Beirut

The Lebanese Jewish Community 

    Most of the Lebanese Jews lived in Beirut, the capital, but there were also several other
communities in Saida (Sidon), in Tripoli. and in villages in the mountains. In 1911 Lebanon's
population included 5,000 Jewish inhabitants, while in 1948 the Jewish population counted
24,000 souls, among them numerous Ashkenazim. All the Jews lived in good relations with their
neighbors, but, with the outbreak of the civil war in 1958, they began to leave Lebanon. They
found refuge in France, Israel and North America. The emigration increased with the renewal of
the war in 1975. Today, 30 Jews still live in Beirut and only two sites recall the past Jewish
presence there: the Magen Abraham synagogue and the Jewish cemetery. 

The Beirut Cemetery 

    The cemetery is located in the Ras El Nabe neighborhood. The first burial was that of Rabbi
Moise Yedid Levy in 1829. That year can be considered as the opening date of the cemetery. 
    In 1857, the Ottoman ruler enlarged the road from Beirut to Damascus. As a result of these
works the entrance and a part of the cemetery were damaged. A new entrance was built. The
initial land was small in size, as the community then comprised only 150 souls. With the
increasing number of Jews living in the capital, a larger burial land was needed. It is probable
that at a certain moment coffins were piled up one above the other for lack of space. In time, the
community bought new plots in the area surrounding the cemetery and some 3,300 persons are
buried there. 
    During the second civil war, from 1975 till 1990, the Jewish cemetery was used as a boundary
for the Christian Phalange forces that later became the Lebanese forces. They partially mined the
cemetery in order to prevent their adversary from crossing it. At the end of the war, they
completely cleared the mines from the burial land, but the cemetery was not cleaned up. Graves
were damaged by the rockets and the bombardments, yet it has never been desecrated. 

The Database 
    The database includes the details of 3,184 tombstones, while some other 200 had illegible
inscriptions or were destroyed. The period covered begins in 1829 and ends in 2009. 
    For each grave, the researcher will find the following details:

 The surname and the given name of the deceased.

 The name of the deceased's father
 The surname and the given name of the deceased's spouse
 The gender of the deceased
 The Hebrew date of death and its correspondent Gregorian date
 The age at death
 The material the grave is made of (concrete, stone, marble) and its state as it was in 2003
 Biographical notes

    The major difficulty in that task was the deciphering of the inscriptions.
 The inscriptions on several graves made of stone were difficult to read
 Many marble graves were broken because of lack of care or because of bombs that fell on
them.
 The inscriptions on graves made of concrete (beginning from 1904) are a mixture of
Hebrew, French and Arabic.
Deir el Kamar

In 1710 some Jews of North African origin and some with Andalusian roots settled in
Deir El-Kamar because the village was a centre of commerce. Among those Jewish
people were the families SROUR, ZEITOUNI and LEVY. However, some members of
the latter family continued on to Jerusalem where they settled. Other families preferred to
stay in Deir El-Kamar.

Those Jews’ professions included iron melting and fabrics colouring, especially silk
coloring. Around 1750 they built their place of worship in the village.

In 1788 the Emir BACHIR AL- CHIHABI took power at Mount Lebanon and in1789 he
started building the Palace of Beiteddine (still existing). The construction took 30 years
and was finished in 1822. Only few Jews from Deir El-Kamar participated in the
construction of the palace.

On April 22nd, 1799 Napoleon summoned the Jews to join his army in order to reconquer
Jerusalem and rally the Kingdom of Israel where he had planned to settle down.

On April 23rd, 1804 Ahmad BACHA AL-JAZZAR (the butcher) died and at that date
there were 80 Jewish families living in Deir EL-Kamar.

The Jews of Deir El- Kamar and Hasbayya helped Emir Bachir Al-Chihab’s armed forces
subdue the people’s revolt against Abdallah Bacha. In the same year many Jewish
members of the SROUR family left Deir EL-Kamar to settle down in Saida.

During Emir Bachir Al- Chihabi’s reign, the Jews of Deir El- Kamar offered his cavalry
100 horses equipped with saddles.

The chief of the cavalry was not familiar with the Jewish community. Important Jewish
personalities of Deir El-Kamar offered to pay the wages of the cavaliers, their uniforms
included. Therefore the group of cavaliers was called: “The half Jewish fighting unity”

At that epoch 1/8th of the population in Deir El-Kamar was of Jewish origin. They helped
to actively increase the collection of taxes and about 30 Jews were in charge of this
collection.

In 1822, and in order to secure water supply at the Palace of Beit Eddine, Emir Bachir
resorted to imposing 80 000 days of work on the population of the mountain. The aim
was to bring water from Nabeh El Safa to Beit Eddine. Every man on the Mountain was
to offer 2 days of unpaid work per year to achieve the project and some Jews from Deir
EL-Kamar participated in this. To achieve the project, the forced labour took two years
and was finished in July 1814.

The wealthy Jews of Deir El_Kamar asked the poor Jews of the town to supply their
share of the work and offered them a salary in return.
 In 1825 the family of Mordekai SROUR left Deir El-Kamar and settled down in
BAK’IN, a village in Palestine.

September 14th 1829, Greece obtained its independence from the Ottoman State and certain
Jews of different Greek regions began to leave the country. Some of them chose to live in
Deir El-Kamar and Barouk and only one family (the SALEM family) settled in EIN
KANI(Chouf). That was around 1836.

In June 1832 the armed forces of Ibrahim BACHA, Mohammad Ali’s son, entered Lebanon and
the Egyptian governor asked the inhabitants of the Chouf to hand in their arms.

In that period, Jews and some Christians in Deir El-Kamar bought weapons and handed them
over to the Egyptian governor to show their obedience to him.

In 1839 Hayim, Youssef MOGHRABI’s son (born in Deir El-Kamar in 1800) set up home with
his family in Saida.

On September 13th, 1840 the Ottoman army, supported by the British forces, entered Lebanon
and drove the Egyptian army out of the country.

On October 12th, 1841 an armed fight broke out between the inhabitants of Deir El-Kamar and
Baakline in the Chouf. SomeJews from Deir El-Kamar left their town and settled either in Beirut
(The families SROUR and CHOUA) or in Saida (the families ZEITOUNI and MIZRAHI as well
as one woman Named Sultaneh LEVY)

On April 8th, 1843 Francis Naser MISK sold his house in Beirut to the influent Jewish person
Moussa CHOUA, known as le Dirani (from Deir El-Kamar)

On November 25th,1844 Mikhail Gerges TRABLOUSI sold his house to Isaac, a Jew from Deir
El-Kamar and son of Youssef SROUR who died in Beirut in 1879.

On June 10th, 1845 a census showed that there were 58 Jewish families living in Deir El-Kamar.

In 1848 a Christian boy in Deir El-Kamar, called Youssef, son of Assaad ABOU CHAKER,
disappeared and was found dead in a forest. The Christians accused the Jews of the boy’s his
death and the Christian-Jewish relationships as well as the common life in Deir El-Kamar
suffered from the consequences.

The authorities arrested 9 important Jewish persons from Deir El-Kamar and the hatred between
Christians and Jews was transferred to Beirut. The Jews in Beirut were saved from the Christian
vengeance in Beirut by TWO consuls, the German and the Austrian ones. Some Jews left Deir
El-Kamar in order to live near their Jewish brothers of Beirut (The CHEHOWAH and ACHKAR
families).

 In 1850 about 500 Jewish people were living in Deir El-Kamar.

 On June 5th, 1860 violent fights took place in Deir El-Kamar. The complete Jewish
population from Deir El-Kamar and Barouk left their respective villages. Some of them
set home in the town of Aley (The ZALT, DAHAN, KHABIEK families) where they
built their synagogue with the help of the influent Jewish person EZRA, son of Yaakoub
ANZAROUTH in 1895. They called the synagogue
 Ohel Jacob.
 Other Jews established their homes in Beirut (the SROUR, ZEITOUNI, SALEM,
EIYAHOU families), in Saida ( The ZEITOUNI, SALEM, KHABIEH, SROUR, TELIO
families) or in Tripoli ( the SROUR family)
 O December 26th, 1863 23 Jewish people were living in Deir El-Kamar
 On May 21st, 1900 the sale of the synagogue was carried out. Here is the text:
 We, the undersigned of the emigrated Israelite community of Deir EL-Kamar have
appointed Ishac Efendi Chaaban SROUR to sell the synagogue belonging to us to Mr.
Daoud Raad CHAMOUN and Iskandar Mansour Al- KABAH from Deir El-Kamarthe. It
is situated in Deir El-Kamar and delimited: in the south by the land belonging to His
Excellency Selim Bey Ammoun, in the east by the buyers’ property and opposite the
property adjacent of Rifalto Selim Efendi TABET which was liberated for the sale to His
Excellency Selim Bey AMMOUN, in the north by the buyers’ property and in the east by
a street belonging to the buyers including the convent of the Sisters of St. Joseph for the
price of 60 (sixty) French Pounds. He was delegated to cash the sum and establish a
contract with his signature authorising the sale in view of the fact that the synagogue had
been destroyed and there had not been one single member of our community in Deir El-
Kamar for 40 years. Therefore we sold the synagogue to a buyer residing in Beirut and
strange to our place of residence and for that reason we have established this document
certifying our signatures by Chief Rabbi of the Israelite community in Beirut and the real
estate agents. We promised in relation to the buyers concerning this sale and its value, in
case, that a person is claiming the total or a part of the sum, to pay to the buyers what
shows as a loss, damages and interests and the amount demanded including the expenses
asked for.
 This document was established, in witness whereof, on May 21st 1900.
 Concerning the power of attorney given to Moukhtar Isaac Efendi Chaaban SROUR for
the sale of the synagogue situated in Deir El-Kamar in accordance with the above
signatures I have also authenticated requests with my above signature asking your
honourable Court to confirm the sale of the Synagogue to the people detailed above.
 Drafted in Beirut on May 21st, 1900
 We have taken knowledge of the complete explanations and signatures of our
community’s important persons living in Deir El-Kamar according to their membership
established by Chief-Rabi Mr. Haim Efendi Mourad Youssef Mourad DANA.
 In witness whereof, drafted in Beirut on May 21st, 1900. Signed by Moussa Aharon
YEDID LAOUI
 Here are the following seals:
 - First seal : in Arabic: Eliahou Youssef MANN
 - Second Seal: in Arabic
 The first Jewish Moukhtar in Beirut
 - Third Seal: written in three languages: Arabic, Hebrew and French
 In Arabic written as follows: by Moussa Haroun Yedid LAOUI, representative of charity,
rabbinate and the poor of Kods Al-Charif et Khalil Al-Rahman, Safed et Tiberiade in
Beirut
 - Fourth Seal: written in two languages Arabic and Hebrew
 Registered as follows: representatives of the Israelite Community in Beirut
 - Fifth Seal: in Arabic. Representative of the Chief Rabbi in
 Beirut:
 - Haim Mourad Youssef DANA
 According to the census in 1913 there were 86 Jews living in Deir El-Kamar.
 In 1919 there were 75 Jews living in Deir El-Kamar.
 The census of 1913 shows that there were 7 Jewish people living in Deir El-Kamar.
 After the Israeli Army had entered Lebanon on June 5th, 1982 one of the Israeli officers,
named ALEX, celebrated his wedding ceremony in the synagogue of Deir El-Kamar on
June 15th, 1982. An old Jewish lady, member of the SIDI family having resided in Deir
El-Kamar for a long time participated in the wedding.
 Here are the names of Jewish families who were living in Deir El-Kamar:
 ACHKAR – ADDISSI – BAROUKH (possible the TELIO family being the origin) -
CHAABAN ( the SROUR family being the origin ) –CHMEY’A –CHOUA –DAHAN –
ELYAHOU- EZRA –FNOUNOU – HANAN – HASBANY -LEVY( a prt of the family
took on the name COBERSSY which means albino in Arabic )- MAKHLOUF –
MOGRABI – SROUR – TOTAH – ZALAT - ZEITOUNI(one of the branches being the
KHABIEH family).
 The following Jewish families having lived In Barouk and having left in 1860:
 ACHKAR – DAHAN – KAMHINEH – SALEM – SHEMOUEL – TELIO - ZALAT
 The SALEM family is the only Jewish family having lived in Ein Keni.

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