• -.1.
Ilie Canadian Jewisli News, Friday, August 23; 1968 -Page 3
HELP FROM BELGIUM
Br us s e is — Belgium, She has suggested that a
hijacked El Al Boeini^t of to Rome where El
Algeria. Al then could take over.
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ALLANWEBBER
Captahi Charies Jacksondeft), execntive secretary of the loternational Federation of Airline Pilots' Associations, and Mr. Charles BIytb, general secretaiy of the International transport Workers' Federation, at a presH conference
GERMAN
TO ISRAEL
Cologne - Lufthansa German Airline will institute direct flights to Israel commencing the beginning of October, the Canadian Jewish News travel department has been informed;
For the first time North Americans will be able to fly non-stop directly to Tel Aviv via Frankfort, Cologne, Munich,
This is a step further in improved relations between Israel and West Germany.
PROUD OF EL AL PERFORMANCE - Company president Mordecai BenAri
Trove/ and advenfure
Bv H. M. Nahmad
Inner court of the ancient Great Synagogue at Aleppo
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On my study wall hangs an oil painting of the citadel of Aleppo, the commercial centre and capital of northern Syria. The citadel has along and chequered history. According to an old legend, its foundations were laid during the days of King David. It dominates the flat countryside around Aleppo for many miles.
Within the shadow of this great pile of masonry my father was born, as were his father and grandfather before him. For there stood tbe ancient Jewish quarter of the city, known as the Bab-sita. In the neighbourhood of the citadel rose the Great Synagogue, parts of which are said to have been built as early as the fourth century
C.E." The synagogue was very badly damaged by fire by a mob during anti-Jewish demonstrations in 1947. The history of Aleppo goes back to Biblical times, the city being identified in Jewish tradition with the ancient kingdom of Aram Zobah. During the second half of his reigi^ King David went to war war with Hadadezer, king of Zobah, and subdued northern Syria. The name Aleppo is a corruption of an Arabic word Halab.
This word is of the same root as the Arabic and Hebrew for "milk". An old Arab tradition has it that the Patriarch Abraham tarried in those parts to milk his flock and thus gave the city its name. By reason of its
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geographical position, Aleppo has been a great trading centre throughout its long history; and its inhabitants, Jews included, are well-1 known for their commercial ability and business acumen.
Until recent years, Aleppo contained one of the most important and flourishing Jewish communities in the Orient, and certainly one of the oldest It is thought that ther 9 must have been Israelitlsb settlers in the region as far back as the time of King Solomon. In the course of the centuries, many elements of Jewry have gone to make up the Jewish communities of Aleppo. The expulsion of the Jews of Khaibar (north-west Arabia) by the Moslem prophet Mohammed in the seventh century added to the Jewish population ofSyriaias a whole.
The greatest migration to the country, however, took place after the expulsion from Spain in 1492, when tens of thousands of Jews made their way eastwards to Turkey and the Arab countries. Many of these refugees settled in AleKJO, where they subsequently played a prominent part in the life of the community. They quickly assimilated to the older Jewish community, and like them a-dopted Arabic as their language.
In 1173, Aleppo was visited by the celebrated Spanish Jewish traveller, Benjamin of Tudela. He records that he found a flourishing Jewish community numbering 1,500 souls, served by three learned rabbis. In the years to follow, Aleppo Jewry could boast of many eminent scholars and physicians. One of the coiurt physicians to Nu-reddin, ruler of Aleppo, was a certainSamui^IbenNissim..
Many famous names in Jewish history are associated with this ancient city. In 1195, the leading Jew of Aleppo was Joseph ibn Aknih, although he was not an Aleppan by birth. He. was a friend of Moses Maimonides in Egypt, who wrote the "Guide of the Perplexed" for him. Aleppo also bWLSted a number of Jewish poets. One of these was Joseph ben Zemah. Of him it was remarked by Al^Harizi that although he was possessed of many good qualities, the writing of good verstJ was not one of them!,
Through the activities of travellers, merchants and wandering scholars who carried letters and cor respond-ence, Aleppo Jewry kepi in touc'.i w:'h sister communities elsewhere. For some four hundred years the Jews of Cochin (India) maintained contact with the Aleppo coni-munlty. Indeed, in the sixteenth century, one of the trade routeslto-India still
passed through Aleppo, and the city became one of the greatest attractions for Jews who were travelling eastwards.
Like other Jewish communities of the diaspora, that of Aleppo had its tips and downs. But it never had to suffer the organised persecution and pogroms that were the lot of Eat European Jewry. During the four centuries of Ottoman Turkish rule the Jews flourished and lived according to their customs and rites.
Like other recognised minority groups in the Ottoman empire, they enjoyed religious autonomy. The Grand Rabbi of Aleppo - the Halam-bashi - and a Council of Elders had wide powers over the community, and decisions of the Belth Din were strictly enforced.
Meml)ers of the leading families acted as interme-diaires between the community and the central authorities. Although the great majority of Jews were subjects of the Sultan, others came under the protection of certain European Powers. The Jews of Aleppo were chiefly engaged in trade on a small scale, but there were also those who worked as craftsmen. Many of the leadingfa-milies were well-to-do and had trade relations with merchants outside the country.
With the decline of the Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century, and the general stagnation and instability in the provinces, the power and influence of the Aleppo community began to wane. The bolder spirits of the community (like the Christians of the Lebanon during the later years of the nineteenth century) began to seek their fortunes and future outside their nativie land. From about the 1880s to the second decade of the present century, thousands of Jews left Aleppo for the Western worldj mainly North and South America:.
A substantial number settled in Manchester, where; they engaged in the textile shipping trade, chiefly in the export of Manchester cotton piece goods to the Middle E!ast and the Americas. They lived (and some of them, both Aleppo - and Manchester-born, stilldo) some miles to the south of the city.
Cherry Heering first made in Cbpenhagen in 1818. is still being made in exactly the same way. in exactly the same place by the Heering
Cherry Heering IS made froni plump black Danish cherries. Its rich, dark cerise bouquet and flavor make it unique.
Cherry Heering is a liqueur whose cheerful cherry fr^vor ends a meal on just the right note. On, ice/Orih^tall drinks it is delectable. Poured over we cream it m^kes a sensational dessert:
Cherry Heering is>a Danish delight as popular as Danish pastry, as/elegant as Danish furniture. Cherry Heering is/Denmark's contribution to world friendshipjaiid international cheerfulness.
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For inany years it was quite usual to hear the Aleppo dialect of Arabic spoken in the streets, for the Aleppo Jews clung to their Arabic speech wherever they settled. It is still understood to quite an extent by the Manchester-born generation. In New York and throughout the main cities of South and Central A-merica there are large and active commiomities of Jews of Aleppo birth or parentage; most have prospered in many different walks of life, though trade and commerce are still the chief activity of the older generation.
In the years following the First World War, the Jewish population of Aleppo was much depleted as a result of emigration. Evenso, it is estimated that there were still about ten thousand Jews in the city between the two wars. Most of them had by then moved from the old Bah-sita quarter in the neighbourhood of the citadel to the Jamiliva quarter, where many Christians live, aplea-sant district in tbe modern part of the city. The community had a club there where men and women met, and a former Deputy who riepre-sented the Jews of Aleppo lived in the same district.
In the early years following the establishment of the State of Israel the position of the Syrian Jews deteriorated. Large numbers of the community -. all those who were able to - left the country. Some found refuge in neighbouring Lebanon; others managed to find theii: way to Israel; whUe many families emigrated to North and South America to join their brethren already settled there.
Of the Jews who stiH remain in Syria no reliable figures are to hand. According to the best estimates there are no more than two or three thousand in the whole of the coun-, try, the majority of them living in Damascus, the capital, the remnants of a once large and flourshlng communi^.
The Jews of Aleppo have always been known for their dignified bearing, piety and charity. They are by nature conservative in their views and highly individualistic and independent. They have often been clannish and exclusive. There is more than a little truth in this, since they have tended to remain a separate group wherever they have settled abroad. They have, howevei:, never failed to enrich the lives of other communities among whom they settled, through their energy and quick intelligence.
EL AL IN THE GOLAN HEIGHTS - A young setUer with tbe new signboard of El AI, an abandoned Syrian village in the Golan Heights, vdiicb bas now been revived as an agricultural settlement — an Israeli one. Israel's national airline, whichbears tbe same natae(which means "In tbe Skies" in ix)th Hebriew and Arabic), has adopted the settlement.
.Airline staff members have volunteered to help with work in the fields, and the airline itself bas promised a tree ticket to every child born in the settlement during its first year of existence, to be issued when the child reaches the age of 13.
EL AL FEAT
Jerusalem (CJN) - The reaction to the hijacking of the El Ai plane by the Arab terrorists lastmonthha^boom-eranged against the enemies of Israel, Mr. Mordecai Ben Ari, international president of El Ai told The Canadian Jewish News travel editor.
Mr. Ben Ari said, despite the air piracy tbe number of EI AI passengers has increased in the period following the capture. El AI has taken immediately extreme precaution so that tbe safety of its passengeris of all nationalities now has been assured. This has been done In full cooperation with all governments concerned.
There never wassuchloy-alty towards an airline as has been demonstrated by El AI clientele during the weeks following the hijacking of its Boeing 707, Mr. Ben Ari continued.
In fact. El AI had to charter immediately an American aircraft not to disrupt services.
In view of the Algerian refusal to release the hijacked El AI plane, tbe company is considering its legal position regarding the insurance policies taken for tbe aircraft.
The insurance is an "all contingency" one. Although hijacking is not covered spe-ciflcaUy, El AI hopes that tbe insurance did not cover the ccmsiderable loss of revenue which was particularly unfortunate at tUs time of intensive tourism to Israel.
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