Since the fall of Bashar al-Assad, a number of reports have appeared about the status of the country’s remaining Jewish sites, and of its very few remaining Jews. Many have been misleading or worse, writes Lyn Julius:
We now know that only nine Jews live in the entire country, the community having been the victims of a most successful ethnic cleansing. Sometimes, the numbers are exaggerated: the BBC reporter Lyse Doucet thought that the Jewish quarter of Damascus was full of Jews—when, in reality, none has been there for 30 years.
Media reports are also guilty of whitewashing anti-Semitism in Syria in order to blame the creation of Israel for the flight of most Jews. The majority had already left Syria by the time Israel was established; . . . the rise of pro-Nazi sentiment in Syria throughout the 1930s, and the Aleppo anti-Jewish riots before Israel’s establishment, caused all but a small number to leave the city.
There are thousands today, however, in Israel and the diaspora, who consider themselves Syrian (or Aleppan) Jews, not for any love for their former homeland, but because they have maintained the distinctive local customs of their ancestors. One such Jew, Joseph Dweck, now Great Britain’s leading Sephardi rabbi, shares his personal reflections:
My family first came to the eastern shores of the United States in 1901, seeking better economic opportunity after the opening of the Suez Canal diverted major trade routes away from Aleppo, which led to a decline in commerce. But they arrived on those shores with a robust culture and tradition that they faithfully instilled in their descendants. It is only due to their strong commitment to its preservation that it continues to live within me to this day. . . . Aram Soba, as it is known in Hebrew, produced renown rabbis, exquisite liturgical poetry, and delectable cuisine.
I cannot help but reflect on what has been lost: a cultural and historical tapestry that prominently includes the Jewish presence. Yet I also know that a large part of that legacy lives on, preserved in Jewish memory and practice. For centuries, the Jewish people lived as guests among other nations, always aware that our presence was temporary, our security fragile. The existence of the state of Israel has transformed that reality.
But Israel’s importance extends beyond its role as a refuge. It represents the culmination of our journey as a people who have wrestled with exile and have come home stronger and wiser.
More about: Diaspora, Syrian civil war, Syrian Jewry