Syrian Jews
Encyclopedia
Syrian Jews are Jews who inhabit the region of the modern state of Syria
, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times
(known as Musta'arabi Jews, and sometimes classified as Mizrahi Jews, a generic term for the Jews with an extended history in the Middle East or North Africa); and from the Sephardi Jews
(referring to Jews with an extended history in the Iberian Peninsula
, i.e. Spain and Portugal
) who fled to Syria after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain
(1492 CE
).
There were large communities in Aleppo
and Damascus
for centuries, and a smaller community in Qamishli
on the Turkish border near Nusaybin. In the first half of the 20th century a large percentage of Syrian Jews emigrated to the U.S., Central and South America and Israel. Most of the remaining Jews left in the 28 years following 1973, due in part to the efforts of Judith Feld Carr, who claims to have helped some 3,228 Jews emigrate; emigration was officially allowed in 1992. Today there are about 25 Jews in Syria, all of them living in Damascus. The largest Syrian Jewish community is located in Brooklyn
, New York and is estimated at 75,000 strong. There are smaller communities elsewhere in the United States and in Latin America.
, and certainly since early Roman times. Jews from this ancient community were known as Musta'arabim (Arabized Jews) to themselves, or Moriscos to the Sephardim.
Many Sephardim arrived following the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and quickly took a leading position in the community.
Still later, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some Jews from Italy
and elsewhere, known as Señores Francos, settled in Syria for trading reasons, while retaining their European nationalities.
Today there is no clear distinction between these groups, as they have intermarried extensively, and all regard themselves as "Sephardim" in a broader sense. It is said that one can tell Aleppo families of Spanish descent (in the narrow sense) by the fact that they light an extra Hanukkah
candle. This custom was apparently established in gratitude for their acceptance by the more native Syrian based community.
In the nineteenth century, following the completion of the Suez Canal
in Egypt in 1869, trade shifted to that route from the overland route through Syria, and the commercial importance of Aleppo and Damascus underwent a marked decline. Many families left Syria for Egypt (and a few for Lebanon) in the following decades, and with increasing frequency until the First World War, Jews left the near East for western countries, mainly Great Britain, the United States, Mexico and Argentina
. This pattern of migration largely followed the fortunes of the cotton trade, in which many Syrian Jews were engaged.
Beginning on the Passover Holiday of 1992, the 4,000 remaining members of the Damascus Jewish community (Arabic Yehud ash-Sham) as well as the Aleppo community and the Jews of Qamishli, were permitted under the regime of Hafez al-Assad
to leave Syria provided they did not emigrate to Israel. Within a few months, thousands of Syrian Jews made their way to Brooklyn, with a few families choosing to go to France and Turkey. The majority settled in Brooklyn with the help of their kin in the Syrian Jewish community.
The few remaining Jews in Syria live in Damascus.
There has been a Syrian presence in Jerusalem since before 1850, with many rabbinical families having members both there and in Damascus and Aleppo. These had some contact with their Ashkenazi
opposite numbers of the Old Yishuv
, leading to a tradition of strict orthodoxy: for example in the 1860s there was a successful campaign to prevent the establishment of a Reform
synagogue in Aleppo. Some Syrian traditions, such as the singing of Baqashot
, were accepted by the mainstream Jerusalem Sephardi community.
A further group immigrated to Palestine
around 1900, and formed the Ades Synagogue
in Nachlaot
. This still exists, and is the main Aleppo rite synagogue in Israel, though its membership now includes Asiatic Jews of all groups, especially Kurdish
. There is also a large Syrian community in Holon and Bat Yam.
Many Jews fled from Syria to Palestine during the anti-Jewish riots of 1947. After that, the Syrian government clamped down and allowed no emigration, though some Jews left illicitly. In the last two decades, some emigration has been allowed, mostly to America, though some have since left America for Israel, under the leadership of Rabbi Albert Hamra.
The older generation from prior to the establishment of the Israeli state retains little or no Syrian ethnic identity of its own and is well integrated into mainstream Israeli society. The most recent wave is integrating at different levels, with some concentrating on integration in Israel and others retaining closer ties with their kin in New York and Mexico.
There is a Merkaz 'Olami le-Moreshet Yahadut Aram Tsoba (World Center for the Heritage of Aleppo Jewry) in Tel Aviv
, which publishes books of Syrian Jewish interest.
, where they joined the local Spanish and Portuguese synagogues, which had a mixed community that included North African, Turkish, Egyptian and Iraqi as well as Syrian Jews. This community founded two synagogues; one (Shaare Tephillah) in North Central Manchester, which has since moved to Salford, and the other (Shaare Hayim) on Queenston Road in West Didsbury, in the southern suburbs. A breakaway synagogue (Shaare Sedek) was later formed on Old Lansdowne Road with more of a Syrian flavor; but it and the Queenston Road congregation have since merged, while retaining both buildings. Today, they are still known as the Lansdowne Road synagogue and the Queen's Road synagogue, after the names those streets bore in the 1930s. While there are still several Sephardim in the Manchester area, a fair number have since left for communities in the Americas. Despite their reduced numbers, there is currently an initiative to acquire a new site for a synagogue in Hale
, to be closer to the current centers of the Sephardic and general Jewish populations.
, Midwood
, Flatbush
, and along Ocean Parkway
in Gravesend
, Brooklyn. The latter is considered to be the current center of the community, though the community was formerly centered around the Magen David Synagogue on 67th street in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. Some of the more notable congregations are listed below:
is in the capital Buenos Aires
. The majority are Ashkenazim, but the Sephardim, and especially the Syrians, are a sizeable community. Syrian Jews are most visible in the Once
district, where there are many community schools and temples. For some decades there has been a good-natured rivalry between the Shami (Damascene
) community of "Shaare Tefila (Pasito)" synagogue and the Halebi (Aleppan
) community of "Sucat David" across the street. The most influential rabbinic authority was Rabbi Isaac Chehebar from the "Yessod Hadat" congregation on Lavalle street; he was consulted from all across the globe, and had an influential role in the recovery of parts of the Aleppo codex
. There are many kosher butcher shops and restaurants catering to the community.There were important communities in the Boca
and Flores
neighborhoods as well. Many Syrian Jews own clothing stores along Avellaneda avenue in Flores, and there is a community school on Felipe Vallese (formerly Canalejas) street. Some important clothing chains such as Chemea and Tawil, with tens of shops each, were started by Syrian Jews.
come from Beirut
, Lebanon
, where they had lived since their expulsion from Syria following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent violent anti-Jewish pogroms perpetrated by their Muslim neighbours. They left Beirut in wake of the first Lebanese Civil War
. Most Syrian Jews established themselves in the industrial city of São Paulo
, being attracted there by the many commercial opportunities it offered. The community became very prosperous, and several of its members are among the wealthiest and the politically and economically most influential families in São Paulo. The community first attended Egyptian synagogues, but later founded their own synagogues, most notably the Beit Yaakov synagogues in the neighbourhoods of Jardins and Higienopolis.The community has its own school and youth movement, and claims a strong Jewish identity and low assimilation rate. The majority of the community affiliates itself with Jewish Orthodoxy, though few could be described as fully Orthodox. There are approximately 7,000 Syrian Jews in Brazil.
, many Syrian Jews escaped from Syria and Palestine, provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I. At present there are 2,300 Syrian Jews in Chile.
The Rodfe Sedek synagogue, for Aleppan Jews, was established in 1931, largely through the efforts of Rabbi Mordejay Attie. This synagogue, known also as Knis de Cordoba, is situated at 238 Cordoba Street in the Colonia Roma quarter of Mexico City. At the time this neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Jews from Aleppo in Mexico City. The first mikveh (ritual bath) in Mexico was established within the Rodfe Sedek synagogue. In 1982 a funeral house was built in the courtyard of the synagogue.
Also in the 1930s the members of Monte Sinaí established a large synagogue for Damascene Jews situated at 110 Queretaro Street in the Colonia Roma area. They have welcomed Jews of all backgrounds into their midst, which has allowed tremendous growth over the years. In 1938 Jewish immigrants from Aleppo set up Sociedad de Beneficencia Sedaká u Marpé, which evolved into a separate Jewish community: since 1984 it has been known as Comunidad Maguen David. Monte Sinai and Maguen David are now the largest Jewish communities in Mexico
, having more than four synagogues, a community center and a school each.
also received a large number of Syrian Jewish immigrants, mostly from Halab (Aleppo
), where they constitute the largest group in Panama's 10,000 strong Jewish Sephardic community. Most of the immigrants arrived in the late 1940s after riots in Aleppo due to the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The community consists of many synagogues all united under its flagship, Shevet Ahim Synagogue, where their late Chief Rabbi Sion Levy officiated. The community maintains close contact with their counterparts in North America as well as Israel. In his later years, Rabbi Levy oversaw the construction of new synagogues in Panama City and worked to smooth relations with the country’s Arab and Muslim communities. He frequently phoned the country’s imam for a talk. By the time of his death, the Shevet Ahim community numbered 10,000 Jews, 6,000 of whom are Torah-observant. The community now includes several synagogues, mikvahs, three Jewish schools, a yeshiva, a kollel, and a girls' seminary, along with several kosher butchers.
There exists a fragment of the old Aleppo prayer book for the High Holy Days, published in Venice
in 1527, and a second edition, starting with the High Holy Days but covering the whole year, in 1560. This represents the liturgy of the Musta'arabim (native Arabic-speaking Jews) as distinct from that of the Sephardim proper (immigrants from Spain and Portugal): it recognizably belongs to the "Sephardic" family of rites in the widest sense, but is different from any liturgy used today. For more detail, see Old Aleppo ritual.
Following the immigration of Jews from Spain following the expulsion, a compromise liturgy evolved containing elements from the customs of both communities, but with the Sephardic element taking an ever larger share. In Syria, as in North African countries; there was no attempt to print a Siddur
containing the actual passages of the community, as this would not generally be commercially viable. Major publishing centres, principally Livorno
, and later Vienna
, would produce standard "Sephardic" prayer books suitable for use in all communities, and particular communities such as the Syrians would order these in bulk, preserving any special usages by oral tradition. (For example, Ḥacham Abraham Ḥamwi of Aleppo commissioned a series of prayer-books from Livorno, which were printed in 1878, but even these were "pan-Sephardic" in character, though they contained some notes about the specific "minhag Aram Tsoba".) As details of the oral tradition faded from memory, the liturgy in use came ever nearer to the "Livorno" standard. In the early years of the twentieth century, this "Sephardic" rite was almost universal in Syria. The only exception (in Aleppo) was a "Musta'arabi" minyan
at the Central Synagogue of Aleppo
.
The liturgy of Damascus
differed from that of Aleppo in some details, mostly because of its greater proximity to the Holy Land. Some of the laws specific to Eretz Yisrael are regarded as extending to Damascus, and the city had ties both to the Safed
Kabbalists
and to the Jerusalem Sephardic community.
The liturgy now used in Syrian communities round the world is textually speaking Oriental-Sephardic. That is to say, it is based on the Spanish rite as varied by the customs of Isaac Luria
, and resembles those in use in Greek, Turkish and North African Jewish communities. In earlier decades some communities and individuals used "Edot ha-Mizraḥ" prayer-books which contained a slightly different text, based on the Baghdadi rite, as these were more commonly available, leaving any specifically Syrian usages to be perpetuated by oral tradition. The nearest approach to a current official prayer book is Kol Ya'akob and "Eit Ratzon", but other editions exist and there is still disagreement on some textual variants.
The musical customs of Syrian communities are very distinctive, as many of the prayers are chanted to the melodies of the pizmonim
, according to a complicated annual rota designed to ensure that the maqam
(musical mode) used suits the mood of the festival or of the Torah reading for the week. See Syrian Cantors
and the Weekly Maqam.
and holidays. Some of these are ancient and others were composed more recently as adaptations of popular Arabic songs; sometimes they are written or commissioned for particular occasions, and contain coded allusions to the name of the person honoured. There is a standard Pizmonim book called "Shir uShbaha Hallel veZimrah", edited by Cantor Gabriel A. Shrem under the supervision of the Sephardic Heritage Foundation, in which the hymns are classified according to the musical mode (maqam
) to which the melody belongs. As time passes, more and more pizmonim are getting lost, and therefore efforts are being made by the Sephardic Pizmonim Project, under the leadership of Mr. David M. Betesh, to preserve as many pizmonim as possible. A website to facilitate its preservation, was set up at Pizmonim.com.
(petitionary hymns), before the morning service on Shabbat
. In the winter months, the full corpus of 66 hymns is sung, finishing with Adon Olam
and Kaddish
. This service generally lasts about four hours, from 3:00am to 7:00am.
This tradition still obtains full force in the Ades Synagogue
in Jerusalem. In other communities such as New York, it is less widespread; though the hymns are sung on other occasions.
is similar to that of other Mizrahi
communities, and is influenced both by Sephardi Hebrew
and by the Syrian dialect
of Arabic
. It does not reflect the formal rules for the pronunciation of Classical Arabic
(tajwid
) to the same extent as the pronunciation of Iraqi Jews. Particular features are as follows:
(Beth without dagesh) is traditionally /b/, but in Israel is often now [v] under the influence of Israeli Hebrew (Gimel without dagesh) is often pronounced [ɣ], like Arabic غ (voiced velar fricative
) (Daleth without dagesh) is pronounced [d] as in Israeli Hebrew, not [ð] as in Yemenite pronunciation. (He
with mappiq) is often pronounced with a very short postpended schwa [ə] (Vav
) is pronounced [v], not [w] (Heth
) is pronounced [ħ], like Arabic ح (voiceless pharyngeal fricative
) (Teth
) is pronounced [tˤ], like Arabic ط (voiceless pharyngealized alveolar plosive) (Kaph
without dagesh) is often pronounced [x], like Arabic خ (unvoiced velar fricative) (Ayin
) is pronounced [ʕ] (this sound is sometimes described as "the sound of swallowing a grape, backwards"), like Arabic ع (voiced pharyngeal fricative
), but this is less emphatic than in some other dialects (Tsadi) is pronounced [sˤ], like Arabic ص (voiceless pharyngealized alveolar fricative); that is, like English voiceless "s" but with the tongue a little retracted (Qof) is "supposed" to be [q], like Classical Arabic ق (voiceless uvular plosive) but sometimes slips: historically, into [ʔ], a glottal stop
as in colloquial Syrian Arabic
, and today, into [k] in conformity with English or with Israeli Hebrew (Tav
without dagesh) is pronounced [t] as in Israeli Hebrew, not [θ] as in Yemenite and Iraqi pronunciation.
The retention of distinct emphatic sounds such as [ħ] and [tˤ] differentiates Syrian pronunciation from many other Sephardic/Mizrahi pronunciations which have failed to maintain these phonemic or phonological distinctions, for example between [t] and [tˤ].
Vowels are pronounced as in most other Sephardi and Mizrahi traditions: for example there is no distinction between patach and qamats gadol ([a]), or between segol, tsere and vocal sheva ([e]). Ħiriq is sometimes reduced to [ɪ] or [ə] in an unstressed closed syllable, or in the neighbourhood of an emphatic or guttural consonant.
A semivocalic sound is heard before pataħ ganuv (pataħ coming between a long vowel and a final guttural): thus ruaħ (spirit) is pronounced [ˈruːwaħ] and siaħ (speech) is pronounced [ˈsiːjaħ].
, now known in Hebrew as Keter Aram Tsoba, is the oldest and most famous manuscript of the Bible. Written in Tiberias in the year 920, and annotated by Aaron ben Asher
, it has become the most authoritative Biblical text in Jewish culture. The most famous halachic authority to rely on it was Maimonides
, in his exposition of the laws governing the writing of Torah scrolls in his codification of Jewish law (Mishneh Torah
). After its completion, the Codex was brought to Jerusalem. Toward the end of the 11th century, it was stolen and taken to Egypt, where it was redeemed by the Jewish community of Cairo. At the end of the 14th century the Codex was taken to Aleppo, Syria (called by the Jews Aram Zobah
, the biblical name of part of Syria)—this is the origin of the manuscript's modern name.
For the next five centuries, it was kept closely guarded in the basement of the Central Synagogue of Aleppo
, and was considered the community's greatest treasure. Scholars from round the world would consult it to check the accuracy of their Torah scrolls. In the modern era the community would occasionally allow academics, such as Umberto Cassuto
, access to the Codex, but would not permit it to be reproduced photographically or otherwise.
The Codex remained in the keeping of the Aleppo Jewish community until the anti-Jewish riots of December 1947, during which the ancient synagogue where it was kept was broken into and burned. The Codex itself disappeared. In 1958, the Keter was smuggled into Israel by Murad Faham and wife Sarina, and presented to the President of the State, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
. Upon its arrival, it was found that parts of the Codex including most of the Torah, had been lost. The Codex was entrusted to the keeping of the Ben-Zvi Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
, though the Porat Yosef Yeshiva
h has argued that, as the spiritual heir of the Aleppo community, it was the legitimate guardian. Some time after the arrival of the Codex, Mordechai Breuer
began the monumental work of reconstructing the lost sections, on the basis of other well-known ancient manuscripts. Since then a few other leaves have been found.
Modern editions of the Bible, such as the Hebrew University
's "Jerusalem Crown" and Bar-Ilan University
's "Mikraot Gedolot ha-Keter", have been based on the Codex. The missing sections have been reconstructed on the basis of cross-references in the Masoretic Text
of surviving sections, and of the notes of scholars who have consulted the Codex and of other manuscripts.
The codex is now kept in the Israel Museum
, in the building known as "The Shrine of The Book
." It lies there along with the Dead Sea Scrolls
and many other ancient Jewish relics.
Syrian Jews had a distinctive traditional sharḥ (translation of the Bible into Syrian Judaeo-Arabic
), which was used in teaching children, though not for any liturgical purpose. One version of this was printed in about 1900: another (from the so-called Avishur Manuscript) was printed by the Merkaz Olami le-Moreshet Yahadut Aram Tsoba in 2006, with pages of translation facing pages from the "Jerusalem Crown". This print contains the Torah only, but volumes for the rest of the Bible are planned.
, particularly where the conversion is suspected of being for the sake of marriage, or accept such converts from other communities, or the children of mixed marriages or marriages involving such converts. However, there are exceptions to the rule, such as conversions for the sake of adoptions always being permitted. Additionally, communal rabbis (such as the late Chief Rabbi Jacob S. Kassin) have occasionally recognized conversions carried out by certain rabbis, such as members of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Nonetheless, these rulings strongly discourage people from converting into the Syrian Jewish community as they require them to show commitment to Judaism above and beyond what is required by the normative rabbinical laws of conversion.
Hacham Uzziel
, then Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
, was asked to rule on the validity of this ban. He acknowledged the right of the community to refuse to carry out conversions and to regard as invalid conversions carried out by other communities in which marriage is a factor. At the same time, he cautioned that persons converted out of genuine conviction and recognized by established rabbinic authorities should not be regarded as non-Jewish, even if they were not allowed to join the Syrian community.
The ban is popularly known within the Syrian community as the "edict
" or "proclamation
" (in Hebrew, takkanah). Every twenty years or so, the edict is reaffirmed by all leaders and rabbis of the community, often with extra clauses. A full list is as follows:
There has been some argument as to whether the ruling amounts to a blanket ban on all converts or whether sincere converts from other communities, not motivated by marriage, may be accepted. The relevant sentence in the English language summary is "no male or female member of our community has the right to intermarry with non-Jews; this law covers conversions which we consider to be fictitious and valueless". In the 1946 "Clarification" a comma appears after the word "conversions", which makes it appear that all conversions are "fictitious and valueless", though this understanding is not uncontested, and there is no equivalent change in the Hebrew text.
Supporters of the edict argue that it has been demographically successful, in that the rate of intermarriage with non-Jews in the Syrian community is believed to be less than 3%, as opposed to anything up to 50% in the general American Jewish population. Opponents argue that this fact is not a result of the edict, but of widespread attendance at Orthodox day schools, and that a similarly low rate of intermarriage is found among other Orthodox day-schooled Jews despite the absence of any equivalent of the edict.
to the Jewish Kashrut laws
. Syrian (and Egyptian) recipes remain popular in Syrian Jewish communities around the world. There are traditions linking different dishes to the Jewish festivals.
Popular dishes are as follows:
Syria
Syria , officially the Syrian Arab Republic , is a country in Western Asia, bordering Lebanon and the Mediterranean Sea to the West, Turkey to the north, Iraq to the east, Jordan to the south, and Israel to the southwest....
, and their descendants born outside Syria. Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times
History of ancient Israel and Judah
Israel and Judah were related Iron Age kingdoms of ancient Palestine. The earliest known reference to the name Israel in archaeological records is in the Merneptah stele, an Egyptian record of c. 1209 BCE. By the 9th century BCE the Kingdom of Israel had emerged as an important local power before...
(known as Musta'arabi Jews, and sometimes classified as Mizrahi Jews, a generic term for the Jews with an extended history in the Middle East or North Africa); and from the Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews
Sephardi Jews is a general term referring to the descendants of the Jews who lived in the Iberian Peninsula before their expulsion in the Spanish Inquisition. It can also refer to those who use a Sephardic style of liturgy or would otherwise define themselves in terms of the Jewish customs and...
(referring to Jews with an extended history in the Iberian Peninsula
Iberian Peninsula
The Iberian Peninsula , sometimes called Iberia, is located in the extreme southwest of Europe and includes the modern-day sovereign states of Spain, Portugal and Andorra, as well as the British Overseas Territory of Gibraltar...
, i.e. Spain and Portugal
Portugal
Portugal , officially the Portuguese Republic is a country situated in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula. Portugal is the westernmost country of Europe, and is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South and by Spain to the North and East. The Atlantic archipelagos of the...
) who fled to Syria after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain
Alhambra decree
The Alhambra Decree was an edict issued on 31 March 1492 by the joint Catholic Monarchs of Spain ordering the expulsion of Jews from the Kingdom of Spain and its territories and possessions by 31 July of that year.The edict was formally revoked on 16 December 1968, following the Second...
(1492 CE
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
).
There were large communities in Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
and Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
for centuries, and a smaller community in Qamishli
Qamishli
Qamishli is a city in north eastern Syria on the border with Turkey, adjoining the Turkish city of Nusaybin, and close to Iraq. It is part of the Al-Hasakah Governorate, and is the administrative capital of the Al Qamishli District within the governorate....
on the Turkish border near Nusaybin. In the first half of the 20th century a large percentage of Syrian Jews emigrated to the U.S., Central and South America and Israel. Most of the remaining Jews left in the 28 years following 1973, due in part to the efforts of Judith Feld Carr, who claims to have helped some 3,228 Jews emigrate; emigration was officially allowed in 1992. Today there are about 25 Jews in Syria, all of them living in Damascus. The largest Syrian Jewish community is located in Brooklyn
Brooklyn
Brooklyn is the most populous of New York City's five boroughs, with nearly 2.6 million residents, and the second-largest in area. Since 1896, Brooklyn has had the same boundaries as Kings County, which is now the most populous county in New York State and the second-most densely populated...
, New York and is estimated at 75,000 strong. There are smaller communities elsewhere in the United States and in Latin America.
History
There have been Jews in Syria since ancient times: according to legend, since the time of King DavidDavid
David was the second king of the united Kingdom of Israel according to the Hebrew Bible and, according to the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, an ancestor of Jesus Christ through both Saint Joseph and Mary...
, and certainly since early Roman times. Jews from this ancient community were known as Musta'arabim (Arabized Jews) to themselves, or Moriscos to the Sephardim.
Many Sephardim arrived following the expulsion from Spain in 1492, and quickly took a leading position in the community.
Still later, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some Jews from Italy
Italian Jews
Italian Jews can be used in a broad sense to mean all Jews living or with roots in Italy or in a narrower sense to mean the ancient community who use the Italian rite, as distinct from the communities dating from medieval or modern times who use the Sephardi or Ashkenazi rite.-Divisions:Italian...
and elsewhere, known as Señores Francos, settled in Syria for trading reasons, while retaining their European nationalities.
Today there is no clear distinction between these groups, as they have intermarried extensively, and all regard themselves as "Sephardim" in a broader sense. It is said that one can tell Aleppo families of Spanish descent (in the narrow sense) by the fact that they light an extra Hanukkah
Hanukkah
Hanukkah , also known as the Festival of Lights, is an eight-day Jewish holiday commemorating the rededication of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem at the time of the Maccabean Revolt of the 2nd century BCE...
candle. This custom was apparently established in gratitude for their acceptance by the more native Syrian based community.
In the nineteenth century, following the completion of the Suez Canal
Suez Canal
The Suez Canal , also known by the nickname "The Highway to India", is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea and the Red Sea. Opened in November 1869 after 10 years of construction work, it allows water transportation between Europe and Asia without navigation...
in Egypt in 1869, trade shifted to that route from the overland route through Syria, and the commercial importance of Aleppo and Damascus underwent a marked decline. Many families left Syria for Egypt (and a few for Lebanon) in the following decades, and with increasing frequency until the First World War, Jews left the near East for western countries, mainly Great Britain, the United States, Mexico and Argentina
Argentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
. This pattern of migration largely followed the fortunes of the cotton trade, in which many Syrian Jews were engaged.
Beginning on the Passover Holiday of 1992, the 4,000 remaining members of the Damascus Jewish community (Arabic Yehud ash-Sham) as well as the Aleppo community and the Jews of Qamishli, were permitted under the regime of Hafez al-Assad
Hafez al-Assad
Hafez ibn 'Ali ibn Sulayman al-Assad or more commonly Hafez al-Assad was the President of Syria for three decades. Assad's rule consolidated the power of the central government after decades of coups and counter-coups, such as Operation Wappen in 1957 conducted by the Eisenhower administration and...
to leave Syria provided they did not emigrate to Israel. Within a few months, thousands of Syrian Jews made their way to Brooklyn, with a few families choosing to go to France and Turkey. The majority settled in Brooklyn with the help of their kin in the Syrian Jewish community.
The few remaining Jews in Syria live in Damascus.
Israel
Ashkenazi Jews
Ashkenazi Jews, also known as Ashkenazic Jews or Ashkenazim , are the Jews descended from the medieval Jewish communities along the Rhine in Germany from Alsace in the south to the Rhineland in the north. Ashkenaz is the medieval Hebrew name for this region and thus for Germany...
opposite numbers of the Old Yishuv
Old Yishuv
The Old Yishuv refers to the Jewish community that lived in the Land of Israel from the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 CE to the First Aliyah in 1881-82, prior to the onset of Zionist immigration....
, leading to a tradition of strict orthodoxy: for example in the 1860s there was a successful campaign to prevent the establishment of a Reform
Reform Judaism
Reform Judaism refers to various beliefs, practices and organizations associated with the Reform Jewish movement in North America, the United Kingdom and elsewhere. In general, it maintains that Judaism and Jewish traditions should be modernized and should be compatible with participation in the...
synagogue in Aleppo. Some Syrian traditions, such as the singing of Baqashot
Baqashot
The Baqashot are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Aleppian Jewish community and other congregations for centuries each week on Shabbat morning from midnight until dawn. Usually they are recited during the weeks of winter, when the nights are...
, were accepted by the mainstream Jerusalem Sephardi community.
A further group immigrated to Palestine
Palestine
Palestine is a conventional name, among others, used to describe the geographic region between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, and various adjoining lands....
around 1900, and formed the Ades Synagogue
Ades Synagogue
The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
in Nachlaot
Nachlaot
Nachlaot is a cluster of neighborhoods in central Jerusalem, Israel known for its narrow, winding lanes, old-style housing, hidden courtyards and many small synagogues. Neighborhoods in Nachlaot include Mishkenot Yisrael, Ohel Moshe, Mazkeret Moshe, Zichron Yosef, Sukkat Shalom, Zichron Yaakov,...
. This still exists, and is the main Aleppo rite synagogue in Israel, though its membership now includes Asiatic Jews of all groups, especially Kurdish
Kurdish Jews
Kurdish Jews or Kurdistani Jews are the ancient Eastern Jewish communities, inhabiting the region known as Kurdistan in northern Mesopotamia, roughly covering parts of Iran, northern Iraq, Syria and eastern Turkey. Their clothing and culture is similar to neighbouring Kurdish Muslims and Christian...
. There is also a large Syrian community in Holon and Bat Yam.
Many Jews fled from Syria to Palestine during the anti-Jewish riots of 1947. After that, the Syrian government clamped down and allowed no emigration, though some Jews left illicitly. In the last two decades, some emigration has been allowed, mostly to America, though some have since left America for Israel, under the leadership of Rabbi Albert Hamra.
The older generation from prior to the establishment of the Israeli state retains little or no Syrian ethnic identity of its own and is well integrated into mainstream Israeli society. The most recent wave is integrating at different levels, with some concentrating on integration in Israel and others retaining closer ties with their kin in New York and Mexico.
There is a Merkaz 'Olami le-Moreshet Yahadut Aram Tsoba (World Center for the Heritage of Aleppo Jewry) in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, which publishes books of Syrian Jewish interest.
Great Britain
The main settlement of Syrian Jews was in ManchesterManchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
, where they joined the local Spanish and Portuguese synagogues, which had a mixed community that included North African, Turkish, Egyptian and Iraqi as well as Syrian Jews. This community founded two synagogues; one (Shaare Tephillah) in North Central Manchester, which has since moved to Salford, and the other (Shaare Hayim) on Queenston Road in West Didsbury, in the southern suburbs. A breakaway synagogue (Shaare Sedek) was later formed on Old Lansdowne Road with more of a Syrian flavor; but it and the Queenston Road congregation have since merged, while retaining both buildings. Today, they are still known as the Lansdowne Road synagogue and the Queen's Road synagogue, after the names those streets bore in the 1930s. While there are still several Sephardim in the Manchester area, a fair number have since left for communities in the Americas. Despite their reduced numbers, there is currently an initiative to acquire a new site for a synagogue in Hale
Hale, Greater Manchester
Hale is a village and electoral ward within the Metropolitan Borough of Trafford, in Greater Manchester, England. It is contiguous with the southeast of Altrincham, approximately southwest of the city of Manchester....
, to be closer to the current centers of the Sephardic and general Jewish populations.
United States
Syrian Jews first immigrated to New York in December 1900. The first Syrian Jew to arrive was Joseph Raymond Beyda, who arrived in December of that year. His family followed in July 1902. The first Syrian American Jew to be born in America was David Joseph Beyda, born December 31, 1903. They initially lived on the Lower East Side of Manhattan. Later settlements were in BensonhurstBensonhurst, Brooklyn
Bensonhurst is a neighborhood located in the southwestern part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn.-Geography:Sometimes erroneously thought to include all or parts of such neighborhoods as Bath Beach, Dyker Heights, and Borough Park, or to be defined by the streets where the concentration of...
, Midwood
Midwood, Brooklyn
Midwood is a neighborhood in the south central part of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, New York, USA, roughly halfway between Prospect Park and Coney Island. The neighborhood is within Community District 14...
, Flatbush
Flatbush, Brooklyn
Flatbush is a community of the Borough of Brooklyn, a part of New York City, consisting of several neighborhoods.The name Flatbush is an Anglicization of the Dutch language Vlacke bos ....
, and along Ocean Parkway
Ocean Parkway (Brooklyn)
Ocean Parkway is a broad boulevard in the west central portion of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City.-Route description:Ocean Parkway extends over a distance of about five miles , running almost north to south from the vicinity of Prospect Park to Brighton Beach...
in Gravesend
Gravesend, Brooklyn
Gravesend is a neighborhood in the south-central section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, USA.The derivation of the name is unclear. Some speculate that it was named after the English seaport of Gravesend, Kent. An alternative explanation suggests that it was named by Willem Kieft for the...
, Brooklyn. The latter is considered to be the current center of the community, though the community was formerly centered around the Magen David Synagogue on 67th street in the Bensonhurst neighborhood. Some of the more notable congregations are listed below:
- Congregation Shaare ZionCongregation Shaare ZionCongregation Shaare Zion, is an Orthodox Sephardic synagogue located at 2030 Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, New York. One of the largest Orthodox Jewish congregations in New York, it has an estimated 1,500 worshipers who attend its services Fridays and Saturdays for Shabbat...
– Considered the flagship, and is the largest synagogue by floor area. - Magen David Synagogue – The former flagship of the community, but still in continual use today.
- Congregation Bnai Yosef – Busiest and most attended synagogue in the community.
- Magen David Synagogue housed in the Magen David Elementary School – Largest synagogue in terms of seating.
Argentina
The largest Jewish community in ArgentinaArgentina
Argentina , officially the Argentine Republic , is the second largest country in South America by land area, after Brazil. It is constituted as a federation of 23 provinces and an autonomous city, Buenos Aires...
is in the capital Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires
Buenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. The majority are Ashkenazim, but the Sephardim, and especially the Syrians, are a sizeable community. Syrian Jews are most visible in the Once
Balvanera
Balvanera is a neighborhood of Buenos Aires, Argentina.-Origin of Name and Alternative Names:The official name, Balvanera, is the name of the parroquia centered around the church of Nuestra Señora de Balvanera, erected in 1831.The zone around Corrientes avenue is known as Once after Plaza Once de...
district, where there are many community schools and temples. For some decades there has been a good-natured rivalry between the Shami (Damascene
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
) community of "Shaare Tefila (Pasito)" synagogue and the Halebi (Aleppan
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
) community of "Sucat David" across the street. The most influential rabbinic authority was Rabbi Isaac Chehebar from the "Yessod Hadat" congregation on Lavalle street; he was consulted from all across the globe, and had an influential role in the recovery of parts of the Aleppo codex
Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
. There are many kosher butcher shops and restaurants catering to the community.There were important communities in the Boca
La Boca
La Boca is a neighborhood, or barrio of the Argentine capital, Buenos Aires. It retains a strong European flavour, with many of its early settlers being from the Italian city of Genoa. In fact the name has a strong assonance with the Genoese neighborhood of Boccadasse , and some people believe that...
and Flores
Flores, Buenos Aires
Flores is a middle class barrio or district in the centre part of Buenos Aires city, Argentina. Flores was considered a rural area of the Province of Buenos Aires until 1888 when it was integrated to the City....
neighborhoods as well. Many Syrian Jews own clothing stores along Avellaneda avenue in Flores, and there is a community school on Felipe Vallese (formerly Canalejas) street. Some important clothing chains such as Chemea and Tawil, with tens of shops each, were started by Syrian Jews.
Brazil
The majority of the Syrian community of BrazilBrazil
Brazil , officially the Federative Republic of Brazil , is the largest country in South America. It is the world's fifth largest country, both by geographical area and by population with over 192 million people...
come from Beirut
Beirut
Beirut is the capital and largest city of Lebanon, with a population ranging from 1 million to more than 2 million . Located on a peninsula at the midpoint of Lebanon's Mediterranean coastline, it serves as the country's largest and main seaport, and also forms the Beirut Metropolitan...
, Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
, where they had lived since their expulsion from Syria following the creation of the State of Israel in 1948 and the subsequent violent anti-Jewish pogroms perpetrated by their Muslim neighbours. They left Beirut in wake of the first Lebanese Civil War
Lebanese Civil War
The Lebanese Civil War was a multifaceted civil war in Lebanon. The war lasted from 1975 to 1990 and resulted in an estimated 150,000 to 230,000 civilian fatalities. Another one million people were wounded, and today approximately 350,000 people remain displaced. There was also a mass exodus of...
. Most Syrian Jews established themselves in the industrial city of São Paulo
São Paulo
São Paulo is the largest city in Brazil, the largest city in the southern hemisphere and South America, and the world's seventh largest city by population. The metropolis is anchor to the São Paulo metropolitan area, ranked as the second-most populous metropolitan area in the Americas and among...
, being attracted there by the many commercial opportunities it offered. The community became very prosperous, and several of its members are among the wealthiest and the politically and economically most influential families in São Paulo. The community first attended Egyptian synagogues, but later founded their own synagogues, most notably the Beit Yaakov synagogues in the neighbourhoods of Jardins and Higienopolis.The community has its own school and youth movement, and claims a strong Jewish identity and low assimilation rate. The majority of the community affiliates itself with Jewish Orthodoxy, though few could be described as fully Orthodox. There are approximately 7,000 Syrian Jews in Brazil.
Chile
In ChileChile
Chile ,officially the Republic of Chile , is a country in South America occupying a long, narrow coastal strip between the Andes mountains to the east and the Pacific Ocean to the west. It borders Peru to the north, Bolivia to the northeast, Argentina to the east, and the Drake Passage in the far...
, many Syrian Jews escaped from Syria and Palestine, provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I. At present there are 2,300 Syrian Jews in Chile.
Mexico
There have been Jews from Damascus and Aleppo in Mexico City since the early years of the twentieth century. Originally they worshipped in a private house transformed into a synagogue – Sinagoga Ketana (Bet Haknesset HaKatan) located in Calles de Jesús María. The first organized Jewish community in Mexico was Alianza Monte Sinai founded on June 14, 1912, mainly by natives of Damascus (together with a few Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews) and led by Isaac Capon. They later founded the first synagogue, Monte Sinaí, on Justo Sierra street in downtown Mexico City, originally led by Rabbi Laniado, which still holds a daily service of Minha. The Damascene community also bought the first Jewish burial place in Tacuba street on June 12, 1914, which is in use to this day and has been expanded by the recent purchase of the adjacent land.The Rodfe Sedek synagogue, for Aleppan Jews, was established in 1931, largely through the efforts of Rabbi Mordejay Attie. This synagogue, known also as Knis de Cordoba, is situated at 238 Cordoba Street in the Colonia Roma quarter of Mexico City. At the time this neighborhood was home to the largest concentration of Jews from Aleppo in Mexico City. The first mikveh (ritual bath) in Mexico was established within the Rodfe Sedek synagogue. In 1982 a funeral house was built in the courtyard of the synagogue.
Also in the 1930s the members of Monte Sinaí established a large synagogue for Damascene Jews situated at 110 Queretaro Street in the Colonia Roma area. They have welcomed Jews of all backgrounds into their midst, which has allowed tremendous growth over the years. In 1938 Jewish immigrants from Aleppo set up Sociedad de Beneficencia Sedaká u Marpé, which evolved into a separate Jewish community: since 1984 it has been known as Comunidad Maguen David. Monte Sinai and Maguen David are now the largest Jewish communities in Mexico
Mexico
The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...
, having more than four synagogues, a community center and a school each.
Panama
PanamaPanama
Panama , officially the Republic of Panama , is the southernmost country of Central America. Situated on the isthmus connecting North and South America, it is bordered by Costa Rica to the northwest, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the north and the Pacific Ocean to the south. The...
also received a large number of Syrian Jewish immigrants, mostly from Halab (Aleppo
Aleppo
Aleppo is the largest city in Syria and the capital of Aleppo Governorate, the most populous Syrian governorate. With an official population of 2,301,570 , expanding to over 2.5 million in the metropolitan area, it is also one of the largest cities in the Levant...
), where they constitute the largest group in Panama's 10,000 strong Jewish Sephardic community. Most of the immigrants arrived in the late 1940s after riots in Aleppo due to the Arab-Israeli Conflict. The community consists of many synagogues all united under its flagship, Shevet Ahim Synagogue, where their late Chief Rabbi Sion Levy officiated. The community maintains close contact with their counterparts in North America as well as Israel. In his later years, Rabbi Levy oversaw the construction of new synagogues in Panama City and worked to smooth relations with the country’s Arab and Muslim communities. He frequently phoned the country’s imam for a talk. By the time of his death, the Shevet Ahim community numbered 10,000 Jews, 6,000 of whom are Torah-observant. The community now includes several synagogues, mikvahs, three Jewish schools, a yeshiva, a kollel, and a girls' seminary, along with several kosher butchers.
Liturgy
Venice
Venice is a city in northern Italy which is renowned for the beauty of its setting, its architecture and its artworks. It is the capital of the Veneto region...
in 1527, and a second edition, starting with the High Holy Days but covering the whole year, in 1560. This represents the liturgy of the Musta'arabim (native Arabic-speaking Jews) as distinct from that of the Sephardim proper (immigrants from Spain and Portugal): it recognizably belongs to the "Sephardic" family of rites in the widest sense, but is different from any liturgy used today. For more detail, see Old Aleppo ritual.
Following the immigration of Jews from Spain following the expulsion, a compromise liturgy evolved containing elements from the customs of both communities, but with the Sephardic element taking an ever larger share. In Syria, as in North African countries; there was no attempt to print a Siddur
Siddur
A siddur is a Jewish prayer book, containing a set order of daily prayers. This article discusses how some of these prayers evolved, and how the siddur, as it is known today has developed...
containing the actual passages of the community, as this would not generally be commercially viable. Major publishing centres, principally Livorno
Livorno
Livorno , traditionally Leghorn , is a port city on the Tyrrhenian Sea on the western edge of Tuscany, Italy. It is the capital of the Province of Livorno, having a population of approximately 160,000 residents in 2009.- History :...
, and later Vienna
Vienna
Vienna is the capital and largest city of the Republic of Austria and one of the nine states of Austria. Vienna is Austria's primary city, with a population of about 1.723 million , and is by far the largest city in Austria, as well as its cultural, economic, and political centre...
, would produce standard "Sephardic" prayer books suitable for use in all communities, and particular communities such as the Syrians would order these in bulk, preserving any special usages by oral tradition. (For example, Ḥacham Abraham Ḥamwi of Aleppo commissioned a series of prayer-books from Livorno, which were printed in 1878, but even these were "pan-Sephardic" in character, though they contained some notes about the specific "minhag Aram Tsoba".) As details of the oral tradition faded from memory, the liturgy in use came ever nearer to the "Livorno" standard. In the early years of the twentieth century, this "Sephardic" rite was almost universal in Syria. The only exception (in Aleppo) was a "Musta'arabi" minyan
Minyan
A minyan in Judaism refers to the quorum of ten Jewish adults required for certain religious obligations. According to many non-Orthodox streams of Judaism adult females count in the minyan....
at the Central Synagogue of Aleppo
Central Synagogue of Aleppo
The Central Synagogue of Aleppo, , also known as the Great Synagogue of Aleppo or Joab's Synagogue, has been a Jewish place of worship since the 5th century C.E. When it functioned, it was considered the main synagogue of the Syrian Jewish community. The synagogue is noted as being the location...
.
The liturgy of Damascus
Damascus
Damascus , commonly known in Syria as Al Sham , and as the City of Jasmine , is the capital and the second largest city of Syria after Aleppo, both are part of the country's 14 governorates. In addition to being one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the world, Damascus is a major...
differed from that of Aleppo in some details, mostly because of its greater proximity to the Holy Land. Some of the laws specific to Eretz Yisrael are regarded as extending to Damascus, and the city had ties both to the Safed
Safed
Safed , is a city in the Northern District of Israel. Located at an elevation of , Safed is the highest city in the Galilee and of Israel. Due to its high elevation, Safed experiences warm summers and cold, often snowy, winters...
Kabbalists
Kabbalah
Kabbalah/Kabala is a discipline and school of thought concerned with the esoteric aspect of Rabbinic Judaism. It was systematized in 11th-13th century Hachmei Provence and Spain, and again after the Expulsion from Spain, in 16th century Ottoman Palestine...
and to the Jerusalem Sephardic community.
The liturgy now used in Syrian communities round the world is textually speaking Oriental-Sephardic. That is to say, it is based on the Spanish rite as varied by the customs of Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria
Isaac Luria , also called Yitzhak Ben Shlomo Ashkenazi acronym "The Ari" "Ari-Hakadosh", or "Arizal", meaning "The Lion", was a foremost rabbi and Jewish mystic in the community of Safed in the Galilee region of Ottoman Palestine...
, and resembles those in use in Greek, Turkish and North African Jewish communities. In earlier decades some communities and individuals used "Edot ha-Mizraḥ" prayer-books which contained a slightly different text, based on the Baghdadi rite, as these were more commonly available, leaving any specifically Syrian usages to be perpetuated by oral tradition. The nearest approach to a current official prayer book is Kol Ya'akob and "Eit Ratzon", but other editions exist and there is still disagreement on some textual variants.
The musical customs of Syrian communities are very distinctive, as many of the prayers are chanted to the melodies of the pizmonim
Pizmonim
Pizmonim are traditional Jewish songs and melodies with the intentions of praising God as well as learning certain aspects of traditional religious teachings. They are sung throughout religious rituals and festivities such as prayers, circumcisions, bar mitzvahs, weddings and other ceremonies...
, according to a complicated annual rota designed to ensure that the maqam
Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
(musical mode) used suits the mood of the festival or of the Torah reading for the week. See Syrian Cantors
Syrian Cantors
The Syrian Cantor or hazzan leads the traditional prayer rituals in the synagogues of the Syrian Jews. He conducts the services using ten maqamat or musical modes. A cantor must be fully cognizant of these maqamat and their applications to the prayers...
and the Weekly Maqam.
Pizmonim
Syrian Jews have a large repertoire of hymns, sung on social and ceremonial occasions such as weddings and bar mitzvahs. Pizmonim are also used in the prayers of ShabbatShabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
and holidays. Some of these are ancient and others were composed more recently as adaptations of popular Arabic songs; sometimes they are written or commissioned for particular occasions, and contain coded allusions to the name of the person honoured. There is a standard Pizmonim book called "Shir uShbaha Hallel veZimrah", edited by Cantor Gabriel A. Shrem under the supervision of the Sephardic Heritage Foundation, in which the hymns are classified according to the musical mode (maqam
Arabic maqam
Arabic maqām is the system of melodic modes used in traditional Arabic music, which is mainly melodic. The word maqam in Arabic means place, location or rank. The Arabic maqam is a melody type...
) to which the melody belongs. As time passes, more and more pizmonim are getting lost, and therefore efforts are being made by the Sephardic Pizmonim Project, under the leadership of Mr. David M. Betesh, to preserve as many pizmonim as possible. A website to facilitate its preservation, was set up at Pizmonim.com.
Baqashot
It was a custom in Syrian Jewish communities (and some others), to sing BaqashotBaqashot
The Baqashot are a collection of supplications, songs, and prayers that have been sung by the Sephardic Aleppian Jewish community and other congregations for centuries each week on Shabbat morning from midnight until dawn. Usually they are recited during the weeks of winter, when the nights are...
(petitionary hymns), before the morning service on Shabbat
Shabbat
Shabbat is the seventh day of the Jewish week and a day of rest in Judaism. Shabbat is observed from a few minutes before sunset on Friday evening until a few minutes after when one would expect to be able to see three stars in the sky on Saturday night. The exact times, therefore, differ from...
. In the winter months, the full corpus of 66 hymns is sung, finishing with Adon Olam
Adon Olam
Adon Olam is a strictly metrical hymn in the Jewish liturgy. It has been a regular part of the daily and Sabbath liturgy since the 15th century...
and Kaddish
Kaddish
Kaddish is a prayer found in the Jewish prayer service. The central theme of the Kaddish is the magnification and sanctification of God's name. In the liturgy different versions of the Kaddish are used functionally as separators between sections of the service...
. This service generally lasts about four hours, from 3:00am to 7:00am.
This tradition still obtains full force in the Ades Synagogue
Ades Synagogue
The Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
in Jerusalem. In other communities such as New York, it is less widespread; though the hymns are sung on other occasions.
Pronunciation of Hebrew
The Syrian pronunciation of HebrewHebrew language
Hebrew is a Semitic language of the Afroasiatic language family. Culturally, is it considered by Jews and other religious groups as the language of the Jewish people, though other Jewish languages had originated among diaspora Jews, and the Hebrew language is also used by non-Jewish groups, such...
is similar to that of other Mizrahi
Mizrahi Jews
Mizrahi Jews or Mizrahiyim, , also referred to as Adot HaMizrach are Jews descended from the Jewish communities of the Middle East, North Africa and the Caucasus...
communities, and is influenced both by Sephardi Hebrew
Sephardi Hebrew language
Sephardi Hebrew is the pronunciation system for Biblical Hebrew favored for liturgical use by Sephardi Jewish practice...
and by the Syrian dialect
Syrian Arabic
Syrian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in Syria.-History:Syrian Arabic proper is a form of Levantine Arabic, and may be divided into South Syrian Arabic, spoken in the cities of Damascus, Homs and Hama, and North Syrian Arabic, spoken in the region of Aleppo. Allied dialects are spoken in...
of Arabic
Arabic language
Arabic is a name applied to the descendants of the Classical Arabic language of the 6th century AD, used most prominently in the Quran, the Islamic Holy Book...
. It does not reflect the formal rules for the pronunciation of Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic
Classical Arabic , also known as Qur'anic or Koranic Arabic, is the form of the Arabic language used in literary texts from Umayyad and Abbasid times . It is based on the Medieval dialects of Arab tribes...
(tajwid
Tajwid
Tajwīd is an Arabic word for elocution, meaning proper pronunciation during recitation, as well as recitation at a moderate speed. It is a set of rules which govern how the Qur'an should be read. It is derived from the triliteral root , meaning to make well, make better, or improve. It is...
) to the same extent as the pronunciation of Iraqi Jews. Particular features are as follows:
(Beth without dagesh) is traditionally /b/, but in Israel is often now [v] under the influence of Israeli Hebrew (Gimel without dagesh) is often pronounced [ɣ], like Arabic غ (voiced velar fricative
Voiced velar fricative
The voiced velar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in various spoken languages. It is not found in English today, but did exist in Old English...
) (Daleth without dagesh) is pronounced [d] as in Israeli Hebrew, not [ð] as in Yemenite pronunciation. (He
He
He is a third-person, singular personal pronoun in Modern English, as well as being a personal pronoun in Middle English.-Animals:...
with mappiq) is often pronounced with a very short postpended schwa [ə] (Vav
Vav
VAV as a three-letter abbreviation may refer to* A Volcanic Ash Victim meaning someone who has been left stranded by a volcanic ash cloud that is hindering air travel.* A variable air volume device, used in HVAC systems to control the flow of air...
) is pronounced [v], not [w] (Heth
Heth
-People:* Children of Heth, a Canaanite nation in the Hebrew Bible, purportedly named after Heth, son of Canaan, son of Ham, son of Noah* figures in the Book of Mormon:** Heth , an early Jaredite** Heth a later Jaredite...
) is pronounced [ħ], like Arabic ح (voiceless pharyngeal fricative
Voiceless pharyngeal fricative
The voiceless pharyngeal fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is h-bar .-Features:Features of the voiceless pharyngeal fricative:...
) (Teth
Teth
' is the ninth letter of many Semitic abjads , including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Tet , Syriac and Arabic ; it is 9th in abjadi order and 16th in modern Arabic order....
) is pronounced [tˤ], like Arabic ط (voiceless pharyngealized alveolar plosive) (Kaph
Kaph
Kaph is the eleventh letter of many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew Kaf , Arabic alphabet , Persian alphabet...
without dagesh) is often pronounced [x], like Arabic خ (unvoiced velar fricative) (Ayin
Ayin
' or ' is the sixteenth letter in many Semitic abjads, including Phoenician, Aramaic, Hebrew and Arabic . It is the twenty-first letter in the new Persian alphabet...
) is pronounced [ʕ] (this sound is sometimes described as "the sound of swallowing a grape, backwards"), like Arabic ع (voiced pharyngeal fricative
Voiced pharyngeal fricative
The voiced pharyngeal approximant or fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages. The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents it is , and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is ?\....
), but this is less emphatic than in some other dialects (Tsadi) is pronounced [sˤ], like Arabic ص (voiceless pharyngealized alveolar fricative); that is, like English voiceless "s" but with the tongue a little retracted (Qof) is "supposed" to be [q], like Classical Arabic ق (voiceless uvular plosive) but sometimes slips: historically, into [ʔ], a glottal stop
Glottal stop
The glottal stop, or more fully, the voiceless glottal plosive, is a type of consonantal sound used in many spoken languages. In English, the feature is represented, for example, by the hyphen in uh-oh! and by the apostrophe or [[ʻokina]] in Hawaii among those using a preservative pronunciation of...
as in colloquial Syrian Arabic
Syrian Arabic
Syrian Arabic is a variety of Arabic spoken in Syria.-History:Syrian Arabic proper is a form of Levantine Arabic, and may be divided into South Syrian Arabic, spoken in the cities of Damascus, Homs and Hama, and North Syrian Arabic, spoken in the region of Aleppo. Allied dialects are spoken in...
, and today, into [k] in conformity with English or with Israeli Hebrew (Tav
Tav
Tav or TAV may refer to:* Tav , the last letter of many Semitic abjads* Tav , the denotation of a specific transfinite number* Tav Falco, an American entertainer...
without dagesh) is pronounced [t] as in Israeli Hebrew, not [θ] as in Yemenite and Iraqi pronunciation.
The retention of distinct emphatic sounds such as [ħ] and [tˤ] differentiates Syrian pronunciation from many other Sephardic/Mizrahi pronunciations which have failed to maintain these phonemic or phonological distinctions, for example between [t] and [tˤ].
Vowels are pronounced as in most other Sephardi and Mizrahi traditions: for example there is no distinction between patach and qamats gadol ([a]), or between segol, tsere and vocal sheva ([e]). Ħiriq is sometimes reduced to [ɪ] or [ə] in an unstressed closed syllable, or in the neighbourhood of an emphatic or guttural consonant.
A semivocalic sound is heard before pataħ ganuv (pataħ coming between a long vowel and a final guttural): thus ruaħ (spirit) is pronounced [ˈruːwaħ] and siaħ (speech) is pronounced [ˈsiːjaħ].
Aleppo Codex
The Aleppo CodexAleppo Codex
The Aleppo Codex is a medieval bound manuscript of the Hebrew Bible. The codex was written in the 10th century A.D.The codex has long been considered to be the most authoritative document in the masorah , the tradition by which the Hebrew Scriptures have been preserved from generation to generation...
, now known in Hebrew as Keter Aram Tsoba, is the oldest and most famous manuscript of the Bible. Written in Tiberias in the year 920, and annotated by Aaron ben Asher
Aaron ben Moses ben Asher
Aaron ben Moses ben Asher was a Jewish scribe who refined the Tiberian system for writing down vowel sounds in Hebrew, which is still in use today, and serves as the basis for grammatical analysis...
, it has become the most authoritative Biblical text in Jewish culture. The most famous halachic authority to rely on it was Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...
, in his exposition of the laws governing the writing of Torah scrolls in his codification of Jewish law (Mishneh Torah
Mishneh Torah
The Mishneh Torah subtitled Sefer Yad ha-Hazaka is a code of Jewish religious law authored by Maimonides , one of history's foremost rabbis...
). After its completion, the Codex was brought to Jerusalem. Toward the end of the 11th century, it was stolen and taken to Egypt, where it was redeemed by the Jewish community of Cairo. At the end of the 14th century the Codex was taken to Aleppo, Syria (called by the Jews Aram Zobah
Zobah
Zobah or Aram-Zobah was the capital of an early Aramean state in southern Syria, at one time of considerable importance. In I Samuel xiv...
, the biblical name of part of Syria)—this is the origin of the manuscript's modern name.
For the next five centuries, it was kept closely guarded in the basement of the Central Synagogue of Aleppo
Central Synagogue of Aleppo
The Central Synagogue of Aleppo, , also known as the Great Synagogue of Aleppo or Joab's Synagogue, has been a Jewish place of worship since the 5th century C.E. When it functioned, it was considered the main synagogue of the Syrian Jewish community. The synagogue is noted as being the location...
, and was considered the community's greatest treasure. Scholars from round the world would consult it to check the accuracy of their Torah scrolls. In the modern era the community would occasionally allow academics, such as Umberto Cassuto
Umberto Cassuto
Umberto Cassuto, also known as Moshe David Cassuto, , was a rabbi and Biblical scholar born in Florence, Italy. -Early life and career:...
, access to the Codex, but would not permit it to be reproduced photographically or otherwise.
The Codex remained in the keeping of the Aleppo Jewish community until the anti-Jewish riots of December 1947, during which the ancient synagogue where it was kept was broken into and burned. The Codex itself disappeared. In 1958, the Keter was smuggled into Israel by Murad Faham and wife Sarina, and presented to the President of the State, Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi
Yitzhak Ben-Zvi was a historian, Labor Zionist leader, the second and longest-serving President of Israel.-Biography:...
. Upon its arrival, it was found that parts of the Codex including most of the Torah, had been lost. The Codex was entrusted to the keeping of the Ben-Zvi Institute and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
, though the Porat Yosef Yeshiva
Porat Yosef Yeshiva
Porat Yosef Yeshiva is a leading Sephardic yeshiva in Jerusalem, Israel, with locations in both the Old City and the Geula neighborhood.-History:...
h has argued that, as the spiritual heir of the Aleppo community, it was the legitimate guardian. Some time after the arrival of the Codex, Mordechai Breuer
Mordechai Breuer
Mordechai Breuer was an Orthodox rabbi. He was one of the world's leading experts on Tanakh , and especially of the text of the Aleppo Codex....
began the monumental work of reconstructing the lost sections, on the basis of other well-known ancient manuscripts. Since then a few other leaves have been found.
Modern editions of the Bible, such as the Hebrew University
Hebrew University of Jerusalem
The Hebrew University of Jerusalem ; ; abbreviated HUJI) is Israel's second-oldest university, after the Technion – Israel Institute of Technology. The Hebrew University has three campuses in Jerusalem and one in Rehovot. The world's largest Jewish studies library is located on its Edmond J...
's "Jerusalem Crown" and Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University
Bar-Ilan University is a university in Ramat Gan of the Tel Aviv District, Israel.Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is now Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has nearly 26,800 students and 1,350 faculty members...
's "Mikraot Gedolot ha-Keter", have been based on the Codex. The missing sections have been reconstructed on the basis of cross-references in the Masoretic Text
Masoretic Text
The Masoretic Text is the authoritative Hebrew text of the Jewish Bible and is regarded as Judaism's official version of the Tanakh. While the Masoretic Text defines the books of the Jewish canon, it also defines the precise letter-text of these biblical books, with their vocalization and...
of surviving sections, and of the notes of scholars who have consulted the Codex and of other manuscripts.
The codex is now kept in the Israel Museum
Israel Museum
The Israel Museum, Jerusalem was founded in 1965 as Israel's national museum. It is situated on a hill in the Givat Ram neighborhood of Jerusalem, near the Bible Lands Museum, the Knesset, the Israeli Supreme Court, and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem....
, in the building known as "The Shrine of The Book
Shrine of the Book
The Shrine of the Book , a wing of the Israel Museum near Givat Ram in Jerusalem, houses the Dead Sea Scrolls—discovered 1947–56 in 11 caves in and around the Wadi Qumran...
." It lies there along with the Dead Sea Scrolls
Dead Sea scrolls
The Dead Sea Scrolls are a collection of 972 texts from the Hebrew Bible and extra-biblical documents found between 1947 and 1956 on the northwest shore of the Dead Sea, from which they derive their name...
and many other ancient Jewish relics.
Syrian Jews had a distinctive traditional sharḥ (translation of the Bible into Syrian Judaeo-Arabic
Judeo-Arabic languages
The Judeo-Arabic languages , are a continuum of Arabic dialects spoken by Jews living or formerly living in the Arab world; the term also refers more or less to Classical Arabic written in the Hebrew script, particularly in the Middle Ages. Just as with the rest of the Arab world, Arab Jews had...
), which was used in teaching children, though not for any liturgical purpose. One version of this was printed in about 1900: another (from the so-called Avishur Manuscript) was printed by the Merkaz Olami le-Moreshet Yahadut Aram Tsoba in 2006, with pages of translation facing pages from the "Jerusalem Crown". This print contains the Torah only, but volumes for the rest of the Bible are planned.
Attitudes to conversion
At the time of the Mahzor Aram Soba of 1527 and 1560, conversions were clearly accepted, as there are blessings in the Mahzor on the rituals of conversions. However, in the early twentieth century the Syrian Jewish communities of New York and Buenos Aires adopted rulings designed to discourage intermarriage. The communities would not normally carry out conversions to JudaismConversion to Judaism
Conversion to Judaism is a formal act undertaken by a non-Jewish person who wishes to be recognised as a full member of the Jewish community. A Jewish conversion is both a religious act and an expression of association with the Jewish people...
, particularly where the conversion is suspected of being for the sake of marriage, or accept such converts from other communities, or the children of mixed marriages or marriages involving such converts. However, there are exceptions to the rule, such as conversions for the sake of adoptions always being permitted. Additionally, communal rabbis (such as the late Chief Rabbi Jacob S. Kassin) have occasionally recognized conversions carried out by certain rabbis, such as members of the Israeli Chief Rabbinate. Nonetheless, these rulings strongly discourage people from converting into the Syrian Jewish community as they require them to show commitment to Judaism above and beyond what is required by the normative rabbinical laws of conversion.
Hacham Uzziel
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel
Ben-Zion Meir Hai Uziel was the Sephardi chief rabbi of the British Mandate of Palestine from 1939 to 1948, and of Israel from 1948 to 1954.-Biography:...
, then Sephardi Chief Rabbi of Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
, was asked to rule on the validity of this ban. He acknowledged the right of the community to refuse to carry out conversions and to regard as invalid conversions carried out by other communities in which marriage is a factor. At the same time, he cautioned that persons converted out of genuine conviction and recognized by established rabbinic authorities should not be regarded as non-Jewish, even if they were not allowed to join the Syrian community.
The ban is popularly known within the Syrian community as the "edict
Edict
An edict is an announcement of a law, often associated with monarchism. The Pope and various micronational leaders are currently the only persons who still issue edicts.-Notable edicts:...
" or "proclamation
Proclamation
A proclamation is an official declaration.-England and Wales:In English law, a proclamation is a formal announcement , made under the great seal, of some matter which the King in Council or Queen in Council desires to make known to his or her subjects: e.g., the declaration of war, or state of...
" (in Hebrew, takkanah). Every twenty years or so, the edict is reaffirmed by all leaders and rabbis of the community, often with extra clauses. A full list is as follows:
- Buenos Aires, 1927 (R. David Setton)
- New York, 1935 (Hacham Hayim Tawil)
- New York, 1946 "Clarification"
- New York, 1972 "Affirmation"
- New York, 1984 "Reaffirmation"
- New York, 2006 "Reaffirmation"
There has been some argument as to whether the ruling amounts to a blanket ban on all converts or whether sincere converts from other communities, not motivated by marriage, may be accepted. The relevant sentence in the English language summary is "no male or female member of our community has the right to intermarry with non-Jews; this law covers conversions which we consider to be fictitious and valueless". In the 1946 "Clarification" a comma appears after the word "conversions", which makes it appear that all conversions are "fictitious and valueless", though this understanding is not uncontested, and there is no equivalent change in the Hebrew text.
Supporters of the edict argue that it has been demographically successful, in that the rate of intermarriage with non-Jews in the Syrian community is believed to be less than 3%, as opposed to anything up to 50% in the general American Jewish population. Opponents argue that this fact is not a result of the edict, but of widespread attendance at Orthodox day schools, and that a similarly low rate of intermarriage is found among other Orthodox day-schooled Jews despite the absence of any equivalent of the edict.
Cuisine
As in most Arab and Mediterranean countries, Syrian Jewish food is fairly similar to other types of Syrian food, although some dishes have different names among Jewish members. This is partly because of the eastern Mediterranean origins of Judaism as such and partly because the similarity of the Islamic dietary lawsIslamic dietary laws
Islamic dietary laws provide direction on what is to be considered clean and unclean regarding diet and related issues.-Overview:Islamic jurisprudence specifies which foods are ' and which are '...
to the Jewish Kashrut laws
Kashrut
Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
. Syrian (and Egyptian) recipes remain popular in Syrian Jewish communities around the world. There are traditions linking different dishes to the Jewish festivals.
Popular dishes are as follows:
- KibbehKibbehKibbeh or kibbe is an Arab dish made of bulgur or rice and chopped meat. The best-known variety is a torpedo-shaped fried croquette stuffed with minced beef or lamb. Other types of kibbeh may be shaped into balls or patties, and baked or cooked in broth.Kibbeh is a popular dish in Levantine...
: minced meat with pine nuts and pomegranate seeds in a burghulBulgurBulgur is a cereal food made from several different wheat species, most often from durum wheat. In the United States it is most often made from white wheat. Its use is most common in Middle Eastern cuisine, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Armenia and Bulgaria...
shell - Kibbeh ħamda: meat balls in chicken soup made with lemon juice and vegetables
- Kibbeh bisfarjal: same as above but with quinceQuinceThe quince , or Cydonia oblonga, is the sole member of the genus Cydonia and native to warm-temperate southwest Asia in the Caucasus region...
instead of potatoes; eaten on (Rosh HashanahRosh HashanahRosh Hashanah , , is the Jewish New Year. It is the first of the High Holy Days or Yamim Nora'im which occur in the autumn...
) - Kibbeh Yakhnieh: Meat balls with chick peas and spinach
- Kibbeh bisfiha: meat burgers with eggplant
- Fawleh blahmeh or Loubieh blahmeh: Lamb or veal cubes with string beans or black-eyed peas
- Ijjeh or eggah: egg dish, similar to a Spanish omeletteTortilla de patatasThe Spanish omelette or Spanish tortilla, also called simply tortilla in English when there is no confusion with the Mexican maize tortilla, is a typically Spanish dish consisting of a thick egg omelette made with potatoes and fried in olive oil....
with parsleyParsleyParsley is a species of Petroselinum in the family Apiaceae, native to the central Mediterranean region , naturalized elsewhere in Europe, and widely cultivated as an herb, a spice and a vegetable.- Description :Garden parsley is a bright green hairless biennial herbaceous plant in temperate...
, potato or cheese - Ijjeh blahmeh: fried meat burgers with eggs served with lemon and radishes
- Muħshi BadinjanDolmaDolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
: Stuffed eggplant with rice & meat and chick peas - Muħshi KousaDolmaDolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
: Stuffed zucchini with rice & meat, nana mint and lemon - YaprakDolmaDolma is a family of stuffed vegetable dishes in the cuisines of the former Ottoman Empire and surrounding regions such as Russia, Middle East and the Caucasus and Central and South Asia. Perhaps the best-known is the grape-leaf dolma. Common vegetables to stuff include onion, zucchini, eggplant,...
: Stuffed vine leaves with rice and meat - KebabKebabKebab is a wide variety of meat dishes originating in Middle East and later on adopted by the Middle East, and Asia Minor, and now found worldwide. In English, kebab with no qualification generally refers more specifically to shish kebab served on the skewer...
: Meat balls (sometimes with cherries or pomegranate paste) - Chicken sofritoSofritoSofrito is a combination of aromatic ingredients which have been cut in very small pieces, and slowly sauteed or braised in cooking oil for 15-30 minutes....
: chicken sautéed with lemon juice, turmeric and cardamom - beida bi-lemouneAvgolemonoAvgolemono is a family of Mediterranean sauces and soups made with egg and lemon juice mixed with broth, heated until they thicken. Avgolémono 'egg-lemon' is the Greek name; in Arabic, it is called tarbiya or beida bi-lemoune 'egg with lemon'; and in Turkish terbiye...
: chicken soupChicken soupChicken soup is a soup made by bringing to a boil and then simmering chicken parts and/or bones in water, with various vegetables and flavorings. The classic chicken soup consists of a clear broth, often served with small pieces of chicken or vegetables, or with noodles or dumplings, or grains such...
mixed with an egg and lemon - Dfeena: Shabbat meat and bean stew equivalent to cholentCholentCholent or Hamin is a traditional Jewish stew. It is usually simmered overnight for 12 hours or more, and eaten for lunch on Shabbat . Cholent was developed over the centuries to conform with Jewish religious laws that prohibit cooking on the Sabbath...
- Ħammin eggs: hard-boiled eggs stained brown by being baked with dfeena or boiled with onion skins, sometimes adding tea leaves or coffee grounds
- LaħmajeenLahmacunLahmacun or lahmajoun , from , , "meat with dough", is an item of prepared food originating in the early Syrian cuisine of the Levant, consisting of a round, thin piece of dough topped with minced meat...
(or Laħmabajeen): meat (sometimes with pomegranate paste or prune juice) on small round pastry base - Maoudeh: A stew of fried cubicle shaped potatoes with lamb, beef or chicken meat
- MatahambreMatahambreMatambre is a beef dish from Argentina. Of an Italian style, it is a rolled flank steak filled with vegetables, eggs and herbs that is then boiled or oven-roasted. It can be served warm as a dish, or cold as delicatessen meat. When sliced, the different vegetables make a colourful display...
: boiled squash, cheese, eggs and pieces of pita bread - Mfarraket al-ful: cold minced beef with fava beans and scrambled eggs (for Shabbat)
- Sambousak: small half-moon pastry filled with cheese or meat
- SahlabSalepSalep is a flour made from grinding the dried tubers of the orchid genus Orchis . These tubers contain a nutritious starch-like polysaccharide called glucomannan. Salep flour is consumed today in beverages and desserts, primarily in Turkey and in places that were formerly part of the Ottoman...
: Hot milk with starch and sugar often served with cinnamon - Kousa b'jibn: Squash baked with cheese
- M'jadraMujaddaraMujaddara consists of cooked lentils together with groats, generally rice, and garnished with roasted onions that have been sauteed in olive oil or butter.-Name and origin:...
: rice and lentil or burghul and lentil kedgeree - Tabbouleh: burghulBulgurBulgur is a cereal food made from several different wheat species, most often from durum wheat. In the United States it is most often made from white wheat. Its use is most common in Middle Eastern cuisine, Iran, Turkey, Greece, Armenia and Bulgaria...
salad with vine leaves - Bazirjan or MuhammaraMuhammaraMuhammara or mhammara is a hot pepper dip originally from Aleppo, Syria, and now found in many places in Anatolia and the Levant.The principal ingredients are usually fresh or dried peppers, ground walnuts, breadcrumbs, and olive oil. It may also contain garlic, salt, lemon juice, pomegranate...
: burghul crushed wheat with pomegranate paste or prune juice - Shakshuka or Beid bifranji: boiled tomato puree with onion and eggs like scrambled
- Beid blaban: boiled yogurt with garlic, nana mint and scrambled eggs
- Ka'akKaakKaak also known as Pathhar ki roti is a native dish of the province of Balochistan, Pakistan. It is made by flattening the dough for the bread and rolling it over a preheated stone. The stone is then baked in a tandoor...
: aniseed-flavoured bracelets with sesame seeds - Ghreibe: shortbread biscuits, often in bracelet form
- Ma'amoulMa'amoulMa'amoul are small shortbread pastries filled with dates, pistachios or walnuts . They are popular in Levantine cuisine and in the Gulf countries. They may be in the shape of balls or of domed or flattened cookies...
: shortbread pastries with date or nut fillings (the Jewish version differs from the Arab in not using semolina flour) - Knafeh mabroumeh or ballorieh: fine threads of shredded filo dough filled with pistachios or ricotta
- Orange PassoverPassoverPassover is a Jewish holiday and festival. It commemorates the story of the Exodus, in which the ancient Israelites were freed from slavery in Egypt...
cakes: (derived from Spanish recipes through Sephardic immigration) - Coconut jam: (used at Passover)
- Sharab al-loz: iced drink made from almond syrup; generally a summer drink, but also used before Yom KippurYom KippurYom Kippur , also known as Day of Atonement, is the holiest and most solemn day of the year for the Jews. Its central themes are atonement and repentance. Jews traditionally observe this holy day with a 25-hour period of fasting and intensive prayer, often spending most of the day in synagogue...
Surnames
- Abadi, Abady, Abadie or Ebadi
- Abazeed :)
- Abboud or Aboud; Aboudi; Ovadia
- Abulafia
- Achab; Achar
- Ades
- Adjmi, Ajami or Agmon
- Akel or Akil; Akiva or Akivah
- Alfieh, Alfie, Alfiye, Alfille
- Altaras
- Alvial
- Amash
- Amiga
- Amkieh, Ankieh
- Ancona
- Antaki or Antoky; Antar
- Antebi or Anteby, Entebi
- Anzarut, Anzaroot or Anzarouth
- Araman; Arazi; Arzt
- Ariel; Arje
- Arking, Arakanchi or Arakanji; Arkulji
- Armut or Karmut
- Ashear or Ashqar; Shakra
- Ashkenazi, Askenazi, Eskenazi, Ash
- Assa (Minfakh)
- Assoulin, Assouline, Asuline
- Attar or Benattar;
- Atri or Katri
- Attia, Atiyyah or Attie, Atie
- Ayash; Yaish
- Azar, Elazar; Azizo; Azrak
- Badra; Bari
- Baghdadi or Albaghdadi, Baghdadie
- Bailey or Balleh
- Balanka, Blanca, or Blanga; Blanco
- Ballas; Blaskovic, Balashki; Belilios
- Banbahji; Baruch (Abadi)
- Bassul or Bassoul; Battat; Bawabeh
- Behar, Bekhar or Bechar; Bechor
- Benun; Braha, Beracha or Braka
- Betech, Betesh or Btesh
- Beyda , Bayda or Beda
- Biba; Bibi; Bobo
- Bijou, Bigio, Del Biggio, Bissou; Bozo; Bouzali
- Boukai, Bukai, Bucay; Bukkei, Cain
- Breska
- Cabasso or Kabasso
- Calvo; Cario; Castro; Castika
- Cattan, Catton, Kattan or Qattan
- Cayre or Kairey; Chalouh or Shalouh
- Chappan
- Chemtob or Shemtob,Semantob, Cheney or Tchini
- Chera, Shira; Chirro or Shiro
- Churba
- Cohen or Hacohen
- Dabbah, Dabba, Debbah, Dabbagh
- Dahab or Zahav;
- Dana; Daniel; Darbakli or Derli
- Dayan (Davidic descent);Dahan,Bendayan
- Dayeh (Mishan); Deiri or Dery; Duer
- Dibbo;
- Dichy or Dishi; Dushey
- Didya or Didia; Drejo (Tawil); Durzieh
- Dweck, Dwek, Doueck, Douek or Duek
- Ebani, Kubbany, Kubbeni or Kabbani
- Eida; Elbaz; Elnadav
- Erani; Erfeli, Ourfali or Urfali
- Esses or Assis; Faham
- Falack; Fallah or Flah; Fallas
- Fallena; Fayena or Faena
- Fannan; Fnounou; Faour
- Faqs, Faks or Alfaks
- Farah; Farhi; Farha; Farca; Farkka, Farrashe
- Fattal; Fernandez
- Fouerte or Fuerte (Khaleh);
- Franco
- Freiwa, Frewa (Khalife); Frija; Frestaki
- Fridman, Friedman; Goldman; Green
- Fteiha or Ftiha
- Gadeh, Elgadeh or Kada; Jaddaa
- Galante; Galapo; Gateno
- Ghazaleh; Gilla or Gil
- Gindi, Guindi (Zaknish); Guindic, Gindic
- Grazi; Guerra
- Haber; Habet; Habuba
- Haddad; Hadid
- Hadriye, Hidrie, Khidrieh; Hidary
- Haim, Himy; Hawi
- Hakim; Elyakim
- Halabi, Halabieh or Alhalabi
- Hamadani or Hamdani
- Hamoui, Hamway, Hamui or Hamwy
- Hamra; Hara
- Hanan; Hanon or Hanono; Chanano
- Harari (Raful), Harary (Naem); Hardia
- Hasbani or Hasbany
- HassonHassan (surname)Hassan Hassan Hassan (also spelled Hasan, Hassen, Hasson, Hassin, Hassine, Hacen, Hasen, Hasin, Hass, Hassa, Hasa, Haas, Cassin, Chassan, Chasan, Chasson, Chason, Khassan, Khasan, Cassan, Casan, Hasso, Hassanein, Hasnen, Hassani, Hasani,...
; Husni or Husney - Hayyat, Hayat; Al-Hayyat, Alfayat, Alfayate,
- Hazzan, Hazan
- Hebb;
- Hedaya
- Hefetz, Heffez, Hafetz or Hafeitz
- Helfon or Halfon
- Helu, Hilou; Helwani, Halawani, Helueni
- Hlaleh;
- Homsany or Hemsani
- Horn or Hwerin;
- Indibo, Andibo
- Ini, Aini or Heiney;
- Israel
- Jaamour; Jamous, Djamous, Djamus
- Jajati; Jouejati (Mi-Damesek); Janani
- Jemal, Djemal, Gemal; Gammal, Jamal
- Jradeh, Jrada or Jarade
- Kabariti or Kbariti, Karabati, Charabati
- Kadshe; Kadosh;
- Kameo or Cameo
- Kamkhaji; Kamkhadji; Kamahi
- Kassab; Cassab, Kassar, Khalusi (Dwek)
- Kassin or Cassin; Katash
- Kbabieh, Kababieh or Kabbabie
- Khabbaz, Chabaz or Alchabaz
- Khafif, Jafif; Khamri
- Khalife, Jalife
- Khaski, Chasky, Hasky, Haski
- Khouli, Kholi; Kilzi, Kelsi; Kishk
- Kochab, Kochav, Kohab, Cojab
- Kos; Kredi; Kurdi; Kuan
- Labaton, Lobaton; Laboz
- Ladkani; Laham or Alaham
- Lala; Lolo; Lalo; Elo
- Laniado, Lañado, Lagnado
- Laoui, Lawi; Lavy; Lewy; Levi, Levy
- Lati or Laty; Kalati
- Lisbona
- Lopez or Lofes
- Loz; Lozeh; Lozieh; Lombrozo
- Mahanna, Mehanna or Mehani
- Malach or Malakh; Maleh
- Mamiye or Mamilli
- Mamrud, Mamrout or Nimrod
- Mandil; Mandel; Mann or Elmann
- Manopla;
- Mansour or Mansur
- Marashli
- Marcus; Martinez; Martins, Martinez-Cohen
- Maslaton (Tarrab); Matalon
- Masri, Massry, Massre, Missri; Missrie
- Mattut, Mattout; Mawas; Menaged
- Menashe or Menashe-Setton
- Metta, Mitta or Mita (Shaya); Micha
- Mineh; Mnefikhi; Minfakh; Minyan
- Mishan, Michan, Mishaan; Mishanieh
- Mismar; Miro
- Mizrahi, Mezrahi or Mizrachi
- Mizreb or Mizrab; Mozahiem; Moze
- Mlabasati; Mochon or Moshon
- Monsa; Musan
- Mograbi, Mugrabi, Mograbie, Mograby
- Mosseri, Mossery or Musseiri
- Mouadeb, Mouhadeb or Movazeb
- Mustaki; Musali, Mousali;
- Naftali
- Nahmias, Nachmias; Nahum, Nahoum
- Najjar or Nadjar; Nadjari; Nigri
- Nakkash or Nakash, Nacach; Nardea
- Nasser; Nseiri or Nusseiri
- Nassi; Natkin; Nissim
- Nawama; Nawlo or Naoulou
- Nehmad, Nahmad; Nahmod, Nahmoud
- Newah or Noah
- Paredes; Pardo
- Penhos or Pinhas
- Peretz, Perez
- Picciotto, Piccioto, De Picciotto
- Pinto;
- Politti
- Qamishli, Kamishli; Qubursi
- Rabi; Rafoul, Raful, Rafule
- Rahmey; Rayek
- Reuben or Ruben
- Rishty; Rofé (Khallouf)
- Romano;
- Rosillio; Rudy
- Saad; Saada; Saade; Saadia; Said
- Saba; Sabbagh; Saban; Scaba; Escava
- Safdie, Safdieh, Safdiye, Safadi, Savdie or Saff
- Safra
- Sakka or Saka, Sakkal or Sacal
- Saleh; Salem; Salama, Salame
- Sankari; Ankari; Sannado
- Sardar or Sardel; Sarwa or Sarway;
- Sarfati or Serfati;
- Sasson or Sassoon
- Sayegh; Sayyagh;
- Semah or Sameh
- Serouya (Taraman), Seruya; Serieh
- Shaalo, Shacalo, Shakalo, Chakalo
- Shaab, Shaib; Shabbe; Shabi; Shabbo
- Shabbot (Rofé), Shabot, Chabbott
- Shahino;
- Shakruka
- Shalam; Shalom or Chalom; Shalme
- Shamah; Shameh; Shamma; Schama, Chama, Shami
- Shammosh, Shamosh, Chamosh Carmon or Emir
- Shamrikha; Shams
- Sharabati, Charabati
- Shasho; Shoshan; Chouchani
- Shattah; Shawafan
- Shaya or Chaya; Shayo or Chayo
- Shehebar or Chehebar; Shibr; Shbeen
- Shomer; Shriti, Slelat (both Cohen)
- Shrem, Chrem, Cherem or Chreim
- Shweke, Shueke, Schweky, Chwecky
- Silvera, Silveira (Senior);
- Sitt
- Skef; Shkefati or Chkifati;
- Smeke
- Solomon; Salman; Salmoun; Suleiman
- Srour, Srur, Sarur, Serur, Serour; Srugo (Davidic descent)
- Stambouli or Stanbuli;
- Suli; Sultan
- Sutton, Sethon, Setton or Sittehon
- Swed, Sweid, Sued or Soued
- Tabbush (Ades-Antebi) Tache; Yatshe
- Tarrab; Tahan; Tayah; Tarzi, Terzi
- Tawil; Toussie (both from Eli haCohen)
- Tebele or Tbeile; Teubal or Tobal
- Tobias or Tabbash; Tosoun; Totah
- Tourgeman, Tourjeman or Tourjman
- Tuachi, Tawachi or Tawashi
- Turkieh or Turkiyeh;
- Uziel; Uzun
- Wayya, Alwaya;
- Yabo or Yavo; Yabra
- Yakar; Yashar; Yarhi; Yohros; Yazdi
- Yedid or Yadid; Aideed
- Zacharia or Zekaria; Zikri
- Zafrani, Zaafrani, Zafarani (Salem)
- Zaga, Zagha; Zaghal
- Zaibak, Zeibak or Zibak; Zirdok
- Zalta; Zlekta; Zleta; Zarif, Zarife
- Zarur, Zerur, Zarour, Zaroor, Zarura, Zrur, Zroor, Zrour (Davidic descent)
- Zayat or Zayyat;
- Zeitoune or Zeittouni
- Zephaniah; Zonana
See also
- Ades SynagogueAdes SynagogueThe Ades Synagogue, , also known as the Great Synagogue Ades of the Glorious Aleppo Community, located in Jerusalem's Nachlaot neighborhood, was established by Syrian immigrants in 1901...
- Central Synagogue of AleppoCentral Synagogue of AleppoThe Central Synagogue of Aleppo, , also known as the Great Synagogue of Aleppo or Joab's Synagogue, has been a Jewish place of worship since the 5th century C.E. When it functioned, it was considered the main synagogue of the Syrian Jewish community. The synagogue is noted as being the location...
- Persecution of JewsPersecution of JewsPersecution of Jews has occurred on numerous occasions and at widely different geographical locations. As well as being a major component in Jewish history, it has significantly affected the general history and social development of the countries and societies in which the persecuted Jews...
- Syrian CantorsSyrian CantorsThe Syrian Cantor or hazzan leads the traditional prayer rituals in the synagogues of the Syrian Jews. He conducts the services using ten maqamat or musical modes. A cantor must be fully cognizant of these maqamat and their applications to the prayers...
- The Weekly MaqamThe Weekly MaqamIn Mizrahi and Sephardic Middle Eastern Jewish prayer services, each Shabbat the congregation conducts services using a different maqam. A maqam , which in Arabic literally means 'place', is a standard melody type and set of related tunes. The melodies used in a given maqam aims effectively to...
Historic
- Maḥzor Aram Tsoba: Venice 1527, 1560
- Bet El (seliḥot and morning service), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1878 (repr. New York 1982)
- Bet Din (Rosh Hashanah), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1878 (repr. Jerusalem 1986)
- Bet ha-Kapporet (Kippur), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1879
- Bet Simḥah (Sukkot), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1879 (repr. Jerusalem 1970)
- Bet ha-Beḥirah (Pesaḥ), Abraham Ḥamwi: Livorno 1880 (repr. Jerusalem 1985)
- Seder Olat Tamid (minḥah and arbit only): Aleppo 1907
- Olat ha-Shaḥar: Aleppo 1915
Modern
- Seder Seliḥot, ed. Shehebar: Jerusalem 1973
- Bet Yosef ve-Ohel Abraham: Jerusalem, Manṣur (Hebrew only, based on Baghdadi text) 1974–1980
- Siddur le-Tish'ah be-Ab, ed. Shehebar: Jerusalem 1976
- Mahzor Shelom Yerushalayim, ed. Albeg: New York, Sephardic Heritage Foundation 1982
- Siddur Kol Mordechai, ed. Faham bros: Jerusalem 1984 (minִhah and arbit only)
- Sha'are Ratson, ed. Moshe Cohen: Tel Aviv 1988, repr. 2003 (High Holy DaysHigh Holy DaysThe High Holidays or High Holy Days, in Judaism, more properly known as the Yamim Noraim , may mean:#strictly, the holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur ;...
only) - Kol Yaakob, ed. Alouf: New York, Sephardic Heritage Foundation 1990 (Hebrew only; revised edition 1996, Hebrew and English; a new edition is in preparation)
- The Aram Soba Siddur: According to the Sephardic Custom of Aleppo Syria, Moshe Antebi: Jerusalem, Aram Soba Foundation 1993 (minḥah and arbit only)
- Orḥot Ḥayim, ed. Yedid: Jerusalem 1995 (Hebrew only)
- Orot Sephardic Siddur, Eliezer Toledano: Lakewood, NJ, Orot Inc. (Hebrew and English: Baghdadi text, Syrian variants shown in square brackets)
- Siddur Abodat Haleb / Prayers from the Heart, Moshe Antebi, Lakewood, NJ: Israel Book Shop, 2002
- Abir Yaakob, ed. Haber: Sephardic Press (Hebrew and English, Shabbat only)
- Siddur Ve-ha'arev Na, ed. Isaac S.D. SassoonIsaac S.D. SassoonIsaac S.D. Sassoon is an observant Sephardic rabbi and educator. Hakham Sassoon was born into the Sassoon family of London. His initial education was under the tutelage of his father, the renowned scholar Rabbi Solomon David Sassoon, Hakham Yosef Doury, and others. Later studies were at the...
, 2007
External links
- The Jews of Aleppo
- World Center for Aleppo (Halab) Jews Traditional Culture
- The Sephardic Pizmonim Project
- The Aleppo Codex Website
- Sephardic Institute Judaic Seminar
- Daily Halachot, R. Eli Mansour
- Merkaz Moreshet Yisrael Sephardic Foundation for Torah Studies
- Sha'ar Binyamin: Damascus Jewry (Hebrew and Spanish)
- Aromas of Aleppo Cookbook
- NY Times article
- Les Fleurs de L'Orient
- S Y Mall, home of the "Charlie in the Morning" online daily talk show, featuring host Charlie Anteby
- Syrian Community Magazine
- Sephardic Image
- Sephardic Community Center (Brooklyn)
- Syrian Jews Mark 100 Years in U.S.
- The Sy Empire New York Times Magazine
- http://www.fw-magazine.com/category/1/283Syrian Jews at home and in the diaspora, Forward MagazineForward MagazineForward Magazine is a Syrian English-language newsmagazine published monthly in Damascus. It was the first private English-language periodical to be licensed in Syria, since all private media was nationalized by Gamal Abdel Nasser in 1958, during the short-lived Syrian-Egyptian union...
] - http://www.tabletmag.com/life-and-religion/47395/road-from-damascus/Road From Damascus, Tablet MagazineTablet MagazineTablet Magazine is a two-time National Magazine Award-winning online publication of Jewish life, arts, and ideas. Sponsored by Nextbook, it was launched in June 2009. Its Editor in Chief is Alana Newhouse....
]