With only six Jews left in Syria, émigrés now have a chance to return

Washington Post

04-07-2025

BEIRUT — Henry Hamra vividly recalls the day he was allowed to leave Syria. His uncle, the Jewish community's rabbi, was called in for a meeting with Syria's president at the time, Hafez al-Assad. 'He told him, 'You could go anywhere in the world except Israel,'' recalled Hamra, who was only 15 at the time. Assad had decided to lift a decades-old travel ban on the Jewish population, and soon the Hamras and thousands of others left the country.
At the time, Hamra thought he would never return. But today, he is leading efforts to rebuild and renovate Jewish religious sites after the Assad regime fell in December and most American sanctions were lifted in May.
Jews have lived in Syria for more than a millennium and have a rich history there. Their numbers, however, dwindled to only six people due to years of hostility. Now, those who left can finally go back, if just for a visit.
Hamra, like many Syrians living in the United States, was glued to his television the night that more than 50 years of Assad family rule came to an end. He said he immediately started making plans to return and with the help of Mouaz Moustafa, executive director of the D.C.-based Syrian Emergency Task Force, was able to go back with his father and others in February to meet with Syria's new rulers.
'It was very emotional to come back after 33 years,' said Hamra. On his first night, he sneaked out of his hotel without government-assigned escorts. 'I took a taxi and I went right next to my house, right next to the synagogue. I was just walking in the dark.' he recounted.
His joy quickly soured after he and his father, Rabbi Yusef Hamra, visited Syria's ancient Jobar Synagogue. 'It was demolished. The whole synagogue was demolished. There's nothing Jewish there,' said the younger Hamra. Photographs reviewed by The Washington Post show rubble strewn across the site, though a few walls are intact and one archway survives with a Star of David carved on the capstone.
Following his first visit, Hamra began lobbying the U.S. State Department for a sanctions waiver to rebuild the synagogue. The Caesar Act, passed by Congress in 2019, prevents outside financing of reconstruction in Syria. For a while, it appeared that a waiver would not be forthcoming, but that changed in May when President Donald Trump granted a 180-day waiver, paving the way for the community to proceed with rebuilding. Congress is now expected to consider repealing the law altogether.
'It's a start for Syria for sure, and it's a great help for us to start rebuilding the synagogue,' said Hamra. The process, he said, will be daunting as the site is littered with unexploded ordnances.
What was once a bustling community of merchants, religious figures and politicians is now just six residents in Damascus, says Bakhour Chamantoub, 75, the head of the Jewish community. 'Only four men and [two] women remain, most of them are old in their eighties and nineties,' he said.
Despite the restrictions and antisemitism, Chamantoub said he never left Syria and lived openly in Damascus. 'I was not scared of the Palestine Branch or anyone else,' he said, referring to the notorious Damascus prison. 'I am a Jew, and I am proud.'
Jews have lived in Syria since biblical times, mainly in Damascus and the northern city of Aleppo, but also in the northeastern city of Qamishli, where Kurdish Jews resided.
In its heyday, the community numbered between 25,000 to 30,000, said Joel Veldkamp, editor of the Syrian Studies Association Bulletin. He noted that the local community had a long history of welcoming Jews from abroad, including those fleeing the Spanish Inquisition, as well as Italian Jews who moved to Syria in the 18th century. 'The community ran hospitals, schools and orphanages. Aleppo was a center for religious studies for Jews,' he said. He added that an Aleppo synagogue housed one of the oldest copies of the Old Testament, known as the Aleppo codex.
After the United Nations partitioned British Mandate Palestine in 1947 creating Israel and the ensuing Arab-Israeli wars, Syrian Jews became targets of mob attacks. The synagogue where Hamra's maternal grandfather was a cantor was bombed in 1949.
Successive Syrian governments ignored the attacks and even took aggressive measures against the Jewish community, said Jason Guberman, executive director of the American Sephardi Federation. Both Hamra and Chamantoub recalled they were not allowed to leave the Jewish quarter in Damascus. 'It was a travel ban within a travel ban,' said Chamantoub.
Guberman said Jewish leaders and entire neighborhoods were surveilled, correspondence was monitored and censored, restrictions were placed on employment and the teaching of Modern Hebrew was banned.
A turning point came in April 1992 when then-President Hafez al-Assad lifted the travel ban, allowing the remaining 4,500 Jews to leave the country. A report by The Washington Post at the time noted that nearly 700 Jews had left a few months after the ban was lifted, reducing one kosher butcher's business by a third. Chamantoub said only 30 Jews remained after that and the number gradually declined to 15 by the start of the Syrian Civil War nearly 14 years ago.
Hamra and his family were among those who moved to Brooklyn, 'We packed up everything and we left our house.'
The move was hard on his family, which had to quickly adjust to their new surroundings. Henry said he had to drop out of school to support his family.
Immigration to the U.S. was made easier by earlier generations of Jewish émigrés who supported new arrivals, said Guberman. Many had started to emigrate in the late 19th century to avoid Ottoman military conscription, a declining economy and antisemitic attacks. Those who could not make it to the U.S. settled in Mexico. David Luna 27, whose great-grandparents came from Aleppo, said that his mother still cooks Syrian dishes for the Sabbath. 'A lot of Syrian families here instead of doing Shabbat dinner, they do Shabbat lunch which revolves around all the different Kibbes,' he said. He too was following the news closely on Dec. 8, when rebels stormed into Damascus. 'I remember calling my mom after and feeling like, 'Hey mom, maybe we can finally go,'' he said.
Despite positive overtures from Syria's new rulers, the community still faces challenges. In late April, the tomb of a revered Syrian rabbi, Hayyim ben Joseph Vital, was dug up by unknown culprits. Moustafa said officials have vowed to investigate the matter.
Chamantoub said the new government has prevented squatters from moving into vacant Jewish homes after he complained but that some still remain occupied. Hamra said his family home is one of these.
The Syrian Foreign Ministry did not respond to requests for comment.
Few Syrian Jewish émigrés are planning to move back permanently but like Hamra, some are planning to visit.
'I was dreaming about this day,' he said. 'It was my dream to see my home again, to see my school and my synagogue. It was a dream come true.'