The synagog Maghen Abraham with Beirut (Lebanon) is the last Synagog of the city and is known to have been most beautiful of the Middle East. Given up and ransacked during the War of Lebanon, it remains inactive. A reconstruction project is in hand.

History

About 1920, an easy Jew, Mr. Sasson, had decided to make set up, for the Jewish community of Beirut, a synagog worthy of this name, largest of the city. It seems that the money which he had provided was not sufficient since the building did not rise more than of a few meters and was abandoned. About 1925, one of the representatives of Mr. Sasson returned to the load and provides the money necessary to finish the construction of one of the most beautiful synagogs of the Middle East, Maghen Abraham. The synagog is always upright, though in a strongly dilapidated state, having been ransacked and having been plundered of all its contents by the belligerents of the War of Lebanon (1975-1990).

In addition to the synagog Maghen Abraham, the Community had built, in 1950, a very beautiful modern synagog in the village of Bhamdoun where the Juifs Lebanese spent their summers. In that, it followed the traces of certain Ezra Anzarouth, of Alexandria, which had made build another, in 1895, in a nearby village, Aley.

The oldest synagog of the Lebanon Mount is that of Deir el Qamar with the feet of the cedars of the mountain, in Chouf, in perfect state. It dates from the XVIIe century.

Spiritual leaders

Between 1908 and 1978, several Large-Rabbis followed one another the head of the Jewish community of Beirut:

• Rabbi Danon 1908 - 1909
• Jacob Maslaton 1910 - 1921
• Solomon Tagger 1921 - 1923
• Shabtai Bahbout 1924 - 1950
• Benzion Lichtman 1932 - 1959
• Jacob Attiyeh 1949 - 1966
• Chaoud Chreim 1960 - 1978

See too

• History of the Jews Lebanese

• Wadi Abu Jamil Jewish District of Beirut
• Synagog of Deir el Qamar (Lebanon Mount)

External bonds

• Comgrégation Jewish Lebanese of Montreal (Canada) * Blog TheJewsOfLebanon

Simple: Maghen Abraham Synagog