Fond Memories Of A Jewish Community In Lebanon--By Jews, Christians And Muslims Alike (And A Synagogue Being Restored)

Earlier this year, Bablylon & Beyond described how New book attempts to resurrect Beirut's lost Jewish past. The book is about Wadi Abu Jamil--referred to as Wadi Yehud: The Valley of the Jews--which used to be a busy Jewish community in Beirut. It is a collection of 21 stories about Jewish life in Wadi Abu Jamil, of Jews who preserved their Jewish traditions while at the same time having strong ties with their Christian and Muslim neighbors.

Wadi Abu Jamil: Stories about the Jews of Beirut is written by BBC journalist Nada Abdelsamad, who brings to life the various Jewish personalities who used to live there, through the memories recounted by the people who considered those Jews to be their neighbors and friends.


She also interviewed Lebanese Jews who had left:

The author was taken aback by their positive feedback and nostalgia for the old days in Wadi Abu Jamil.

Abdelsamad herself, she says, is part of the generation that only heard about the Lebanon's Jewish community but never encountered it.

“They had such nice memories of Lebanon," Abdelsamad told the Times. "They talked about in a nearly nostalgic way. It was surprising."

And if she was surprised by the response of Jews who left Lebanon, she was even more surprised by the response the book itself received:

Published by Lebanon's Dar Annahar in Arabic, "Wadi Abu Jamil" quickly became a hit after its launching at a Beirut book fair in December. In some book stores it completely sold out.

"The way the book has sold shows the interest of the Lebanese in the topic," Abdelsamad says. She added that there are plans to translate the book into both French and English.

You can also read an interview with the author here.

Apparently, in addition to those French and English translations, there were also plans to make a movie, a documentary--and the reception for that has been good as well.

The name of the documentary is The Jews of Lebanon: Loyalty to Whom?, and it appears to have struck a chord:

Many years have passed since Lebanon's Jews left, but nostalgia for the old days still appears to be there, according to the film. Former neighbors and acquaintances interviewed still wonder what happened to their Jewish friends, where they went, and about their families.

Of the 20,000 Jews who lived in Lebanon in 1948--only a few hundred remain, so most of what remains is that nostalgia.

However, despite that small number, last year a project was started to renovate the Maghen-Abraham synagogue in Wadi Abu Jamil.When mention was first made of the restoration in 2008, Bloomberg reported:

Beirut's Maghen Abraham Synagogue opened in 1926 in Wadi Abou Jmil, the city's Jewish quarter, located on the edge of west Beirut near the Grand Serai palace, where the government meets, and within walking distance of parliament.

Lebanon then was something of a haven for Jews, some of whom were the descendants of those who had fled the Spanish inquisition; it later served a similar role for refugees from Nazi Germany. With ``no history of anti-Jewish tensions,'' it was the only Arab country whose Jewish population rose after Israel's creation in 1948, according to Kirsten Schulze, a lecturer at the London School of Economics and author of ``The Jews of Lebanon.''

Illustration of outside of Mahgen-Abraham

Illustration of inside of Mahgen-Abraham

The renovation had broad support--and not only among the Jews inside and outside of Lebanon:

Last week, restoration began on the 84-year-old synagogue, Beirut's oldest remaining Jewish house of worship, launching what will be a yearlong, million-dollar undertaking.

Private Jewish donors abroad, many of Lebanese descent, funded the project, along with a $150,000 donation from Solidere, Prime Minister-elect Saad Hariri’s company, according to the Lebanese Jewish Community Council.

Lebanon's Jewish community once numbered 22,000, and Judaism is still recognized as an official religion in the country.

This of course is good PR for Hezbolah:

Hussain Rahal, a spokesman for Hezbollah, said his group -- which refuses to recognize Israel's right to exist, and which the West considers a terrorist organization -- also supports the restoration of Maghen Abraham.

``We respect the Jewish religion just like we do Christianity,'' he said. ``The Jews have always lived among us. We have an issue with Israel's occupation of land.''

But rings hollow, considering how everything possible is being done not to publicize the project:

The architect told the Global Post that he was advised to raise scaffolding only inside the building.

At the site, a worker leads a visitor through the synagogue grounds to a group of men clearing shrubs. “No pictures, no journalists," he orders. "A woman came last week and took pictures, and the police came and arrested her.”

Let's just say that it is unlikely that Ahamdinejad and Nasrallah will make a joint appearance to see what progress is being made.

A main source of information about the renovation was supposed to be TheJewsOfLebanonProject.org, but the site no longer exists and their Facebook page has no update. I thought that maybe this meant the project had been disbanded.

But instead, it seems that actually the project is almost finished:

Renovations have included mending the gaping hole in the Moroccan-style synagogue's roof and repairing the chandeliers that once hung from it. The Torah ark and prayer benches will also be refurbished to their former states, having been seriously damaged in fighting between Muslim and Christian forces during the 1975-1990 Lebanese civil war.

Seems like a fitting backdrop to Nada Abdelsamad's book.

See my posts on other Jewish communities around the world

Technorati Tag: Wadi Abu Jamil and Maghen Abraham and Lebanon.