Jewish Quarter of Damascus

1958 map of the Jewish quarter with changed borders and Palestinian camp
Synagogues:
SyMn: Al-Menarsha Synagogue
SyRq: Al-Racqy Synagogue
SyFr: Al-Farandsch Synagogue

According to a Syrian tourist guide, there are still three intact synagogues in the Jewish quarter: The al-Menarsha Synagogue (كنيس المنشارة) and the al-Racqy Synagogue (كنيس الراكي)[11] are still standing, but unused. The al-Farandsh Synagogue (كنيس الفرنج), the "Frankish Synagogue", near the Beit Mourad Farhi is the only one in Damascus that still holds services, with many of the few Jews left in the city attending it.[10][12] The Jobar Synagogue was razed to the ground in 2013 during the Civil War and located in then-rebel-held Jobar, and was located 2 km to the northeast of the Old City. Further south in the Jewish Quarter, is the Red Mosque (Damascus) (الجامع الأحمر) of Damascus.[13]

Jews have historically inhabited Damascus since the time of King David, around 1000 BC. Under Roman rule, the Jewish population numbered 10,000 in the city,[14] ruled by an ethnarch. 9th chapter of the Acts of the Apostles Paul is sent with letters to the synagogues in Damascus that followers of Jesus should be imprisoned in them (Acts 9:2 EU). After his time in Damascus, Paul successfully converted a portion of the Jews in the Quarter to Christianity. The ethnarch attempted to arrest Paul, but Paul escaped through Bab Kisan. (Acts 9:25 EU).

In the First Jewish-Roman War, many Jews were killed by pagan inhabitants of the city.[15] In the 5th century, when Christianity was the state religion of the Roman Empire, Rabbi Rafram bar Pappa preached in the Jobar Synagogue.[16]

The Islamic conquest of Damascus in 634 by Khalid ibn al-Walid marked the beginning of Islamic rule over the city. In 706, Caliph al-Walid I had the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist converted into the Umayyad Mosque, but concurrently decreed that Christians could continue to visit their remaining churches and Jews their synagogues, albeit as dhimmis upon payment of the jizya.[17] Ibn Asakir reported in the early 12th century, 8 of the city's 14 churches had fallen into disrepair, 1 had been destroyed, and 3 were rebuilt. The synagogues had been converted into mosques.[18]

After the Siege of Jerusalem in 1099 during the First Crusade, there was an influx of 50,000 Jews to Damascus, fleeing from the Crusaders. The community became one of the largest in the world at the time.[19] The long-established Jews in Palestinia and Syria were called "Musta'arabim" (Arabic speakers) or Moriscos (now Mizrahim). In addition, there were the Sephardic Jews who came to the country through expulsion from Spain after the Fall of Granada who spoke Ladino, a Romance language with Hebrew influence.

Old Damascus, Jew's Quarter (1874), by Frederick Leighton

Jewish family in Damascus, 1910

In the 17th to the 19th centuries, many Jews from Italy and France came to Damascus as merchants, who became known as the "Frank Lords" (Señores Francos). These European Jews typically retained their citizenship and were thus not subject to Islamic jurisdiction as dhimmis, but to the European consular courts in accordance with the capitulations of the Ottoman Empire.[14] In the mid-19th century, of the 4,000 Jews in Damascus, only about 1,000 were dhimmis who were obliged to pay the poll tax. In the Municipal Council of Damascus at that time, two seats were reserved for Christians and one for a Jew, but these seats were often not filled. The Jewish community of the Karaites died out in Damascus during this period, and their synagogue (Kenessa) was sold to the Melkite Greek Catholic Church.[20] On the site of the Karaite synagogue, the Melkite Cathedral of Damascus, the al-Zeitoun Church, was built from 1832 to 1834.[21]

The disappearance of Father Tomaso and his Muslim servant Ibrahim Amara on February 5, 1840, from the now-defunct Capuchin monastery led to the Damascus Affair, during which Jews of the city were accused of ritual murder and severe rioting against Jews ensued.[22][23]

After the massacre of nearly 6,000 Christians in Damascus during the Civil War at Mount Lebanon on 9 July 1860 by Druze militias, Jews were accused of massacring Christians in addition to the Muslims and Druze populations. 500 Muslims were hanged in a mass execution under the supervision of Grand Vizier Fuad Pasha. The Jewish community had to pay 4 million piastres, and 200 Jews were planned to be executed as well. In view of their apparent innocence, Fuad Pasha as well as the Prussian consul Johann Gottfried Wetzstein, the English Jewish entrepreneur Moses Montefiore, as well as the bankers Abraham Camondo (Istanbul) and Shemaya Angel (Damascus) intervened, and their execution was prevented.[24]

By 1900, the Jewish quarter of Damascus had eight synagogues, some of which had their origins in the 16th century. The number of Jews in Damascus was estimated at 11,000, 6.875% of the city's total population.[24]

In response to the founding of the State of Israel on 14 May 1948, Muslim perpetrators attacked the Menarsha synagogue on 8 August 1949, where twelve people died. Many Jews fled the city for Israel, beginning the decline of the Jewish population in the city.[25] The Alliance Israélite Universelle (AIU) school in the south of the Jewish quarter was closed in 1948 and taken over by the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). After the Nakba, the Syrian government housed Palestinian refugees in abandoned dwellings in the Jewish Quarter of Damascus. According to the head of the Jewish community, Albert Qamoo, this led to considerable conflict, whereas previously Jewish relations with the city's Muslims and Christians had been cordial.[26]

The Jews in Syria lived under strict restrictions during this period. For example, only individuals, rather than families, were allowed to travel out of the country in order to prevent families from escaping to Israel.[25] The Jewish cemetery located beyond the city wall south of the Jewish quarter was built over with the highway to Damascus International Airport.[27] In 1992, the Jewish population of Damascus was 4,000. Beginning with Passover in 1992, the government of Hafez al-Assad allowed Syria's Jews to leave the country if they promised that they would not immigrate to Israel. Within a few months, a large number of them emigrated to the United States, especially Brooklyn, and a some to France and Turkey. The Jewish quarter of Damascus was subsequently described as "90% empty".[25]

Jewish students learning at Lisbon (Maimonides) school in Damascus, 1991

Before the Civil War, there were plans to turn the area into an artists' quarter.[1][25] The al-Menarsha Synagogue and the al-Racqy Synagogue survived the bombing and are still accessible, but are not currently in use. Only the al-Faranj Synagogue (also: al-Faranj, al-Frenj, or Elfrange), the "Frankish Synagogue," still holds services, and very few Jews still live in the city. A November 2019 Times of Israel report claimed that there is not a single Jew left in Syria.[19] This is contradicted by research conducted by journalist and photographer Rania Kataf, who located and interviewed twelve Jews, all of advanced age, still living in Damascus in 2019 and 2020 as Syria's last Jews. In 2019, they ensured the renovation of their last active synagogue, the al-Farandsch Synagogue.[28][29][30] It is considered the oldest synagogue still standing in Damascus and is believed to have been founded by Sephardic Jews who came to Damascus as refugees in the late 15th century after Spain's Reconquista.[31] Russian President Vladimir Putin announced in 2019 that he would help Jews in Syria rebuild their holy sites.[19]