SYRIA: Assad’s fall enables access to ruined 2,700-year-old Damascus synagogue
Only nine Jews remain in the Jewish community of the destroyed Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in capital’s Jobar neighborhood (Shortened text)
By Bassem Mroue
AP (03.01.2025) – In this Damascus suburb, the handful of remaining Jews in Syria can again make pilgrimages to one of the world’s oldest synagogues where people from throughout the region once came to pray.
Syria’s 13-year civil war left the synagogue largely destroyed. Walls and roofs have collapsed. Some artifacts are missing. A marble sign in Arabic at the gate says it was first built 720 years before Christ.
Since insurgents overthrew president Bashar al-Assad in early December, people have been able to safely visit the widely destroyed Jobar suburb that was pounded for years by government forces while in the hands of opposition fighters.
Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities. Those numbers have shrunk dramatically, especially after the State of Israel was created in 1948 and following anti-Jewish riots and persecution.
Today, only nine Jews live in Syria, according to the head of the community, almost all older men and women. The community believes that no Syrian Jews will remain in the country in a few years.
The Jewish community in Syria dates back to the prophet Elijah’s Damascus sojourn nearly 3,000 years ago. After 1099, when Christian armies conquered Jerusalem in the First Crusade and massacred the city’s Muslim and Jewish inhabitants, some 50,000 Jews reportedly fled to Damascus, making up nearly a third of residents. Another wave of Jews later arrived from Europe, fleeing the Spanish Inquisition that began in 1492.
The community in Syria numbered about 100,000 at the start of the 20th century. In the years surrounding Israel’s creation, Syrian Jews faced increased tensions and restrictions. Many emigrated to Israel, the United States and other countries.
Under the Assad family’s 54-year dynasty, Jews in Syria enjoyed freedom in performing religious duties, but community members were barred from traveling outside the country to prevent them from going to Israel until the early 1990s. Once travel restrictions were lifted after Arab-Israeli peace talks started, many more left.
Assad’s forces recaptured Jobar from rebels in 2018 but imposed tight security, preventing many people from reaching the area.
The new rulers of Syria, led by the Islamist group Hayat Tahrir al-Sham, have said they will allow members of all religions to perform their religious duties freely.