Matambre: boiled squash, cheese, eggs and pieces of pita
• Mfarraket al-ful: cold minced beef with fava beans and scrambled eggs (for Shabbat)
• Sambousak: small half-moon pastry filled with cheese or meat
• Sahlab: Hot milk with starch and sugar often served with cinnamon
• Kousa b'jibn: Squash baked with cheese
• M'jadra: rice and lentil or burghul and lentil kedgeree
• Tabbouleh: burghul salad with vine leaves
• Bazirjan or Muhammara: burghul crushed wheat with pomegranate paste or prune juice
• Shakshouka or Beid bifranji: boiled tomato puree with onion and eggs like scrambled
• Beid blaban: boiled yogurt with garlic, nana mint and scrambled eggs
• Ka'ak: aniseed-flavoured bracelets with sesame seeds
• Ghreibe: shortbread biscuits, often in bracelet form
• Ma'amoul: shortbread pastries with date or nut fillings (the Jewish version differs from the Arab in not using semolina flour)
• Kanafeh mabroumeh or ballorieh: fine threads of shredded filo dough filled with pistachios or ricotta
• Orange Passover cakes: (derived from Spanish recipes through Sephardic immigration)
• Coconut jam: (used at Passover)
• Sharab al-loz: iced drink made from almond syrup; generally a summer drink, but also used before Yom Kippur. Additionally, it is most commonly shared at happy occasions such as when a couple gets engaged.

See also

• Ades Synagogue
• Central Synagogue of Aleppo
• Persecution of Jews
• Syrian Cantors
• Weekly Maqam

Prayer books

Historic

• Maḥzor Aram Tsoba: Venice 1527, 1560
• Bet El (seliḥot and morning service), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1878 (repr. New York 1982)
• Bet Din (Rosh Hashanah), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1878 (repr. Jerusalem 1986)
• Bet ha-Kapporet (Kippur), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1879
• Bet Menuha (Shabbat), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1878
• Bet Oved (Daily), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1878
• Bet Simḥah (Sukkot), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1879 (repr. Jerusalem 1970)
• Bet ha-Beḥirah (Pesaḥ), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1880 (repr. Jerusalem 1985)
• Seder Olat Tamid (minḥah and arbit only): Aleppo 1907
• Olat ha-Shaḥar: Aleppo 1915

Some reprints of the originals are available today, and many Siddurim today, especially the Magen Abraham series are heavily influenced by the Livorno prayer books.

Modern

• Seder Seliḥot, ed. Shehebar: Jerusalem 1973
• Bet Yosef ve-Ohel Abraham: Jerusalem, Manṣur (Hebrew only, based on Baghdadi text) 1974–1980
• Siddur le-Tish'ah be-Ab, ed. Shehebar: Jerusalem 1976
• Mahzor Shelom Yerushalayim, ed. Albeg: New York, Sephardic Heritage Foundation 1982
• Siddur Kol Mordechai, ed. Faham bros: Jerusalem 1984 (minḥah and arbit only)
• Sha'are Ratson, ed. Moshe Cohen: Tel Aviv 1988, repr. 2003 (High Holy Days only)
• Kol Yaakob, ed. Alouf: New York, Sephardic Heritage Foundation 1990 (Hebrew only; revised edition 1996, Hebrew and English; a new edition is in preparation)
• The Aram Soba Siddur: According to the Sephardic Custom of Aleppo Syria, Moshe Antebi: Jerusalem, Aram Soba Foundation 1993 (minḥah and arbit only)
• Orḥot Ḥayim, ed. Yedid: Jerusalem 1995 (Hebrew only)
• Orot Sephardic Siddur, Eliezer Toledano: Lakewood, NJ, Orot Inc. (Hebrew and English: Baghdadi text, Syrian variants shown in square brackets)
• Siddur Abodat Haleb / Prayers from the Heart, Moshe Antebi, Lakewood, NJ: Israel Book Shop, 2002
• Abir Yaakob, ed. Haber: Sephardic Press (Hebrew and English, Shabbat only)
• Siddur Ve-ha'arev Na, ed. Isaac S.D. Sassoon, 2007

References

1. ZEV CHAFETS (October 14, 2007). "The Sy Empire". Retrieved 28 October 2013.
2. "Syrian Jews Find Haven In Brooklyn". The New York Times. 23 May 1992.
3. Chafets, Zev (14 October 2007). "The Sy Empire". The New York Times.
4. "Damascus - Amid Civil War, Syria's Remaining Jews To Celebrate High Holy Days". Vos Iz Neias?. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
5. "Nine Months in Syria". Ninemonthsinsyria.blogspot.com. Retrieved 22 November2011.
6. Only 22 Jews left in Syria
7. Shah, Khushbu (27 November 2015). "Rescuing the last Jews of Aleppo". CNN. Retrieved 28 November 2015.
8. This term may be derived from the Spanish for "Moorish", or may be a corruption of Mashriqis, meaning Arabic-speakers from eastern countries.
9. "KURDISTAN - JewishEncyclopedia.com". jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 6 September 2014.
10. Seroussi, Edwin, "On the Beginnings of the Singing of Bakkashot in 19th Century Jerusalem". Pe'amim 56 (1993), 106-124. [H]
11. Bard, Mitchell. "The Jews of Syria". The Jewish Virtual Library. American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
12. "Syrian Chief Rabbi Makes Aliyah". IsraelNewsFaxx. Electronic World Communications, Inc. 20 October 1994. Retrieved 14 September 2010.
13. Official website (in Hebrew).
14. Carl Hoffman, "My brother lives in Paris, my sister is in Mexico City", Jerusalem Post, 31 July 2008.
15. Sam Sokol. "Amid civil war, Syria's remaining Jews to celebrate High Holy Days". Jpost. Retrieved 28 October 2013.
16. "The Paper Trail of Jerry Seinfeld Leads Back to Ellis Island and Beyond". The New York Times. April 24, 2009. Her family identified their nationality as Turkishwhen they emigrated to the United States in 1917.
17. Frank, Ben G. (2005). A Travel Guide to the Jewish Caribbean and Latin America.Pelican Publishing. p. 405. ISBN 9781455613304.
18. For many of the details in this section, see Paulette Kershenovich Schuster, "Keeping the Home Fires Burning: the Role of Syrian Jewish Women in Preserving Communal Identity" and Liz Hamui Sutton, "Contemporary Religious Movements within Mexico's Halebi Jewish Community: Three Case Studies", in Yaron Harel (ed.), Syrian Jewry: History, Culture and Identity: Ramat Gan 2015 (Hebrew and English).
19. Ziggy Marley to adopt Judaism?, Observer Reporter, Thursday, 13 April 2006,The Jamaica Observer: "Of further interest, Ziggy's grandfather Norval, is of Syrian-Jewish extraction... This was confirmed by Heather Marley, who is the daughter of Noel Marley, Norval's brother."
20. Bob Marley The Father Of Music (Lulu 2012), By Jean-Pierre Hombach (ISBN 9781471620454), page 52: "Marley family members, such as Norval's nephew Michael George Marley have stated that he was a descendant of Syrian Jews... Michael George Marley revealed:"... I was told by my mother, grandmother and uncle, [that] the Marleys were Syrian Jews who migrated from the Middle East to England and then to Jamaica."
21. The Real Revolutionary, by Rob Kenner, Vibe Magazine, May 2006, Vol. 14, No. 5, (Vibe Media Group ISSN 1070-4701), page 118
22. Shelemay, Kay Kaufman (1998). Let Jasmine Rain Down: Song and Remembrance Among Syrian Jews. 1. University of Chicago Press. pp. 75, 243.ISBN 9780226752112.
23. Dean-Olmstead, Evelyn (2009). "Arabic and Syrian Jewish Identities in Mexico City, A Century after Migration". Syrian Studies Association Bulletin. Southern Illinois University Edwardsville. 15 (1). Archived from the original on 24 May 2013.
24. The reasons for the dominance of the Sephardic rite are explored in Sephardic law and customs#Liturgy.
25. Other Israel-specific laws, such as omitting tikkun Rahel in shemittah years, were regarded as extending to Aleppo but not to Damascus, because of the tradition of David's conquest of "Aram Zoba".
26. Kligman, Mark, Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn, Detroit 2009.
27. No distinction was made between beth with or without dagesh, but occasionally the sound of both letters slipped into (bilabial v): Katz 1981 1.1.1.
28. Katz 1981.
29. The pronunciation occurred very occasionally, but was regarded as a mistake made under the influence of Arabic: Katz 1981 1.1.4 note 2. It is just possible that this was the older pronunciation, and was "corrected" to under the influence of Turkish Sephardim.
30. Katz 1981 1.6.1.
31. The pronunciation of qof as aleph, while regarded as a mistake, was diagnostic of Syrian identity. Care was taken to avoid it since Sephardic rabbis from Turkey queried why Aleppans said adosh, adosh, adosh: Katz 1981 1.9.1. note 11. Very occasionally, an aleph that is meant to be a glottal stop is hypercorrected to :Katz 1981 1.11.3.2.
32. The Tiberian Masoretic rule, according to which the pronunciation of vocal sheva changes before yod or a guttural consonant, is recorded in the literature (e.g. Sethon, Menasheh, Kelale Diqduq ha-Qeriah) but does not appear to have been observed in practice.
33. Katz 1981 6.1.
34. Sarina Roffe, "An Analysis of Brooklyn's Rabbinic Takana Prohibiting Syrian and Near Eastern Jews from Marrying Converts", in Yaron Harel (ed.), Syrian Jewry: History, Culture and Identity: Ramat Gan 2015 (Hebrew and English).
35. Although no scientific studies have been completed in regard to the Syrian-Jewish intermarriage rate, anecdotal evidence suggests that the Syrian community's current rate of intermarriage with non-Jews is between 2 and 3%. The National Jewish Population Survey study cited by Gordon and HorowitzAntony Gordon and Richard Horowitz. "Will Your Grandchildren Be Jewish". Retrieved 19 February 2008. gives intermarriage rates for Centrist and Hasidic Jews of 3% for those between the ages of 18-39 and 6% overall, as compared with 32% for Conservative Jews, 46% for Reform Jews and 49% for secular Jews. Gordon and Horowitz suggest that the main reason for the difference is the growing commitment to Jewish Day School education: "The combination of Jewish commitment and having experienced a complete K-12 Orthodox Jewish Day School education results in an intermarriage rate of not greater than 3%." This suggests that Jewish day schools, rather than the edict, are the decisive factor in discouraging intermarriage.
36. "Recipes From Cookbooks at Recipelink.com". Allbaking.net. Retrieved 22 November 2011.

Bibliography

• Abadi, J.F., A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes from Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen: Harvard 2002. Hardback: ISBN 1-55832-218-3
• Ades, Abraham, Derech Ere"tz: Bene Berak 1990
• Collins, Lydia, The Sephardim of Manchester: Pedigrees and Pioneers: Manchester 2006 ISBN 0-9552980-0-8
• Dobrinsky, Herbert C.: A treasury of Sephardic laws and customs: the ritual practices of Syrian, Moroccan, Judeo-Spanish and Spanish and Portuguese Jews of North America. Revised ed. Hoboken, N.J. : KTAV; New York, N.Y. : Yeshiva Univ. Press, 1988. ISBN 0-88125-031-7
• Dweck, Poopa and Michael J. Cohen, Aromas of Aleppo: The Legendary Cuisine of Syrian Jews: HarperCollins 2007, ISBN 0-06-088818-0, ISBN 978-0-06-088818-3
• Harel, Yaron, Sifre Ere"tz: ha-Sifrut ha-Toranit shel Ḥachme Aram Tsoba (The Books of Aleppo: Torah Literature of the Rabbis of Aleppo): Jerusalem 1996summarized here
• Harel, Yaron (ed.), Syrian Jewry: History, Culture and Identity: Ramat Gan 2015 (Hebrew and English)
• Idelsohn, A.Z., Phonographierte Gesänge und Aussprachsproben des Hebräischen der jemenitischen, persischen und syrischen Juden: Vienna 1917
• Katz, Ketsi'ah (1981), Masoret ha-lashon ha-'Ibrit shel Yehude Aram-Tsoba (Ḥalab) bi-qri'at ha-Miqra ve-ha-Mishnah (The Hebrew Language Tradition of the Jews of Aleppo in the Reading of the Bible and Mishnah), Magnes Press, Jerusalem, ISSN 0333-5143
• Kligman, Mark, Maqam and Liturgy: Ritual, Music and Aesthetics of Syrian Jews in Brooklyn, Detroit 2009
• Laniado, David Tsion, La-Qedoshim asher ba-are"ts: Jerusalem 1935 repr. 1980
• Laniado, Samuel, Debash ve-ḤALAB al-leshonech: Jerusalem 1998/9 (Hebrew)
• Roden, Claudia, A New Book of Middle Eastern Food: London 1986 ISBN 0-14-046588-X
• Roden, Claudia, The Book of Jewish Food: New York 1997, London 1999 ISBN 0-14-046609-6
• Sethon, Menasheh, Kelale Diqduq ha-Qeriah, Aleppo 1914, printed in Ḥamwi,Peh Eliyahu pp. 391–400
• Shelemay, Kay Kaufman, Let Jasmine Rain Down, Chicago Studies in Ethnomusicology: 1998. Hardback: ISBN 0-226-75211-9, Paperback: ISBN 0-226-75212-7.
• Smouha, Patricia, Middle Eastern Cooking, London 1955 ASIN: B0000CJAHX
• Sutton, David, Aleppo: City of Scholars: Artscroll 2005 ISBN 1-57819-056-8(partly based on Laniado, La-Qedoshim asher ba-are"ts)
• Sutton, Joseph, Aleppo Chronicles: the Story of the Unique Sepharadeem of the Ancient Near East – in their Own Words: Brooklyn 1988
• Sutton, Joseph, Magic Carpet: Aleppo in Flatbush: Brooklyn 1979
• Zenner, Walter P., A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria: Wayne State University Press 2000 ISBN 0-8143-2791-5
• _______."The Ethnography of Diaspora: Studying Syrian Jewry," Marshall Sklare Award address, 1997

External links

• World Center for Aleppo (Halab) Jews Traditional Culture
• Road From Damascus, Tablet Magazine

Central Synagogue of Aleppo 

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The Central Synagogue of Aleppo, (Hebrew: בית הכנסת המרכזי בחאלֶבּ, Arabic: كنيس حلب المركزي‎‎), also known as the Great Synagogue of Aleppo, Joab's Synagogue or Al-Bandara Synagogue (Arabic:كنيس البندرة‎‎), has been a Jewish place of worship since the 5th century C.E. in Aleppo. When it functioned, it was considered the main synagogue of the Syrian Jewish community. The synagogue is noted as being the location where the Aleppo codex was housed for over five hundred years until it was removed during the 1947 Aleppo pogrom, during which the synagogue was burned. This synagogue still stands.

Brief history

According to tradition, the foundation for the Great Synagogue in Aleppo was constructed by King David's General, Joab ben Zeruiah, (circa 950 BCE), after his conquest of the city. (See 2 Sam 8:3-8); it is still sometimes referred to as Joab's Synagogue. The oldest surviving inscription is from the year 834 C.E. These early buildings were damaged after the Mongol occupation of Aleppo during the 13th century and then turned into a mosque. During the Mongol period (13th century), the synagogue was one of six designated places of refuge in the city, but was destroyed during Tamerlane's subjugation of Aleppo in 1400. The central synagogue was rebuilt at some point in 1418. In August 1626, the Italian Jesuit Pietro Della Valle, (1586-1682), passed through Aleppo and visited the Great Synagogue of that city, which he described in detail:

"I went to see the synagogue of the Jews at Aleppo, famed for fairness and antiquity. Their street is entered into by a narrow gate, which is so much lower than the rest, that it is descended to by a considerable number of steps. After I had gone through many of their narrow lanes, which they contrive so, purposely to hide the goodness of the building from the Turks, I came at length to the synagogue; which is a good large square uncovered court, with covered walks or cloysters round about, upheld by double pillars disposed according to good architecture. On the right hand of the entrance, is a kind of great hall, which they make use of for their service in the winter when it is cold or rains; as they do of the court in summer and fair weather: In the middle of the court four pillasters support a cupoletta, under which in a high and decent place, like our altar; lies the volume of the Law, and there also their doctor and principal rabbi stands reading in a kind of musical tone, to whom all the people alternately answer:..."

Another account by Elkan Nathan Adler in his book Jews in Many Lands published in 1905 records:

"The chief synagogue is very ancient and has many peculiarities. There are several modern additions to it, but the main structure is dated by the Abbe Chagnot as early as the fourth century. It has several inscriptions, some carved on its walls, others painted on them. One is as late as 1861, another as early as 834. The latter is on a chapel stated to have been erected by Mar Ali ben Nathan b. Mebasser b. HaAram....Hebrew inscription... Only four letters are starred, so that the date is probably 1145, sel.=834. The local Jews, however, assume that all the letters count in the perat, but that no thousand is omitted, so that the date would be 654 sel., i.e., 345 of the common era! The letters are certainly archaic, so early an inscription should not be accepted as such without further evidence. There are several chapels surrounding the main building, evidently added from time to time, as the community grew. In each of these minyan is separately held. The chief peculiarity of the Aleppo synagogue is a raised pulpit called the Kiseh Eliyahu approached by a flight of some twenty steps and still used for the solemnization of aBrit milah. Over the synagogue there is a yeshivah and in a secret chamber in the eaves of the roof of one of the side chapels is the genizah."

It had later on undergone a series of modifications until its destruction during theviolent attacks against Jews by the local population in December 1947. The building has been badly damaged, but the synagogue still stands and is under full supervision and protection by the Syrian government, although there are no worshippers utilizing it. The synagogue was partially rebuilt (financed by the Syrian Jewish community of New York) and completed in 1992, but it now stands silent and empty.

Occasionally, when possible, trips are made to visit the synagogue by Syrian Jews. An example of such a trip took place on 1 June 2008, when a minyan for the morning services with the Kaddish and Kohanim was conducted by the visitors and former members of the synagogue.

Architecture and layout

Model of the synagogue - side view

The synagogue in 2011

This synagogue was built in the Byzantine period, perhaps as early as the 9th century. Damaged in the Mongol sack of Aleppo in 1400, it underwent extensive changes in 1405-1418. With the arrival of the Sephardim in Aleppo in the 16th century, a wing on the eastern side of the main courtyard was built. On the southern part of this wing, facing Jerusalem, is a small room known as the "cave of Elijah." In a central spacious courtyard, surrounded by porticoes, is a raised, covered reader's platform around which the congregation sat. It was in this form that Della Valle viewed the synagogue. It remained essentially unchanged until it was looted and burned in the riots of 1947.

The synagogue included from the very beginning an adjacent courtyard that was used as an open-air synagogue in the summertime. According to the Talmud, it was customary for a synagogue to have its roof removed during the summer (Baba Batra, 3:2), except for over the Holy Ark and the elevated reading platform for the cantor.

The synagogue edifice was divided into three main sections: a central courtyard that separated the western wing, where in modern times the musta'arabi community used to worship, from the eastern section built at a later time during the 16th century and which served as Beth Midrash and prayer hall of the “Francos”, i.e.Sephardi Jews that settled in the town after the Spanish exile and other European Jews that happened to sojourn in Aleppo. An additional enclosed small courtyard was bordering the eastern wing farther to the east.

The western hall had three heichaloth (Holy Arks); there were another three heichaloth on the southern wall (“the Zion Wall”) of the courtyard, and a seventh Holy Ark, located in the eastern wing close to the courtyard, also on the southern wall pointing to the direction of Jerusalem that was named Cave of Eliyahu or Heichal/Me'arat Eliyahu. Here old Sifrei Torah and Bible manuscripts (Keter) were kept. It is here where the Aleppo codex was housed for over five hundred years until 1947. Keter Aram Soba (The Aleppo Codex) is considered the most authoritative manuscript of the Masoretic text of the Bible. The Jews believed that the day that the Aleppo Codex gets removed from Aleppo is the day that their community will be destroyed. It turns out that this actually occurred.

See also

• Syrian Jews
• History of the Jews in Syria
• Ades Synagogue

References

• Adler, Nathan. The Jews of Many Lands, Jewish Publication Society;Philadelphia, 1905.
• Zenner, Walter. "A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria", Wayne State University Press, page 35-39.

External links

• The Central Synagogue in Aleppo, Syria
• The Jews of Aleppo
• Silenced Sacred Places- Robert Lyons
• Sephardic Pizmonim Project