The Jews of Lebanon Project

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July 22, 2007

BY DAVID CRUMM
FREE PRESS RELIGION WRITER

Internet sites are a dime a million these days, but there aren’t many that leap as many cultural chasms as the one designed by Eastern Michigan University senior Aaron-Micael Beydoun.

He’s a Muslim, Lebanese-American peace activist who uses lessons from the late Pope John Paul II and the philosopher-poet Kahlil Gibran in a Web site dedicated to protecting Lebanon’s most endangered minority: Jews.

“Many people who care about world peace don’t understand this very important point,” Beydoun said at his Dearborn Heights home, where he runs his global effort from a laptop.

“The point is this: If I want to protect human rights in my own community — let’s say in my family’s homeland of Lebanon — then I can only be successful in protecting human rights if, first, I reach out to protect the most vulnerable part of that community.

“No, I’m not Jewish, but I want to build a community in which everyone is safe in fully expressing their faith and culture.”

His Web site has attracted global attention, including news reports in France and the Middle East.

Beydoun’s site opens with John Paul II’s words during a 1997 visit to Lebanon in which the pope praised the country’s tradition as a multicultural oasis in the Middle East. If it can preserve that ideal, the pope said, “Lebanon is more than a country. It is a message.”

After those lines, visitors jump inside his site to find photos and news items about efforts to protect Jewish cemeteries, synagogues and other sacred sites in Lebanon.

“My goal right now is to have the central synagogue in Beirut, which is empty but is still standing, declared a World Heritage Site that should be protected,” he said.

Near his laptop lay a volume of poetry by Gibran, a Lebanese-American writer who died in 1931. Opening the book, Beydoun read from “A Poet’s Voice”:

“You and I are all children of one religion, for the varied paths of religion are but the fingers of the loving hand of the Supreme Being, extended to all.”

He closed the book.

“That’s what I think. Our vision must get bigger if we are going to live together in peace.”

We are three London based filmmakers who are working on a project about Lebanese Jews. We are looking for Jewish people who are living or originate from Lebanon to talk about what it is like to live in Lebanon or if you are in the diaspora, your relationship with Lebanon. We want to make a film about what has happened to one of Lebanon’s oldest communities and what it means to be Lebanese and Jewish today. Among other issues we are interested in exploring whether it is possible to be openly Jewish in Lebanon and if it’s possible to live according to Halakha.

Please get in contact with us on diaspora.film@gmail.com

النهار:
“القصة الصغيرة ليهود لبنان”ØŒ وثائقي للمخرج اللبناني الفرنسي ايف تركية وإنتاج “مؤسسة ذاكرة يهود لبنان”ØŒ عُرض في بانوراما السينما اللبنانية التي كرّمها مهرجان السينما في باريس المستمر حتى 14 تموز في العاصمة الفرنسية. ويروي الشريط للمرة الاولى قصة فئة كانت تشكل عنصراً من العناصر المكونة للمجتمع اللبناني، وفيه لمحات من حياة اليهود قبل رحليهم من لبنان.
ولتصوير مشاهده، قصد المخرج تركية، الذي عمل ايضا صحافياً في بيروت حتى مغادرته لبنان مع بدايات الحرب اللبنانية وقبل ان يتحول الى العمل في مجال الاشرطة الوثائقية، تسعة بلدان هاجر اليها اليهود الذين كانوا يعيشون في لبنان ومنها قبرص واسرائيل والولايات المتحدة وفرنسا وايطاليا.
ويقدر العدد الاجمالي لليهود الذين كانوا يعيشون في لبنان بنحو ثمانية آلاف شخص، 1800 منهم فقط كانوا يحملون الجنسية اللبنانية، فيما قدم الآخرون من سوريا وتحديداً من حلب، وغالبيتهم كانت تقطن حي وادي ابو جميل في بيروت. ولم يبق منهم اليوم سوى نحو 70 شخصا.
وقال تركية ان المشروع الاساسي كان يتضمن تصوير اليهود المقيمين حتى الآن في لبنان، لأن “الموضوع كان مطروحاً، وكنا على وشك الذهاب الى لبنان حين حدث اغتيال رفيق الحريري” رئيس الوزراء اللبناني السابق في شباط 2005. وأوضح ان يهود لبنان عموماً يفضلون عدم الظهور وعدم الكلام، مؤكدا انه اراد الابتعاد عن الشأن السياسي وعن الجدل الذي يمكن ان يثيره الوثائقي، وان يعالج موضوعه في اطار كوميدي خفيف.
ويلاحق الشريط العائلات اليهودية المهاجرة ليتعقب مصيرها وحياتها ويبحث عن علاقتها الراهنة بلبنان الذي انقطعت عنه ليبقى حضوره اقوى في الذاكرة.
وقال المخرج ان شريطه غير مخصص للعرض امام الجمهور العريض، إلا ان قناة “ار تي” الفرنسية - الالمانية أعلنت انها ستبثه قريباً.

النهار:
“القصة الصغيرة ليهود لبنان”، وثائقي للمخرج اللبناني الفرنسي ايف تركية وإنتاج “مؤسسة ذاكرة يهود لبنان”، عُرض في بانوراما السينما اللبنانية التي كرّمها مهرجان السينما في باريس المستمر حتى 14 تموز في العاصمة الفرنسية. ويروي الشريط للمرة الاولى قصة فئة كانت تشكل عنصراً من العناصر المكونة للمجتمع اللبناني، وفيه لمحات من حياة اليهود قبل رحليهم من لبنان.
ولتصوير مشاهده، قصد المخرج تركية، الذي عمل ايضا صحافياً في بيروت حتى مغادرته لبنان مع بدايات الحرب اللبنانية وقبل ان يتحول الى العمل في مجال الاشرطة الوثائقية، تسعة بلدان هاجر اليها اليهود الذين كانوا يعيشون في لبنان ومنها قبرص واسرائيل والولايات المتحدة وفرنسا وايطاليا.
ويقدر العدد الاجمالي لليهود الذين كانوا يعيشون في لبنان بنحو ثمانية آلاف شخص، 1800 منهم فقط كانوا يحملون الجنسية اللبنانية، فيما قدم الآخرون من سوريا وتحديداً من حلب، وغالبيتهم كانت تقطن حي وادي ابو جميل في بيروت. ولم يبق منهم اليوم سوى نحو 70 شخصا.
وقال تركية ان المشروع الاساسي كان يتضمن تصوير اليهود المقيمين حتى الآن في لبنان، لأن “الموضوع كان مطروحاً، وكنا على وشك الذهاب الى لبنان حين حدث اغتيال رفيق الحريري” رئيس الوزراء اللبناني السابق في شباط 2005. وأوضح ان يهود لبنان عموماً يفضلون عدم الظهور وعدم الكلام، مؤكدا انه اراد الابتعاد عن الشأن السياسي وعن الجدل الذي يمكن ان يثيره الوثائقي، وان يعالج موضوعه في اطار كوميدي خفيف.
ويلاحق الشريط العائلات اليهودية المهاجرة ليتعقب مصيرها وحياتها ويبحث عن علاقتها الراهنة بلبنان الذي انقطعت عنه ليبقى حضوره اقوى في الذاكرة.
وقال المخرج ان شريطه غير مخصص للعرض امام الجمهور العريض، إلا ان قناة “ار تي” الفرنسية - الالمانية أعلنت انها ستبثه قريباً.

Photos taken in recent days of a Jewish cemetery in Beirut. One of the ideals outlined by JOL.org is the rehabilitation and clean-up of the Jewish cemeteries in Lebanon. The emotional ramifications are worthy our attention, and in due time, we hope to clean up these sites.

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Emotional plea by a Jewish youth in Lebanon, previously published by JOL.org

I am sitting a few minutes walking distance from the Maghen Abraham, writing this letter, but frankly I am at a loss for words. I am not sure what to say, or for that matter what to feel. The past few years have been a monumental struggle for me, a struggle for finding my identity, my roots, my past. My struggle might be unique in its details, but at its core it is all too common.

Perhaps you will not understand the feelings I am trying to convey. Perhaps words cannot do justice to these feelings to begin with. These feelings are better kept in one’s heart, but I have decided to attempt to at least give you a sense of the struggle that rages in me, even today, when I can safely say that I feel confident about my belonging and identity.

It pains me that I have not had the chance to experience the life that some of you in the audience might have experienced in the past in Lebanon. It pains me immensely that I have to pass by the Maghen Abraham every day without being able to enter, if only to view the destruction, to say a prayer (even though I do not know how to say prayers), to stand there and imagine and visualize what the 1940s, 50s, 60s were like. It pains me that some of you, in the audience, wish to deny that I - a Lebanese Jew - exist. That my family and friends exist. It pains me immensely that I have to keep my identity hidden in my own country, but also that I have to prove my Jewishness to you, my fellow Jews, my fellow countrymen and women. I do not consider myself or my family more Lebanese than you the Lebanese Jews in the audience, just because my family chose to stay in Lebanon. No, I do not espouse such elitist views, nor do I wish to impose labels on you. It is up to every individual to define and exert his or her identity based on his or her experiences and feelings. I might not know how to pray, and I might not have had the chance to go to shul / knis, but I am a product of the context and situation I was born into. I might not sound convincing, and I might not impress you with my words, but I seek neither to convince nor impress. And if it matters, I am writing this with tears in my eyes.

If you wish, you may choose to believe that I am not Jewish. You may choose to believe I am not Lebanese. You may choose to believe that I am your enemy in disguise. Go ahead and do it. But I ask you, if I am all these, so what? Is the wish to spread awareness and battle anti-Semitism, the wish to see renovated rather than destroyed Synagogues, the wish to see cemeteries taken care of, the wish to see a Jewish community living openly and being looked at as equals, an act of enmity? If all this is enmity, then I wonder, what does friendship look like? And if you would like, consider me an enemy - I have no objections, as long as you pay attention to these wishes, as long as you listen to those who have been able to reap your trust.

I have this much to say, and no more. I do not believe in throwing fancy words around, words that are void of real feelings and only scratch the surface of the struggle. I believe in expressing honest feelings, the reality of the struggle, the immense pain in my heart. The depth of this issue, its importance for me and my family, necessitate not an amalgamation of fancy words, but a reference to a set of realities that need to be addressed. In the end, I am but one person, ignore me if you will, but do not ignore the question, the issue, the problem, the “non-existent” Jewish community in Lebanon, or whatever else you want to call us.

Maghen Abraham is the symbol of our community. Every day I pass by it, I cannot help but assure myself that it will be the symbol of our renaissance. I wrote my thoughts and feelings in this letter as they came along, but I knew its conclusion from the very beginning. I cannot afford not to know it. For you, it might not be a reality you live with every day, but we are not blessed with that luxury. So I say, let the elderly revel in the nostalgia, but at least give our youth a chance to live it.

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