Syria’s Oldest Synagogue, Destroyed by Assad
Josh Rogin of The Daily Beast reports that Syrian Arab Army forces destroyed Damascus’s Eliyahu Hanabi Synagogue last weekend. In addition to being one of the holiest Jewish sites in Syria, it was also the oldest synagogue in the country. Before the Syrian Civil War, the synagogue contained “thousands of religious and cultural treasures, including hundreds-years-old Torah scrolls, historical texts, precious dining ware, and ancient Judaica of all sorts,” Rogin writes, and community leaders fear that many of these artifacts were destroyed with the building.