 |
| Aleppo, the Sukari district of Aleppo on 13 November, 2014 The Aleppo bombings (April–July 2016) were intense bombardments on both rebel and government-held areas in the city of Aleppo, Syria starting in late April 2016. Some rebel shelling also hit a Kurdish-held part of the city. The bombings decreased in intensity after 55 days when a temporary truce was established. However, the bombings continued through July. Involved in the Syrian Civil War flattened by Assad's bombs Opposition groups are from the East Government troops come from the West "Rebel-held areas have been flattened and abandoned after thousands were killed by "barrel bombs" – steel drums full of shrapnel and explosives – dropped by Syrian government aircraft" |
Aleppo, a city in Syria, has been hit many times by the recent war going on in Syria. It had been a city full of Jews and was quite the business center with people from all religions. "Aleppo was the crown of Jewish splendor in the Sephardic world. "
An Aleppo legend, told by both Jews and Muslims, was that the patriarch Abraham had settled down for a while and lived in Aleppo during his wanderings from his native city of Ur (today in Iraq). He is believe to have milked his cows there. Halab is the Arabic name for Aleppo. It is the Aramaic and Hebrew word for "milked."
Lebanon in the beginning was a part of Syria. "Lebanon-Syria relations were officially established in October 2008 when Syrian President Bashar Assad issued a decree to establish diplomatic relations with Lebanon for the first time since both countries gained independence from France in 1943 (Lebanon) and 1946 (Syria). Lebanon had traditionally been seen by Syria as part of Greater Syria"
Aleppo's Jewish people in Syria goes back to Biblical days and is intertwined with the history and politics of Jerusalem.
There was THE GREAT SYNAGOGUE in Aleppo, with the foundation constructed by King David's General, Joab ben Seruya from about 950 BCE. Joab conquered the city told in 2 Sam 8:3-8, is still sometimes referred to as Joab's Synagogue. The design is influenced by Muslim mosques with the ark being an exact copy of a mosque's mihrab, so must have been completed after the Muslim conquest of Syria.
It was called Aram-Zobah by the Jews. It's listed in Psalms 60:2. Written by King David at the outset of his campaign against Israel's enemies, David expressed his faith in G-d's assurances that his reign would be consolidated from within and feared from without, so he wrote: When he made war against Aram-naharaim and Aram-tzobah, and Joab returned and smote Edom." Joab had left his campaign against Aram to attack Edom, which was en route to assist Aram, and killed 12,000 of the enemy. Joab was born in the 10th century BCE, was David's nephew and commander-in-chief, appointed to head the army. Joab had supported Adonjah's (4th son of David and elder brother of Solomon) claim to succeed David, and was put to death by King Solomon.
The Jewish community of Aleppo was one of the oldest in the world. The Great Synagogue must be what was a synagogue and was converted into the AL-HAYYAT MOSQUE that dated from the 6th century. 1500 Jews were there, found by Benjamin of Tudela. Later during the Middle Ages the community became known as the home of many men of learning.
Spanish Jews settled there after 1492's Spanish Inquisition, adding spice to the community. 14,000 Jews lived in Aleppo before 1914-the beginning of WWI. Many then emigrated to England and the USA. Riots took place in Aleppo and Jews fled after November 1947 with the UN partitioning Palestine. By 1991, 400 Jews lived in Aleppo. Most were traders and peddlers. The Jewish neighborhood, called the Jewish Quarter, contained many ancient synagogues, the oldest being the Mustaribah that was destroyed in the 1947 riots. The main part had dated back to the 4th century. It was here that a very famous Masoretic Codex of the Bible was preserved and edited by Ben Asher. It's now in Israel.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE-400 Year Rule
Jew of the period
Palestine-part of the empire in 1517
The Ottoman Empire encompassed today's Turkey, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and other territories, but fell after WWI by 1917. Mandates were given to France and Great Britain to rule. Britain's was good for 30 years. The French took control over Aleppo and it and Damascus became a French mandate. One traveled on a French passport or travel papers. Massive emigration from Syria happened again after WWI and continued until about 1925 when the GREAT DEPRESSION began. These people who left then made up the Syrian Jewish communities of Brooklyn and New Jersey.
The Ottoman Empire's condition for Jews was good compared to other times and places, but they were kept as Dhimmis or 2nd class citizens with many things they were not allowed to do. They wanted you to believe that they favored the Jews compared to other people because Jews did contribute to a good economy and they were good in commerce. However, no one wants to be held down as they were.
Life was held to be very strict for men and women of Syria, even for the Jews. They were separated so that women got together and played cards. Girls didn't get any formal education until the middle of the 20th century, though a few attended Alliance Israelite Universelle schools. Marriages were generally arranged after a girl had her 1st menstrual cycle, often as young as 13 or 14. I imagine this was true also in earlier days. Tradition was that teenage girls and even married women wore gold bangle bracelets, and that is also a very old tradition. Few women ever worked and rarely shopped! In the Middle East the husband arranged for a stock of staple items and to market because he was the better negotiator and this was important. Women were highly respected and honored because being a mother and homemaker was important. Women kept their heads covered, and if out in public, also covered their faces. In other words, they followed the Muslim customs.
The Ottoman government didn't keep birth records for the Jewish communities, so people depended on the individual rabbis to keep records of the brit milahs, marriages and deaths of the Jewish communities. From about 1850 on, the Ottoman government appointed a chief rabbi (hakham bashi). rabbis often came form families which had a long tradition for providing the community with hakhamim, like the Kassins and the Labatons. Aleppan rabbis were learned in Kabbalah and Talmudic legal traditional. Aleppan Jews had a well-known reputation for respecting rabbinic authority.
In the early 1800s European powers called for equal treatment for Christians and Jews. Jewish contractual positions with the government disappeared, but civil service positions were created. The jizha tax was a substitution for military service and was eliminated. By 1908 the Young Turks began conscripting Jews into their army, and this caused mass emigration of Jews to North and South America.
Before WWI, the Ottomans lost control of their empire. Jewish men had to serve in the army and fight in the Balkan Wars. They didn't want to fight in this war. Syrian Jews moved to Mexico City, Buenos Aires, Argentina, New York, Chicago though most went to New York.
By then President Assad has virtually made all Jews prisoners. They could not leave the city nor even have telephones. Judith Feld Carr of Canada heard about this situation and managed to talk the president into allowing her to take out all the Jews as long as she didn't take them to Israel.
2009 Aleppo before Civil War Destruction
February 2012 Aleppo bombings - On 10 February 2012, two large bombs exploded at Syrian security forces buildings in Aleppo. According to the Syrian government and state media, the blasts were caused by two suicide car bombs. It reported that 28 people were killed (24 members of the security forces and four civilians) and 235 wounded. Jabhat
The Syrian Civil War started: " initial March 2011 Arab Spring protests and the 15 July 2012 declaration by the International Committee of the Red Cross that the fighting had gradually become so widespread that the situation should be regarded as a civil war."
Steven V. Roberts wrote a special to the Washington Post on Sunday, December 20, 2009, and is quoted as saying, "As a Jew, I never felt unsafe or unwelcome in Syria, but the country's once vibrant Jewish population has been driven away, and the grand synagogue of Aleppo lies decaying and desecrated behind iron gates. Syria has taken a different view of its Christian population, which remains at about 10 percent, 14 centuries after the region's conquest by Arabic-speaking Muslims. The Baath Party, which has ruled since 1963, is decidedly secular. But one of its founders, Michel Aflaq, was Greek Orthodox. Christians have traditionally served in high government posts, and Christian practices and monuments are widely respected.
In the bazaars of Aleppo, the names on the gold and jewelry stores are still mainly Armenian, reflecting the influx of Armenians who fled Turkey during World War I. The town has the second-largest Christian population in the Middle East."
Aleppo's 2019 population is now estimated at 1,834,093. In 1950, the population of Aleppo was 377,981. Aleppo has grown by 854,628 since 2015, which represents a 16.98% annual change.
Is ISIS out of Syria today? "ISIS is a proto-state terrorist network that can be traced back to a group called al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was started by a Jordanian terrorist named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and arose in response to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. The word is that they are almost beaten. Can Syria handle it by themselves if the USA pulls out now?
 |
| ISIS |
Is ISIS out of Syria today? "ISIS is a proto-state terrorist network that can be traced back to a group called al-Qaeda in Iraq, which was started by a Jordanian terrorist named Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, and arose in response to the U.S. invasion of Iraq in 2003. The word is that they are almost beaten. Can Syria handle it by themselves if the USA pulls out now?
Resource http://www.jewishgen.rg/sefardsig/aleppojews.htm
The NEw Standard Jewish Encyclopedia
https://www.ibtimes.co.uk/aleppo-once-jewel-syria-now-rebels-last-stand-flattened-by-assads-bombs-1475250
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_the_Syrian_Civil_War
No comments:
Post a Comment