EXCLUSIVE: Syrian sefer Torah to be returned to synagogue

A delegation of Syrian Jewish business leaders and the Chief Rabbi of Syria are due to visit the country early next year, in a historic tour after the fall of Bashar al-Assad.

Moti Kahana, the American-Israeli philanthropist and humanitarian activist, told Jewish News that the group would be bringing with them a number of sifrei Torah, which he rescued from synagogues after the start of Syria’s brutal civil war, which began in 2011.

In 2013, Kahana, who has maintained long and close contact with the Syrian opposition who have now overthrown Assad, went to the Jobar Synagogue in Damascus, and took out various artefacts, including an ancient Torah scroll, promising to hold them in safe-keeping. He left a note with his name on it inside the synagogue, dated December 2013.

He told the then rebels: “As soon as we win the revolution, everything goes back to Syria”. He promised the opposition that nothing would go to Israel, but would be held temporarily by the Syrian Jewish community in America. He also promised that as soon as he could, he would restore the Judaica to the Syrian synagogues.

The Jobar synagogue, one of the oldest in Syria, was widely — and wrongly — said to have been destroyed during the civil war, collateral damage between the Syrian army and the rebel groups.

In fact, it seems that contrary to many reports, the Jobar Synagogue was not destroyed and, indeed, was being protected by Syrian opposition forces, who were aware of the importance of the synagogue and who were in contact with Kahana — sending messages and photographs of the interior of the building.

Now, says Kahana, the plan is to visit Damascus, to return the Jobar’s sefer Torah and to re-open the synagogue, “putting its mezuzah back” and looking at what needs to be done to bring it back to life.

He is confident, he says, “that many Syrian Jews will want to return to the country”, so that even though there is only a handful of Jews still in Syria, it is important to restore synagogues for those who are going back.

Kahana said the delegation planned to visit around five synagogues in and around Damascus. The business leaders on his delegation will be looking at potential investment in the country, something he believes will be welcomed by the new government.

Kahana wrote on social media: “My name is inside the Jobar synagogue. I am coming back, old friends”.

Syria was once home to one of the oldest Jewish communities in the world, with a population of around 100,000 at the turn of the 20th century, with communities in Damascus, Aleppo, and other major cities. Thousands left for Israel in 1948 after anti-Jewish riots, and the numbers are now said to have shrunk to below nine people.