The Untold Story of the Crowns of Damascus
In the ancient synagogues of Damascus, 11 precious manuscripts held the whispered prayers of generations. These were no ordinary books—they were the Damascus Crowns, carefully crafted Hebrew Tanachs, some adorned with gold illuminations, carefully preserved for centuries by Syria’s Jewish community. But as persecution mounted in the 20th century, these priceless treasures faced an uncertain fate.
Their preservation would require an unlikely alliance: the quiet dedication of rabbis and volunteers together with the clandestine expertise of Mossad operatives. In a series of secret operations that read like pages from a spy novel, these irreplaceable manuscripts—some dating back to the 10th century—would make their way from the synagogues of Damascus to the Land of Israel, each carrying its own extraordinary tale of survival.
What Are the Crowns of Damascus?
A 'carpet' page from the Burgos, 1260 CE, Crown. Menahem bar Abraham ibn Malik.
Jewish Virtual Library: Hebrew Illuminated Manuscripts, CC BY-SA 4.0
Among the many treasures in the National Library of Israel are the Damascus Crowns. These manuscripts, written on parchment, contain the text of the Tanach with vocalization and accentuation, as well as notes in the margins on how the text should be written and pronounced.
Some of the pages are decorated with colorful floral and geometric patterns. The beginnings of sections are illuminated in gold. There are also carpet pages – full pages of colorful designs and illustrations.
Each manuscript has its own story and journey. The oldest one was written in Tiberias, in the Land of Israel. Others were written in Spain, Italy, or Ashkenazic lands. Each made its way to Damascus, where it was treasured and safeguarded by the Jewish community for generations.
In the 20th century, one of them disappeared and was later discovered at a Judaica auction. Nine were smuggled out of Syria in covert operations with the help of the Israeli Mossad. Eventually, each of the eleven Crowns made its own way to the Holy Land.
Here are some of their stories.
The Damascus Pentateuch
A page from the Damascus Pentateuch.
National Library of Israel
The oldest manuscript in the collection, the Damascus Pentateuch, is believed to have been written in the 10th century or even earlier. Research to determine more precise dating is still ongoing.
Unlike the other Crowns, as its name indicates, the Pentateuch contains only the text of the five books of the Torah. It does not include Prophets or Writings.
Nevertheless, this manuscript is the most significant because it is one of the oldest texts which has the Masoretic traditions of how to read and chant the Torah.
This Crown’s story of survival is relatively “tame.”
India-born scholar and philanthropist David Solomon Sassoon, traveled the world on a mission to rescue and preserve rare Hebrew manuscripts. He purchased the Damascus Pentateuch from the Damascus Jewish community in 1915 and passed it on to the National Library of Israel in 1975.
The Stolen Manuscript
End of the Book of Ruth in the Burgos ,1260 CE, Damascus Crown.
Written in Burgos, Spain, in 1260 CE, this Damascus Crown—containing all 24 books of the Tanach—has its own fascinating story.
The manuscript’s origin is recorded in its colophon, an inscription made by the original scribe:
I, Menachem, son of Abraham ibn Malek, may his soul rest in peace, wrote these twenty-four [books of the Tanach] for the dear honored … Isaac, son of the honored sage Abraham ... Haddad, and completed them on Monday, the 17th day of the month of Adar in the year 5020 in Burgos …1
From Spain, the manuscript made its way to Damascus, where it was kept in the Hushbasha Al’anabi synagogue. The congregants treated the manuscript with much reverence and believed that its presence served as a protection for the Jewish community.
In 1940, the manuscript disappeared from the synagogue and was presumed stolen. The disappearance plunged the community into mourning, as if they had lost a beloved family member.
To this day, no one knows how and where the manuscript was taken, but in 1962 the precious Crown suddenly surfaced at a Judaica auction in London. Recognizing its importance, Mr. N.Z. Williams of Jerusalem and the America-Israel Cultural Fund purchased the manuscript and donated it to the National Library of Israel for safekeeping.
Upon closer inspection, the librarians found that the manuscript was missing several pages. Some of them were eventually recovered, including one which was found in Spain. It is currently located in the Jewish Museum of Toledo.
A Canadian “Angel”, a Kind Catholic, and a Brave Rabbi
Pages from a 14th-century Damascus Crown, brought to Israel in the 1990s.
National Library of Israel
The other nine Damascus Crowns were smuggled out of Syria in the 1990s, with the assistance of the Mossad and some dedicated volunteers.
The original goal of this covert operation was to help the Jews of Syria, who were then living under a corrupt and antisemitic regime. For decades, the Syrian government increased persecution of its Jews, limiting their freedom of movement and their educational and professional opportunities. Jews were prohibited from leaving Syria, under the penalty of death or imprisonment in a labor camp.
Nevertheless, Syrian Jews looked for ways to escape. Some succeeded while others were caught and cruelly murdered.
In the 1970s, Judy Feld Carr, a Canadian Jew, heard about the plight of the Syrian Jews and decided to get involved. Over the course of the following 28 years, she managed to smuggle over 3,000 Jews out of the country.
One of Judy’s first contacts in Syria was Rabbi Avraham Hamra, the chief rabbi of Damascus. When Judy heard about the precious manuscripts cherished by the community, she asked Rabbi Hamra about them. He confirmed that his synagogue owned one of the Crowns and that they did not want to leave it behind in Syria.
Judy did not know how it would be possible to get the manuscript out. She knew that the escaping Jews, already putting their lives at risk, would not be able to take the manuscript with them. The smuggling would have to be done by a non-Jew.
Not one to give up easily, Judy spoke to her contacts in Israeli intelligence and other organizations that were involved in helping Syrian Jews. Eventually, she found a way. A kind-hearted Catholic visiting Syria was asked to bring the book to Canada as a gift for Judy. He agreed, and right before his flight, he went to the agreed-upon location, where he passed Rabbi Hamra on the street. Rabbi Hamra handed him the book, which he immediately hid in his coat.
Upon his arrival in Toronto, he gave the book to Judy, who took it to the Israeli consulate in Ottawa. When Judy and then Ambassador Itzhak Selef opened the manuscript together, both of them burst into tears.
The ambassador arranged for the manuscript’s transportation to Israel, where it remains today.
The Secret of the Other Nine Crowns
The details of how the other Crowns were smuggled from Syria into Israel remain secret, but it is widely known that the Mossad was involved.
Efraim Halevi, who served as second-in-command of the Mossad in the 1990s, explains in a podcast interview, “Of all the things we rescued from Syria, the Crowns are most significant and especially magnificent.”2
Halevi recalls that Rabbi Hamra, at personal risk, did much of the work involved in getting the Crowns to Israel.
Syrian Jewish Treasures
Rabbi Avraham Hamra in Israel, 2017.
Rabbi Hamra helped many Syrian Jews flee the country. When he felt that he had done as much as he could, he left too, eventually settling in Israel, where he continued to lead the Israeli-Syrian Jewish community.
Rabbi Hamra was deeply concerned not only with the fate of Syrian Jewry but also with the fate of its precious manuscripts. He requested that the National Library of Israel transfer the Crowns to the Syrian community in Israel, but the library staff pointed out that the manuscripts were extremely fragile.
When the Crowns were brought to Israel, they required some restoration and preservation work, and experts insisted that they be kept in a special climate-controlled environment to ensure their survival for many generations to come.
The issue was eventually taken to court. The proceedings lasted for a quarter of a century. Finally, in August 2020, the Jerusalem District Court ruled that the manuscripts, “treasures of the Jewish people,” would remain in the library, in optimal conditions, under the joint custodianship of the Syrian Jewish community, the Sephardic chief rabbi of Israel, and the National Library.3
Rabbi Hamra passed away in 2021, but representatives of the Israeli-Syrian community, now headed by his son, Rabbi Binyamin Hamra, meet with representatives of the National Library every year or two and check on the condition of the manuscripts.
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