By Rabbi Asher Lopatin, Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor
This is a time when the Jewish community in our county is still reeling from the trauma of October 7 and the pain of hostages returning dead, or tortured and starved, or not returning at all. Certainly, the Arab American and Muslim community is also feeling the pain of the Israel-Hamas war. As Community Relations Director at the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, I have not stopped trying to connect the Jewish community with the Muslim and Arab American community. Many Jewish volunteer leaders, including parents of children in local public schools and others, are making efforts to connect, as well. It has not been easy. However, new hope came to me in February as I was asked by a Muslim Syrian doctor, Dr. Yahya Basha, to join a mission to Syria.
The mission was to be made up of Syrian Jews who had fled Syria in 1992 under the brutal Assad regime. After the fall of the Assad regime, a US-based non-profit organization, the Syrian Emergency Task Force, reached out to the Syrian government to specifically invite Syrian Jews to return there. The new government says it hopes to make Syria a tolerant place, respectful of all religions including Jews, and this mission would be an opportunity for the government to demonstrate its commitment to this idea.
The invitation came to me, and not long after, the government welcomed our small delegation of five Jews with warmth and great respect – we were treated as VIPs from landing at the airport until our departure. Leading the mission was Rabbi Yosef Hamra, a leader of the Syrian Jewish community in New York, and his son Henry, who both left Syria in 1992 and have not been back since.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin (R) in the Al-Frej Synagogue in Damascus (Photo credit: Daniel Bucksbaum)
One of the most moving experiences of this trip was when we entered the Al-Frej Synagogue in the former Jewish Quarter of the Old City of Damascus. The synagogue has been untouched for over 30 years, since almost the entire Jewish community left. To have the privilege of seeing the Torah scrolls opened and read from and then praying the afternoon service there was deeply affecting. What added to the excitement was that Henry Hamra found the exact Torah he read from for his Bar Mitzvah, and we took it out amongst all the other Torahs, and he read from it. The thrill of being in the synagogue where the Hamras prayed every week was only matched by overwhelming joy—and great surprise from the older Arab residents of the area as they met the Hamras on the streets of the Jewish Quarter. Long conversations in Arabic discussed the old days and the possibility of a new future for Syria, with the engagement of the Syrian Jewish community all over the world.
Today’s Syria, just a few months after the cruel regime of Bashar al-Assad was overthrown, is living a dream for the moment. Everyone feels they can breathe—there is almost an air of celebration. On the flight from Doha, Qatar to Damascus, several people—Muslims—draped themselves in the new Syrian flag and could not wait to get back home after many decades. For me as a Jewish American (with no Syria heritage) I was so excited to see the population embracing Americans and Jews. While for much of the four-day trip to Damascus we wore hats to cover our kippot, when we did have them on and people knew we were Jewish, we experienced only warmth, excitement, a desire to connect (and take selfies), and a sense that Jews returning to Syria represents a new beginning for Syria as a whole—a time of hope for a different approach, one based on unity and support for one another, rather than scapegoating and fostering hatred and violence.
Rabbi Asher Lopatin (R) with Damascus locals who were excited for a photo with an American Jew (Photo credit: Daniel Bucksbaum)
Moreover, when we had our hats on (hiding the Jewish skull caps underneath), everyone knew we were American, and from young children to older adults, everyone welcomed us—even the taxi drivers were nice, and we shared openly that we were a Jewish delegation coming to Syria at the invitation of the government. People wanted to hang out with us, to share the love. Truly, I felt loved and cared for in Syria, and never afraid.
There is so much we do not know about this government and about the future of Syria. Is this a government that really will shed its jihadist roots for a more tolerant and unifying way? Our visit shows that that this government is at least trying to send the message that it wants to unite Syria in a way that respects all minorities, religious and otherwise. There are well over six million refugees within and without Syria to care for and bring back. Will the government focus on rebuilding Syria as a tolerant and accepting Arab country, one that sets the model for all the other Arab countries and is a beacon of hope in a difficult time? Only time will tell.
Back in Ann Arbor, I hope that my experience connecting as a Jew with my Syrian cousins in Syria will help with Jewish-Muslim and Jewish-Arab American relations. It would be pretty amazing if the new direction Syria has taken becomes the inspiration for warmer interfaith relations all over the world—including right here in Washtenaw County!