Magen Abraham Synagogue

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Magen Abraham Synagogue before restoration

The Magen Abraham Synagogue ( Arabic كنيس ماغين أبراهام, DMG Kanīs Māġīn Abrāhām ; Hebrew בית הכנסת מגן אברהם Beth HaKenesset Magen Abraham ) - built in 1925 - is the oldest still existing synagogue in the Lebanese capital Beirut .

The church is located in the former Jewish quarter of Wadi al-Yahoud, which is now called Wadi Abu Dschamil. The district was abandoned during the Lebanese civil war when the PLO under Yasser Arafat attacked the area. In 1976 the Torah scrolls from the synagogue were brought to safety in Geneva by the head of Lebanese Jews, Josef Farhi, and entrusted to the banker Edmond Safra , who stowed them in his bank suitcase; most of them have been in Israeli synagogues since then . In the 1982 Lebanon War , the Magen Abraham Synagogue was damaged by tank shells, so that rubble and debris were scattered over the floor. A marble tablet with the Ten Commandments and a marble Star of David were destroyed. The renovation of the synagogue began in May 2009 and work was completed in 2010.

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