15 Facts About Syrian Jews

Syrian Jews are Jews who lived in the region of the modern state of Syria, and their descendants born outside Syria.

Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: from the Jews who inhabited the region of today's Syria from ancient times; and from the Sephardi Jews (referring to Jews with an extended history in the Iberian Peninsula, i e Spain and Portugal) who fled to Syria after the Alhambra Decree forced the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492.

Many families left Syria for Egypt in the following decades, and with increasing frequency until the First World War, many Syrian Jews left the Middle East for western countries, mainly Great Britain, the United States, Mexico and Argentina.

Many Syrian Jews fled from Syria to Palestine during the anti-Jewish riots of 1947.

Main settlement of Syrian Jews was in Manchester, where they joined the local Spanish and Portuguese synagogues, which had a mixed community that included North African, Turkish, Egyptian and Iraqi as well as Syrian Jews.

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Syrian Jews are most visible in the Once district, where there are many community schools and temples.

Many Syrian Jews escaped from Syria and Palestine, provinces of the Ottoman Empire during the World War I At present there are 2, 300 Syrian Jews in Chile.

Rodfe Sedek synagogue, for Aleppan Syrian Jews, was established in 1931, largely through the efforts of Rabbi Mordejay Attie.

Also in the 1930s the members of Monte Sinai established a large synagogue for Damascene Syrian Jews situated at 110 Queretaro Street in the Colonia Roma area.

Musical customs of Syrian Jews communities are very distinctive, as many of the prayers are chanted to the melodies of the pizmonim, according to a complicated annual rota designed to ensure that the maqam used suits the mood of the festival or of the Torah reading for the week.

Syrian Jews have a large repertoire of hymns, sung on social and ceremonial occasions such as weddings and bar mitzvahs.

Syrian Jews had a distinctive traditional sharh, which was used in teaching children, though not for any liturgical purpose.

Many Syrian Jews have the custom of reciting each paragraph of the Passover Haggadah first in Hebrew and then in Judaeo-Arabic.

Syrian Jews acknowledged the right of the community to refuse to carry out conversions and to regard as invalid conversions carried out by other communities in which marriage is a factor.

Syrian Jews recipes remain popular in Syrian Jews Jewish communities around the world.