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History of the Jews in Lebanon
The history of the Jews in Lebanon encompasses the presence of Jews in present-day Lebanon stretching back to biblical times. While Jews have been present in Lebanon since ancient times, their numbers had dwindled during the Muslim era. Through the medieval ages, Jewish people often faced persecution, but retained their religious and cultural identity.
In the early 20th century, for a brief period under the French Mandate of Lebanon and 1926 Constitution of Lebanon, the Jewish community was constitutionally protected. However, after 1948, the security of Jews remained fragile, and the main synagogue in Beirut was bombed in the early 1950s. In the wake of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, there was mass emigration of around 6,000 Lebanese Jews from Lebanon to Israel and Western countries.
The Lebanese Civil War, which started in 1975, brought immense suffering for the remaining Lebanese Jewish community, and some 200 were killed in ensuing anti-Jewish pogroms, leading to a mass displacement of over 1,800 of the remaining Lebanese Jews. The final exodus of Lebanese Jews happened in August 1982, when Israeli forces invaded Lebanon and lay siege to Beirut. Over 100 Jewish families were displaced after Israeli forces bombarded the Jewish quarter, leaving it nearly abandoned, and shelled its synagogue which suffered extensive damage. By 2005, the Jewish quarter of Beirut, Wadi Abu Jamil only held 40 to 200 Jews.
In Late Antiquity (the Talmudic period in Jewish historiography), Jewish sages, chazal, are recorded as having traveled from the Land of Israel to Tyre, where they taught halakha (Jewish law), answered halakhic questions, and provided biblical commentary. Rabbinic traditions reference the activities of Yaakov of Kfar Naboria, a sage from the fourth generation of the amoraim, in Tyre.
Another notable amora active in Tyre was R. Mana bar Tanchum. According to the Talmud, "Hiyya bar Abba went to Tyre and discovered that R. Mana bar Tanchum permitted Turmusin (Lupin beans)." Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai identified two routes that could be traveled on Shabbat without crossing the Shabbat techum: from Tiberias to Sepphoris (in Israel) and from Tyre to Sidon (in Lebanon).
Evidence of Jewish migration from Tyre to Galilee is found in a Greek-language inscription on a stone lintel at a synagogue in Sepphoris, likely dating to the fifth century CE. The inscription references the archisynagogos of Tyre and Sidon, implying that Jews from both Tyre and Sidon had settled in Sepphoris, establishing a community centered around the local synagogue, complete with its own leaders.
As governor of Syria under Caliph 'Uthman from 639 to 661 CE, Mu'awiya settled Jews in Tripoli.
During the early Islamic period, Tyre was home to a substantial Jewish population (estimated at around 4,000 prior to the Arab conquest) and benefited from the Mu'āwiya’s redevelopment of coastal cities. In the 11th century, Tyre's economic and Jewish communal significance grew, particularly with the temporary relocation of the Land of Israel yeshiva to the city between roughly 1077 and 1093.
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History of the Jews in Lebanon
The history of the Jews in Lebanon encompasses the presence of Jews in present-day Lebanon stretching back to biblical times. While Jews have been present in Lebanon since ancient times, their numbers had dwindled during the Muslim era. Through the medieval ages, Jewish people often faced persecution, but retained their religious and cultural identity.
In the early 20th century, for a brief period under the French Mandate of Lebanon and 1926 Constitution of Lebanon, the Jewish community was constitutionally protected. However, after 1948, the security of Jews remained fragile, and the main synagogue in Beirut was bombed in the early 1950s. In the wake of the 1967 Arab–Israeli War, there was mass emigration of around 6,000 Lebanese Jews from Lebanon to Israel and Western countries.
The Lebanese Civil War, which started in 1975, brought immense suffering for the remaining Lebanese Jewish community, and some 200 were killed in ensuing anti-Jewish pogroms, leading to a mass displacement of over 1,800 of the remaining Lebanese Jews. The final exodus of Lebanese Jews happened in August 1982, when Israeli forces invaded Lebanon and lay siege to Beirut. Over 100 Jewish families were displaced after Israeli forces bombarded the Jewish quarter, leaving it nearly abandoned, and shelled its synagogue which suffered extensive damage. By 2005, the Jewish quarter of Beirut, Wadi Abu Jamil only held 40 to 200 Jews.
In Late Antiquity (the Talmudic period in Jewish historiography), Jewish sages, chazal, are recorded as having traveled from the Land of Israel to Tyre, where they taught halakha (Jewish law), answered halakhic questions, and provided biblical commentary. Rabbinic traditions reference the activities of Yaakov of Kfar Naboria, a sage from the fourth generation of the amoraim, in Tyre.
Another notable amora active in Tyre was R. Mana bar Tanchum. According to the Talmud, "Hiyya bar Abba went to Tyre and discovered that R. Mana bar Tanchum permitted Turmusin (Lupin beans)." Rabbi Simeon bar Yochai identified two routes that could be traveled on Shabbat without crossing the Shabbat techum: from Tiberias to Sepphoris (in Israel) and from Tyre to Sidon (in Lebanon).
Evidence of Jewish migration from Tyre to Galilee is found in a Greek-language inscription on a stone lintel at a synagogue in Sepphoris, likely dating to the fifth century CE. The inscription references the archisynagogos of Tyre and Sidon, implying that Jews from both Tyre and Sidon had settled in Sepphoris, establishing a community centered around the local synagogue, complete with its own leaders.
As governor of Syria under Caliph 'Uthman from 639 to 661 CE, Mu'awiya settled Jews in Tripoli.
During the early Islamic period, Tyre was home to a substantial Jewish population (estimated at around 4,000 prior to the Arab conquest) and benefited from the Mu'āwiya’s redevelopment of coastal cities. In the 11th century, Tyre's economic and Jewish communal significance grew, particularly with the temporary relocation of the Land of Israel yeshiva to the city between roughly 1077 and 1093.