Figure 1.-- These boys are studying at the Maimonides school in Damascus. The school was named after Moses Maimonides, a famed Jewish philosopher, jurist, and physician. He is generally recognized as the foremost intellectual figure of medieval Judaism. He was born in Cordoba, but pursued his career primarily in Egypt. This photograph was taken after President Assad had begun to relax emigration restrictions (1991) and shortly before the exodus of the remaining Syrian Jews began (1992).

Jews contiunued fleeing Syria. Some failed and the consequences were dire. Four Syrian-Jewish girls (three sisters and their cousin) were raped, killed, and mutilated while trying to flee to Israel (1974). Their bodies were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains northwest of Damascus. With them were the remains of two male Jewish youth, Natan Shaya 18 and Kassem Abadi 20, who had been caughr and killed erlier by unknown individuals. [Friedman] Syrian officils left sacks with remains in sacks at the door steps of their horrified parents in what had become the Jewish ghetto of Damascus. [“Quatre femmes ...."] Syrian President Hafez al-Assad explained why he refused to allow Jewish emigration: "I cannot let them go, because if I let them go how can I stop the Soviet Union sending its Jews to Israel, where they will strengthen my enemy?"[Gilbert] At the time, The Six Days War had began to stir up Soviet Jews (1967). They began applying for exit visas (1960s) and the United States began pressuring the Soviets on the issue. The Yom Kipur War only intensified feeliings (1973). The small number of Syrian Jews left in the country would have not real impact on Israel. Soviet Jews were a very different mtter. President Assad, as a gesture to U.S. President Jimmy Carter who was pursuing a peace process, began allowing limited numbers of young women to leave the country, and some 300 left in total under this program (1977). [Shulweitz] Chief Rabbi Avraham Hamra organized an effort to smuggle a collection of ancient Jewish holy objects out of Syria. The collection included nine Old Testment manuscripts, each believed to be between 700 and 900 years old, 40 Torah scrolls, and 32 decorative boxes where the Torahs were held. The invaluable items were delivered to the Jewish National and University Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. [Johnson, p.72.] The Syrian Government finally began to let their remaining Jews go. The Government agreed to allow 500 single Jewish women lkeave (November 1989). Because so mny young men has escaped sureptiously, they could not find husbands in Syria. The United States pressed the issue at the Madrid peace conference (1991). American diplomats pressed Syria to ease restriction on its Jewish population, especially emmigration restrictions. Jewish Syrian Americans had brought up the issue. Syria decided to let their Jews go. It only stipulated that they could not go to Israel. The restictions were lifted on the Passover Holiday for the 4,000 remaining Jews. This included the Damascus Jewish community (Yehud ash-Sham), the Aleppo community, and the Jews of Qamishli (1992). They were all granted exit permits (1992). And the Jew responded enthusiastically. Within only a few months, thousands of Syrian Jews left for the United States, France, and Turkey. They were assisted by donations from the overseas Syrian Jewish community. [Parfitt.] Some 300 Jews decided to remain in Syria, mostly elderly Individuals. A reader reports, "I remember in the 90s when the Jewish Republican senator from Pennsylvania went to Syria and built a relationship with Assad. Senator Arlen Specter was hopeful that a personal relationship with Assad could start a peace process between Syria and Israel. Unfortunately nothing came of the effort. Giving up the Golan and access to the sea of Galilee which Assad demanded was a much more difficult choice for the Israelis than returning the Sinai to Egypt.

Sources

Friedman, Saul S. (1989). Without Future: The Plight of Syrian Jewry (Praeger Publishers: 1989).

Gilbert, Lela. "Thank God, There Are Almost No Jews in Syria Now," National Review Online (September 14, 2013).

Johnson, Loch K. Strategic Intelligence: Understanding the Hidden Sde of Government.

Parfitt, Tudor. (1987) The Thirteenth Gate: Travels among the Lost Tribes of Israel (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987).

Shulweitz, Malka Hillel. The Forgotten Millions: The Modern Jewish Exodus from Arab Lands

UJA Federation of Greater Otranto. "Rescuing Syrian Jews," (September 29, 2014).

“Quatre femmes juives assassiness a Damas,” Le Figaro (March 9, 1974).

Created: 4:44 PM 11/1/2018
Last updated: 4:44 PM 11/1/2018