Jews in syria

Jewish merchant walks free after 20-days in Syrian prison, authorities say all charges cleared

Salem Hamdani, a Jewish merchant from Damascus, was cleared of the charges of selling antiquities stolen from Damascus’ National Museum, after no evidence was found against him.

|ByELI LEON, JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Entrance of a synagogue in a Jewish neighborhood in Damascus, Syria, February 18, 2025.
Two Israeli rabbis visited Jewish synagogues and a school in Aleppo city during a religious-cultural event, marking the first visit of its kind in decades on December 2025.

Israeli rabbis tour archaeological Aleppo synagogues in historic visit - report

The site, located in the Al-Jemayliyah neighborhood, had reportedly been closed for decades. The event also included participation from an association operating in northern Syria.

|ByFRAIDY MOSER
DURING A goodwill mission to Syria last month, a group of Jewish academics, rabbis, and community leaders that included Israeli passport holders visited Syria. Here, delegation members Faraj Jajati and Rabbi Asher Lopatin hold a Syrian Torah scroll.

Is Syria safe for Jews? Rabbis and Jewish leaders visit Damascus on goodwill mission

ANTISEMITISM AFFAIRS: The mission sought to explore the prospects of a new chapter of Jewish-Muslim relations after a regime change in Syria.

|ByMICHAEL STARR
AT THE ruins of the Jobar Synagogue in Aleppo.

From Satmar to Syria: The hassidic mission to discover relics of ancient Jewish civilizations

Despite the current lack of Jewish presence, Satmar Hassid Moshe Klein says it is obvious that a great many Jews once lived in Syria.

|ByJUDITH SEGALOFF

After years of war, world’s oldest synagogue paintings are revealed as intact in Damascus

Jewish sites and synagogues suffered lootings and bombardment over the course of the war, which followed the emigration of virtually all Syrian Jews.

SEPTEMBER 20, 2025ByGRACE GILSON/JTA
The Dura Europos Synagogue wall paintings in the National Museum of Damascus on September 16, 2025.

Time running out in race to preserve endangered Jewish languages

The many endangered dialects of Judeo-Arabic have been documented to varying extents, from Egypt to Morocco, from Syria to Yemen. And some young people are keeping the music alive.

FEBRUARY 9, 2021BySARAH BUNIN BENOR/JTA
A kippah and a pile of documents.

Nearly half the Jewish sites in Syria have been ruined

The fate of most Iraqi sites is unknown

JUNE 6, 2020ByCNAAN LIPHSHIZ/JTA
The entrance of an abandoned Jewish synagogue in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, Iraq, pictured in 2009

Last vestiges of Syrian Jewry clinging to community

Expert: As long as Assad controls Damascus, their lives will remain protected.

FEBRUARY 15, 2016ByARIEL BEN SOLOMON
THE JEWISH QUARTER in Damascus lies desolate

Travails of Jews from Arab Lands finally recognized after 66 years

The intention behind the bill, said one of the bill's makers, was to ensure that the stories of what happened to Jews in and from Arab lands and Iran should be part of the school curriculum.

NOVEMBER 30, 2014ByGREER FAY CASHMAN
JEWISH IMMIGRANTS from Yemen in 1950 after their arrival to Israel

Assad forces destroy Syria's oldest synagogue

The synagogue was said to be built atop a cave where the prophet Elijah once hid.

MAY 28, 2014ByJPOST.COM STAFF, JTA
Jobar synagogue in Damascus 370