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First i read what all the other definitions for Syrian Jew on this web site, and as a "SY" i have been teribly offended, and if it would have been written by a non jew their would have been outcrys of anti sematism, i dont care if you had a bad experience with a couple of Syrians to blatantly sterotype is just wrong, we are all one Jewish nation we should all get along and not fight amongst each other. Anyway hear is some REAL info on our community.
Syrian Jews derive their origin from two groups: those who inhabited the region of today's Syria from the ancient times and those Sephardim who fled to Syria after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain (1492 CE). There were large communities in Aleppo, Damascus, and Beirut for centuries, and a smaller community in Qamishli. In the early twentieth century a large percentage of Syrian Jews emigrated to the U.S., Central and South America and Israel. Today there are almost no Jews left in Syria. The largest Syrian-Jewish community is located in Brooklyn, New York, and estimated at 40,000.
There have been Jews in Syria since ancient times: according to legend, since the time of King David, and certainly since early Roman times. A further group arrived following the expulsion from Spain, and quickly took a leading position in the community. Still later, in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, some Jews from Italy and elsewhere, known as SeƱores Francos, settled in Syria for trading reasons, while retaining their European na...
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