Aleppo, Syria; Once the Stronghold of Jewish Industry, Now Fighting the Good Guys, The Kurds

 Nadene Goldfoot                                               

                                           The Jews of Syria, A Lost Civilization

Stiff European trade competition in the late 1800‘s, bolstered by the opening of the Suez Canal, caused severe economic hardship for Syrian-Jewish merchants. Many Jews emigrated to Lebanon, Israel, and elsewhere while the Jews of Damascus declined in religiosity. The Jewish population of Aleppo stayed steady, but that of Damascus decreased dramatically over a short period of time. Today some 50 Jews remain in Syria. Their population blame any little thing, like the bad weather, on the Jews.  Their Damascus Affair is a well-known anti-Semic event of that period.   

You need a game board to keep track of who the good guys are these days and what is happening to them.  Aleppo was a major, ancient Jewish center, known as "Aram-Zoba," with a history stretching back to biblical times, famous for its Great Synagogue, vibrant Sephardic culture absorbing Spanish exiles, and as the home of the priceless Aleppo Codex. Its Jewish community, a unique blend of indigenous and Sephardic traditions, thrived under Ottoman rule, becoming a significant scholarly and merchant hub before facing persecution and eventual mass emigration in the mid-20th century, with remnants now in Israel, the U.S., and Latin America. 

While Damascus was the biggest Jewish center, the second major Jewish center in Syria was Aleppo. Jewish activity there dates back to the 4th century C.E. with the building of the Kanisat Mutakal, the oldest Jewish structure in Aleppo. As Aleppo became the center of Jewish learning in Syria, several notable figures including Saadiah Gaon and R. Joseph b. Aknin (the Rambam’s disciple) made their way there from Israel to see the Aleppo community’s erudition and first-hand. They could not have been disappointed for the Jewish scholars of Aleppo were responsible for producing one of Judaism’s single most important documents and Syrian Jewry’s single greatest achievement: the Aleppo Codex. The Codex is the most authoritative and accurate of the Masoretic Texts which form the basis for the modern Hebrew text of the Bible. 

By the time of the Six-Day War of 1967 there were only 1,000 Jews in Aleppo and 1,500 in Damascus, down from 40,000 total Jews in 1948. The socialist Ba’ath party took over in 1963 putting into power Hafez al-Assad and later his son, the current president, Bashar. 

 

I wrote about Judith Feld Carr helping the Syrian Jews get out of Syria in my book, Messages From A Syrian Jew Trapped in Egypt.    Despite their dire situation, the Jews of Syria were not forgotten by the outside world. One hero in particular, Judy Feld Carr, was instrumental in bringing about what is one of the largest post-Holocaust rescue of Jews. Carr, a Canadian-Jewish musician, used funds from the Dr. Ronald Feld Fund for Jews in Arab Lands from the Beth Tzedek Synagogue in Toronto to pay for Syrian Jews to emigrate to a place of their choosing. Over the course of 25 years, an estimated 3,228 Jews were able to leave Syria thanks to Carr’s clandestine efforts. She has won numerous awards and is the subject of a book, The Ransomed of God: The Remarkable Story Of One Woman's Role in the Rescue of Syrian Jews by Harold Troper. 

What's happening  today in Aleppo:  

• Escalating Clashes: Fighting intensified in Kurdish-majority neighborhoods (Sheikh Maqsoud, Ashrafiyeh) after a brief ceasefire, with shelling hitting civilian areas. (The Kurds are our friends. 
• Why is Syria fighting them?) The recent fighting between the Syrian government and the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) stems from a fundamental disagreement over the SDF-held territories' future: autonomy versus central state control. The long-running Syrian civil war provided the context for this conflict, allowing the Kurds to establish a semi-autonomous region in the northeast.                     
  
                                                       
  
  
  
• Who are the Kurds?  The Kurds are a large, indigenous Middle Eastern ethnic group, numbering 30-45 million, known as the world's largest stateless people, living primarily in Kurdistan, a region spanning parts of Turkey, Iraq, Iran, and Syria, united by Kurdish (an Indo-European language) and culture but with diverse traditions, predominantly Sunni Muslim, who have a long history of seeking autonomy or independence amidst persecution and conflict. 
• What is connection of Kurds and Jews?  DNA studies show Kurds and Jews share close genetic ties, with Kurds often being the closest relatives to most Jewish groups, clustering more with populations from the northern Fertile Crescent (Kurds, Turks, Armenians) than Arabs; both groups exhibit common ancestral markers like the Cohen Modal Haplotype (CMH), linking them to ancient northern Middle Eastern populations, suggesting shared deep roots in the region. 
• What side was Israel on?  Israel has provided covert military, intelligence, and financial assistance to the Kurds, primarily in Iraq, since the 1960s, and has offered humanitarian aid and political support for independence in recent decades. 
• Civilian Impact: At least five civilians died, dozens injured, and over 30,000 displaced; hospitals suspended operations, and flights at Aleppo Airport were halted.
• Evacuation Orders: Syrian authorities urged residents to leave contested zones, opening corridors as military operations against the SDF loomed.
• SDF Stance: The SDF claims government forces have besieged Kurdish areas for months and denies military presence in Aleppo, holding internal security forces responsible. 
  
      All he needed was to put on a suit, and the panther  Jolani changed his clothes to Sharaa..  
• Syria seems to be going from bad to worse.  Syria's new president is Ahmed al-Sharaa (also known as Ahmad al-Shara), a former jihadist who led the rebel offensive that ousted Bashar al-Assad in late 2024, becoming president for a transitional period.  Ahmed al-Sharaa, the current de facto leader of Syria, used to be widely known by his jihadist nom de guerre, Abu Mohammad al-Jolani (or al-Julani), a former commander for al-Qaeda and the Islamic State (ISIS) in Iraq and Syria, designated a global terrorist by the U.S. before his rebranding and rise in Syrian politics. 
• Trump loves this guy, but we know better. Does a leopard change his  sspots overnight?    
•  He has since rebranded himself as a moderate leader, shedding his past ties to al-Qaeda (formerly Hayat Tahrir al-Sham/HTS), engaging with Western nations, and focusing on rebuilding Syria, though challenges remain in establishing stable governance and addressing the country's humanitarian crisis. 

Resource:

https://jewishbubba.blogspot.com/2024/10/messages-from-syrian-jew-trapped-in.html