Lyn Julius
The Jews of Syria
Lyn Julius - The Jews of Syria
- Right, well, good afternoon from London, and thank you very much for joining me for this talk, which is going to be on the Jews of Syria. Jews of Syria, one of the oldest communities in the world. Traditional says there have been there since the time of King David and certainly since early Roman times. The Jews of Syria are a tale of two cities, Aleppo, an outward looking commercial centre, and Damascus, once the capital of the Umayyad Empire and a more austere political centre. You can see Aleppo in the northwest corner of the country there. It’s called Halab and Damascus is in the southwest corner, Dimashq. The Jews of Aleppo were called Halabi Jews, and those of Damascus Shami Jews from Asham greater Syria was called Bilad al-Sham. As you can see from this map, the two communities of Aleppo and Damascus are 150 miles apart, but they were worlds away in mentality. The Jews of each city were very different, and to this day have maintained separate synagogues in different traditions. At some point, they didn’t even marry each other. There was also a Jewish community in Qamishli, which is in the very northeastern top corner of the map, right on the border with Turkey. But this is really Turkish Kurdistan, it’s not really Syria. Aleppo is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It goes back nearly 3000 years. And there’s a legend that Abraham milked his flocks on the way to the promised land. Halab is Arabic for milk, but Aleppo was known by Jews by its original name, Aram Sova.
For centuries, Aleppo was the largest city in the Syrian region, and the Ottoman Empire’s third largest after Constantinople and Cairo, but it had one of the smaller Jewish communities in the Arab world, and there were no more than about 30,000 Jews in the whole of Syria in 1948. In the 16th century, Aleppo became the capital of the Ottoman province of northern Syria. The original Jewish community were Arabic speakers known as Musta'arabim Sephardim from Spain arrived after the expulsion in 1492, and eventually they too integrated into the existing native community of Musta'arabim. At the end of the 17th century, became an influx of Francos or free Jews from Italy, Holland, Austria, and France. These were Jewish merchants who were foreign proteges, not subject to the dhimmi rules under Islam. The Francos retained their privileged foreign citizenship. Aleppo was also a religious centre and was home to many prominent rabbis. In mediaeval times, they produced amazing handwritten Bibles, the Aleppo Codex, the Sassoon Codex, for instance, and many others. Thousands of researchers and scholars and famous orientalists would turn to the great synagogue in Aleppo to examine its precious collection of books and Torah scrolls. One 19th century German traveller, Wolf Shore noted that Aleppo and Baghdad were the only two communities where serious Talmudic study was practised, “Only in Aram Sova and in Baghdad, which is Babylon,” he wrote, “are there still people who know how to swim in the sea of Talmud, to plunge to its depths and to extract its pearls,” Aleppo was at the end of the Silk Road, which stretched all the way to China. It was a pleasant city with a wealthy elite, which derived its prosperity from the Silk Road trade, a main caravan route linked Aleppo to Baghdad and Basra. Goods passed in the other direction through its markets on their way to Europe and the Mediterranean.
Aleppo became the centre of the spice trade, as in trading ports of the Mediterranean, like Isiama and Alexandria. The city was cosmopolitan. It attracted a colony of European merchants, mostly French and English. Jews acted as agents for these European merchants. By the 19th century, however, Jews were gradually supplanted by Christians. These were better educated in schools. They had better contacts in Europe and enjoyed the backing of Western powers. So Damascus is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world. It was first settled in the third millennium, BCE, described in the Talmud as the gateway to the Garden of Eden because of its fertile orchards and vineyards. It had an important Jewish community in Roman times. And as I mentioned, it was the capital of the Umayyad Caliphate in the early Middle Ages. And this caliphate actually stretched right across North Africa, as you can see. And eventually the Umayyads were deposed by the Abbasids in Baghdad, and they reestablished control over Spain. The capital of Damascus actually had quite a substantial Christian population, and St. Paul or Saul of Tarsus had a vision, as you know, which turned him from a persecutor of Christians into an evangelist. And he had his vision on the road to Damascus, of course, and Syria still has quite a few Christians, mainly Greek Orthodox. The third century Dura-Europos Synagogue is one of the oldest in the world, and that was in the sort of northeastern corner of the country. It was excavated in 1932. and the synagogue has wall frescoes like the one you see depicting people and animals.
And the figures are surprise as Judaism does not allow people to be depicted usually. But these murals are now displayed in the National Museum of Damascus. Jobar is a few kilometres outside Damascus, and there was a famous synagogue there called the Jobar Synagogue. It was built adjoining a cave in which the prophet Elijah was supposed to have hidden. And it was known as the Eliyahu Hanavi. Nothing much is left of this synagogue unfortunately, as during the Syrian civil war, it was totally destroyed. This was in May, 2014. In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela reported that there were 3000 residents in Syria, including physicians, intellectuals and poets, traders and craftsmen. Like Baghdad, Damascus was ruled by a Jewish figurehead called the Exilarch. The Jews suffered under the Mongols in the 15th century, who extorted taxes from them. Spanish refugees arrived in the 16th century, but fewer settled in Damascus than in Aleppo. Damascus was also on a caravan route to India, but never as rich as Aleppo. Damascus was notorious for its fanaticism. It was an assembly point for pilgrims to Mecca from the Balkans in Turkey. It was not until the 19th century that anyone in European clothes could enter safely. It was the last major city to admit foreign consoles. It lacked Aleppo’s large colony of European merchants and was largely untouched by European influence. There was an impoverished Jewish quarter in Damascus. Some were weavers and dyers or worked in the silk trade for Christians or Muslims. Most Jews were glass workers, blacksmith, bakers or poor peddlers. They were very pious. The Jews were famous for their metal work. This chest is the work of Damascus born master craftsman Maurice Nseiri.
The art of inlaying metals into one another, known as damascene to create ornamental objects was taught to Nseiri by his father Sion Nseiri. Maurice Nseiri also adorned the grand gates of the Syrian presidential palace and the arc in the Franji synagogue in Damascus on the left hand side. He may be the last Jewish practitioner of a centuries old artistic heritage. Today he lives in the US. The status governing the Jew was dhimmi. This meant that Jews and Christians could practise freely, but were subject to constraints and humiliations. They generally had fewer rights than the Muslims, but Damascus had a handful of wealthy families. For instance, the Farhi, Angel, Stambouli, and Lisbona families. How come? Traditionally Muslim rulers tended to appoint Jews to high positions as administrators or to manage financial affairs? This is not because they were better educated than the Muslims, but because they lacked an independent power base and were therefore not a threat. The ruler could remove them from office, confiscate their wealth, or even have them executed without opposition. And this is just what happened to Haim Farhi. And this is another of the wealthy mansions to be found in Damascus. It was the home of the Lisbona family, which became a school in the 1960s and ‘70s So Haim Farhi, as we were saying, was born in Damascus in the mid 18th century from a prominent family. He was devout and loyal. His father was appointed to one of the highest posts in the government of Ahmad Al-Gazzar. Al-Gazzar was a cruel, ruthless governor who had accumulated his wealth from corruption and pillaging. Haim Farhi is famous for helping to defend the city of Akko or Acre against Napoleon in 1799.
The Jews in Akko at that time numbered only 36 families, while there were about a thousand in Jerusalem, A square is named after him in Acre today, as you can see the sign. However, Haim Farhi became the victim of political intrigue and was betrayed by the cruel, spiteful and malicious Governor Al-Gazzar. Al-Gazzar ordered his executioner to gouge one of Haim’s eyes, cut off his nose and ear. This barbaric act didn’t deter Haim Farhi from continuing to serve him, and he used to cover his gouged eye with the edge of his turban. Here you see him holding the petition of a man prostrating himself before the governor. And I think you just make out that he has a patch on his eye and he’s got no nose. Soliman Pasha who replaced Al-Gazzar as governor, kept Haim Farhi on for 16 more prosperous years. He was so influential that he effectively ruled Sidon and Damascus and the entire Syrian coast, but he is a test case in Jewish vulnerability. When the governor’s son Abdullah succeeded Soliman, he had high and far he treacherous assassinated, and his body thrown in the sea. All his property was confiscated and his widow died penniless shortly afterwards. Haim’s brother Rafael became minister of finance. He was also to be betrayed through false accusation in connection with the Damascus Affair. The Damascus Affair was the first blood libel in the Muslim world. It was started by Christians who were jealous rivals of the Jews. They accused the Jews of murdering Father Thomas, a Christian monk and his Muslim servant for the purpose of using their blood to bake Matza. The Christians were supported in their accusation by the French in Damascus, Ulysse de Ratti-Menton who was antisemitic and known to favour Christian merchants and advisors over their Jewish counterparts. Several Jewish notables, dozens of children and a rabbi were arrested. Two died under torture, one converted to Islam. Rafael Farhi, head of the Farhi family in Damascus was arrested and tortured.
And here you see one of the notables composing his defence in prison. The leaders of the British and French Jewish communities, Moses Montefiore and Adolphe Crémieux embarked on a journey to plead for the lives of the Jews arrested in the Damascus affair. They got the Jews released after travelling to meet the Egyptian ruler of Greater Syria, who was based in Cairo. The Damascus Affair was the first of many blood libels. It internationalised the plight to Jews in the Muslim world and had far reaching consequences, leading to the establishment of the Alliance Israélite Universelle 20 years later, The Alliance was founded by a group of emancipated French Jews. They wanted to teach the Jews of the Muslim world to stand up for themselves and acquire the skills to thrive in the modern world. In Syria, the first Alliance school opened in Damascus in 1880. A girl’s school was opened in 1883. Of course, this was revolutionary to actually educate girls. By 1910, there were 768 students. The alliance had to begin with first principles like feeding the Jewish children and teaching them the basics of hygiene. According to Alliance figures, 25% lived in extreme poverty, 50% in poverty and 25% were lower middle class. This was the brave new world where Jewish children were taught the values of at school. The dhimmi rules had been abolished, and enlightenment values also influenced the young Ottomans in Constantinople or Istanbul who wanted to reform the archaic Ottoman Empire. However, they failed to establish a constitutional monarchy. The end of the 19th century was a period of decline and instability. Christians and Jews fought a war in 1860. By and large, there was not as much hostility between Muslims and Jews as there was between Muslims and Christians. Indeed, there was a kind of alliance between Muslims and Jews against the Christians. The Suez Canal opened in 1869.
This meant that the Silk Road was no longer viable, and many Jews sought to leave for , for Central and South America, Mexico, Panama, Argentina, and Venezuela. Some 5,000 Syrian Jews arrived in New York before World War I, and today there is a large Syrian community in Brooklyn and Deal, New Jersey, and they even migrated as far as Japan and the Philippines exporting linens and textiles. And here you see two of the Syrian diaspora synagogues. One is in Jerusalem, the Ades Synagogue, which was founded in 1901. And the one on the right is the Or Torah Synagogue in Buenos Aires, which was founded in 1930. But, of course, there are many, many others. Jews migrated to Egypt, but retained links with Syria. For instance, an Egyptian Jew built the Damascus Aleppo railway and another founded the National Bank of Syria. And another favoured destination was Manchester. Manchester was particularly attractive as it had a thriving textile industry. At a baby’s Brit in Syria. it was often said, may he grow up to live in Manchester. Towards the end of the 19th century, Jews also left Syria to escape conscription in the Ottoman army, as the Ottomans fought more and more wars. But, of course, numbers of Jews were press ganged into the army and some never came back. The Ottoman Empire went bankrupt on the 6th of October, 1875, precipitating an economic crisis. Desperate Jews tried to improve their lot. Some of them converted to Islam, especially women. Even the upper classes, especially Jews who lent money to the Ottomans fell on hard times, except the one, Yossef Laniado. He was the last rich Jew of Damascus.
He treaded a tightrope between the Ottoman and later the British and French authorities, the nationalists and the Zionists. He represented the old fashioned approach of accommodation with the Ottomans and the anos model of integrating Jews into society. He was the only Jewish representative in the Syrian parliament in the 1920s During World War I, the Ottoman governor of Palestine, Jamal Pasha deported Palestinian Jews to Syria as well as to Egypt. Some say he had plans to exterminate them as the Turks did to the Armenians, but Zionist leaders did find refuge in Damascus along with Arab nationalists. But the Zionist spread Hebrew and Zionist ideas. With the defeat of the Ottomans in World War I, the British and the French divided the Middle East up between them. But there was a question mark over Syria who would run the mandate? The Emir Faisal from Arabia was Lawrence of Arabia’s choice to rule a Pan-Arab from Damascus. His rule was short-lived. In 1920, the French conquered Damascus and evicted Faisal who was given the consolation prize of the kingdom of Iraq. Before 1920, Syria was the hub of Pan-Arab nationalism. And you can see from this map that the Arabs had designs on an area that includes present day Jordan. They also had designs on Palestine. Well, what became the British mandate of Palestine. And and that was an absolute catastrophe for many nationalists when it was hived off and became the British mandate in 1920. and that’s the first time that the word nakba was used. The OETA incidentally means occupied enemy territory administration.
So that that was the area that hadn’t actually been allocated before 1920. Several of the Arab nationalist leaders were Syrian Christians like Michel Aflaq, who founded the Ba'ath Party, or Constantin Zureiq, who coined the term nakba for the Palestinian defeat of 1948. Or Antun Saadeh, founder of the Syrian Socialist National Party. After the eviction of Faisal, the Pan-Arabist focus shifted to Iraq and the Ultranationalists accompanied Faisal. They took up important posts in the Iraqi government. But back in Syria, the French had established their mandate. The Jews revolt of 1925 against the French impacted on the Jews and the rebels attacked the Jewish quarter. A number of Jews were killed and wounded, excuse me, and some were kidnapped. What is interesting is that Syria had an active Zionist movement, although after the Balfour declaration, the French authorities thought that to be a Zionist was to be pro British. Throughout the 1920s, the Zionist organisations, Kadima and Maccabee operated, Hebrew was taught and Zionist leaders went back and forth between Syria and Palestine. Thousands of dunams of land in Palestine, especially in the Galilee, and the Golan Heights were bought from Syrian landowners. Before 1919, there was no international border between Syria and Palestine and the history of the two regions was intertwined. Distances were short. Damascus was only 60 kilometres from Mount Bental on the Golan Heights. It was said that you could have breakfast in Damascus, lunch in Haifa, and get back in time for dinner in Damascus.
Syrian Jews regularly made pilgrimages to Jerusalem or Safed at Pesach or Shavuot Migrations in either direction were not uncommon. After the establishment of the French mandate, people had to obtain passports or other documents or risk be arrested for illegal entry. Between 1919 and 1948, 9,118, immigrants entered Palestine. 1,300 Syrian Jews were escorted in daring and illegal operations over land, and nearly twice as many Syrian Jews arrived before the establishment of the state in 1948, as after that date, most were from Aleppo. During World War II, only a few hundred managed to obtain legal British immigration certificates. Though the best chance Jews had of making it to Palestine was through illegal immigration and the organisation in charge was Aliyah Bet, Aliya Bilti Legalit And between 1938 and 1942, Aliyah Bet began to send emissaries to Iraq, Syria, Iran, and Lebanon to engage and pay smugglers. Nissim Arkeli gives a graphic description of his attempt to escape. “The Arab border smugglers sat us on horses, and instead of saddles, we sat on several sacks. They prodded us to hurry with curses and threats. The road, which wound through mountains and hidden wadis was difficult and taxing with the ever present life-threatening danger of falling from the horses and breaking one’s neck on the rocks. Talking was strictly forbidden, and it was impossible to complain or ask for anything. We very quickly developed calluses on our bottoms and thighs. By the second night, the calluses had become very painful, bloody wounds.” Rachel, the wife of Yitzhak Ben-Zvi, who was to become Israel second president and had a special interest in Jews from the Middle East, made it a priority to bring teenage girls from Syria.
And by 1945, a thousand young people had been brought to Palestine. This was a particular challenge as these sheltered girls that you see on the right would not normally have been allowed out of the house. During the French mandate, the situation seemed to deteriorate with the rise of pro-Palestinian Arab nationalism. In 1935, the mufti of Jerusalem, Amin al-Husseini visited Syria. He incited against the Jews. As a result, over 5,000 left the country. In 1938, Jews were attacked by knife wielding youths and synagogues were bombed. The pro-Nazi Vichy regime was instituted in 1940 as elsewhere in the French colonies and perpetuates and Syria became a battleground between the British and the Germans. The British won. The anti-Jewish Vichy laws did not seem to have lasted long enough to have had an impact. In 1946, the Syrian nationalists won their demands for independence from the French. But riots broke out and the headmaster of a Jewish school in Damascus was murdered. In November, 1947, conditions became critical for Jews. I’m trying to move forward. It’s got a little bit stuck. Sorry about this. In November, 1947, conditions became critical and riots broke out in Aleppo, resulting in most of the population fleeing. The 1947 anti-Jewish riots in Aleppo followed the United Nations vote in favour of partitioning Palestine. The greatest damage was caused to the ancient synagogue that was built at about 1,500 years ago and it was set on fire.
In this synagogue, was kept the earliest known manuscript of the Bible, known as the Aleppo Codex or Keter Aram Zova This was the work consulted by Maimonides himself. When he set down the rules for writing Torah scrolls, the codex was copied by a scribe in the land of Israel over a thousand years ago. It was finally deposited with the Aleppo community at the end of the 14th century. When the Great Synagogue was torched in 1947, the Codex was saved and hidden for 10 years. In 1957, it was smuggled out of Syria and presented to the Ben-Zvi Institute in Jerusalem. But during its travel, some pages mysteriously disappeared. And of the 487 leaves, only 295 remained. This is the subject of a book by Matti Friedman, “The Aleppo Codex,” which I thoroughly recommend. So in 1949, the trouble continued and in Damascus, the Menarsha synagogue was bombed, and 13 Jews died, and 32 were wounded. By then, independent Syria was a member of the Arab League. It followed a pattern set by all members of the Arab League by persecuting its Jews. So Jewish civil servants were sacked. Jews not allowed to sell their property. Hebrew teaching was banned. The economic situation of the Jews was exacerbated by an Arab boycott of Jewish businesses. Jewish bank accounts were seized. Arab headmaster were put in charge of Jewish schools, and Jews were required to live in ghettos, not permit to travel more than three or four kilometres.
Anyone attempting to flee the country could be sentenced to death or jailed and tortured. For three months or more. Jews were required to carry special ID cards and so the list goes on. Many Jews tried to leave before 1950, and Palestinians moved into some of the abandoned Jewish property. Only 4,000 Jews remained in Syria. After 1950, they were forbidden to leave the country, and those who did not leave became hostages for the next 50 years. Now, in 1948, 10,000 went to Lebanon. In fact, Lebanon was the only country to see its Jewish population increase. And one such case was the father of Rabbi Elie Abadie. Now, rabbi Elie Abadie is probably known to you because he is the senior rabbi of the the Gulf States at the moment. But he in fact comes from Syria, his family comes from Syria, and he told me this story of his father’s escape from Syria. Now, his wife, Mrs. Abadie has managed to get into Lebanon. She travelled with the children, but the father was unsuccessful after several attempts to escape Syria. And in one instance, he was caught by a Syrian guard who he happened to know. And the guard said, the authorities are after you because you’ve tried to escape several times, and I have orders to arrest you. I’m coming back to arrest you tomorrow. Mr. Abadie understood the hint and the very next day with the help of some friends, he boarded the train to Lebanon. A train official with whom he was acquainted, hid him in the cargo hold warning that if he would sneeze or move a muscle, they’d both be caught and killed. His father hid there silent and motionless for hours. His fear intensifying once the train reached the border. The police conducted a thorough search of the cargo. When they came to his waggon, he was certain he’d be discovered. Miraculously, the guard was distracted and moved on to the next waggon.
As soon as the train crossed the border, rabbi Abadie’s father jumped off the moving train and into a ravine. Somehow he landed safely, suffering only minor bruises. He began walking through the Lebanese terrain in search of his family, travelling by night, so as not to be seen. Eventually, he found his wife and children. They were entirely unaware of his escape and were stunned when he walked through the door. So the family spent a few years in Lebanon, but they were forced to leave Lebanon in 1970, after large posters appeared in Beirut, advertising his father as a Zionist agent. In other words, a spy, but Syrian Jews were not spies. However, it was a different story once they got to Israel. Even before Israel was founded, Syrian Jews staffed the Arab section of what would become the Mossad. They were Arabic speakers who would spend months, even years undercover gathering intelligence, many died doing so. Their story is told in “Spies of no country” by Matti Friedman. Eli Cohen was from an Aleppo family who had moved to Egypt, and he was the famous spy who infiltrated the Syrian regime. And it is said that he almost became deputy minister of defence. He was hanged in 1965, but the intelligence he passed on to Israel proved decisive in the 1967, 6 Day War. And that war made life even worse for Jews in Syria as they were treated as would be spies. In the seventies, some Jews were intrepid or desperate enough to break the immigration ban and make the hazardous journey out of Syria. Sometimes they did not make it such as these four young women from the Zeibak and Saad families who engaged smugglers to take them across the mountains to Israel. Their bodies were found in a cave.
They had been raped and mutilated. Those of you as old as I am might remember going on demonstrations to call for Syrian Jews to be allowed to leave. The Syrian Jews of the United States became intimately involved with the plight of the remaining community, who, especially after the defeat of the six day war, were harassed by the secret police and prevented from leaving. Women of marriageable age who could not find any a Jewish men to marry. In 1977, a Jewish leader called Stephen Shalom was instrumental in persuading President Jimmy Carter to allow the women to leave for the US. But the person most closely associated with the campaign to liberate the Jews is Judy Feld Carr on the left hand side, she was an Ashkenazi music teacher from Ontario, Canada, who accidentally got involved when she saw newspaper cutting about a Syrian Jew, she managed to establish contact with the Jews of Damascus using coded messages. She determined to set up a fund to ransom ill and needy Jews. She worked secretly with Rabbi Hamra in Damascus for the release of Syrian Jews in prison, and for ill Jews to be allowed to leave. This involved his negotiating with the secret police, the price of Jewish departures, Keeping meticulous accounts, Rabbi Hamra oversaw money sent from the Feld Fund and funnelled granted from the American Jewish Committee to Jewish schools teachers and those in need. According to the “Ransomed of God,” a book by Harold Troper, one of Judy Feld Carr’s exploits, was to get the Damascus Keter out of Syria.
This was a priceless Jewish manuscript of the Torah. Judy managed to the manuscript out of the basement of Syrian Synagogue. She arranged for a western visitor to Syria to call on Rabbi Hamra. He handed over a small leather bound book in a cardboard sleeve to the visitor. The visitor put the package in an innocuous looking black plastic shopping bag and smuggled it out of the country. In a 1992, 4,500 Jews were allowed to leave Syria. Judy Feld Carr is generally credited with their release. But some 17 years later, Syrian Jews in the US said it was thanks to the Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews, a committee set up in the late 1980s. The president of the council was Alice Harary Sardell, the only lady in the picture. And she went public in 2013, “It is an injustice to those who actually did the job,” She wrote. Judy Feld Carr did admirable work, rescuing numbers of individual Jews from Syria, Over the course of her involvement. However, the successful effort to extricate the entire Syrian Jewish community, the modern day exodus from Syria was not hers. This was undertaken, spearheaded and achieved by the United States government and the Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews composed of members of the American Syrian Jewish community.
This effort was not a secret mission and did not occur over 30 years. Rather, it was achieved in just under five years, from 1989 to 1994.“ And according to the Judgement In the Grey Suit, it involved, his name is Clement Soffer. He was very active in this committee. He said it involved putting pressure on the Russians to put pressure on the Syrians. Alice adds that for almost 20 years, she did not speak publicly for fear of a backlash against the few Jews still in Syria. Today, there are hardly any Jews left in Syria. Some say there are three others, that there are none. The last Jew, Simon Hamard died earlier this year. And there is one Jewish woman in Qamishli and here she is. So with that, I’m very happy to… Thank you for listening, I’m very happy to answer any questions.
[Moderator] Lynn, do you want me to ask you them or can you see them?
So is it under Q&A?
[Moderator] Yeah, so if you click the Q&A.
Right, yes, I think I can see them, thank you.
Q&A and Comments:
Peter Con, they bought big houses on Palestine Road, Didsbury in Manchester, which was nicknamed Palestine Road, Love it.
Q: Jacqueline says both her parents were born in Aleppo. Her mother had some of her education at the Alliance School in Constantinople, and we all lived in Manchester. What happened to the Aleppo Codex?
A: Well, it is now, I believe in Israel at the Israel Museum, if I’m not mistaken. But there was some wrangling between the Syrian Jewish community and Israel, because Syrians obviously thought it should belong to them. It should go back to them. But I think Israel won that argument.
And Gita says, we demonstrated in Manchester on the execution of Eli Cohen. Yeah, that was a very traumatic time, wasn’t it?
The father of Moshe Safdie famous architect was from Aleppo, right, yes, thank you for that, Monty.
Aubrey says she is a hero here in the Jewish community in Toronto, Canada. Yeah, absolutely, I mean, she is an amazing person. We did a zoom with her actually a few years ago.
Monica Goodwin says Clement Soffer of fair should be given credit. I did mention him, Monica, and, of course, he should be given credit. It was thanks to his contacts. I think that the final liberation of the Jews of Syria was achieved. Harold Troper wrote the book. I’ve got it here, I think.
Oh, "None Is Too Many.” Oh, that’s another book I see with Irving Abella about the Canadian response to allowing desperate Jews into Canada during the lead up and during the Holocaust, that’s very interesting. Right, I didn’t know that. But this is the book about Judy Feld Carr. Thank you, Estelle.
Q: Shelly, what is in the Damascus Keter?
A: Well, I think it is the Torah. It is a sort of a handwritten manuscript of the Torah.
Oh, Michelle, lovely to hear from you again, after all these years, thank you.
What’s left of the Aleppo Codex is in the basement of the shrine of the book and openly visible to all. Thank you for confirming that, Jeffrey.
Fascinating, what is left of historical buildings in Syria? Friends living there before the spring, loved it and I planned to go the very year that the war broke out, doubt if I will ever get there. Now, obviously the country has suffered a great deal from the Civil War. There’s been a huge amount of destruction, but I understand that the Jewish quarter of Damascus is still intact. And those beautiful villas that used to be owned by Jewish families like the Farhi, and there’s Stambouli, I think they still, they’re still there. I think one of the properties owned by the Farhi was going to be a hotel, Talisman Hotel. I don’t know if they ever opened it. Obviously there’s no no tourism there now. There’s the wonderful exhibition of the Aleppo Synagogue in the Israel Museum. I don’t think it’s still on.
Yes, I I know about that one. I think it’s finished now. The secret escape went on for 28 years with no publicity.
Absolutely right, Donald, yeah. So that was, Judy Feld Carr really was extremely persistent and she managed to get individuals out in dribs and drabs and it’s an amazing story. Thank you, Henry, thank you, Stephen.
Q: Did many Jewish Syrians go to Rhodesia?
A: We had a large Sephardic population in Rhodesia. I think there were mainly Turkish and Greek Jews who went to Rhodesia, like Jews from Rhodes and Turkey. I don’t know of many Syrians. I may be wrong, of course. And Marion confirms that the Aleppo Codex is on permanent display where the Dead Sea Scrolls are displayed at the Israel Museum, yes, thank you.
And Marsha Lee says her family was Syrians that went to the Philippines. They went to Shanghai first. Yeah,incredible story actually. They were very enterprising. And even today there is a basically Syrian community in the Philippines with their own synagogue.
Q: Is there a specific book I could recommend about Syrian Jewish history?
A: Oh gosh, I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that because there isn’t actually a book on Jews of Syria. There are books on Sephardi communities which have a chapter on the Jews of Syria. for instance, the book, “The Sephardim” by Lucien Gubbay and Rabbi Abraham Levy has a chapter on Damascus and it has a chapter on Aleppo, but it’s a sort of general book on Sephardim. There are books on a Aleppo jury. There are books on Damascus jury, but there isn’t one that covers all of them. And so I found it quite hard to find the information actually.
Thank you, Anita.
Q: And I am Laniado from Cairo, who is the Laniado at the Parliament in Damascus?
A: Well, I don’t actually know the connection there. I’m sure you probably are related, but it’s very hard to tell. It may be explained in this book, “The Last Rich Jew in Damascus” by Yaron Ran. There is a family tree there. And you may recognise some of your ancestors or some of your relatives in that book, but I honestly don’t know what your connection might be.
Q: Were the Sephardi Jews in Syria? the name Ladino sounds Spanish or Italian.
A: Yeah, as I explained the, the exiles from Spain arrived after the Spanish Inquisition in 1492, but they were kind of absorbed into the original community who were kind of Arabic speaking. So they kind of lost their Ladino language and probably a lot of their traditions, unlike in Turkey where the majority were Sephardi Jews from Spain, and therefore they retained their language.
The Damascus is in the National Library, and it’s referred to as Judy’s Keter, how lovely, thank you, Caroline.
And Yona says a facsimile of the codex is available via sefaria.org, thank you for that.
Thank you, Rita.
Max, anything more about Syrian Jews in the US. The Brooklyn and deal communities are strong. Celebrity American Jews include Jerry Seinfeld on his mother’s side, Steve Jobs, wow. And currently David Adjmi, writer of the play “Stereophonic” about a band on the verge of breakup with 13 Tony nominations the most in the history of any non-musical, thank you for that.
I did actually give a lockdown lecture on the latest waves of immigrants to come to the US and you could probably find it in the library. And I do talk about the Jews of Syria from Syria who came to the US. And as Monica says, there’s a large community in Brooklyn. The Jews rescued by Clement Soffer were not only brought in, but given green cards, yes, that’s amazing, and apparently Edmond Safra paid for their travel.
So the name of the last woman in Syria, I actually haven’t got it to hand. I mean, I can find out for you and perhaps I can email Lockdown with the information and Jacqueline points to “Aleppo Tales” by Haim Sabato. Yeah, I’ve got it here actually. And yeah, Haim Sabato, yeah. It shows there there’s a very rich culture amongst the Aleppo Jews and he tells various stories that were sort of handed down to him by his family.
Oh, thank you for that, Donald.
Nicki, the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Anglo Jewish Association did a lot of undercover work in helping Jews escape from Egypt. Do you know if they also worked in Syria? My father worked with the AJA. I very much doubt it actually. I don’t think the British were involved in arranging the Exodus from Syria. I think it was purely the Americans undercover.
Oh, I see, you mean during the 1940s? That’s quite possible, quite possible, quite possibly.
And Sarah Kemp says, her mother’s from the Arab Cohen from Damascus Mastaton Immigrated to Egypt as co-founder of the Hanan Synagogue in Kamra, very interesting. Yes, of course, there was quite, quite a few Jews immigrated to Egypt from Syria after the Suez Canal was opened.
Thank you, Nikki, thank you, Monica and her mother’s family were from Aleppo and moved to Sudan. Yeah, they were very pathetic, these Jews. “Romas of Aleppo” beautiful cookbook with history and family stories. Yeah, the food is absolutely amazing. Syrian Jewish cooking is meant to be amongst the best.
Q: What happened to the Damascus Cemetery?
A: I don’t actually know. I don’t think it is probably not in a very good state. I can find out for you, Jackie.
Q: Were there no communities in Hamman and Homs?
A: There were communities in Hammam and Homs. I know someone called Hammowi. His surname is Hammowi So obviously his family came from Hammam. But not in modern times I would say. I would think that the main communities were Aleppo and Damascus. Another interesting book, “The Marriage Box,” about Syrian Jews in America.
Oh, and thank you Donald, the Damascus cemetery was destroyed. Yeah, that unfortunately is what happened in most Arab countries. And I think that’s the end of the questions. Is that right? Oh, thank you for that, the author is Corie Adjmi. Is that “The marriage box?” Yeah, Lots of very knowledgeable people out there.
[Moderator] Amazing, thank you so much for your time. Have a wonderful week.
Thank you, thanks everyone.