page_title: History of the Jews in Syria
section_title: Under the Ottoman Empire
hierarchical_section_title: History of the Jews in Syria / After the Islamic conquest / Under the Ottoman Empire
caption_attribution_description: Chief Rabbi Jacob Saul Dwek, Hakham Bashi of Aleppo, Syria, 1908. Made available here: http://mideastimage.com/ Photographed by Reverend J.Segall. Copy of a photograph by the Rverend J.Segall,Missionary in Damascus for over Quarter of a century,from his book Travels through Northern Syria,published in 1910. The photograph shows the Rabbi { Hakham } of Aleppo with his secretary in western clothes, boe-tie and a fez,to his left is his Kawas {body guard }, in his traditional uniform.
context_page_description: Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: those who inhabited Syria from early times and the Sephardim who fled to Syria after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain. There were large communities in Aleppo, Damascus, and Qamishli for centuries. In the early 20th century, a large percentage of Syrian Jews immigrated to Israel, the U.S., and Latin America. The largest Syrian-Jewish community is located in Israel and is estimated at 80,000.
  Following the Syrian Civil War and rise of ISIL, the majority of the remaining Jews of Syria have fled to neighboring Israel. As of November 2019, there are no known Jews remaining in the country.
context_section_description: In 1515 Selim I defeated the Mamelukes and Syria became part of the Ottoman Empire.
  The "Chronicle" of Joseph Sambari (finished 1672) contains the names of a number of rabbis of note who lived in Damascus during the 16th century. He says that the Jewish community lived chiefly in Jobar, and he knows of the synagogue of Elisha (Central Synagogue of Aleppo) and the cave of Elijah the Tishbite. At the head of the community was a certain Abu ִHatseirah (so-called from a peculiar kind of headdress which he wore), who was followed by 'Abd Allah ibn Naִsir. Of the rabbis of Damascus proper he mentions Joseph ִHayyaִt; Samuel Aripol, author of "Mizmor le-Todah"; Samuel ibn 'Imran; Joseph al-ִSa'iִh; Moses Najara, author of "Lekaִh ִTob"; ִHayim Alshaich; Joseph Maִtalon; Abraham Galante. In this home of learning there was also a model-codex of the Bible called "Al-Taj" (the Crown). In 1547 Pierre Belon visited Damascus in the train of the French ambassador M. de Fumel. He speaks of the large number of Jews there; but makes the singular confusion of placing in this city the events connected with the famous Ahmad Shaitan of Egypt.
  Among the spiritual leaders of Damascus in the 16th century may be mentioned: Jacob Berab, who, in the interval between his sojourns in Egypt and at Safed, lived there for some years (c. 1534); ִHayim Vital the Calabrian (1526–1603), for many years chief rabbi of Damascus, and the author of various cabalistic works, including "Etz ִHayim"; Samuel ben David the Karaite (not "Jemsel," as Eliakim Carmoly has it), who visited Damascus in 1641, mentions the circumstance that the Karaites there do not read the Haftarah after the Pentateuch section. Moses Najara; his son, the poet Israel Najara; Moses Galante (died in 1608), the son of Mordecai Galante; and Samuel Laniado ben Abraham of Aleppo were also among the prominent men of the 16th century.
  The most celebrated rabbis of the 17th century were Josiah Pinto, a pupil of Jacob Abulafia, and author of the "Kesef-Nibִhar", and his son-in-law, Samuel Vital, who transcribed and circulated a large number of his father's Kabbalistic manuscripts. At the same time in Aleppo ִHayyim Cohen ben Abraham wrote "Meqor ִHayyim", published at Constantinople in 1649, and at Amsterdam by Menasseh ben Israel in 1650. Other Aleppo worthies are Samuel Dwek and Isaac Lopes in 1690 followed by Yehudah Kassin, Isaac Berachah and Isaac Atieh in the 18th century.
  From the 17th to the 19th century, several Jews of Spanish and Italian origin settled in Syria for trading reasons. Whenever possible, they kept their European nationality in order to be under the jurisdiction of the consular courts under the Ottoman Capitulations, rather than being treated as dhimmis under Islamic law.  These European Jews were known as Señores Francos and maintained a sense of social superiority to the native Jews, both Musta'arabi and Sephardi.  They did not form separate synagogues, but often held services of their own in private houses. There were also Jews of Baghdadi origin who claimed British nationality through family connections in India.
  Some information is obtainable from travellers who visited Damascus during the 19th century. Alfred von Kremer, in "Mittel-Syrien und Damaskus" (1853), states that in the municipal government of the city two Christians and one Jew had places; the number of Jews was 4,000, only 1,000 of whom, however, paid the poll-tax; the last Karaite had died there some fifty years previously, the Karaite synagogue being then sold to the Greeks, who turned it into a church. The traveller Benjamin II gives the same number of inhabitants. He describes the synagogue at Jobar (to the north-east of the city) thus:
  "The structure of this ancient building reminds one of the Mosque Moawiah; the interior is supported by 13 marble pillars, six on the right and seven on the left side, and is everywhere inlaid with marble. There is only one portal by which to enter. Under the holy shrine . . . is a grotto . . . the descent to which is by a flight of about 20 steps. According to the Jews, the
caption: Chief Rabbi Jacob Saul Dweck, Av Beit Din of Aleppo, Syria, 1908.
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