Love of the Land: Syrian stories of separation and escape

Syrian stories of separation and escape

Rabbi Elie Abadie MD (photo HSJE)

Bataween
Point of No Return
11 March '10

It was one of the largest ethnic cleansings of modern times, yet the media have largely ignored the mass exodus of Jews from Arab lands. The David Project's Forgotten Refugees film has been trying to remedy this state of affairs, with its poignant stories of discrimination, expulsion and escape. In her comprehensive piece for Community Magazine, Our parents, the refugees, Kelly Jemal Massry recounts stories of Jewish refugees that were not included in the film, such as that of Rabbi Elie Abadie, whose parents fled Syria for Lebanon following the riots of 1947.

Rabbi Elie Abadie of the Safra Synagogue is the child of survivors of the 1947 Syrian riots. The mobs—aided by police the Jews had once trusted—began burning synagogues and sifrei Torot in what became known as the harayik. One day, rioters entered the building in which Rabbi Abadie’s parents lived. Within minutes, Mrs. Abadie heard shrieks of terror. “They were beating Jews, destroying their property, looting stores, ruining businesses,” she recalled.

Escape was risky. Syrian police patrolled the border and imprisoned Jews who were caught trying to cross. Some were daring enough to bribe a well-connected official or walk outside the border where no one would see them. But many of these attempts were unsuccessful, and resulted in death, torture or incarceration. Rabbi Abadie’s parents hid in his grandparents’ house, and a few days later they made separate attempts at escape. His mother obtained a doctor’s permit and took her sons to the Lebanon Mountains, but his father was unsuccessful after several attempts to escape Syria.

In one instance, he was caught by a Syrian guard whom he happened to know. The guard said, “The authorities are after you because you’ve tried to escape several times, and I have orders to arrest you. I’m coming back to arrest you tomorrow.”Mr. Abadie understood the hint, and the very next day, with the help of some friends, he boarded the train to Lebanon. A train official with whom he was acquainted hid him in the cargo hold, warning that if he would sneeze or move a muscle they’d both be caught and killed.

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Love of the Land: Syrian stories of separation and escape

Love of the Land: Setting the record straight on the Jews of Syria

Setting the record straight on the Jews of Syria

Bataween
Point of No Return
02 February '10

Jews left Syria for the Americas, 'not for the embarrassment of Zionism next door'. Muslims 'saved' the Aleppo Codex. 'Riots never happened' against the Jews, but if they did the Israelis inflicted the same oppression on the 'innocent' Palestinians. Taking Syria's sorry treatment of its Jews as an example, Israelinurse bravely tackles some of the myths on the Guardian Comment is Free website where revisionism on the plight of Mizrahi Jews is rife. Read her piece on CiF watch :

"There is, of course, ample information both in print and on-line readily available for those who wish to inform themselves about the experiences of Mizrahi and Sephardi Jews. One useful publication which predates the electronic era is Sir Martin Gilbert’s atlas entitled ‘The Jews of Arab Lands – Their History in Maps’ from 1976, in which one can see at a glance exactly what befell the Jews of Syria, and those in other Arab countries, in stark contrast to the myths propagated above.

"In 1943 the Jewish population of Syria numbered some 29,770, in 1946 it had fallen to 18,000 and in 1974 there remained only 4,000 Jews there. In Kamishliye in June 1967, 57 Jews were murdered by a mob of anti-Jewish rioters. In Aleppo, where Jews had lived since biblical times, predating Islam by many centuries of course, the Great Synagogue was looted and prayer books burnt in the street on November 18th, 1945. On December 2nd, 1947, just days after the adoption of the UNSC resolution to establish the State of Israel, many Jews were killed in anti-Jewish riots; 150 Jewish homes, 50 shops, 18 Synagogues and 5 schools were set ablaze. Some Jews fled to the Yishuv after this incident, including the father of a friend of mine who describes himself as a ‘Halabi’ and recounts his night-time trek down the slopes of the Golan Heights carrying his precious oud. Others fared less well: in November 1950, 30 Syrian Jews were murdered at sea by Arab seamen paid to take them by boat to Israel.

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Love of the Land: Setting the record straight on the Jews of Syria