The fall of Bashar al-Assad and the Syrian Ba’athist state has changed the geopolitics of not just the Levant but the entire Middle East and beyond. It is still difficult to predict anything with certainty. But if – and it’s a big if – Hayat Tahrir al-Sham (HTS), the new Syrian rulers, genuinely want a clean break with their jihadi past, inviting the exiled Jewish community to return could herald the reprise of a peaceful era that once existed.
I have been tracking down and interviewing some of the oldest Syrian Jewish families, all the way from Golders Green to Flatbush Avenue in Brooklyn to Lavalle in Buenos Aires. Whilst many Jewish communities are ancient and unique, there is something particularly intriguing about the Syrian Jews in the wider history of the Children of Israel. Their fate has been intwined with the region for centuries and the story may not be over yet.
Five years ago, BBC Arabic’s leading newscaster, Dina Waqqaf, presented a short documentary on the unique history of Jews in Syria. All of those she interviewed were deeply proud of their roots. The last big exodus from the country in the 1990s had left the Jewish neighbourhood of Damascus frozen in time, with the camera lingering on the empty gardens, stopped clocks and schools that had previously rung with the laughter of Jewish children.
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Many of the exiled Syrian Jews I have met have expressed a distinct longing to return, if only for a short visit, to see what remains of the streets, houses and synagogues that they left behind so long ago.
They have much to feel nostalgic about. From one of the oldest synagogues in the world in Jobar, near Damascus – a marble sign in Arabic at the gate says it was first built 720 years before the birth of Jesus – to the unbroken chain of Jewish prophets before the coming of Christianity and Islam to the Holy Land, the community’s biblical, theological and chronological history is rich and poignant. The first ever Hebrew alphabet was found in Syria and indeed the earliest Jewish flock, led by Abraham, would have settled in Syria on its way to Jerusalem.
In fact, the history of Syria is inextricably linked to that of the Holy Land and Syria was often seen by Jews, Muslims and Christians as one and the same as Israel. In fact, when the Arab armies first invaded Syria in the 7th century, they sought Jewish theologians in Damascus to bless their victory, given the hostility of Syrian Christians to the Arab invasion. Through Ottoman times, the most notable Jewish businessmen thrived in Aleppo and Damascus and the most beautiful homes and schools were Jewish.
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Whilst there were dark times as well, such as the Damascus affair of 1840, when the disappearance of an Italian monk and his servant became a pretext torturing Jews were until they “confessed” to murder, such crises often saw support for the Jews from many Muslims. It may yet be possible that such examples of Muslim-Jewish harmony of yesteryear may return to the region as Baathist and Arab nationalism recedes. Some even dare to hope that this may one day unlock a key to the final piece in the puzzle of the Abraham Accords.
The Jewish expulsion from Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Egypt and elsewhere, from the late Forties onwards, destroyed a mosaic of coexistence which had been present, to a greater or lesser extent, for centuries. The collapse of the Assad regime highlights how the empty Arab nationalism that took its place has brought nothing but disaster to the Middle East. Now it is beginning to dawn on the Arab street that their rulers have used antisemitism to keep themselves in power whilst providing nothing to their own people but hollow promises.
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Yet despite having driven the Jews from their homes in the 1950s and Sixties, some in the Baathist State wanted them to stay, even if as virtual prisoners unable to venture more than a few miles outside their homes. As the writer Matti Friedman has described, in the early days and months after the birth of Israel, Syrian Jews were proud of their Syrian heritage and had no desire to leave. They were driven out only by Arab nationalism, which focussed on hatred of the Jewish rather than any real Arab unity or desire for betterment of Arab causes.
Donald Trump’s upcoming return to office may lead to a renewed focus on the Abraham Accords. The eyes of the world are on a possible Saudi-Israel normalisation, but it is not beyond the bounds of possibility that in the medium-to long-term, Syrian Jews may play a role in expanding the circle of normalisation even further. HTS and its leader, Jolani, have so far made some promising statements about tolerance and getting rid of old wounds. Nothing could bring stability to Syria more effectively than righting the grave historic wrong of its treatment of one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world.
Like in Iran, there are many ordinary Syrians who harbour no hatred of the Jews and some families even hold fond memories of their former neighbours in times past. Perhaps old memories will one day make Syrian Jews a key to peace in the region.
Kamal Alam is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the Atlantic Council. He is carrying out an oral history project on the Jews of Syria
