Rabbi Yusuf Hamra steps into the greater than 500-year-old Faranj synagogue in Damascus for the primary time in additional than three a long time. He left Syria, together with many of the nation’s historic Jewish inhabitants, in 1992.
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DAMASCUS — If there’s a verbal expression of heartache, Rabbi Yusuf Hamra uttered it as he stepped contained in the Faranj synagogue within the Syrian capital final week. It was the final place he had mentioned prayers earlier than leaving Syria 33 years in the past in a wave of emigration by Syria’s Jews.
“Ach, ach, ach,” mentioned the 77-year-old, wearing a white shirt and black swimsuit as he stepped gingerly into what had been a middle of the Syrian capital’s once-thriving Jewish group.
Constructed greater than 500 years in the past by Jews who fled the terrors of the Spanish Inquisition, the synagogue was renovated within the Sixties. Dusty blue velvet benches have been piled in opposition to partitions with peeling paint. A pile of prayer books — some 300 years outdated — lay moldering below a cream-colored prayer scarf.
“I keep in mind my father, the final day earlier than we left right here, he was praying,” mentioned his son Henry Hamra, a cantor. “He was crying when he was praying the final prayer over right here.”
The prayers Rabbi Hamra mentioned final week have been the primary because the synagogue closed within the Nineteen Nineties, after virtually the whole Syrian Jewish inhabitants of greater than 30,000 left. The Hamra household emigrated to the U.S. and settled in Brooklyn.
“It was very onerous,” mentioned the rabbi. “For kids, they will be taught to dwell wherever. However this was my residence for 45 years.”
Members of the Jewish delegation, accompanied by former U.S. Ambassador-at-Massive Stephen Rapp, carry an historic Torah within the Faranj synagogue in Damascus.
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Cantor Henry Hamra lights a candle on the 400-year-old grave of Rabbi Hayyim ben Joseph Important, a key determine in mystical Judaism.
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Hamra’s go to this month was historic. A small delegation of Jewish non secular officers and a former U.S. diplomat have been invited by the brand new Syrian authorities, because it tries to incorporate these it believes can assist to rebuild the nation after a long time of regime rule fell final December.
Virtually all of Syria’s Jews left in a two-year interval beginning in 1992, when then-President Hafez al-Assad allowed them to to migrate. Now members of the nation’s dwindling Jewish group say solely seven people are left from what had been a thriving group for hundreds of years.
Henry Hamra, 46, identified a Spanish Jewish function of one of many synagogues — a ladies’s part on the second flooring, accessible by way of a separate exterior staircase. It is a legacy of the Jewish exodus to the Arab world, after they have been expelled from Spain within the late fifteenth century throughout its campaign against those it considered heretics.
Rabbi Yusuf Hamra says prayers within the Faranj synagogue in Damascus — the primary prayers there in additional than 30 years.
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Final week’s go to was organized by Syrian American activist Mouaz Moustafa, founding father of the Syrian Emergency Process Drive. The purpose was to pave the best way for Syrian Jews to return — and to press the USA to elevate sanctions it imposed on the previous regime of Bashar al-Assad, toppled in December.
“You recognize, there is a huge Jewish affect on the brand new [U.S.] administration,” mentioned Rabbi Asher Lopatin, laughing. “If the Syrian Jews have some connections — they usually do — they’ll have a voice within the administration, and I feel it would resonate.”
Lopatin, from Detroit, will not be of Syrian origin, however says he got here in solidarity with Rabbi Hamra. Suggested by Moustafa to put on ball caps over their kippahs — conventional Jewish head coverings — for safety causes, Lopatin coated his with a Detroit Pistons basketball cap.
“That is unbelievable, to be in Damascus as a Jew and invited by the federal government,” mentioned Lopatin. “I hope America takes this chance of supporting this authorities and sending like to this authorities.”
Moustafa mentioned the go to was controversial amongst some U.S. officers and even within the Syrian Jewish group, the place many view with concern the roots of Syria’s interim chief.
President Ahmed al-Sharaa is a former member of the militant group al-Qaida, which carried out the terrorist assaults of Sept. 11, 2001. He has renounced that group’s ideology and made clear that Syrians of all faiths are to be an integral a part of the nation. The U.S. and European international locations, nevertheless, have been gradual to elevate devastating commerce sanctions imposed on Syria in the course of the al-Assad regime.
The delegation kept away from commenting on Israel throughout its four-day go to to Syria, and the Syrian authorities kept away from asking them.
“That is purely about Syria,” mentioned Moustafa.
The delegation’s first cease after flying into Damascus final Monday was the Jewish cemetery — partially destroyed after the federal government constructed a freeway by way of it within the Sixties.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin and Rabbi Yusuf Hamra stroll amongst tombstones engraved in Hebrew within the historic Jewish cemetery of Damascus.
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Rabbi Yusuf Hamra kisses a tombstone belonging to his instructor within the historic Jewish cemetery of Damascus.
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Rabbi Hamra mentioned prayers at his father’s grave after which walked slowly among the many tombstones, studying the Hebrew inscriptions looking for his grandfather’s tomb.
“I can not discover him,” he mentioned. “I’ve seemed and seemed. It has been 34 years — I would like time to recollect.”
In a small concrete shrine, a distinguished grave stays intact — that of an influential determine in Kabbalah, a kind of Jewish mysticism. The grave of Ḥayyim ben Joseph Important, a seventeenth century rabbi who disseminated the ideas of Kabbalah all over the world, is a few 400 years outdated.
“You recognize, if the doorways are open, I do know lots of people will come right here simply to see the rabbi,” mentioned Henry Hamra. “I promise, they might love to come back right here.”
Even after greater than 30 years in Brooklyn, Rabbi Hamra appears completely Syrian. He’s extra snug talking Arabic than English. His son calls him “baba” — Arabic for dad.
Requested how he feels coming again, the rabbi utters the precise phrases virtually each different Syrian says on lastly having the ability to return: “Is there something extra lovely than your own home?”
The ball caps prove to not be wanted as a safety precaution. The Syrian authorities has despatched frivolously armed fighters, who pose for images with the rabbis, to accompany the delegation.
Within the winding, slim streets of the capital’s outdated Jewish quarter, virtually everyone seems to be brazenly welcoming. Former neighbors from three a long time in the past cease Rabbi Hamra to ask about members of his household. A lot of them are Palestinian, descendants of those that grew to become refugees after the creation of Israel in 1948.
There are 22 synagogues left in Syria, all closed. The delegation visited half a dozen of them.
The winding streets of Damascus’ outdated Jewish quarter.
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Rabbi Yusuf Hamra reconnects with a former neighbor from the Jewish quarter, which he left 33 years in the past.
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In a single, Rabbi Hamra reverently held a prayer guide he himself had copied out way back, and in accordance with Syrian regulation on the time, had taken to the data ministry for approval to print.
Within the courtyard of one other synagogue, he inhaled the scent of a lemon simply plucked from a tree and identified a big citrus fruit often known as kabbad, used for making sweets he has not seen or tasted in additional than 30 years.
A guard collects naranj, or bitter orange, with the assistance of a stick in Outdated Damascus.
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Rabbi Yusuf Hamra smells a citrus fruit with former neighbors in Outdated Damascus.
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“The scent of Damascus was orange blossoms and jasmine,” mentioned his son Henry.
The Syrian president despatched a key advisor, Moussa al-Omar, to affix the delegation on a tour of a destroyed synagogue within the Damascus suburb of Jobar. Together with mosques and church buildings, it was diminished to rubble by Syrian regime forces in the course of the nation’s civil conflict.
Henry Hamra mentioned his group would press Israel to return priceless Jewish texts that have been taken there from Syria throughout earlier a long time, including by alleged looters during Syria’s civil war.
In a gathering within the courtyard of Syria’s nationwide museum, the place antiquities officers have jurisdiction over heritage websites, al-Amr assured the visiting delegation that Syrian authorities would assist any residents who needed to return.
A view of what stays of a historic synagogue in Jobar, a Damascus suburb, destroyed by regime forces together with mosques and church buildings throughout Syria’s civil conflict.
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Harm inside a historic synagogue complicated in Damascus’ outdated Jewish quarter.
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“Everybody who has a proper to his land may have it returned to his household,” he mentioned. He added that the Syrian authorities would additionally assist restore Syrian citizenship to former residents. “Now what we wish from you is that you simply increase the difficulty of sanctions on Syria.”
The delegation had hoped to have the ability to get collectively 10 Jewish males for a minyan, a quorum to have the ability to maintain prayers in one of many synagogues.
They have been shut — they wanted solely 5 different Jewish males aside from the delegation. However ultimately, two of the surviving Jewish residents of the town didn’t attend. Two different younger Syrian Jews who had arrived from the U.S. after the delegation landed have been unreachable. And two others whose moms have been Jewish have been deemed unacceptable by Rabbi Hamra as a result of they didn’t observe the religion.
Syria’s new chief despatched a key advisor, Moussa al-Omar (proper), to fulfill the delegation in a visit to Syria organized by Syrian-American activists Mouaz Moustafa (second from left). Within the background is the destroyed Damascus suburb of Jobar.
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Nonetheless, mentioned Lopatin, “It is a miracle to have the ability to be right here, and hopefully greater crowds can come. Now now we have one thing to wish for. All of Syria is about proof that issues can miraculously change.”
Requested what he hopes for from this go to, Rabbi Hamra mentioned he needs Syrian Jews to have the ability to come again and dwell within the properties they left right here, in the event that they wish to.
“A traditional, snug life. I want this for everybody,” he says. “They’ll make up for the times they misplaced.”
Sangar Khaleel contributed reporting from Damascus.
Rabbi Yusuf Hamra says prayers within the 500-year-old Faranj synagogue in Damascus.
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