The community the Jews built is Brooklyn is in many ways a throwback to their life in Syria. We document the history of Jews in Syria to understand who makes up the Syrian community in Brooklyn, and how it came to be the way it is. After Jews left Israel and were forced to live in the diaspora they settled across Europe and the Middle East. With the Jewish nation outside the holy land there came the risk of losing spiritual and cultural values in addition to assimilation. Communities were separated, and adaptation to new surroundings was not easy. In order to preserve the religion and remain united in foreign land, Jews clustered to form new communities and held keeping the family unit insulated at the top of the list. These lands became an incubator for Jewish growth and convergence. Communities kept ancient values and traditions, and new traditions from the influence of the different people of the land were born. Receiving an education of the land and obtaining wealth in the local economy allowed the displaced people to adapt to their new communities, and in their new homes.
One such place was Aleppo, Syria. When anti-Semitism began to spread in Europe in the 14th and 15th centuries, a series of European expulsions began, most famously, the Spanish Inquisition of 1492. The Spanish Jews, also known as Sephardic Jews (Sepharad means Spain in Hebrew), were forced to leave their homes or convert to a different religion. In response to this communities began to join other communities that had settled throughout the Ottoman Empire along with other groups of Jews from places like Italy and North Africa. Being that Aleppo was under Ottoman rule, the Jews and other religious groups were allowed self-government and the ability to practice religion freely. With this ability, Jews found solace in Aleppo, and it became the temporary safe haven from persecution for Jews of all cultural backgrounds. There were many barriers among the native Syrian Jews and the immigrants, and amongst the immigrants themselves. Language and cultural barriers kept communities separate for a couple of generations. Spanish Jews spoke a mixture of Hebrew, Spanish and Arabic called Ladino, and Italians cultural and religious traditions separated them from the native Jews. Eventually though, Ladino died out, and Italian Jewry adapted to the religious and philosophical traditions of their Sephardic brethren.
With the barriers broken, Jewish communities in essence became indistinguishable from one another, aside from the fact that their last names attested to their unique country of origin. The Italians were called “Francos” and those coming from Ashkenazic countries were called “Ashkenazi’s”. (These names still remain in the Syrian community in Brooklyn.) After living in Syria for hundreds of years the now classified “Syrian Jews” absorbed and adopted Syrian culture harmonious with ancient Jewish values. After fully adapting to their new surroundings, The Syrian Jews began to thrive economically, socially, and most importantly, religiously.
Syrian Jewish families had built large and successful businesses and created wonderful lives in the Middle East. Unfortunately, in the early 20th century during World War 1, the Ottoman Empire began to lose control and crumble. Jewish freedom was based on the stability of the Ottoman Empire, and after the Ottoman Empire’s fall, all that the Jews had built in the Middle East was beginning to go down hill. Syrian Jews were being drafted to fight in World War 1, and families were falling apart. After the divide of the Ottoman Empire, Jews began to experience anti-Semitism and persecution in Syria and throughout Europe, culminating in the 1947 Pogroms, which destroyed various Jewish Shops and Synagogues. In 1948 , the Jewish state of Israel was established. Israel became the new place for peace and solace and as a result many Jews fled to Israel for safety. The Jews who clung onto their lives in Syria were forced to give up their homes and businesses and leave behind their once affluent lives like the others, to come to America penniless.
Immigration to America continued throughout the 20th century, peaking in the middle of the century after World War II. Thousands of Syrian Jewish families settled on the Lower East Side of New York City. When the Syrian Jews first came to America they peddled around local areas selling consumer goods. They did this in order to stabilize their families in the new land. Once accumulating the resources necessary to open their own stores in Manhattan, Syrian Jews began conducting business outside the enclave and dealt with the many new faces America had to offer.
The Syrian Jews’ emigration to America would eventually allow for their economic success and religious freedom. The financial accumulation allowed the Syrian Jews to settle in the contained area of Brooklyn, New York, with the majority of their own people. In Brooklyn, the Syrian Jews were able to develop their new community undisturbed. Once able to do so, community members built various Synagogues and schools, as well as social service agencies that supported local members of the community in order to ensure the connection to their heritage and traditions.
