Lebanese Jews

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The Lebanese Jews are traditonally a Mizrahi community living in the present-day country of Lebanon, mostly in and around the city of Beirut. Almost all of the community has emigrated to Israel, France, and North America (mostly to the latter two), with less than 100 Jews now living in the country, compared to 20,000 in 1948[1]. Aliyah did not begin in ernest until the civil wars of 1958 and 1975, as Lebanese Jews were tightly integrated into society and felt no need to abandon their homeland.

1 History
- 1.1 From A.D 132 to Greater Lebanon
- 1.2 1948 to Present
2 Chief Rabbis
3 References

[edit] History

[edit] From A.D 132 to Greater Lebanon

The first Jewish presence in what is today Lebanon was probably established in or around A.D. 132, following the Bar Kokhba Revolt. The Caliph Muawiya established a community in Tripoli and one was founded in Sidon in 922. In 1911, Jews from Iraq, Greece, Syria, and Turkey all moved to Beirut, expanding the community there to nearly 5,000. The Jewish community also prospered under the French mandate and Greater Lebanon. During the Greater Lebanon period, two Jewish newspapers were founded, the Arabic language Al-Alam al-Israili (the Israelite World) and the French Le Commerce du Levant, an ecomomic periodical which still publishes (though it is now owned by non-Jews).

[edit] 1948 to Present

Lebanon was the only Arab country whose Jewish population actually increased after the declaration of the State of Israel in 1948.[2] However,after the 1958 Civil War, many Lebanese Jews left the country, though largely for Europe and the United States rather than for Israel. The Lebanese Civil War, begining in 1975, proved worse for the Jews, and around 200 were killed during pogroms in that period. In 1982, during the Israeli invasion, 11 Jewish leaders were captured and killed by Islamist radicals. Wadi Abu Jamil, Beirut's Jewish quarter, is now virtually abandoned, and it's central temple, the Magen Abraham Synagogue, is now delapidated, and only around 40 Jews remain in Beirut today.[3]

[edit] Chief Rabbis

Between the years of 1908 and 1978, a series of Chief Rabbis led the Lebanese Jewish commnunity. These were:

Rabbi Danon 1908-1909
Jacob Maslaton 1910-1921
Salomon Tagger 1921-1923
Shabtai Bahbout 1924-1950
Benzion Lichtman 1932-1959
Jacob Attiyeh 1949-1966
Chaoud Chreim 1960-1978

[edit] References

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