BetLZ News 2.9.10 ...continued!!

More news already!!

No sour grapes for Lebanon's wine-making monks / AFP

Hariri to inaugurate annual gathering for newspapers, news publishers / The Daily Star

Beirut's lost Jewish past / Los Angeles Times (The Jews of Lebanon, something we have frequently spoken about...)

Nahas calls for turning Beirut into Arab broadcasters' center / The Daily Star (Isn't it already??)


If you're in Lebanon and an Elissa fan:

Elissa Signs "Tisadak Bimin" In Beirut / Wikeez (Who knew she had a new album? Has anyone heard it? Any good?)

~LZ

The 18th Sect We Don't Talk About

This post from the Lebanese Inner Circle reminded me of one of my previous posts on the Jews in Lebanon.

Apparently, the Minister of the Interior, Ziad Baroud, submitted a proposal to be discussed by the cabinet on Apr. 28 that proposed "the Cabinet amend the legislation that currently labels Lebanese Jews as 'Israélite' to 'Jewish Lebanese'."

Currently, Lebanese Jews are identified as Israelites on their IDs (I thought this was taken off post-Taif along with everyone's religion??) and on electoral lists.
According to the Daily Star:

Baroud's proposal asked the Cabinet to adopt a draft law to differentiate between a sect "whose rights are legal and protected by the Constitution and between the subjects of an occupying entity."

I think it would be worth going back to my previous post and looking at the NowLebanon article I link to that interviews a Jewish woman named Liza living in Lebanon and how she has been struggling her whole life to be considered Lebanese. Might help to get a better perspective of what this legislation, if it is put into effect (how likely this is I have no idea) would mean.

Also, I love how in Lebanon we like to show off and say "we are so diverse, we have 18 different religious sects that all live together in this one tiny nation," except no one likes to say that that Jews are absolutely unaccepted and probably have to hide their religion or face prosecution. Yey diversity!!

So finally, someone is taking a step forward and is doing something to get rid of this ignorant notion that all Jews are Israelis.

Now to tackle women's and gay rights...

~LZ

The Jews of Lebanon...all 2 of them

I was surfing the web at work as I usually do, and I stumbled across a website for the Jews of Lebanon: http://www.thejewsoflebanonproject.org/

Talk about a nice website!! Also like the nice addition of Fairuz singing in the background.

I was reading the site and it seems as if there are solid plans to renovate the Maghan Avraham synagogue, which is the oldest synagogue in Beirut (built in 1925), and not to turn them into museums, but rather, for them to remain as functioning synagogues..should be very interesting.

See a very good article on NOW Lebanon from nearly a year ago about this synagogue: http://www.nowlebanon.com/NewsArticleDetails.aspx?ID=33607 . It follows a sad story of an old Lebanese Jewish woman under the Alias of 'Liza" who just wants to be accepted as Lebanese.
Also, wiki has a good article on the synagogue here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maghen_Abraham_Synagogue

Apparently, Rafik Al Hariri had plans to renovate the synagogue and surround it with a garden before his assassination. Also, "In 1991, due to mass emigration of Lebanese Jews into foreign countries, only two Jews remained in Wadi Abu Jimail Street, and with a population of around sixty, the community more or less ceased to exist." I love how the article claims that precisely 2 Jews remained...haha..shows how small Lebanon is for you. Also, there's a bit on ancient Torah Scrolls that were sent from Lebanon to Geneva in 1976 for safe keeping, so check it out.





And, the lesser known Deir El Qamar synagogue built in the 17th century: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deir_el_Qamar_Synagogue

I really hope that these synagogues are restored and opened to the public. Unfortunately, there are so many within Lebanon that blindly hate Jews (and with Israel's incessant hostility and the facts that the vast majority have never met an actual Jew in their life this is somewhat [and i say that hesitantly] understandable) that i worry someone would try to prevent renovation or attempt to cause damage once/if renovation is complete..

But could you imagine what it would mean for Lebanon to have synagogues? I would imagine that it would be the only Arab country tolerant/modern enough to accept to have a synagogue, that is, of course, provided they do actually get restored...

One last link, check out a panoramic video of the synagogue here: http://www.discoverlebanon.com/en/panoramic_views/beirut/synagogue_wadi_abou_jamil.phpws/beirut/synagogue_wadi_abou_jamil.php


~LZ