Chabad Lubavitch of Syria
Chabad-Lubavitch and Syria: no resident emissary or centre; ARIS support for the few remaining Jews and a September 2025 delegation to Damascus that included Mendy Chitrik
| Chabad-Lubavitch in Syria
| |
|---|---|
| Type | No resident Chabad emissary or centre (visits and one-off activity only) |
| Headquarters | None in the country |
| Location | Syria (no base) |
| Area served | Damascus |
| Key people | None resident. Visiting: Mendy Chitrik (2025) |
| Remarks | Visits and remote support only |
Chabad-Lubavitch in Syria has no resident emissary, Chabad house or registered local body. No Syrian centre appears in the movement's own directory.[1] Religion News Service reported in 2025 that "only around half a dozen elderly Jews are believed to remain".[2] Chabad's documented links are support from abroad through the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States (ARIS) and one visit in 2025.
Visits and one-off activity
There is no resident emissary or centre.
- Before the civil war. In 2021 Israel Hayom reported that ARIS "helps the remaining five Jews in Syria", and that before the civil war a kosher slaughterer from Istanbul used to fly to Damascus to provide them with meat.[3]
- September 2025, Damascus. An international Jewish delegation visited Damascus. It held a minyan with a Torah reading in the Old City, prayed at the grave of Rabbi Chaim Vital and met Syrian officials. Accounts differ on who led it:
- Israel National News says that Rabbi Mendy Chitrik, ARIS chairman and a Chabad emissary in Turkey, "led an international delegation", and describes Rabbi Asher Lopatin of Michigan as the man "who organized the trip".[4]
- Religion News Service says Lopatin, of the Jewish Federation of Greater Ann Arbor, "led 13 people" and that Chitrik took part.[2] Neither source describes Lopatin as Chabad.
Relations with the state
The 2025 delegation met Syrian officials.[4][2]
Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
ARIS lists the late Rabbi Avraham Hamra as chief rabbi of the Syrian expatriate community. No source found describes him as Chabad.[5]
Funding and controversies
None found.
See also
- Jewish, Zionist and Israeli connections to Syria
- Chabad-Lubavitch in West Asia
- Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States
- Chabad Lubavitch of Lebanon
- Chabad Lubavitch of Turkey
References
- ↑ Lubavitch.com centres directory, regional indexes for the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Europe, accessed 21 October 2026. None lists Egypt, Iraq, Lebanon, Libya, Oman, Qatar or Syria. Chabad-side directory.
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 David I. Klein, "Hopeful for a new beginning in the new year, American Jews make historic trip to Syria", Religion News Service, 29 September 2025. Press.
- ↑ JNS and ILH Staff, "Rabbinical alliance bolsters Jewish community in Islamic states", Israel Hayom, 29 October 2021. Press.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Israel National News, "Historic Jewish visit to Damascus: Chabad emissary from Turkey leads delegation to Syria", 18 September 2025. Press.
- ↑ Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic States, "ARIS Rabbis", accessed 19 October 2026. Chabad-side (self-published; mainly Chabad-led).