View source for Jobar

{{Short description|Village in Damascus Governorate, Syria}}
{{for|the village and suburb of Homs|Jawbar, Homs}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name          = Jobar
|native_name            = جَوْبَر
|image_skyline          = Districts of damascus english.svg
|imagesize              = 250
|image_caption          = ''Joubar'' on the District map of Damascus
|pushpin_map            =Syria
|pushpin_mapsize        =250
|subdivision_type       = [[Countries of the world|Country]]
|subdivision_name       = {{Flag|Syria}}
|subdivision_type1      = [[Governorates of Syria|Governorate]]
|subdivision_name1      = [[Damascus Governorate]]
|subdivision_type2      = City
|subdivision_name2      = [[Damascus]]
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|settlement_type        = Municipality<!--For Town or Village (Leave blank for the default City)-->
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|timezone = [[Eastern European Time|EET]]
|utc_offset = +2
|timezone_DST = [[Eastern European Summer Time|EEST]]
|utc_offset_DST = +3
|coordinates            = {{coord|33|31|51.6|N|36|20|13.6|E|region:SY|display=inline}}
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|blank_info             = [[Semi-arid climate#Cold semi-arid climates|BSk]]
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'''Jobar''' ({{langx|ar|جَوْبَر|Jawbar}}) also '''Jawbar''', '''Jober''' or '''Joubar''', is a village  on the outskirts of Damascus northeast of the old city walls.<ref>Ross Burns. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xTs77Ft6FXQC&pg=PA13 Damascus: A History], Routledge, 2007. pg. 13. {{ISBN|0-415-41317-6}}.</ref> It contains the most venerated site for [[Syrian Jews]], the 2,000 year old  [[Jobar Synagogue]], named for the biblical prophet [[Elijah]], and  has been a place of Jewish pilgrimage for many centuries.<ref name=Meri33/><ref>Cyril Glassé, Huston Smith. [https://books.google.com/books?id=focLrox-frUC&pg=PA110 The new encyclopedia of Islam], Rowman Altamira, 2003. pg. 110. {{ISBN|0-7591-0190-6}}.</ref> Today 93% of Jobar lies in ruins due to a prolonged battle fought between the Syrian Army and various rebel groups from February 2013 to 23 March 2018.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-43155105|title=Syria war: UN Security Council truce vote delayed|work=BBC News|date=23 February 2018}}</ref> It has been the site of hostilities during [[Syrian Civil War]], including the [[2017 Jobar offensive]].
==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]].<ref name=Meri33>Josef W. Meri. [https://books.google.com/books?id=CJ8_4Kt0XUgC&pg=PA33 The cult of saints among Muslims and Jews in medieval Syria], Oxford University Press, 2002. Pg. 33. {{ISBN|0-19-925078-2}}.</ref> Rabbi [[Rav Papa|Rafram bar Papa]] was recorded as having prayed in the [[synagogue]] of Jobar.<ref>''[[Berakhot (Talmud)|Berakhot]]'' 50a.</ref> During the medieval period, it was "the most important and longest lasting Jewish community outside of the old city walls."<ref name=Meri33/> An anonymous Jewish traveller who arrived a few years after the [[History of the Jews in Spain#Edict of Expulsion|Spanish immigration]] (1522) found 60 Jewish families living in the village of Jobar, who had a "very beautiful synagogue."<ref name=JE>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=21&letter=D&search=damascus Damascus], ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''.</ref> Ibn Tulun (died 1546) mentions that "Jobar is a Jewish village with a Muslim presence."<ref name=Meri33/> The "Chronicle" of [[Joseph ben Isaac Sambari|Joseph Sambari]] (1672) says that the Jewish community of Damascus lived chiefly in Jobar<ref name=JE/> and in 1735 the village was populated solely by Jews.<ref>Jean Baptiste Labat. [https://books.google.com/books?id=mzI-AAAAcAAJ&pg=PA462 Mém. du chevalier d'Arvieux, contenant ses voyages à Constantinople, dans l'Asie, la Syrie, etc, Volume 2], 1735. [University of Lausanne, 18 Sep 2009.] "Il n'est habité que par des juifs sans mêlange d'aucune autre Nation."</ref>
Documents from the early 19th century describe properties in the village that belonged to Jewish ''[[wakf]]'' (religious endowment) and were leased to members of other communities.<ref>[[Salma Khadra Jayyusi]], Renata Holod, Attilio Petruccioli, André Raymond. [https://books.google.com/books?id=nY2DqJNPmioC&pg=PA945 The city in the Islamic world, Volume 1], BRILL, 2008. pg. 945. {{ISBN|90-04-17168-1}}.</ref> In 1839, the village was described as "...prettily situated on a green fertile spot," that formed part of the [[Ghouta|Garden that surrounds Damascus]]. The inhabitants were reported as numbering 1,000 and seeming to be in a "tolerably prosperous state." Its population was "wholly Hebrew" and governed by local Jewish institutions with a "little hierarchy of rulers and subjects."<ref name=CR>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UF8oAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA558 The Christian reformer, or, Unitarian magazine and review, Volume 6], Sherwood, Gilbert and Piper, 1839. [Harvard University, June 17, 2008.] pg. 558.</ref> During the rioting following accusation of [[ritual murder]] against the [[Damascus affair|Jews of Damascus in 1840]], the mob fell upon the synagogue, pillaged it and destroyed the [[scrolls of the Law]].<ref>[http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=22&letter=D&search=damascus Damascus affair], ''[[Jewish Encyclopedia]]''.</ref>
{{rquote|right|<small> The winter in Damascus is sometimes long and dreary; and when the spring comes… the Jews begin to visit Jobar, by some thought to be built on the site of the ancient Hobah. It is a large village about three quarters of an hour's ride from the city, and is inhabited entirely by Mohammedans; but strange to say, the Jews have a synagogue and a few rooms in the court adjoining it. Only the people who have charge of the synagogue live there; but during the spring and summer we constantly see Jews riding on donkeys laden with beds and bedding, and going out to spend three or four days or a week in these rooms.</small>|Mrs. Mackintosh, 1883.<ref>Mrs. Mackintosh. [https://archive.org/stream/damascusanditsp00mackgoog/damascusanditsp00mackgoog_djvu.txt Damascus and its people: sketches of modern life in Syria], Seeley, Jackson, and Halliday, 1883. [New York Public Library, August 14, 2007.]</ref>}}
There are conflicting reports from the mid-19th century onwards as to the ethno-religious makeup of the village. In 1839, it was reported that the village "is entirely peopled by Jews."<ref name=CR/> But an account a few years later in 1847 stated that the village was home to three to four thousand Muslims, with the exception of one Jewish family who took care of the synagogue,<ref name=JW>Wilson, John. [https://books.google.com/books?id=xVqnVORHpz4C&pg=PA331 The lands of the Bible: visited and described in an extensive journey undertaken with special reference to the promotion of Biblical research and the advancement of the cause of philanthropy, Volume 2], William Whyte, 1847. [University of Michigan, Nov 8, 2008.] pg. 331.</ref> and according to a certain Mr. Graham, "the village, the people, the synagogue and the family that inhabit it, are wretched and miserable in the extreme."<ref name=JW/> In 1869, a visitor, while acknowledging the existence of the old synagogue, questions if there was ever a permanent Jewish presence in the village.<ref name=JLP>[[Josias Leslie Porter]]. [https://books.google.com/books?id=fdZGAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA340 The giant cities of Bashan and Syria's Holy places], T. Nelson, 1869. [University of California, November 27, 2007]. pg. 340.</ref> She goes on to reveal that the village is, however, a "favourite resort of wealthy Jews...It is their park and café. There they spend their long summer afternoons, often the entire night, under the bower of vine and jasmine."<ref name=JLP/> A publication in 1874 makes a claim to the contrary, that the village is "principally a colony of Jews".<ref>S H Kent. [https://books.google.com/books?id=ygFAW0QWBZcC&pg=PA152 Gath to the Cedars; Experiences of Travel in the Holy Land and Palmyra], F. Warne and Co. 1874. [[General Books LLC]], 2009. pg. 152. {{ISBN|1-150-05718-1}}.</ref> It is probable that the Jewish population must have dwindled, since by 1893, [[Richard F. Burton]] writes "it is a Muslim village with a synagogue dedicated to Elijah and is a pilgrimage for Damascus Jews",<ref>Isabel Arundell Burton. [https://books.google.com/books?id=KCZRSVhNQCoC&pg=PA483 The life of Captain Sir Richard F. Burton, Volume 1] Chapman & Hall Ltd., Oxford, 1893. [Adegi Graphics LLC, 2006.] pg. 483. {{ISBN|1-4021-1339-0}}.</ref> and the 1907 edition of ''Cook's handbook for Palestine and Syria'' states that "Jobar is only a Muslim village."<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=EvxtAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA232 Cook's handbook for Palestine and Syria], Thos. Cook & Son, 1907. [University of Michigan, August 25, 2008]. pg. 232.</ref> However, during these years, Jewish visits to the village persisted, and on festival days many of the Damascus Jews assembled at the synagogue to worship.<ref>Malta Protestant College. [https://books.google.com/books?id=m8Rx2bSALkAC&q=jobar+damascus Journal of a deputation sent to the East by the committee of the Malta Protestant college, in 1849: containing an account of the present state of the Oriental nations, including their religion, learning, education, customs, and occupations, Volume 2], J. Nisbet and co., 1854. [Harvard University, 20 Dec 2005] pg. 483.</ref>
After the [[History of Israel#State of Israel (1948–present)|establishment of the State of Israel]], Jews in Syria faced greater discrimination as the Syrian government enforced tighter restrictions. Jewish property could not be sold and those that had been abandoned were confiscated.<ref>James A. Paul. [https://books.google.com/books?id=N-xjxWYWnlwC&pg=PA91 Human rights in Syria], Middle East Watch. pg. 92.</ref> A religious centre in the neighbourhood was taken over by [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] Arabs and the old synagogue was converted into a school for displaced Arabs.<ref>Zwy Aldouby, Jerrold Ballinger. [https://books.google.com/books?id=pJGEAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA285 The shattered silence: the Eli Cohen affair], Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1971. pg. 285.</ref>
The neighbourhood is the burial-place of a wonder-working sage of the 16th century, the patriarch of the Abuhatzeira rabbinical dynasty, Rabbi Shmuel Elbaz-Abuchatzira.<ref>Norman De Mattos Bentwich. [https://books.google.com/books?id=SmNtAAAAMAAJ&pg=PA234 A wanderer in the Promised land], Soncino Press, 1932. pg. 234.</ref><ref>[http://www.otzadikim.com/NewsItem.aspx?ID=10 From Yemen to Syria] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110715022057/http://www.otzadikim.com/NewsItem.aspx?ID=10 |date=2011-07-15 }}, Oholei Zadikim, May 5, 2008.</ref> The fate of the synagogue remains a source of controversy.<ref name="timesofisrael">{{cite web|url=http://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-case-for-jobar-syria-synagogues-and-subterfuge/|title=The case for Jobar: Syria, synagogues and subterfuge (17 January 2014) &#124; Adam Blitz &#124; The Blogs &#124; The Times of Israel|publisher=blogs.timesofisrael.com|access-date=2014-09-25}}</ref>
==Conservation project==
On July 28, 2010, a number of TV [[satellite dishes]] were removed by municipal workers enforcing a [[Architectural conservation|conservation project]] in the neighborhood.<ref>[http://www.syriabuild.com/news/214/ARTICLE/4491/2010-07-28.html Indiscriminate removal of satellite dishes at Jouber]{{Dead link|date=February 2020 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''syriabuild.com'', July 28, 2010.</ref>
==References==
{{reflist|30em}}
==External links==
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100501185401/http://www.syria-dir.com/accj/page.php?id=361 Arab Cultural Center of Jobar]
{{Damascus}}
[[Category:Neighborhoods of Damascus]]
[[Category:Historic Jewish communities]]
[[Category:Jewish Syrian history]]
[[Category:Jews and Judaism in Damascus]]