Assad’s Fall Enables Access to Ruined 2,700-Year-Old Damascus Synagogue; Only 9 Jews Remain

In one Damascus suburb in the Jobar neighborhood, the handful of remaining Jews in Syria can again make pilgrimages to one of the world’s oldest synagogues where people from throughout the region once came to pray.  

Syria’s 13-year civil war left the synagogue largely destroyed. Walls and roofs have collapsed. Some artifacts are missing. A marble sign in Arabic at the gate says it was first built 720 years before Christ. Since insurgents overthrew President Bashar al-Assad in early December, people have been able to safely visit the widely destroyed Jobar suburb that was pounded for years by government forces while in the hands of opposition fighters.  

Syria was once home to one of the world’s largest Jewish communities. Those numbers have shrunk dramatically, especially after the State of Israel was created in 1948 and following anti-Jewish riots and persecution. 

Today, only nine Jews live in Syria, according to the head of the community, almost all older men and women. The Jewish community in Syria dates back to the prophet Elijah’s Damascus sojourn nearly 3,000 years ago. (TOI / VFI News)

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