Beirut Synagogue is a Reminder of a Departed People
June 28th, 2006 at 10:40 pmWar-shattered place of worship once catered to Lebanon’s 14,000 Jews, but now only a handful remain
by Dima Karam
Special to The Daily Star (Beirut) October 2003
You won’t notice it if you don’t look carefully. But it’s there, standing amid the revamped streets and empty plots of Beirut’s Central District (BCD), alternatively referred to as Downtown or Solidere (after the company in charge of restoration).
The Maghen Abraham Synagogue lies on the main Wadi Abu Jmil Street, a crumbling mystifying witness to a past era when Lebanon’s confessional mosaic seemed to offer the promise of a unique amalgamation of ethnic richness and tolerance. Visible from the highway crossing from Minet al-Hosn to Bab Idriss, it is one of the few remaining unrenovated buildings in the area testifying to the ravages of the Beirut’s civil war past. Above it the Grand Serail, the prime minister’s headquarters, stands tall in its restored glory.
What was a place of worship for the once 14,000-strong Jewish-Lebanese community is now seriously damaged, the only structure still standing being its fragile outer facade. The site looks like a scene from Downtown Beirut in the early 90s, when devastation, neglect and overgrown vegetation were choking the streets. The cream-colored stucco synagogue’s wooden roof is mostly destroyed; any inscription in Hebrew has been painstakingly chiseled off or erased.
What points out the building’s religious allegiance are two remaining stars of David painted in gold on each side of the central columns. The interior of the synagogue closely resembles a church’s structure; a large prayer hall flanked by two arched corridors faces the central holy arch, or Heykal, while stairs at each side lead to a large balcony overlooking the prayer hall. Beautiful turquoise paint remaining on the wall exposes the Mediterranean character of Maghen Abraham.
The synagogue’s land is owned by the Lebanese Jewish Community Council, according to Solidere’s press office. Many Lebanese Jews who still remain in Lebanon don’t like to talk about their community or past, but a spokesperson for the expatriate Jewish-Lebanese group in Paris, Juifs du Liban, (Jews of Lebanon) shed some light on the temple’s history in an e-mail interview.
“The synagogue was built in 1925 thanks to the contributions of a Sasson family member who named the synagogue after his father,” the group explained, adding that Maghen Abraham translates as Abraham’s shield.
“The head of the Jewish community then, Joseph Farhi, financed its interior furnishings, (but) in 1976 the torahs present in the synagogue were transferred to Geneva and entrusted to renowned Jewish-Lebanese banker Edmond Safra, who preserved them in his bank’s coffers. Most of them have since been relocated to Sephardic synagogues in Israel,” Juifs du Liban explained.
The reality of what exactly happened to the synagogue during the civil war is more complex than one might expect. Contrary to the prevailing view that anti-Semitism was the only driving force behind the migration of Arab Jews from their Arab lands, what happened at the Maghen Abraham synagogue lends some support to a view held by some pundits that Israelis had a direct hand in wanting to “facilitate” Jewish-Arab migration to Israel by terrorizing the communities into fleeing their homes.
An article published in the New York Times in 1982 relates how shortly after the Israeli invasion of Lebanon in that year, an Israeli shell targeted the Maghen Abraham synagogue, blowing a hole in its roof while some 60 Jewish and Muslim refugees were sleeping there.
The assault came after Israeli artillery had fired from East Beirut and gunboats cruising offshore had been persistently pounding Wadi Abu Jmil, a district well known for being a Jewish quarter, said neighborhood residents.
At the same time, in July 1982, an article in the Israeli newspaper, Yediot Ahronot, said that representatives of the World Zionist Organization had been unable to convince the Jews of West Beirut to emigrate to Israel.
“‘Why should we leave?’ they asked. ‘Here are our homes and our friends,’” said one Lebanese Jew quoted in the report.
Others argue, however, that a heavy PLO (Palestine Liberation Organization) presence in Wadi Abu Jmil was the reason for Israeli bombardment. While exact details may never become clear, either way the synagogue suffered at different times throughout the Lebanese civil war, as did many other religious temples of all confessions located in Downtown Beirut. Unlike many of these, Maghen Abraham was never totally destroyed.
Lebanese Jews historically have been an integral part of the Lebanese fabric of confessional communities. Judaism is one of the 18 officially recognized confessions. Lebanese Jews enjoyed the same rights and privileges as other minorities, sharing a minority seat in the Parliament, serving in the army, some even fighting in the 1948 first Arab-Israeli war. Lebanon, argues Kirsten Schulze in her book The Jews of Lebanon: Between Coexistence and Conflict, compared to other Arab states had a more tolerant and liberal attitude toward its own Jews and toward Jewish refugees seeking asylum in Beirut.
Lebanon was the only Arab country in which the number of Jews grew after the establishment of the state of Israel and the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, with the influx of Syrian and Iraqi Jews growing to number some 14,000. But intensification of the Arab-Israeli conflict, especially after 1967, helped politicize attitudes to Jews, who became increasingly associated with the policies of Israel. This led to an overall decline in the community, many of whom chose to go to Europe and the Americas rather than to Israel.
The civil war and the Israeli invasion escalated this emigration until almost no Jews were left. Today there are about 100 practicing Lebanese Jews remaining in the country.
One middle-aged Lebanese-Jewish woman, still living in Wadi Abu Jmil and known by everyone in the neighborhood, was happy to recall the pre-war days and the synagogue during an interview at her home.
“I was not a very practicing person, but I used to go with my mother and aunts to weddings and celebrations at the synagogue, it was one of the most beautiful ones in the Middle East,” Layla (not her real name) says. Pointing at her living room she continues: “And what was special about it was the chandelier, it was as big as this room and laden with gold.”
“Layla” lives off money her brothers in France send her and her pension. She says she has no contact with the few remaining members of the Jewish community in Lebanon and lives in “isolation.”
But what is to become of the Maghen Abraham synagogue? Juifs du Liban explains that one Jewish-Lebanese family, who did not wish to be identified, is organizing the synagogue’s restoration and has already drawn up plans for its rebuilding, but the necessary funds from different donors have yet to be raised. The synagogue falls inside the reconstruction perimeter of the BCD, so by law the corresponding religious community must assume responsibility for restoration, preserving the original architectural character.
Solidere has granted a delay for the Jewish community to restore the synagogue due to the small number of Jews still living in Lebanon. According to the family cited by Juifs du Liban, Lebanese authorities have been in contact with them to restore the synagogue, but plans are uncertain.
barry gottlieb Said,
July 23, 2006 @ 6:30 pm
have been reading of your once great community!!! the lebanese jews who have all left , i am sure r very proud and have p,g .. prospered were ever they r in the world. it s the same old story. we survive because we stick together…. rgds — from manchester u.k
Charles Pottins Said,
July 26, 2006 @ 10:36 am
Amid the awful events we are seeing on our TV screens and in pictures on the internet, it is refreshing and hopeful to see your site appear.
I remember seeing a picture of a PLO guard at the Beirut synagogue, it may have been in the 1976-8 civil war or later. I was told that being in the neighbourhood, they took responsibility for its protection. But then the synagogue was hit by Israeli offshore shelling, I don’t know whether this accidental irony or deliberate. A friend of mine, Aryeh Finkle, visited Lebanon with a peace mission, and brought back a magen david fallen from the synagogue to show people. I suggested he donate it to the Jewish Museum then opening in Manchester, but he said he wanted to return it to the Lebanese Jewish community whenever that became possible,
Unfortunately I have lost touch with Arye over the years, but I will try to contact him now and find out what happened to that magen david.
As a Jewish person in Britain, anguished as you are by what Israel does in our name (and now, alas, with British government support), I am impressed to see your appearance. It reminds me of what another friend of mine liked to quote, from I don’t know where, “It is better to light one small candle than to forever curse the dark”. Long may your light continue to shine!
Charles Pottins (London)
M. Said,
August 4, 2006 @ 7:30 pm
I visited in Beirut in June 2006 and took a few nice pictures of the Synagogue Maghen Abraham. Would be happy to share them if someone would tell me how. Thank you.
Walid Said,
August 9, 2006 @ 8:39 am
M. Said, it would be really great if you send me your photos to my email.
Thank you.
Walid Said,
August 9, 2006 @ 10:58 am
email is: walid97 at hotmail.com
Issa Said,
August 9, 2006 @ 11:00 pm
I snuck into the synagogue in 2003, a truly beautiful building, the columns and still iridescent blue Magen Davids on the top storey are my most vivid memories. I was wondering what the building at the rear of the Synagogue was (it’s in the pictures from the 1930s), I went inside and it appeared to be a school, was it a Jewish school? I entered to get some pics of the roof of the building, in one of the rooms there was a chandelier discarded in the corner, I wonder if this was from the Synagogue. The building at the rear is now demolished and many new structures have been built in the neighbourhood, I wonder what happened to the chandelier?
Issa.
vonnie Said,
August 11, 2006 @ 11:58 am
I’ve enjoyed reading all the articles and comments. This site is a breath of fresh air in all the muck and agony that’s currently being waged. I wish you peace and success.
IMB Said,
August 12, 2006 @ 5:24 pm
Issa,
I am a Lebanese of Jewish faith - I can tell you that behind the Synagogue was a School called Talmud Torah. There was also a sport Club as well as a Community center for the youth.
In fact members of the jewish community in Lebanon started to leave just after the 6-days war of 67. The movement increased after the start of the Civil war of 75.
I can tell you that there is no enmity against Lebanon. We the lebanese Jews long for the good old days. Many of us were making plans to spend holidays in Beyrouh this summer. Many were plannning to take their children who were born overseas, to visit and to get acquainted with the Lebanon that their fathers/Mothers tell them about. Too bad that Hezbollah had other plans for Lebanon and for the Region -
Roland Rance Said,
August 13, 2006 @ 2:44 pm
I visited the Beirut synagogue as part of the delegation mentioned by Charlie above. Actually, it was not a “poeace mission”; we called it a “Delegation of British Jews in Solidarity with the Palestinian and Lebanese Victims of Israeli Aggression”. I have some photographs of myself and Arye Finkle standing in the shelled synagogue, and would be happy to scan them and forward them if you could use them on the site.
michelle Said,
August 17, 2006 @ 1:48 pm
I live in Israel, originally from the US. I have been so saddened by man’s inhumanity to man. In my small way I wish to extend greetings of peace and love to you and all the Lebanese people of every religion. The world is in such a complicated state of misunderstanding, hatred and pain. I have been enjoying reading about Lebanon on the web to learn that some of us are really more similar than we are different. I wish someday to visit your country. Thanks for providing this glipmse into your country.
wishes of peace and love. shalom/salam
Najwa Karam Said,
November 2, 2006 @ 6:05 am
karam’s
I Googled for something completely different..but found your page
david .s Said,
December 8, 2006 @ 7:20 am
hi m who can i see those pics?
Yonatan B. Said,
January 5, 2007 @ 2:22 am
I went there 4 yr.s ago, I love Beirut…still I ended up in a cell, accused of espionage. My adopted government got me out. There is still too much spin on reality in Lebanon….I still love it though, as Thomas Friedmann would put it.
Nizar Said,
February 2, 2007 @ 7:49 am
Enjoyed the site. I come from mount Lebanon, my grandmother used to speak about an old jewish door to door seller who brings the best combs to our village. One day he stopped coming…but she still has the comb!!
With the jews back to Lebanon, Beirut will become more fun!!
Peace…
Mikha'el Said,
February 5, 2007 @ 6:26 pm
“Najwa Karam Said,
November 2, 2006 @ 6:05 am
karam’s
I Googled for something completely different..but found your page? and have to say thanks. nice read. ”
Is that THE real Najwa Karam?? Congrats to the admistrator for attarcting such a great celeb visitor!
Ziad Said,
February 7, 2007 @ 11:20 pm
Dear Sirs,
I respect everybody’s opinion. I am looking for any lawyer that represnts “Lebanese Jews”. I am very intrested to buy properties in MINA Al Hosn region of Beirut.
Please send me an email.
Profit Muhamad did trade deals with prominant jewish murchants.
Thank you,
J.M Said,
June 8, 2007 @ 11:55 am
hello,
i am curious as to the exact emplacement of the synagogue in beirut as i hope to visit it personally.
any directions are welcome
bob Said,
September 17, 2007 @ 12:05 pm
hmmm..
bob Said,
September 17, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
am sunni from beirut…bt i ddn meet b4 any jewish lebanese
bob Said,
September 17, 2007 @ 12:06 pm
btw whats da synagogue :S
Administration Said,
September 19, 2007 @ 2:36 pm
A7lan khayyeh, ya3neh kniss bil 3arabeh, il ma3bad lel deen il Yahoudi.
Jofno Said,
October 28, 2007 @ 11:59 pm
Please how i can see the picture of the Magen Abraham Synagogue
Ahmad Said,
January 16, 2008 @ 12:40 pm
It is such a shame that the Lebanese Jews were linked with Israel. I come from Ain El Mraysseh which is right next to Wadi Abou Jamal area. My grandmother (82) used to tell me that she used to walk to her school in Achrafieh passing by the Jewish quarter. She says that they were very peaceful people and it is a shame they left.
I personnally wish to meet Lebanese Jews because they are Lebanese and represent the ethnic-dverse tolerant country of the most amazing Lebanon. The government should track the descendants of the Lebanese Jewish community and invite them to revive their presence in Lebanon. Hopefully things will get better in Lebanon and we will all understand that despite our beautiful religions and diversity we are the same people.
Ahmad Said,
January 16, 2008 @ 12:43 pm
IMB despite my one-year late comment on this article I wish I could meet you and become friends. So that we could share stories we’ve been told about the good old days.