Wadi Abu Jamil is the former Jewish quarter in Beirut, Lebanon, located in the city's central district.
Formerly known as Wadi al-Yahoud (meaning "Valley of the Jews"), [1] the quarter was the center of the Lebanese Jewish community, with Beirut's largest and most important synagogue, the Maghen Abraham Synagogue, located there. The neighborhood was home to Lebanon's centuries-old Jewish community and also for the more recent Jewish refugees from Syria and Iraq.
Emigration from the community began in earnest after the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. During the 1982 Lebanon War, Yasir Arafat's PLO forces took over much of the neighborhood, which was located along the dividing line between the two sides of the Lebanese Civil War. During the war, Israeli bombardment damaged the Maghen Abraham Synagogue.
The area today is home to around 29 Lebanese Jews, mostly elderly.[ citation needed ]
Renovation of the Maghen Abraham Synagogue began in the summer of 2009. [2] Funding for the renovation includes donations from the Lebanese Jewish Community Council and Jewish Lebanese living overseas. Isaac Arazi, the leader of the Jewish community in Lebanon has managed to raise $40,000 from private donors. [3] Renovation is estimated to cost between $1 million and $1.5 million. [2] Solidere, the Lebanese joint-stock company responsible for much of Central Beirut’s reconstruction, has donated $150,000 toward the renovation effort. [3] Lebanese architect Nabil Gholam has played an important role in the redevelopment planning process.
Hebron is a Palestinian city in the southern West Bank, 30 kilometres (19 mi) south of Jerusalem. Hebron is capital of the West Bank's largest governorate, known as Hebron Governorate. With a population of 201,063 in the city limits, the adjacent metropolitan area within the governorate is home to over 700,000 people. Hebron spans across an area of 74.102 square kilometres (28.611 sq mi). It is the third largest city in the country, followed by Gaza and Jerusalem. The city is often considered one of the four holy cities in Judaism as well as in Islam and Christianity.
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The Maghen Abraham Synagogue is an Orthodox Jewish congregation and synagogue, located in the Jewish district of Wadi Abu Jamil in downtown Beirut, Lebanon.
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