Elfrange synagogue in Damascus
Once home to a thriving and ancient Jewish community, Syria now has
but a handful of Jews, who have fared poorly during the ongoing civil
war. Nonetheless, the Elfrange synagogue in Damascus refuses to close
its doors. Elfrange is the only one of Damascus’
seventeen synagogues that has not been shut down and robbed. It serves a
membership of sixteen men, ages sixty to ninety. Since the 1990s only a few dozen Jews have remained in Syria, according
to Avraham Hamra, who in 1993 left Damascus, where he served as chief
rabbi, and now lives in Holon, near Tel Aviv. As many as 4,000 Jews were
still living in Damascus, Aleppo, and al-Qamishli until then-President
Hafez al-Assad, on the eve of Passover 1992, permitted Syria’s Jews to
emigrate, as long as they didn’t go to Israel.
