ALEPPO, Syria — Decades after nearly the entire Syrian Jewish community departed, Henry Hamra of Brooklyn stands at the metal door of a small Aleppo synagogue holding the keys to a potential restoration of Jewish property rights.
Hamra was 15 when his family left Damascus in the early 1990s after the Assad regime allowed Jewish citizens to travel abroad. Many who left could not sell their homes; synagogues and schools came under government control while some private residences were occupied by others.
In December, the Syrian government licensed a Jewish heritage foundation Hamra leads, transferring control of Jewish religious sites from the state to the organization. The foundation will also help return private property that had been appropriated when Jews left.
Hamra, now 48, says the goal is to inspect synagogues and properties, locate owners and restore them. His path back to Syria was aided over the past year by Syrian-American activist Mouaz Moustafa and the Syrian Emergency Task Force, a campaign that helped arrange visits and advocacy with Syrian officials.
On Hamra’s first return visit with his father last year, Syrian officials pledged assistance in restoring properties. In a twist of recent history, the new Syrian president, Ahmed al-Sharaa, a former al-Qaida commander who renounced the group’s ideology, has sought to reassure the West that minorities will be protected under the new government. Syrian authorities framed the handover of Jewish religious sites as a sign that all minorities are welcome.
Aleppo once had one of Syria’s largest Jewish communities, with roots stretching at least 2,000 years. Before Israel’s establishment in 1948, an estimated 30,000 Jews lived in Syria. Under the closed regime that followed, Syrian Jews could practice their faith but faced the same restrictions as other citizens. When President Hafez al-Assad lifted travel limits for Jewish citizens beginning in 1992, most emigrated. Yusuf Hamra, Henry’s father, was the last rabbi to leave; without clergy, Jewish religious life in Syria dwindled.
Today only a handful of elderly Jews — Hamra says six — are known to remain in the country. On a visit to Damascus last year, there were still too few Jews present to hold prayers.
On this trip to Aleppo, Henry brought his 21-year-old son, Joseph. Hamra unlocked a small neighborhood synagogue layered in dust, with velvety curtains and an adjoining school where desks were piled on scuffed tables. The synagogue sits in an area heavily damaged during Syria’s 14-year civil war, which ended when opposition fighters toppled President Bashar al-Assad in December 2024.
Neighbors expressed hope at the prospect of Jewish return. Abu Alaa al-Muhandis, a nearby shop owner, recalled coexistence and said, “They were our friends. We hope they will come back, they will bring life back to the city.” Maissa Kabbani, founder of a Syrian justice organization, noted that churches, synagogues and mosques historically stood together in neighborhoods and pointed out a nearby damaged mosque as evidence of the shared past.
Hamra was shown Aleppo’s Central Synagogue, also called the al-Bandara Synagogue. The 1,500-year-old structure, with stone arches and Roman columns, marble floors and an ornate women’s section behind decorative iron screens, speaks to a once-vibrant community in a historic trade center. For centuries the synagogue was home to the Aleppo Codex, a roughly 1,000-year-old Hebrew manuscript that is the oldest known surviving copy of the Hebrew Bible; it was smuggled to Israel in the 1950s, though only partly intact.
In Washington, D.C., the Hamras and the Syrian Emergency Task Force lobbied successfully for the U.S. to lift the last of its trade sanctions on Syria in December — a move that has proved controversial among some Syrian-American Jews who distrust Sharaa’s government and doubt it can protect minorities.
Hamra acknowledges the obstacles to resettlement: damage to infrastructure, intermittent electricity and water, and security concerns in places like Aleppo. During the delegation’s visits, they were accompanied by young Syrian government fighters carrying rifles; some asked to take selfies with Hamra.
Raised speaking Arabic, Hamra refers to Syria as “the old country.” He says while mass return is unlikely now, many Syrian Jews would welcome visiting their ancestral towns and reclaiming a connection to their roots. His son Joseph, moved by the experience, plans to bring friends to see family sites and graves and imagines younger Syrian Jews possibly considering life there.
“What we’re trying to do is come see the properties, come see the synagogues and see what’s the condition,” Hamra says. “I’m calling on all the people who have properties to come and we’ll help them find them and give them back to them.”