In a video [7] published on social media Jan. 2, a representative of the new transitional government in Syria spoke with Bakhour Chamntoub, head of Damascus' small remnant Jewish community, promising "peace and security" and even calling on Syrian Jews abroad to return to the country. Said the representative, Mohammad Badarieh: "Good evening everyone... from the home of the head of the Jewish community in Damascus, Bakhour. Reassure us that you're alright." Replied Chamntoub: "Thank God, all is well." Referring to Syrian Jews outside the country, Chamntoub acknowledged: "They don't believe there will be peace, and that they can return home." But, addressing the diaspora, he echoed the pledge of the transition government: "You will be safe, there will be peace and quiet, and God willing, you'll return, everyone to his house, to his neighborhood, and to his people..."
Speaking to Israeli media earlier in week, Chamntoub said that Badarieh pledged to support the restoration of the city's Jobar synagogue, which was badly damaged over the years of internal conflict in Syria: "He said to me, 'If you want to restore the Jobar synagogue, I'll approve it. If you want me to provide you with security for the synagogue, I agree.'" (ToI [9])
The temple in the traditional Damascus Jewish district of Jobar, also known as the Eliyahu Hanavi [10] synagogue, was first built 720 years before Christ. But its walls and roofs have collapsed, as the Jobar suburb was shelled for years by Assad regime forces while in the hands of opposition fighters. Since the fall of the Assad regime late last year, Jews have been returning to the site to assess the possibilities for its revival. However, most accounts place the number of Jews remaining in Damascus at less then 10. (AP [11])
Prior to 1947, there were some 30,000 Jews in Syria, made up of three distinct communities, each with its own traditions: the Kurdish-speaking Jews of Qamishli [12], the Sephardic Jews of Aleppo with roots in Spain, and the original eastern or Mizrahi Jews of Damascus, called the Must'arab.
But the UN vote to partition Palestine in November 1947 was met with an Aleppo pogrom [13], in which the city's Great Synagogue was burned. This prompted the first exodus of Syrian Jews to the nascent state of Israel. Most of the remainder migrated to Israel when the Assad regime alowed them to leave in the early 1990s. In addition to the handful of Damascus Jews, some of the Jews of Aleppo may yet remain in the city, hiding their identity. (WJC [14])
