Synagogue of Jobar

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The Elijahu Hanavi Synagogue ( Hebrew בית הכנסת אליהו הנביא בג'ובר) or Dschobar Synagogue ( Arabic كنيس جوبر Kanisat Jubar ,בית הכנסת בג'ובר) was a Jewish place of pilgrimage in the village of Jubar (also Dshobar ) near Damascus , a current district of the capital. Local tradition says that the prophet Elisha built the synagogue over a cave in which the prophet Elijah hid.

Jewish pilgrimage tradition

Places associated with the prophet Elijah play an important role in the Jewish pilgrimage tradition. There are three types of sanctuaries: 1. room where he is said to have lived, 2. caves where he is said to have hidden, 3. other places where he is said to have been hidden. Such local traditions were particularly common in Syria, typically grottoes under synagogues. Jobar held a prominent position among the Syrian Elijah shrines. Samuel ben Samson, a French rabbi, made a pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1210. He came back to Damascus, “and outside the city is a synagogue that Elijah built. It's a very beautiful building and we prayed there. "

In 1522 Rabbi Moshe Baṣṣola visited the place of pilgrimage and described it as follows: “In the front of the synagogue is a beautiful cave. It is said that Elijah, his good will, hid here and that this synagogue has existed since the time of Elisha. There is also a rock there on which that one anointed Hazael . Eleazar ben Arach later renovated the building. "

Building description at the end of the 17th century

Laurent d'Arvieux († 1702), a French traveler, described the pilgrimage site in Dschobar as follows: “You descend seven steps carved into the rock and you get to a grotto that is about 10 feet square. There are three small niches in it, like open boxes, in which the Jews let three candles burn. There is another opening through which ravens brought food to Elijah during the 40 days he was there. The Jews have a synagogue next to this cave. "

Building description 1740s

Richard Pococke visited the village of Dschobar, about two miles outside Damascus, “where there is a synagogue that resembles an old Greek church, which according to legend it used to be. In the middle of the synagogue is the place where Elias is said to have anointed Hazael king over Syria by God's command. In three rooms of the synagogue there are 36 copies of the law ; they are excellently written beautifully on parchment rolls whose yba a circular enclosure of wood has to put them in, and whether equal to the reputation of the same one shines little attention to here, we have yet Declare that the law, as Titus to Temple destroyed, would have been kept here. One of these rooms leads into a small crypt in which there is a hole that looks like a window. Here, as they say, Elias was fed by the ravens ... "

Pogrom 1840

During the Damascus affair in 1840, when Jews were accused of having committed a ritual murder of a Catholic clergyman, the Jobar synagogue was stormed and damaged. The book treasures praised by the English travel writer and Anglican Bishop Richard Pococke were burned.

Building description 1850s

Ulrich Jasper Seetzen , who had visited Dschobar at the beginning of the century, mentioned the grotto of the prophet Elijah as a Jewish pilgrimage destination, but did not mention the synagogue building. The orientalist Julius Heinrich Petermann visited Dschobar in the 1850s and described the synagogue building as follows:

“In the same room near the entrance is enclosed by a railing, in which Elias is said to have anointed Elisha as prophet and Hazael as king of Syria. Opposite the entrance and next to the barrier that holds the scroll of the law, a door on the right side leads into a small hall. From this 6–8 small and narrow steps of smooth sandstone or marble go down to the right into a small vault paved with marble, which has three niches and a stone bench on the side. The prophet Elias is said to have lived here for a while, and according to I B. d. Kings 17.6 have been fed by ravens. I cite this tradition, but at the same time note that Benjamin of Tudela , who made such great journeys and visited his fellow believers everywhere, was also in Damascus, and reports all the traditions of the Jews about this place and its importance doesn't know anything. "

State after 1948

Jobar was a Jewish village in front of the city walls of Damascus, but in the course of the expulsions of Jews from Arab and Islamic countries after the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948, many Syrian Jews were expropriated and persecuted, which is why today (as of 2013) only about 20 Jews live in Syria. "The Jobar synagogue was confiscated by the Syrian regime and used as a school for Palestinian refugee children." The synagogue was no longer used for church services, it was only sometimes opened for pilgrims and tourists.

In 2009, the photographer Chrystie Sherman documented the condition of several synagogues in Syria, including that of the Jobar synagogue. The Diarna organization (see web links) has documented this state of the building: The architecture and interior design showed local Ottoman traditions. The prayer room was divided into three naves by two rows of 6 and 7 columns. Numerous candlesticks and candelabra made of valuable materials hung from the ceiling. The middle of the room was occupied by a raised bima made of wood painted light blue. Slender white rods at the corners of the bima supported a kind of canopy. Burgundy upholstered benches were pushed up against the walls, and the sofas, carpets, and curtains were in the same shade. In an area enclosed by a light green metal fence stood a large menorah , gleaming in gold . To the right of the Torah shrine , stairs lead to the Elijah Cave, where visitors could pray and light candles.

In 2011, Bashar al-Assad promised to renovate the Dschobar synagogue.

destruction

On April 1, 2013, HaAretz reported that the historic synagogue of Dschobar had been looted and burned to the ground. The rebels and the government accused each other of being responsible. On December 15, 2013, the Times of Israel reported that "three or four" Torah scrolls and other Judaica from the ransacked Synagogue in Jobar were in the possession of a group affiliated with AlNusra who were seeking to exchange them for prisoners from the Syrian government. On December 22 of the same year, the Times of Israel reported that the building was still in existence but had been looted; the rebels are in the process of marketing the Jobar Judaica. Photographs from 2014 showed that the lettered lintel above the main entrance had been removed. Then, at the end of May 2014, photos emerged that showed that about two thirds of the synagogue building had been destroyed: the left aisle and the central nave of the basilica consisted only of rubble. The bema and the Torah shrine no longer existed. All that was left was part of the right aisle and the vestibule to the cave of Elijah. These photographs were given to the press by the so-called Coalition for a Democratic Syria .

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Josef W. Meri: The Cult of Saints among Muslims and Jews in Medieval Syria . Oxford 2002, p. 224 .
  2. ^ Elkan Nathan Adler (Ed.): Jewish Travelers . Routledge, 2014, pp. 110 .
  3. ^ Josef W. Meri: The Cult of Saints . S. 226 .
  4. ^ Josef W. Meri: The Cult of Saints . S. 226 .
  5. ^ Richard Pococke: Description of the Orient and some other countries . Ed .: Johann Friedrich Breyer . tape 2 . Erlangen 1791, p. 190 .
  6. ↑ Ulrich Jasper Seetzen: Travels through Syria, Palestine, Phenicia, the Transjordan countries, Arabia Petrarch and Lower Egypt . Ed .: Friedrich Kruse. tape 1 . Berlin 1854, p. 314 .
  7. ^ Julius Heinrich Petermann: Travel in the Orient . tape 1 . Leipzig 1860, p. 63 .
  8. ^ A b Emil Rennert: Millennia-old synagogue in Damascus destroyed. In: world. April 2, 2013, accessed February 17, 2018 .
  9. ↑ Thousands of years old synagogue in Damascus destroyed. In: Spiegel Online. April 1, 2013, accessed February 17, 2018 .
  10. ↑ Historic Damascus Synagogue Looted and Burned. In: HaAretz. April 1, 2013, accessed February 17, 2018 .
  11. ↑ Elhanan Miller: Plundered Syrian Torah scrolls said held by Al-Qaeda-linked rebels. In: The Times of Israel. December 15, 2013, accessed February 17, 2018 .
  12. ↑ a b c d Adam Blitz: Jobar Synagogue. In: The Jerusalem Post. June 15, 2014, accessed February 17, 2018 .

Coordinates: 33 ° 31 '33.6 "  N , 36 ° 20' 6.3"  E