Lebanon's Forgotten Jewish Quarter

Before the civil war redrew Beirut’s map, the city was home to one of the Middle East’s oldest continuous Jewish communities. This episode explores the history of the Hamra and Achrafieh neighborhoods, where Jewish families lived alongside Christians and Muslims for centuries. We look at figures like the poet Salim Malki and the merchant David Najjar, who helped shape Beirut’s commercial and cultural life. The story covers the community’s golden age in the late 19th century, their contributions to press and trade, and the slow exodus that began with the 1948 Arab-Israeli War and accelerated after 1967. We examine how synagogues were repurposed, how identities shifted under pressure, and what remains of this vanished world today. It is a story of integration, tension, and loss, offering a nuanced view of Lebanon’s complex social fabric beyond the sectarian narratives we often hear.

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