Lebanon's last synagogue
A small community of around 200 Jews remain in Lebanon but feel increasingly isolated.
BEIRUT — Tucked away in Wadi Abu Jamil, a neighborhood near downtown Beirut, is the only standing Jewish synagogue in Lebanon, and its renovation is almost finished.
The Maghen Abraham Synagogue, built in 1925, was abandoned and closed down a year after the start of Lebanon’s civil war in 1976. A few years later, in 1982, the synagogue was hit by Israeli shrapnel during a bombardment of the Palestinians in the synagogue’s neighborhood.
The renovations will revive a symbol of the scattered Jews. At one time, over 12,000 Jews lived in Lebanon, but by 1970 there were only 2,000, and even more left during the war.
Al-Monitor was given rare access to the synagogue, where no photos were allowed for security concerns. The entrance bears a sign in Hebrew with its name, held up by columns. Inside, wooden chairs covered in bubble wrap are laid out on the stone floor. In the center of the room, a small marble podium stands where the Jewish scriptures, the Torah, will be read.
