Jobar Synagogue update

THE ANCIENT JOBAR SYNAGOGUE in Damascus is back in the news. Regular readers will recall that it was reported destroyed in the civil war back at the end of March, but a day or two later the reports were corrected to say that it had been damaged but not destroyed. Now Adam Blitz has a detailed status update in the Times of Israel: The case for Jobar: Syria, synagogues and subterfuge. As a matter of urgency regard must be made to Jobar synagogue’s many artefacts should they soon find their way into the antiquities market….

Jobar synagogue, two kilometres North East of Damascus’ Old City, has not been far from the News. Headlines fell during Passover of this past year and culminated in a dramatic story of a synagogue “burned to the ground” (“Historic Damascus Synagogue looted and burned” JTA Jewish Telegraph Agency 31 March 2013). Immediately before Christmas the converse was stressed with a different story of a cryptic message from the Free Syrian Army rebels (F.S.A) to a certain individual named “Moti” (“Syria’s ‘Destroyed’ Ancient Synagogue is Still Intact” The Times of Israel, 22 December 2013). This coverage, together with Sotheby’s recent sale (17th December 2013) of an item purported to be a “rare surviving artifact of the Jewish community at Jobar [which] may be all that remains of this ancient and venerable community” [1], guaranteed Jobar’s place in the annals of 2013.

[...]

More updates are to follow.