Jobar

Jobar (Arabic: جوبر‎) also spelled Jawbar or Joubar, is a municipality of the Syrian capital Damascus. A once historical village on the outskirts of Damascus, it is now a suburb of the capital city. It lies 2 km northeast of the old city walls. It contains the most venerated site for Syrian Jews, an ancient 2,000-year-old synagogue and shrine in commemoration of the biblical prophet Elijah, which has been a place of Jewish pilgrimage for many centuries. In 2013, during the Syrian civil war, it was the site of several chemical attacks. Today Jobar lies in ruins due to ongoing battles between regular Syrian Army and various opposition groups.

History

One of the earliest sources mentioning the existence of the village is from the Talmud, which states that the village was one of ten surrounding Damascus inhabited by Jews. Rabbi Rafram bar Pappa was recorded as having prayed in the synagogue of Jobar. During the medieval period, it was "the most important and longest lasting Jewish community outside of the old city walls." An anonymous Jewish traveller who arrived a few years after the Spanish immigration (1522) found 60 Jewish families living in the village of Jobar, who had a "very beautiful synagogue."Ibn Tulun (died 1546) mentions that "Jobar is a Jewish village with a Muslim presence." The "Chronicle" of Joseph Sambari (1672) says that the Jewish community of Damascus lived chiefly in Jobar and in 1735 the village was populated solely by Jews.