The Deir el Qamar Synagogue, in
Deir el Qamar
Deir al-Qamar ( ar, دَيْر الْقَمَر, lit=Monastery of the moon, translit=Dayr al-qamar), is a city south-east of Beirut in south-central Lebanon. It is located five kilometres outside of Beiteddine in the Chouf District of the Mount ...
, a village in south-central
Lebanon
Lebanon ( , ar, لُبْنَان, translit=lubnān, ), officially the Republic of Lebanon () or the Lebanese Republic, is a country in Western Asia. It is located between Syria to the north and east and Israel to the south, while Cyprus li ...
, is the oldest
synagogue
A synagogue, ', 'house of assembly', or ', "house of prayer"; Yiddish: ''shul'', Ladino: or ' (from synagogue); or ', "community". sometimes referred to as shul, and interchangeably used with the word temple, is a Jewish house of worshi ...
in
Mount Lebanon
Mount Lebanon ( ar, جَبَل لُبْنَان, ''jabal lubnān'', ; syr, ܛܘܪ ܠܒ݂ܢܢ, ', , ''ṭūr lewnōn'' french: Mont Liban) is a mountain range in Lebanon. It averages above in elevation, with its peak at .
Geography
The Mount Le ...
.
The synagogue was built in the 17th century, during the
Ottoman era
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
in Lebanon, to serve the local Jewish population, some of whom were part of the immediate entourage of
Fakhr al-Din II
Fakhr al-Din ibn Qurqumaz Ma'n ( ar, فَخْر ٱلدِّين بِن قُرْقُمَاز مَعْن, Fakhr al-Dīn ibn Qurqumaz Maʿn; – March or April 1635), commonly known as Fakhr al-Din II or Fakhreddine II ( ar, فخر الدين ال ...
. The building is in good condition.
As of 2016, the Synagogue is in excellent condition; yet, in the meantime, the synagogue has been shut to the public for security reasons and has been entrusted to the
French cultural center by Lebanon's
Direction Générale des Antiquités (General Directorate of Antiquities).
See also
*
History of the Jews in Lebanon
History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbrella term comprising past events as well ...
*
Maghen Abraham Synagogue
The Maghen Abraham Synagogue ( ar, كنيس ماغين أبراهام - ''Kanīs Mā'ghīn Abrā'hām''; he, בית הכנסת מגן אברהם - ''Beth HaKenesset Magen Avraham'') is one of the main synagogues in Lebanon.
Located in the Jewi ...
*
Wadi Abu Jamil
Wadi Abu Jamil is the former Jewish quarter in Beirut, Lebanon, located in the city's central district.
History
Formally known as ''Wadi al-Yahoud'' (meaning "Valley of the Jews"), the quarter was the center of the Lebanese Jewish community, wi ...
References
External links
The Lebanese Jewish Community Council
Chouf District
Synagogues in Lebanon
Former synagogues
Orthodox synagogues
17th-century synagogues
Orthodox Judaism in the Arab world
Orthodox Judaism in the Middle East
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