After decades in exile, Jews return to Damascus

They meet with Syria's deputy foreign minister at the ministry

or the first time in 30 years, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll inside a synagogue in the heart of Damascus. As they traced their thumbs over the delicate handwritten text, they seemed in awe of being back home.

The father and son had fled Syria in the 1990s after then-President Hafez al-Assad lifted a long-standing travel ban on the country’s Jewish community. For decades, Syrian Jews faced severe restrictions, including limits on property ownership and employment.

Following the policy change, nearly all of Syria’s few thousand Jews left, leaving fewer than ten in the capital. Joseph and Henry—then just a child—resettled in New York.

"Weren't we in a prison? We just wanted to see what was outside," said Joseph, now 77, recalling his reasons for leaving Syria. "Everyone who left with us is gone."

But when President Bashar al-Assad was overthrown in December, Joseph and his family began planning a once-unthinkable trip back to Damascus. Their visit was made possible with the help of the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a U.S.-based advocacy group.

In the capital, they met with Syria’s deputy foreign minister, now serving under caretaker authorities appointed by the Islamist rebels who ended more than 50 years of Assad family rule. Once a symbol of secular Arab nationalism, Syria now faces uncertainty about its future.

The new leadership has promised that all of Syria’s communities will have a role in shaping the country's path forward. However, reports of religious intolerance and conservative Islamist influence have left many secular-minded Syrians and minority groups uneasy.

Henry Hamra, now 48, said Syria’s foreign ministry had pledged to protect Jewish heritage.

"We need the government's help, we need its security, and it’s going to happen," he said.

As they wandered the narrow alleys of the Old City, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, Joseph and Henry encountered their former Palestinian Syrian neighbors and admired the hand-painted Hebrew inscriptions inside several synagogues.

"I want my kids to come back and see this beautiful synagogue. It’s a masterpiece," Henry said.

Yet, some things were missing—including a Torah adorned with golden lettering, once housed in a Damascus synagogue but now stored in a library in Israel. Over the past century, thousands of Syrian Jews have fled, many seeking refuge there.

While the synagogues and Jewish school in the Old City have remained largely intact, Syria’s largest synagogue—located in Jobar, a Damascus suburb—was reduced to rubble during the country’s nearly 14-year civil war.

Once home to a thriving Jewish community for centuries, Jobar held deep historical significance. Its synagogue, built to honor the biblical prophet Elijah, was looted before its destruction.