Syrian Jews

Pre-Islamic period

Jews began to settle in Syria from the 6th century. e. Since 539, it has been ruled by the Persian Achaemenid dynasty. According to Josephus Flavius, the Persian king Xerxes ordered Ezra to appoint Jewish judges for religious proceedings throughout the territory of the Achaemenid state. In 333 BC, Syria was conquered by Alexander the Great, who granted the Jews new privileges, and also confirmed their right to the old ones. After the collapse of the power of Alexander, Syria became an important center of the Seleucid state, which in no way oppressed the Jewish population. Under the Seleucids, the Jewish population is growing rapidly and flourishing, this was facilitated by the granting of equal civil rights to the Greeks by Seleucus I Nikator to Jews. Although during the subsequent Seleucid kings, the position of the Jews significantly varied.

In 64 BC, Syria was under the rule of Rome, and her governor was also responsible for Judea. According to contemporaries, the Jewish population of that period was very numerous, in many respects a similar demographic trend was formed due to proselytism. Even the governors of Syria were under the influence of Judaism. Despite this, anti-Jewish riots broke out with the outbreak of the Judean War in Syria. The entire population of Damascus was slaughtered, and this is more than 10 thousand people. And the inhabitants of Antioch demanded that Emperor Titus deprive the Jews of all privileges and expel all Jews from the city, but the emperor ignored this request. After a century and a half, Jewish life raged in all the major cities of Syria, including Damascus, where Jews were able to recover from the most severe pogroms. Syrian Jews maintained ties with both Eretz Yisrael and the local community, as well as with the Babylonian exiles.

In the first century AD, Syria became an important center of Christianity . It was in Syria that the Christian apostle Paul began his missionary work. In 325, Christianity became the state religion of the Roman Empire. This in no way could positively affect the life of the Jewish communities, including the Syrian. The persecution and persecution of Jews on religious grounds began. For example, in 423, Christians of Antioch massacred and killed many members of the local Jewish community on Purim. The reason for the pogrom was the murder of a Christian boy in whom the Jews were accused. In history, this was one of the earliest cases of blood libel . During the reign of the Byzantine emperor Foki, persecution of Jews intensified. He tried to convert the Jews to Christianity by force, but faced with strong resistance. In Antioch, the center of Jewish life in Syria, a Jewish rebellion broke out, which was ruthlessly crushed, almost all Jews were killed and the rest expelled from the city. In 610, Syria came under the control of the Sassanids , who were good with Jews. Basically, the Jewish population of Syria supported the conquerors, for which, after the transfer of these territories to the control of the Byzantines, they paid dearly.

Caliphate and Sultanate Period

In the years 634-636, Arabs occupied Syria , and the position of the Jews improved significantly. In 661, Damascus became the capital of the Umayyad state, and the Jews became close to the caliphs. But with the advent of the Abbasids in 750, the situation of the Jews of Syria deteriorates sharply. Abbasid caliphs introduce Omar’s laws, while Jews are oppressed and urged to convert to Islam. In general, during the reign of the Abbasids, the Jewish population of Syria and the caliphate suffered very seriously. Status and attitudes toward non-Muslims in Muslim society varied according to time and place (Krämer 2006: 248). In 969, Syria came under the control of the Fatimids. Their policy towards the Jews was inconsistent and distinguished by their originality. First, Fatimid caliphs granted privileges to Jews, patronized them, and then everyone took them away, destroyed synagogues, converted Jews to Islam by force, after that, a few years later they canceled their barbaric orders, returned property and synagogues. In 1174, Syria was ruled by Sallah al-Din. Under him and his descendants, who formed the Ayyubid dynasty, Jewish communities reached enormous cultural and economic prosperity. This is largely the result of the visionary policies of the Ayyubids and their religious tolerance. With them, Jews held senior government posts, and among the sultans, there were many enlightened Jews, including doctors, poets and scientists. An example is Moshe ben Maimon , who was the personal physician of Saladdin and his family. In 1260, the Mongols devastated Syria, but Jews and Christians were spared. In the same year, the country came under the rule of the Mamluks, who gradually began to repress the Jewish population of the country. At the end of the 13th century and the beginning of the 14th, the Mamluk sultans removed the Jews from public office, but due to a lack of qualified employees they canceled their order. Later, a number of old prescriptions were returned, which were supposed to emphasize second-rate Jews: Jews were required to wear shoes of different colors, and men had to give a whistle when entering public places. Islamic fanatics did not hesitate to erect bloody libel, promising not to punish those who convert to Islam. In 1392, the Jews were accused of arson of the main mosque of Damascus, one suspect was burned alive, and the community leaders were tortured.

At the beginning of the 15th century, Syrian Jews survived the invasion of Tamerlane , which devastated a number of Syrian cities, including the destruction of Damascus and the extermination of many Jews. Almost all artisans and craftsmen were taken to Samarkand, the Jewish community lost one of its best and most educated members. Some communities have not revived. In the 16th century, Jewish life began to revive. Near Damascus, in a place called Jaubar, there were about 500 families who had their own large synagogue (Lewis 1939: 183).

Muhammad Ali and the Modern Period

From 1832 to 1840, Syria was ruled by the Egyptian ruler Muhammad Ali. Although Christians held most government posts, the Jews of Syria held capital in their hands. This could not but arouse the envy of Christians, which was reinforced by religious fanaticism (Baron 1932: 3). Under Muhammad Ali, Jews were equalized with Muslims, although this did not provide them with absolute security. By 1920, Syria became the mandated territory of France , and large Jewish communities with a total number of less than 20 thousand people survived only in Aleppo, Damascus, and Kamyshly. Jewish emigration to Eretz Yisrael continues. From 1919 to 1948 about 9 thousand Jews of Syria moved to Mandatory Palestine. In Syria since the beginning of the 1920s, numerous Zionist organizations operated: Beitar , Maccabi , He-Halutz , Lev-Ehad, Ha-Zvi. But gradually their activity decreases.

Since 1943, Syria has been a sovereign state. On the eve of the proclamation of the Arab and Jewish states in Syria lived 16 thousand Jews. After the division of Palestine into two Jewish states, Syria was swept by a wave of brutal violence. In Aleppo, a major pogrom occurred, all the synagogues were burned, they did not spare anyone. And in 1949, Arab fanatics destroyed the Jewish quarter of Damascus. Under the influence of these events, 10 thousand people left Syria. But in 1950, the Syrian authorities stopped releasing Jews from Syria. They could not sell their property, their financial institutions were confiscated. Many were thrown into prison without trial or torture. They lost the right to move freely around the city, they were followed. Often they were terrorized by Palestinian Arabs who fled from Israel. But by the 1970s, their situation had improved slightly, a number of barbaric laws were repealed, they were allowed to emigrate to any country except Israel. Almost everyone left. At the beginning of 2000, less than 100 Jews remained in Syria, most of them elderly people.

Before the start of the civil war, approximately 50 Jews remained in Syria. As of 2016, 18 Jews are officially living in Syria. According to unofficial data, up to 900 Jews live in Damascus alone ^[1] .

The main occupations of Syrian Jews were trade and craft. They were in charge of local trade and financial operations. And their art in making glass, tanning leather and dyeing fabrics was known far beyond Syria. But numerous military conflicts, the change of dynasties and hostility of neighbors could not favorably affect the development of the craft. Gradually, it disappeared.

• Damascus - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia
• Syria - article from the Electronic Jewish Encyclopedia

• Lewis B. 1939 A Jewish Source Of Damascus Just After the Ottoman Conquest // Bullentin of the School of Oriental Studies 10 (1): 183.
• Krämer G. 2006 Anti-Semitizm in Muslim World. A Critical Review // Die Welt des Islam 46 (3): 248.
• Baron S. 1932 The Jews and the Syrian Massacres of 1860 // Proceedings of the American Academy for Jewish Research 4: 3.