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The Jews of Lebanon, History and Records: A large database and history of Lebanese Jewish families living in Lebanon until the 1980s, By Alain Farhi

The Jews of Lebanon


History and Records


By Alain Farhi


The 32nd IAJGS International


Conference on Jewish Genealogy


Paris, 15 -18 July 2012


 


As Webmaster of the website des Fleurs (see page 19 Avotaynu, Vol XXI, Number 1 Spring 2005), I have come across many Jewish families from Lebanon who had emigrated after its several civil wars and wars with Israel.
The genealogy of the many families linked to the authors own family has been published on Les Fleurs. That information includes a document by the late Ferdinand Anzarouth (1917-1997) entitled “Les Juifs du Liban”, written a year before his demise (http://www.farhi.org/Documents/JuifsduLiban.htm).


 Years later, that article came to the attention of a businessman in Morocco, Nagi Zeidan, a Lebanese national. Mr. Zeidan was researching and writing a book on the Jewish communities of Lebanon. For that purpose, he had single-handedly translated Arabic newspapers, electoral lists (1983) and death records in order to establish a large database and history of Jewish families living in Lebanon until the 1980s. I published several excerpts (in French) of his work in progress on Les Fleurs website.


 This paper presents the results of Nagi Zeidans research. Initially, he collaborated with Mrs. Mathilde Tagger, an expert in the publication of Jewish databases, and also with Isaac Salmassi and Cecil Dana both of whom have extensive personal knowledge of the Lebanese Diaspora, and are familiar with Hebrew and Arabic scripts and languages. Later, surmounting the suspicions of some former Lebanese Jews about the motives behind his questions, Zeidan befriended many of them on Facebook, with the result that their collaboration created an ever-growing genealogy database of such families.


 The death records database of the Jewish communities of Beirut has been published on Dr. Jeffrey Malkas SephardicGen.com website. The genealogical information is also partially available on Les Fleurs, with the usual restrictions of privacy for living people.


 The author would like to thanks all those dedicated genealogists who worked on these projects. And now to todays topic.


 Lebanon History and Geography


 



Lebanon (recent map)


 The country we know today as Lebanon, (following the fall of the Ottoman Empire after World War II ) put under a French Mandate.
During the Ottoman Empire and prior to 19th century, the area known as Balad El Cham extended from Turkey to the Gulf of Akaba. Around 1834, with the first construction of roads following the invasion of Ibrahim Pashas armies of Akko, namely the roads from Beirut to Damascus, from Damascus to Jerusalem and from Jerusalem to Jaffa, the Ottoman Empire created three main provinces (wilayats): Mount Lebanon with the Mediterranean Coast from Akko to Turkey (with Beirut as capital), Syria from Aleppo to the Red Sea on the west side of the Jordan river (capital Damascus) and Palestine (capital Jerusalem).


 In 1920, the Greater area under the French was split again into Lebanon (something referred to “Le Grand Liban”) and Syria; and Lebanon achieved its independence in 1943.
Lebanon was originally a part of an area called Phoenicia in the Bible and in older sources. Its capital was Tyr that was linked to a small university town the Romans called Beryte or Beritus. Jewish prisoners were concentrated there after the fall of Jerusalem and the destruction of the Second Temple. 


Kirtsen Shultz, a historian at the London School of Economics, claimed in her book “The Jews of Lebanon” that the first Jews came to Tyr around 1000 BCE. Jewish residents were first recorded there during the time of King Solomon, when it is thought that Jews were involved in selling cedar for the construction of the Temple in Jerusalem. However, it is more likely, as recorded in the Bible, that these trees were sold by Hiram, King of Srour (Tyr) without any Jewish middlemen. (Source: St Takla Coptic Bible: http://st-takla.org/Full-Free-Coptic-Books/FreeCopticBooks-002-Holy-Arabic-Bible-Dictionary/06_H/H_247.html).


 Little is known about the history of Jews in the area subsequent to that first dispersion, except for some ancient tombstones found in the port area of Saida (Sidon). (Source: Ferdinand (Fred) Anzarouth). Saida and Tripoli were the main commercial centers of the Mediterranean coastline.


 In 1173 Saladin expelled the non-Muslim from Jerusalem and Safed. In that same year, Benjamin de Tudela, travelling from Zaragoza to Jerusalem (1165 to 1173) reported that there were about 50 Jews in Saida, mostly working in the dyeing of threads and textiles.


 


Travel by Caravan 


A census, conducted for the Ottoman authorities by Nabil Khalife in 1519, reported the presence of 19 Jews in Beirut, probably having fled from the plague that ravaged Jerusalem in about 1514.
There is a reference in the Jewish Encyclopedia of 1905 to 5 Iraqi Jews who had settled in Beirut. They were from the Levy family and lived near Saint Elie Catholic Church and the Assaf Mosque. In 1807 they built a synagogue named Mesguad Ladek (demolished in 1930). Many Ottoman immigrants moved into the same area that became known as Haret el Yahoud (the Jewish Quarter). 


At the beginning of the 19th century (ca 1832), the population of Beirut included 400 Europeans from Italy, France and Austria, settled there for trading reasons. None of them were Jewish. (Source Zeidan) 


Over the years, Jews from Akko (1809), Greece (1821-30), Egypt, North Africa (1837), Aleppo and Damascus (1900-1948), Iraq and Iran (1900-1955), and Ashkenazim from Europe (1833,), also settled in the Lebanon. 


The port of Beirut became important after the decline of Akko in the 19th century. (Thomas Philipp, ACRE. The Rise and Fall of a Palestinian City, 1730-1831 , Columbia University Press, New York, 2002). 


In June 1860, following civil unrest and rioting between the Christian and Druze population in the town of Deir El Kamar, Barook and Hasbaya, the Jewish families from these cities moved to Aleh and Damascus. Among them the Zalt, Dahan, Khabieh and Zeitoune families. Those from Hasbaya became known as Hasbani. 



City view of Wadi Abou Jamil in 1860
(Louis Lottier – Vue générale de Beyrouth prise de Wadi Abou Jemil – 1860 – Collection privée)


 In around 1869, one of the Picciotto families (wealthy traders and consuls in Aleppo) emigrated from Aleppo and built a mansion for themselves in Wadi Abou Jamil, close to Beirut. This became the new Jewish Quarter of Beirut. 



Picciotto Mansion 19th Century 


By 1940, most of the residential houses of Haret el Yahoud had been converted for commercial use as their owners moved to Abou Wadi Jamil. Haret El Yahoud was destroyed in the Civil War of 1976.The scale of the immigration into Lebanon can be seen from the Montefiore censuses of 1846-1861-1884-1885-1889-1893-1895. 


Jews lived in the following cities: Beirut, Saida. Tripoli, Deir el Kamar, Barouk, Hasbaya, Tyr, Aley and Zahli. After the construction of the Beirut-Damascus railroad in August 1895,Aley became a popular weekend destination for the Jews of Beirut. 


By the 20th century, the Jewish communities of the following towns had vanished due to emigration to the larger cities – Baalbek, Deir el Kamar, Ramiche, Mokhtara, Hasbaya and Tyr (where Jewish emigrants from North Africa bound for Safed settled in 1834 following the devastation of Safed in an earthquake). The 20 families of Hasbaya left the town after riots in 1860. Ramiche had only one remaining family – the Grunbergs who owned a cheese factory there until 1911. 


Lebanese 1932 Census


An official census was conducted in 1932, when many Jews from Damascus claimed to be Lebanese just to get recorded in the civil records. The Census recorded only 3,531 Jews in just 5 cities: 






















Beirut


3,060


Maten


5


Deir el Kamar


7


Tripoli


51


Saida


384


Zahli


24


 Beirut:  In Beirut Jews lived in the following districts:
Acharafieh (7 families)


Bachoura (8 families)


Dar El Muraysseh (25 families)


Marfaa (108 families)


Mina El Hossen (901 families)


Ras Beirut (11 families)


Rumeil (1 family)


Saifi (14 families)


Zukak El Bulat (14 families) 


Wadi Abu Jamil had the highest concentration of Jewish residences, businesses and institutions (schools, synagogues etc). It is part of the Mina El Hossen electoral district. 


Saida


 Nagi Zeidan states (from undeclared sources) that when the Egyptian Mamelouk armies took over Saida between 1289 and 1291, about 20 Jews lived there. By 1489, their number had dropped to fewer than 10. At the time of the Ottoman Census of 1519, 36 Jews lived in the town, the increase due most probably to the immigration of Sephardim from Spain. The first Franco family came from Italy in about 1700. (Source: a letter dated 2 June 1712 from Mr. Achille, French consul in Saida).


 The city was destroyed by an earthquake on 30 October 1768, after which many Jews fled to Haifa. The cholera epidemic of May 1813 sent more Jews to Beirut.


 Ohel Jacob, the first synagogue in Saida, was built in 1850 and opened with 250 members. According to the Montefiore census of 1855, 453 Jews lived among 5000 Moslems and Christians.


Riots in the mountains of Lebanon (1860) caused many Jews to move to Saida; but the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869 started a massive emigration of Jews to Egypt from all the Ottoman Empire. A few had ventured to Brazil by the turn of the century.


 After the beginning of the French mandate following the fall of the Ottoman Empire, several bomb explosions frightened the Jewish population; and by the end of World War II, only a few Jewish families remained in Saida. During the Lebanese civil war, their total number dropped to 40; and by 1985 none was left. Only the Jewish cemetery now remains as a trace of their passage.


For Saida the numbers of families are as follows: 


































































































































 


 


Number of


 


Year


Families


Individuals


922


1


 


1110


60


 


1173


 


20


1289


 


19


1291


 


20


1498


 


09


1519


 


36 men


1521


20


 


1750


20


 


1830


25


 


1838


 


625


1839


 


373


1850


 


250


1852


 


600


1855


 


453


1858


 


600


1861


 


700


1866


 


589


1893


 


604


1901


 


750


1907


 


918


1908


 


781


1914


 


888


1925


 


352


1932


 


348


1956


 


1108


1975


40


 


1984


 


03


1985


 


0


 


Zahli 


A few Jewish families emigrated from Damascus to this small agricultural town in the Bekaa valley. A Katri family lived there from 1902 to 1911. In 1932, a few families – Abraham, Faour, Katri and Kataifi also lived there. They remained until the 1960s but did not establish a synagogue, school or cemetery in the town.


 Montefiore Censuses 


From 1839 to 1876 Sir Moses Montefiore commissioned censuses of the Jewish populations of Alexandria and the Holy Land (which included the area now called Lebanon).


 The 1839, 1840 (Alexandria only), 1849, 1855 and 1866 Censuses have been placed on the Internet by the Montefiore Endowment and can be consulted openly at this URL. Work is continuing on the 1875/6 census. The 1866 and 1875 did not over Beirut & Saida. 


http://www.montefioreendowment.org.uk/census/ 


Lebanese Records for Jewish Residents 


A list of all Jewish names can be compiled from census records and electoral rolls. The more recent censuses were conducted by a State Agent in the presence of the Mokhtar of each city or area. The Mokhtar, a civil servant with duties like the mayor of the city, was supposed to know all his constituents personally and had to certify the accuracy of the censuses. 


The Censuses recorded everyone present in the country, while the Electoral Lists included only the Lebanese nationals, 


In the local Jewish folklore only three families – Hana, Dana and Mana -were considered ethnically Lebanese while all the other were immigrants. In fact those families also started as immigrants, from Akko, Tunisia and Lithuania respectively, but had lived in Lebanon for so long that no one remembered their origins. 


From 1925, under a free trade and customs agreement, Lebanon and Syria were run separately but as part of a union between the two countries. Syrian nationals who came to Beirut were never granted Lebanese nationality automatically. Under that Union, abrogated by Syria in 1950, Lebanon occasionally gave citizenship to Syrian immigrants from Damascus but denied it to those from Aleppo. There was no direct legal path to citizenship, which was granted by the authorities as they saw fit – and in practice only to a few resident businessmen: taxpayers never got it. 


After Israel’s independence in 1948, Syria stopped issuing passports to Jews and many Syrian citizens already residing in Lebanon suddenly lost their passports. 


Stateless Lebanese residents could buy foreign passports and become Iranian or Panamanian nationals. However, these passports carried no right of abode in their issuing countries. Lebanon, like many other Arab countries, issued Laisser-Passers to its stateless Jews for a one-way trip out of the country. 


At the height of its population explosion following the immigration of the refugees from Aleppo in 1950-1952, the Jewish community of Lebanon numbered about 10,000 people. Later, many emigrated to Israel, Europe, North and South America as well as to Asia and Australia: this was mostly for economic reasons and was seldom due to religious or political persecution. The Lebanese civil wars accelerated the exodus. Between 1975-1980, several Jews including the President of the Jewish Community were kidnapped for ransom and often murdered by various gangs. 


In an article published in the Lebanese paper Al-Nahar in 1995, it was claimed that the community had been reduced to 4,000 by 1971. 


According to some observers, the number of Lebanese Jews who voted for candidates representing Minorities in the 1970’s elections may not have exceeded 1500 votes. 


From 2009, the Electoral rolls included about 9,000 Jewish names – even though many had died or emigrated (LHebdo Magazine 1 Mai 2009 p 48). Such lists may have been used for electoral fraud. In 2005, the list for Deir el Kamar contained 100 names but only one cast a blank vote in protest. 


By now, (Al Akhbar 12 April 2012), uncorroborated Lebanese sources put the post-1984 Jewish population at 200, mostly living in hiding. According to Jewish sources that number should be fewer than 30, with many married to Christian and Muslim partners. 


The Jewish community of Lebanon reached its greatest expansion, fame and glory during the French Mandate. They owned newspapers, banks, international trading companies, real estate companies as well as many small businesses in Beirut and smaller cities. 


Size of Jewish Population 


Estimates of the Jewish population vary widely. Before the first emigration wave of 1948 to the mid 1950s the Jewish community of Beirut is said by some sources to have numbered about 25,000. Mathilde Tagger estimates the figure at only 5,000, Kirsten Shultz about 14,000 and Isaac Salmassi fewer than 10,000. No formal records of the exact number of Jewish residents exist. Death records, however, were well recorded and maintained to this day. 


The following table shows brief details of the growth and emigration of the Jewish population over the centuries. 




































































































Year


Population


922


1 family in Saida


1173


50 source Benjamin de Tudela


1519


19 men – Census Nabil KhalifeE


1799


5


1824


15 families (about 95 individuals)


1830


25 families (about 150 individuals)


1832


200


1840


25 families (about 150 individuals)


1846


250


1849


29 families (Sir Montefiore Census)


1861


About 1000


1884


995 (61 Ottoman nationals: 5 men et 26 women


1885


1,061 (553 men et 508 women)


1888


1,464 (723 men et 741 women)


1889


1,500


1893


2,083 (282 Ottoman nationals: 143 men et 139 women)


1895


889


1900


2,500


1922


About 1.000 families


1925


3,500


1932


3,060 (1437 men et 1623 women).


1956


5,000


1976


60


1980


20


1982


95


1984


25 families in East Beirut


1986


50 individuals


2001


100 individuals in Lebanon


2004


About 73 individuals in Lebanon


Oct. 2006


About 35 individuals in Lebanon


2012


 


 


Family Names 


The following table shows a list of surnames for Beirut families. 









































































































































































































































































































































































































Surname of Jewish families (Beirut)


Sephardim


Ashkenazim


ABADI


CARRIO


HADDAD


NAHMOUD


ADLER


ABOUHAB


CAZES


HADID


NAHON


ALBERT


ABRAHAM


CHACHO


HAKIM


NAHOUM


APPPELROT


ADDISSI


CHAHINE


HALABI


NAMER


BERNSTEIN


ADES


CHAKI


HALLAK


 


BUCHBINDER


AJAMI


CHALHON


HAMADANI


OBERSI


DOUBIN


ALALOU


CHALOM


HAMISHA


OZON


FROUMIN


ALBAMNES


CHAM’A


HANAN


 


GLAZER


ALFIE


CHAMMA


HANONO


PARIENTE


GOLD


ALWAN


CHAMMAH


HARA


PEREZ


GOLDBERG


AMRANIAN


CHAMS


HARARI


PESSAH


GOLDMAN


ANTEBI


CHATTAH


HASBANI


 


GREEN


ANZAROUTH


CHAYO


HASSOUN


PHLOSOPHE


GREENBERG


ARAMAN


CHEKOURI


HASSOUNI


PICCIOTTO


ISRAEL


ARAZI


CHEMTOV


HAZAN


PINTO


KATZ


ARGALGI


CHENI


HEFEZ


PQLITI


KOSLOVSKI


ARMOUTH


CHOUA


HELOUANI


PARIENTE


KOUGEL


ASKENAZI


CHOUEKEH


 


RABIH


KROUK


ATTAR


CHOUELA


JAJATI


ROUBEN


LEHRER


ATTTIEH


COHEN


JAMMAL


SALMASSI 


LERNER


AZAR


COHEN


JAMOUS


SAAD


LICHTMAN


AZOURY


COHEN-KSHK


JMAL


SAADIA


LOUBELCHIK


 


COSTI


JUDA


SABBAN


LOUBLINER


BAGDADI


COSTO


 


SAFADI


MARGOLIS


BALACIANO


 


KACHI


SAFDIEH


MOISE DR


BALL Y


DAGMI


KALACH


SAFRA


PERLIN


BALLAILA


DAHAN


KAMHINE


SAKKAL


RAPPAPORT


BALLAS


DANA


KAMKHAJI


SALEH


REDIBOIM


BARI


DARWICHE


KARAGUILLA


SALEM


REINICH


BARUCH


DAYAN


KARKOUKLI


SANANES


ROGOVSKY


BARZILLAI


DAYE


KASSAR


SANKARI


ROMANO


BASSAL


DDELBOURGO


KATTAN


SARFATI


ROSENHECK


BATTAT


DiCHY


KHAFIF


SASSON


ROSENTHAL


BAZBAZ


DIWAN,


KHASKY


SAYEGH


ROSENZWEIG


BEDA


DOMINIOUE


KHAYAT


SCABA


SAMSONIVICH


BEHAR


DOUEK


KHBUZO


SIDI


SHKOLNIK


BEKHOR


DOUMANi


KHEDOURY


SOFER


SOPHER


BENCOL


DURZIE


KHEDRIEH


SROUGO


STEINBERG


BENISTI


 


KRAYEM


SROUR


TAUBER


BENJAMIN


ELIA


 


STAMBOULI.


TESLER


BENJUOA


ELIACHAR


LAHAM


SUTTON


TOYSTER


BERAKHA


ELKAYEM


LANIADO


 


 


BERCOFF


ELMALEH


LATI


TABBAKH


TURKIEH


BIGIO


ELNEKA VE


LAWI


TAGER


VINACOUR


BLANGA


ESKENAZI


LEVY


TARAGAN


WEINBERG


BOCHI


ESSES


LISBONA


TARRAB


ZIBERBERG


BODEK


 


LIZMI


TASCHEH


ZIEZIK


BONDI


FAKES


 


TAUBY


ZIRDOK


BOUCAI


FARHi


MAMIEH


TAWIL


 


BRAUN


FEREM


MANN


TAYAR


 


BTESCH


 


MARCOS


TELIO


 


 


GABBAY


MASLATON


TOTAH


 


 


GREGO


MASRI


TOUBIANA


 


 


GUER (LE)


MASRIEH


 


 


 


GUINDI


MAWAS


YEDID


 


 


 


METTA


 


 


 


HABBOBA 


MHADDEB


ZAVARRO


 


 


HALAWA 


MIZRAHI


ZAAFARANI


 


 


 


MOGHRABI


ZAROUKH


 


 


 


MOLKHO


ZEITOUNE


 


 


 


MORALLI


 


 


 


 


MOUCHON


 


 


 


 


MOUADDEB


 


 


 


 


MOUSSALLI


 


 


 


The following family names are from Saida:
Acher, Araman, Balaciano, Barzilai, Bassal-Levy, Benesti, Boukai, Chamoun, Cohen, Liniado. Dana, Diwan, Essysie, Ghershon, Hadid, Isaac, Kattan, Khabieh, Khalili, Khayat. Khodary, Laoui, Levy, Lozieh. Mann, Mansour, Nigri, Politi, Salem, Simantov, Srour, Yehuda, Zeitouni. 


Origins of Jewish Families 


One can derive the country of origin of some families from the Electoral Lists and Censuses, 




































































































































































































Family name


Declared Birth Place


Real Origin


Abadi


Aleppo


 


Alfieh


Beirut


Damascus


Allouan


Beirut


 


Apelrot


Lublin


Poland


Azrial


Jerusalem


Greece / Bulgaria


Balaila


Damascus


Damascus


Bellelli


Alexandria


Alexandria


Benisti


Saida


Saida


Bercoff


Jerusalem


Poland


Charles


Beirut


 


Cohen


Aleppo


 


Cohen


Manisa, Turkey


 


Corcos


Beirut


Morocco


Dana


Beirut


Tunisia via Akko


Darwich


 


Saida


Dichy


Beirut


 


Ferbol


 


 


Franck


Eisenstaedt


Austria


Gebra


Aleppo


Aleppo


Goldenthal


Zanzibar


Zanzibar


Greco


Aley (Lebanon)


Greece


Halfoun


Adana


Turkey


Jabés


 


Egypt


Kalach


Beirut


 


Kamensky


Odessa


Ukraine


Khezbo


Beirut


Damascus


Kugel


Simferopol


Ukraine


Levy


Odessa


Ukraine


Levy


Saida


 


Lisbona


Damascus


Damascus


Lusca


Poland


Poland


Mann


Beirut


Lithuania


Menache


Istanbul


Turkey


Moghrabi


Beirut


Morocco


Perez


 


 


Philosophe


Istanbul


Turkey


Pikovsky


Jaffa


Russia


Pilov


Bulgaria


Bulgaria


Salame


Damascus


Damascus


Salem


Ain Kini (Lebanon)


Greece


Sasson


 


Baghdad


Shalom


Aleppo


Aleppo


Srour


Tripoli


Deir El Kamar


Tabach


Iskandaroun


Syria


Vogelman


Shumen


Bulgaria


Zeitouni


Saida


Deir El Kamar


Zeller


Modena


Italy


 


Chief Rabbis of Lebanon 


The community of Lebanon had the following Chief Rabbi from 1799 to 1921. 




















































































































































From


To


Rabbi


Birth


Death


Burial


Comments


1799


1829


Moïse Yedid-Levy


 


1829


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


 


1829


1849


Raphael Alfandari


 


1849


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


Likely as many tombstones are not readable


 


 


Aharon Yedid Levy


 


1871


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


son of Moise


1849


 


Youssef Isaac Mann


 


 


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


Likely as many tombstones are not readable


1859


14 Jul 1865


Abraham Laredo


Tetouan


14 Jul 1865


Saida


Born in Tetouan, Morocco


 


 


Nathaniel AcherCorriat


Oran


ca 1870


Oran, Algeria


Born and died in Oran Algeria


 


 


Zaki Cohen


1829


1904


Alexandria


Born in Aleppo


 


 


Menashe Ezra Sutton


1822


1885


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


May have been buried in Aleppo as he was chef Rabbi of both Communities


 


 


Jackob Bukai


Saida


1900


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


 


 


 


Acher NathanielCorriat


Oran


Alexandria


 


 


 


 


Haim, Eliahou Dana


1842


13 Dec 1903


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


Born in Acco – son of Eliyahou son of Isaac son of Youssef


 


 


Moise Yedid-Levy


 


7-Apr-17


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


son of Aharoun son of Moise Wakil(deputy) Hakham Bashi


 


 


Haim Dana


Saida


11-Apr-28


Ras El Nabaa, Beirut


son of Mordehai son of Youssef son of Mordehai son of Youssef


1909


 


Nassim Danon(Effendi)


Turkey


 


 


Wakil ( deputy) Hakham Bashi


 


 April 1921


Jacob Tarrab


Damascus


 


 


 


 April 1921


 


Chabetay Bahbout


 


 


 


First Chief Rabbi of Lebanon


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


 


Jewish Schools in Lebanon 


Local communities created Hebrew schools. In Beirut, the first was set up in June 1878 near Haret el Yahoud. In July 1878, a local newspaper (Lissan el Hall) reported that it was located at a site facing the sea at the Place des Canons (now Place des Martyrs) off la Rue de Damas. It also reported that its students were from Beirut, Damascus, Alexandria and Baghdad. The principal was a Rabbi Isaac (Zaki) Cohen who was born in Aleppo in 1828 (he died in Alexandria in 1904) and he was assisted by his two sons: Selim and Raphael. 


L’Ecole de l’Alliance Israelite Universelle opened its first school in Lebanon around 1878. In 1888, sixty students were enrolled and were taught French, English, German as well as Arabic and Hebrew. In 1896, 96 boys and 102 girls were enrolled with 6 teachers (4 men & 2 women). In 1926, a third school was built under the name of Ecole Selim Tarrab. It was later taken over by l’Alliance. 


In Saida, the first Alliance school opened in 1902. 


Cemetery of Beirut 


The Jewish cemetery of Beirut is located in Ras El Nabee. 


The first tomb recorded was the one for Rabbi Moise Yedid-Levy who died in 1829. In 1857, the Ottoman government, seeking to enlarge the Beirut to Damascus road, moved several tombstones and re-located them amidst older ones. When the original cemetery became too small for its 150-tombstone capacity, it was expanded and now has 3,308 tombstones, of which the inscriptions on 133 of them are illegible. During the civil war of 1980 to 1987, the cemetery was on the front line between the fighting factions. Although rockets and shelling damaged several tombstones, the cemetery was respected and is kept as such, although without any regular maintenance. 


The records of the Jewish cemetery of Beirut are written in registers with entries in French and Arabic as described on this page. Dates given are either according to the Hebrew or the Gregorian calendars. 



 These records were translated by Nagi Zeidan, with the help of Mathilde Tagger, a well known specialist in database recording and publishing, as well as with that of Mr. Isaac Salmassi and Mr. Cecil Dana who had personal knowledge of the people and families of Lebanon. 


The databases are now available on line with both French and English versions on SephardicGen.com, the website of Dr. Jeffrey Malka at these addresses: 


English: http://www.sephardicgen.com/databases/BeirutCemeterySrchFrm.html


French: http://www.sephardicgen.com/databases/BeirutCemeterySrchFrmFR.html


                        



 Street                                                               Entrance Door        


 



Tombstone of Estrea Haleva


(courtesy Victor Haleva) 


Cemetery of Saida: 


The death records & database of the Saida cemetery are not yet on the web but some recent photos are shown below:


     



 


Entrance Door                                                      Street


 



 Tombs 


Electoral Lists


 


From copies of the electoral lists of 1983 & 2009, (see below a sample page in Arabic), Mr. Zeidan had the information transcribed to French in spreadsheet format. 



 The data include the names of all the members of the family, with their dates and places of birth, as well as the electoral district of their residence. 








































































































No


Surname


 First Name


Father First Name


Mother First Name


Mother Maiden Name


 Birth


Date


Gender


Birth


Place


District


451


ABADI


Emmy


Hilal


Rene


MIZRAHI


1956


F


 


Mina El Hossen


451


ABADI


Sami


Hilal


Rene


MIZRAHI


1958


M


 


Mina El Hossen


451


ABADI


Roger


Hilal


Rene


MIZRAHI


1961


M


 


Mina El Hossen


2


ABADI


Rose


Hilal


Jamileh


ROMANO


1900


F


Alep


Ras Beyrouth


664


ABADI


Samuel


Hilal


Jamileh


ROMANO


1908


M


Alep


Mina El Hossen


664


ABADI


Toufic


Hilal


Jamileh


ROMANO


1909


M


Alep


Mina El Hossen


664


ABADI


Marco


Hilal


Jamileh


ROMANO


1913


M


Alep


Mina El Hossen


 


Because the list includes living people, no effort has been made to publish them on line. However, the data of many families already on Les Fleurs website have been updated to reflect the newly discovered information. The usual rules of privacy have been applied to living people (i.e., no personal data is visible to the general public). 


Synagogues of Lebanon 


The first known synagogue of Beirut, Mesguad Ladek, was built in around 1807. It was demolished in the 1930s in order to build a new road leading to the Parliament and a Hotel.Only one of 19 Jewish schools, religious schools and synagogues has survived to this day. The Magen Abraham Synagogue (1920) is currently being restored by the Jewish community of Lebanon, the local government and the Hezbollah party, with funding from former Lebanese bankers in Geneva. 


Websites and Facebook pages have been created to report on the progress. 


Lebanese Jewish Community Council http://www.thejewsoflebanonproject.org/


(Note that this website is not run & operated by the Jewish Community in Beirut but by Aaron Beydoun, an American Lebanese living in Beirut who took interest in the Jewish Community history). 


Diarna Project: http://snipurl.com/23tnhck


https://www.facebook.com/BeirutSynagogue?v=app_2347471856


 


         


Facade Magen Abraham Synagogue                                       Main Hall Renovation 


The Jews of Lebanon and the Internet. 


The Jews of Lebanon are now dispersed all over the world but remain in close contact via traditional communication links and more recently through the Internet with channels like Facebook, Yahoo & Google groups and a private chat room called B400 (http://www.B400.com).


 Conclusion 


The author wishes to thank Nagi Zeidan for his work on documenting the history of the Jews of Lebanon and making it available to genealogists worldwide. Access to these translated documents is very valuable to us all as a historical testimony of a displaced Jewish community. The author also acknowledge the valuable contributions of Mathilde Tagger, Isaac Salmassi and Cecil Dana for editing all these databases. 

















cecil


Nagi Zeidan


Mathilde Tagger


Isaac Salmassi


Cecil Dana


 Alain Farhi


July 2012


Rev August 2012

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