Syrian Jews 20 years ago
"We are not afraid," says an influential member of the shrunken Jewish community of Damascus, several days after the dramatic revolution which felled the Assad rule. "No one barged into Jewish properties, shuls or homes," he assures his interviewer from the "Here are the News" program. "Very recently, I was walking along when one of the rebels even greeted me."
However, behind the reserved optimism is hidden a complex background of a historic community which was almost totally obliterated.
In the 40's of the previous century, the Jewish Syrian population numbered 30,000. Today, according to a well updated estimate, it is comprised of a mere three to thirty Jews in all, most of them elderly people hiding their identity.
"For 25 years, Jews were forbidden to go beyond five kilometers from the capital," said Albert Kamo, who served as head of the community until his passing, two years ago. Nonetheless, despite restrictions, the small kehilla enjoyed government protection.
A thirteen-year civil war claimed the lives of over 600,000 Syrians, and the disappearance of at least 100,000 men in the torture cells of the Assad regime. The war caused great damage and ruins even of cultural and historic Syrian sites, including relics of rich Jewish importance.
An extensive study made four years ago by the JCHT organization for the preservation of Jewish Cultural Heritage, depicts a sorry situation of Jewish cultural locations in Syria. Over half of such sites are in a state of terrible negligence, although being somewhat better than the condition of such places in nearby Iraq where almost every trace of Jewish life was totally obliterated.
"Many Jewish sites were left untended for dozens of years," explains Dr. Konlif, an archaeologist from Newcastle University, "while during wartime, the neglect is compounded."
A stark example is the town of Tadef, east of Allepo, which houses a very ancient shul ascribed by tradition to have been built during the times of Ezra HaSofer. The place was excavated illegally, violated and plundered by the rebels and by the Assad regime as well.
Two other central sites are faced with imminent danger: the Al Bandra synagogue in Allepo and the Eliyahu Hanovi synagogue in Bajover, near Damascus. The latter, built in 720 BCE, suffered damage in the battles of 2013. "This now, is a test," say the researchers, "which will determine the fate of the other thousand years-old historic sites."
Jewish history in Syria dates back to the Bayis Sheini. Yosef ben Mattisyahu (Josephus) tells of a Jewish community in Apamya in the district of Hama, as being the largest community outside of Eretz Yisroel. This city is mentioned in the Mishna. At the beginning of the 20th century, this community numbered some 100,000 members but in the 1947 riots in Allepo and the establishment of the State of Israel, a mass migration took place.
