Habibi Jad
First of all, thank you.
Seriously.
Thank you for having the courage to film one of the videos I have been waiting years to see. You probably have no idea how much this means to me.
Do you understand that even I have never been able to see Haret el Yahud that closely?
The most I had ever seen was the Haret el Yahud sign, plus that shitty picture of a Syrian guy supposedly living somewhere inside the synagogue complex. ( With all respect to our Syrian Brothers , 7ayooo )
And then you just walked in there with a camera.
?autoplay=false&preload=false Harat Al Yahud Saida
Your video unlocked something in me. A sincere, almost severe love for my people and for Sidon. More importantly, it showed something that outsiders sometimes misunderstand about Sidonians: there is still an instinct to protect what belongs to the history of this city.
Your video also confirmed two things for me.
First, the place where the Syrian man appears to be living does not seem to be the actual main sacred hall of the synagogue. The synagogue complex is fairly large, and he seems to be somewhere within that larger structure.
Now, I am not excusing the situation.
Ayre bel Lebanese Ministry of Heritage, men kbirkon la zghirkon, for failing to preserve our Lebanese Jewish heritage and historical sites, aside from turning one synagogue in Beirut into a museum-synagogue where practically no one can even go to pray anyway.
Such a Jean-Luc-style move. No wonder the Jews of Sidon wanted nothing to do with you.
Habibi, a synagogue is not a museum piece. A synagogue means Kabbalat Shabbat , a minyan, Torah reading, Kiddush , the Amidah, the Shema , Havdalah, Selichot , Rosh Hashanah , Yom Kippur, Purim (Jewish Girlies dress hot on this day ....just FYI ) , Pesach , weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, mourning, yahrzeit, community, continuity, and generations answering Amen in the same room.
It is a Beit Knesset, a house of gathering. A Beit Tefillah, a house of prayer. A place where Jewish life is supposed to happen, not just where Jewish history gets displayed behind glass.
You do not preserve a synagogue by sterilizing it until nobody can actually use it as a synagogue.
It is not an exclusive museum where Hola Stephanyyy and her fraudulent fat boyfriend with three numbers in his exclusive car can eat sushi, take Instagram stories, pose beside Judaica, and congratulate themselves for “preserving Jewish heritage.”
Jewish heritage is not décor. Judaism is a living tradition.
If there is no prayer , no Torah , no Shabbat , no congregation , no Jewish rhythm of life, then congratulations, you preserved the building while killing the entire point of the building.
Belle Tostorkon sater shu bahayem. Even from two continents away, it's cold here btw .
But the second thing made me laugh because it is so unbelievably Sidonian.
The Synagogue
They fucking sealed the important part behind a concrete wall.
image
Synagogue is sealed
LOL.
I know my people. I am one of them.
A padlock?
Too easy.
A door?
Someone will eventually break it.
But a concrete wall?
That is basically Sidon saying:
" There is nothing here for you. Yalla za7et habibi "
To get through that wall would require actual work, noise, tools, time, and enough suspicious activity for half the neighborhood to notice and intervene.
That mentality is so familiar to me that I almost laughed when I saw it.
Ah, my Sidon.
But Jad, habibi...
Ayre be your video.
Why is your voice so low?
What are you scared of?
And why do you look like some hippie who escaped from Tarazan?
And what the fuck is that shirt?
Bro.
You are in Sidon.
Trust me, whoever approaches Haret el Yahud is probably noticed. If you are already standing there filming, relaxxxxx.
You are in very good hands.
So quit with the whispering voice like you are filming a National Geographic documentary inside enemy territory.
Speak.
Breathe.
Enjoy Saida.
Regardless of my bullying, thank you.
Seeing that video on Shabbat was genuinely beautiful.
It made me emotional.
But I am Southern Lebanese, so emotion does not necessarily translate into tears.
Sometimes it translates into me suddenly wanting to go roast a few of my enemies.
Different culture.
Same feelings.
Shukran, habibi.
Please Note, a Historical Correction
And because this deserves to be recorded correctly:
The last Jewish family of Saida did not disappear generations ago.
They were there until 1985.
By 1975, historical accounts identify the Levy family as the last Jewish family remaining in Sidon. Josef Levy was a tailor, and not just any tailor. He made uniforms for the Lebanese Army, which gave him good relationships with both the local authorities and the Lebanese administration.
His youngest son, Zaki Levy, attended the Frères Maristes school in Saida. When the Civil War began in 1975, Zaki eventually left for France to study pharmacy. Josef died two years later, in 1977. Zaki later returned to Lebanon and remained in Saida through the Israeli invasion and occupation of the city in the early 1980s.
Then came the end.
In February 1985, as Israeli forces withdrew from Sidon, the last members of the Levi/Levy family left the city and went to Israel. A contemporary Jewish Telegraphic Agency report described the departing family as a widowed mother, four children and an aunt. They had reportedly told their neighbors that they were going to Brazil and needed to travel through Israel because traveling through Beirut was dangerous.
Kirsten Schulz ( To not confuse with Markus Schulz the D.J ) gives additional context. Accounts drawing from her work say that after the Israeli withdrawal, the remaining Levy family members were warned about possible terrorist threats against them ( Terrorist Threat my ass but anyway ) . Eventually they agreed to leave and moved to Tel Aviv.
So no, Haret el Yahud is not some medieval memory disconnected from modern Sidon.
There were still Jews from one of Saida& 039;s old families living there within the lifetime of people walking our streets today.
1985.
That is how recent this story is.
And perhaps that is also why seeing those walls, doors and alleyways preserved, even imperfectly, hits me differently.
This is not archaeology.
This is the memory of people who were still our neighbors.
Welcome to Sidon.
And I can almost guarantee you that Sidonians will take good care of you. :)
Now there is only one important question left:
Will there be a Part Two?
;) ;) ;) ;)
Because, you know...
I can put my weight behind certain things.
Just wink in one of your posts with your left eye.
Not the right one.
The left.
Then I will understand.
Chaverim sheli… follow or check out Jad’s content .
He’s basically your stereotypical Lebanese nature-and-wellness guy, probably a yoga instructor, eats healthy, loves the outdoors, and somehow checks every box.
Ahem ....Smotrich...Ahem.....80 million shekels bevakasha