Syrian Jews keep their traditions over 100 years in U.S.

One hundred years after Syrian Jews began arriving on U.S. shores, the community in many respects still resembles its close-knit forebears from Damascus and Aleppo.
"We are not celebrating the fact that we arrived in this country, but we are celebrating the fact that we came and remain intact so we see grandchildren keeping the same tradition as great-grandparents," says Rabbi David Cohen, whose Sephardic Renaissance group organized a recent cantorial concert in Brooklyn to mark the community's 100th anniversary.

The event, which honored three patriarchs of the Syrian community - Sam Cattan, 96, Moses Tawil, 89, and Abe Cohen, 91 - was the first of many events planned for this year to mark the group's centennial. "Family values are passed on from generation to generation and people like to keep the same values within the community," Cohen said.

And it is this message that the Syrian community - which estimates its population in the United States at more than 70,000, mostly in Brooklyn and Deal, N.J. - aims to share their customs with the rest of the Sephardic community and the Jewish community at large. The Syrian community helps to keep the Sephardic traditions alive because they are a successful community and are well connected."

The Syrian community first arrived in the Lower East Side of Manhattan in the early 1900s before moving to Brooklyn's Bay Parkway section. Now, Syrian Jewish life revolves around the main hub of Ocean Parkway, where the community built its main synagogue, Shaare Zion. But unlike other Sephardic communities that have not stayed intact, the Syrian community remains tight.

Because of the importance placed on being with family in the Syrian tradition, many have chosen to live within walking distance of their relatives. "My whole family is Syrian," Fallas says. "It's wonderful, I love it. Everybody stays very, very close and sort of has their hand behind everybody's back, watching out for each other."

The community also stays close together because of its strong connection to Judaism. "We are  all considered Orthodox," . "There are no conservatives and no reforms, so immediately you have the issue of proximity to synagogues and because we have our own praying styles, we're most comfortable in our own synagogues." Cohen also cites the Syrian commitment to education as among the reasons the community has thrived. They have set up about 22 yeshivas.

In a room filled with around 2,200 members of the Jewish Syrian community eagerly waiting to begin the anniversary celebrations, Mickey Kairey emphasized just how strong that connection is. "There isn't a community on this planet as good as ours," he said. "We never get tired of looking at each other."