From Damascus… to Brooklyn?
By Jeffrey Goldberg
The Jerusalem Post, May 1, 1992
ALONG the tree-lined streets of Brooklyn’s Flatbush neighborhood, the only topic of conversation these days is the news that Syrian President Hafez Assad may finally be ready to free his country’s remaining Jews.
There are more Jews of Syrian descent here—nearly 40,000—than in any other city in the world, and they are expecting that number to grow by 4,000 if Assad follows through on his promise made earlier this week to liberalize the travel restrictions that have kept Syria’s Jews virtual hostages for more than 40 years.
“If they leave, they will definitely be coming here,” said Alice Harary, president of the New York-based Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews. “We have a big community, and we are prepared to receive them.”
Other Syrian Jewish activists have confirmed that the vast majority of the Jews still in Syria prefer to move to the US, and not to Israel.
“These are people who want some peace and quiet,” said one community leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Also, they feel, as we do, that the economic opportunities for them are here, and not in Israel. They don’t know much about Israel—it’s a very alien place to them, when you consider what they’ve heard about it for the past 40 years.”
HARARY AND other community leaders say that, in the unlikely event all 4,000 Syrian Jews leave in the coming weeks, the community will be able to handle the influx, and outside observers believe this to be the case.
“They’re one of the richest Jewish communities in the country,” said Rabbi David Eliach, an official at the Yeshiva of Flatbush, where Jews of Syrian extraction make up roughly 40 percent of the student population.
They’re going to need the wealth to help resettle the people they expect to be arriving. Community leaders said this week that homes, jobs and English classes are being prepared for the probable arrivals, but would not go into further detail.
Though most of the Syrian Jews in Brooklyn are descendants of immigrants who came to America from the port city of Aleppo, many of the Jews here say they have close relatives among the Jews still in Syria, who come mainly from Damascus. One community member, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said he has 11 cousins among the 4,000 Jews still there.
“If they come over, with God’s help, we’ll take care of them. We’ll put them all up in my house, even the people who aren’t my relatives. And I’ll find work in my stores for all of them if I have to,” he said.
According to Eliach and others, most of Brooklyn’s Syrian Jews are merchants. Many are highly successful owners of electronics, clothing and other retail stores. Community activists say that they will be expected to employ new arrivals in need of work.
BESIDES BEING one of the most well-to-do Jewish communities in America, the Syrian enclave in Flatbush is also one of the most insular—and secretive.
“They’re very suspicious of outsiders. They are trying to protect their children from assimilation, and they’re also naturally paranoid because of where they come from,” said one New York Jewish communal leader, who spoke on condition of anonymity. “Their mindset is still very Middle Eastern. They believe that the Syrian government or agents are watching them, even here.”
Brooklyn community leaders this week were extremely cagey about discussing the community’s plans to absorb the 4,000 Jews, should they actually come. Most would not even speak to a reporter.
“They keep very much apart,” Eliach said. “They don’t like to attract attention to themselves.”
This is an extremely traditional community. There are no Reform or Conservative Jews among the Syrians. “Some are haredi, others are Young Israel-type Orthodox, some lean to the left a little—but all are Orthodox,” Eliach said, estimating that at least 90 percent of the Syrian Jews are affiliated with the area’s several Sephardi synagogues. But many of the rabbis serving the community are Ashkenazim. “They couldn’t find any rabbis; they’re all business people.”
The Syrian community is an anomaly in American Jewish life in several other ways. Intermarriage is practically non-existent, experts say, and most grown children stay in Flatbush, sometimes living in extended-family homes.
“The sons often go into the family business … and the girls generally marry young and have a lot of children,” said Michael Witkes, executive director of the Sephardic Community Center on Ocean Parkway. Many of the Syrian Jews even vacation together; the wealthier ones own summer homes in the New Jersey resort town of Deal.
Though the transition from the Damascus ghetto to upper-middle-class Brooklyn will be difficult, community leaders are confident they can absorb every Syrian Jew who wants to live here.
“We’ll do whatever’s necessary,” Harary said. “We are prepared.”