The number of Jews living in Syria today can be counted on two hands, but that could soon change. After decades in exile, Syrian Jews are finally being welcomed back by Damascus. In December 2024, Syrian dictator Bashar al-Assad was ousted, renewing hopes for a Jewish revival in the country. The new Syrian government headed by Ahmed al-Sharaa has already permitted Jews to visit and the Jewish Heritage in Syria Foundation became the first Jewish organization in history to be officially registered by the state. In February 2025, a delegation of Syrian Jews returned to Damascus for the first time in over thirty years. The delegation walked through the Jewish Quarter wearing kippahs, prayed in the Elfrange synagogue, and visited the remnants of Jewish historical sites. Only six Jews remain in Syria, but many could rejoin them if the Al-Sharaa government follows through on its commitment to Syrian Jewry.
A Fraught History
Jews have lived in Syria for millennia and have created a rich cultural legacy. At the start of the 20th century, the community numbered around 100,000. In the wake of the Holocaust, antisemitism in Syria reached a climax with the outbreak of the 1947 Aleppo pogrom that killed 75 Jews, vandalized Jewish property, burned down the Al-Bandara synagogue, and forced thousands of Jews to flee. The nascent Syrian republic issued anti-Jewish quotas, barred Jews from government service, confiscated Jewish property, forbade Jews from owning telephones and acquiring drivers licenses, closed Jewish bank accounts, censored the Hebrew language, and deployed secret police to monitor the Jewish community. The early Syrian government also banned Jewish emigration, targeting those who attempted to escape by stripping Jews of their passports and marking Syrian Jewish identity cards with the word “Mussawi” (meaning followers of Moses in Arabic) in big red letters. They even provided shelter to a Nazi war criminal.
In 1949, a grenade attack at the Menarsha Synagogue in Damascus killed twelve Jews, including eight children, on a Shabbat evening. Over the decades that followed, antisemitism persisted and Jews emigrated clandestinely to neighboring Turkey, Lebanon, and Israel, as well as Europe and the Americas. Brooklyn, New York is now home to the largest Syrian Jewish community in the world. Israel launched Operation Blanket in 1970 to rescue Syrian Jews, and the last Chief Rabbi of Syria, Avraham Hamra, helped the Mossad smuggle Torah scrolls out of Syria. The Ba’athist regimes of Hafez and Bashar al-Assad formalized earlier anti-Jewish restrictions, promulgated Holocaust denialism and antisemitic conspiracies, and accused Syrian Jews of being a fifth column aligned with Israel. During the Syrian civil war and ISIS takeover, most remaining Jewish sites were damaged or destroyed, and the Jewish community of Syria has virtually gone extinct.
Turning the Page
Shortly after the fall of Assad, the leader of Syria’s tiny Jewish community, Bakhour Chamntoub, visited the ruins of the ancient Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in the Damascus suburb of Jobar for the first time in fifteen years. Chamntoub also returned to his home in the emptied Jewish Quarter of Damascus, where kosher butcheries and Judaica stores once stood. Hebrew posters still hang inside the shuttered Maimonides Jewish school. Signs outside abandoned homes in the Jewish Quarter read: “the real estate is closed by the state’s Higher Committee for the Affairs of Jews.” In January 2025, Rabbi Binyamin Hamra, the son of the last Syrian chief rabbi, penned a letter to President Al-Sharaa urging the new leader to preserve these Jewish sites and protect Syrian Jewry.
That same month, Chamntoub met with a representative of President Al-Sharaa, Mohammad Badarieh, who told the Jewish community leader that Syrian Jews “will be safe” in post-Assad Syria and pledged to help restore the Jobar synagogue. In February, a delegation led by Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the brother of the last Syrian chief rabbi, became the first to visit Syria since the ouster of Assad. They met with leaders of the new Syrian government, including Deputy Foreign Minister Muhammad Al-Qunetri, who told the delegation that “every Syrian is welcome, regardless of their religious background.” Another government official told them that “we will help you get your property back.” The group also visited the historic Jewish cemetery in Damascus, where Hamra family members and the famous 16th-century Rabbi Chaim Vital are buried.
Another delegation visited Syria in May and met with the Syrian president himself. They were also joined by Syrian Foreign Ministry officials at the tomb of Rabbi Vital to commemorate the anniversary of his death. A third delegation, which notably included the founding editor of the Times of Israel, David Horovitz, visited Syria in September. They met with Foreign Ministry officials, Hamad Kara Ali and Qutaiba Idlbi, who are responsible for Jewish and American affairs, respectively. Idlibi told the group that “we are trying to build a bridge” to the Syrian Jewish diaspora, and the group gifted him a plaque with the Hebrew inscription, “love your neighbor as yourself.” Later that month, President Al-Sharaa addressed the UN General Assembly in New York and received a public blessing from Rabbi Yosef Hamra, who serves as the rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in Brooklyn.
Rebuilding Syria’s Jewish Community
Henry Hamra, the nephew of the last Syrian chief rabbi, is currently running for parliament in Syria. If elected, he would become the first Jew since 1947 to serve in the Syrian parliament. Beyond Jewish representation, the new government of Syria can support Jewish rebuilding efforts with funding and other resources, in addition to public displays of solidarity. The government reportedly provided the February delegation of Syrian Jews with guidance, drivers, and security. Jewish travel to Syria must continue to be facilitated in this manner by the Al-Sharaa government. In another early demonstration of government support for Syrian Jewry, local security teams were dispatched and a special emergency task force was created in response to the April desecration of the Rabbi Vital tomb. The pilgrimage site was then swiftly repaired by local authorities. This month, Syria’s Ministry of Social Affairs and Labor granted a license to the Jewish Heritage in Syria Foundation to protect Jewish sites against such desecration. In granting the license, Syrian Minister of Social Affairs Hind Kabawat said, “Jewish Syrians are an integral part of the Syrian fabric.”
According to Henry Hamra, Syrian Jews abroad “want to return to their homeland and see their synagogues.” There will be those living comfortably in the diaspora who choose not to return. Some of them will refuse out of legitimate historical grievance with Syria, given the decades of anti-Jewish persecution. Despite this disillusionment, one Jewish American plans to bring Torah scrolls back to Syria and another personally offered President Al-Sharaa a $100,000 donation for the Syrian Jewish restoration project. The president was visibly moved by the gesture, but confessed that it was not enough. Sustained external funding is necessary for the revival of Syrian Jewry. “If you want to … invest in Syria,” Hamra said, “it’s all open” and the “government wants to help.”
Crucially, this revival can only succeed if Israel suspends the military campaign it has been waging in Syria since the collapse of the Assad regime. The Israeli military has launched over 1,000 airstrikes and more than 400 cross-border raids, seizing Syrian territory, damaging property, and displacing civilians, all of which increases anti-Jewish hostility among the Syrian people and undermines prospects for a Jewish revival. Israel and Syria will also need to resolve other issues, including the historical dispute over the Golan Heights, in order for Syrian Jewry to truly flourish. The two countries kicked off the new year with a major step toward de-escalation. As part of negotiations taking place in Paris, the parties announced the formation of a “joint fusion mechanism.” This mechanism to facilitate a cessation of hostilities, intelligence sharing, diplomatic engagement, and economic cooperation will almost certainly reduce tensions such that Syrian Jews can thrive.
After decades of pogroms, anti-Jewish government policies, and institutionalized antisemitism, new leadership has emerged in Syria that could help restore the Syrian Jewish community. Assad has been replaced by Al-Sharaa, a president who appears willing to protect the Jewish minority. The new Syrian government has already facilitated Jewish travel to Syria, met with Jewish delegations, responded promptly to vandalism at a Jewish pilgrimage site, provided state backing to a Jewish organization, and made repeated commitments to the Jewish community. The Al-Sharaa government must now follow through on them. Meanwhile, Israel can support Syrian Jewish restoration by ceasing military provocations. With these combined efforts, Syrian Jews in the diaspora could finally return to Damascus, where they may find a Jewish revival already underway.
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