Tuesday 17 December 2024, 7:30 pm UK, 2:30 pm ET, 11:30 am PT, 9:30 pm Israel time. The Jews of Syria, one of the oldest diaspora communities, lived mainly in Aleppo and Damascus. While Aleppo was a cosmopolitan, commercial centre, Damascus was the more insular political capital.  Many Jews earned their livelihood from the Silk Road, which stretched all the way to China.

Syria was the focus of the first antisemitic blood libel in the Arab world in 1840.   

As the Ottoman empire declined, so did the community, which suffered a mass exodus  after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

Conditions deteriorated further under the French mandate, and violent riots erupted in 1947. The Great Synagogue in Aleppo was destroyed and most Jews fled, many illegally, overland to mandatory Palestine. 

After 1948, some 10,000 Jews moved to Lebanon. The oppressed remnant of about 5,000 were only allowed to leave Syria in 1992 after an international campaign for their release. Today there are less than five Jews in the country.

Lyn Julius  of Harif presents their little-known story. Recording here.

The photo is of the al-Franji synagogue in Damascus.

To receive Zoom login details you must be subscribed to the Harif mailing list,  or write to info@harif.org