The Keter Aram Soba (Aleppo Codex) had been kept in the Great Synagogue for centuries. Most people thought it was destroyed in a riot in 1947, but it had been secretly hidden. Community leaders feared it could not be kept safe in Syria any longer.
Murad Faham was caught smuggling Jews out of Syria, but because he was an Iranian citizen, he was expelled rather than being executed. When he returns to Aleppo in 1957 to get his belongings, Rabbi Moshe Tawil and Rabbi Selim Zafrani ask him to take the Keter with him and smuggle it out of Syria. Murad’s wife, Sarina, hides the codex until their arrival in Israel, where it is presented to President Yitzhak Ben-Zvi in 1958.
“The two rabbis of the community at the time, Hacham Moshe Tawil and Hacham Selim Zafrani, called my father and they told him, ‘We have something very important. We would like you to take it out of the country.’ And sure enough they gave him the Aleppo Codex. My mother was packing our belongings in bales.” — Joseph Faham, Episode 6
“They were waiting in the port for her. They know that the Keter is coming. Israel knew that she had the Keter. They were waiting in the port. The minute they landed they started asking them where is it already?
My father eventually gave it to the president of Israel. They had an appointment the next day, right after we arrived. We haven’t even gotten out bales yet from the customs. They opened the one that had it and they gave it to him. All this, Hashem worked it out so that my father takes out the Keter.” — Moshe Faham, Episode 6
(Image of Sarina and Murad Faham.)
-
Biblical Times
-
950 BCE
-
630s
-
929
-
1375
-
1400s
-
1492
-
1527
-
1565 c.
-
1665
-
1732
-
1760 c.
-
1840
-
1869
-
1892
-
1909
-
1911-1912
-
1918
-
1930s
-
1935
-
1944
-
1945
-
1946
-
1947
-
1948
-
1949
-
1950
-
1951
-
1956
-
1956
-
1957
-
1958
-
1964
-
1965
-
1967
-
1972
-
1974
-
1975
-
1975
-
1980s
-
1988
-
1992
-
1994
-
The city of Aleppo has had many names. These include Aram Soba and Halab.
-
King David gives Yoab ben Seruya the city of Aram Soba (Aleppo) as a present after their successful conquest of the city.
-
Jerusalem falls to Muslim armies, and some legal protections are granted to followers of other monotheistic religions.
-
The Keter Aram Soba is likely written sometime around this year.
-
Rabbi David, a direct descendent of the Rambam, travels to Aleppo with the Codex.
-
The Dayans, leaders of the Aleppan community of Mustabarim, migrated to Aleppo by the fifteenth century.
-
Jews are expelled from Spain.
-
The Mahzor Aram Soba is published, preserving the unique liturgy of the Mustarabi community.
-
Rabbi Shemuel Laniado becomes the first of his family to be appointed chief rabbi.
-
Shabbetai Sevi visits Aleppo, declaring that he is the messiah.
-
Signor Hillel Haim Picciotto first travels to Aleppo from Livorno, Italy.
-
Aleppo’s Bet Nasi synagogue is constructed. It is the first new synagogue to be built in the city in hundreds of years.
-
Father Tomaso goes missing, and Christians blame the Jews. What came next would be known as The Damascus Affair.
-
The Suez Canal opens, changing trade in the region forever.
-
The first Syrian Jews emigrate to New York.
-
Young Jews leave Syria & Turkey and other lands to avoid Ottoman conscription law.
-
The Francos are deported from Aleppo in retaliation for the Italian invasion of Libya.
-
Syria and Lebanon fall under French mandate.
-
Syria’s economy is in crisis anti-Semitism is on the rise.
-
The last Mustarabi minyan in the Great Synagogue ceases to function.
-
The Syrian Arab Republic is established.
-
1,300 Jewish children leave Syria for Israel.
-
Rabbi Yishak Dayan leaves Aleppo, ending the Dayan family’s dynasty.
-
Arab mobs riot and set fire to Jewish synagogues, establishments, institutions and homes in response to the UN plan to partition Palestine.
-
The State of Israel is declared, and Arab nations attack; Jews flee Syria.
-
Jewish bank accounts are seized in Syria, property is frozen, and a synagogue is bombed.
-
The lives of the Jews of Syria are further restricted, and many escape to Lebanon.
-
The backlash against Jews in Lebanon begins to grow.
-
Egypt expels 20,000 Jews with 7 days notice.
-
Identity cards for all Syrian Jews are stamped with a red line, the beginning of the Mussawi stamp. (Image of Syrian ID card with Mussawi stamp.)
-
The remaining pages of the Keter Aram Soba are smuggled out of Aleppo by Mr. Murad Faham.
-
Jews can leave Syria after the payment of a ransom, and begin escaping to Turkey with the help of Israeli agents.
-
Jews are prohibited from traveling more than 3 miles from their hometowns.
-
Israeli spy Eli Cohen is arrested and hanged.
-
The Six-Day War changes the political climate throughout the Middle East.
-
The Syrian Jews of Brooklyn say special prayers, and rabbis and political leaders in New York hold rally in support of on behalf of Jews in Syria.
-
Four Syrian Jewish girls who try to escape through smugglers are raped and murdered. Jews protest in Damascus, and the news spreads throughout the world.
-
A ‘week of solidarity’ with Syrian Jews is declared in Israel, Paris, and London.
-
A rescue campaign for the remaining Syrian Jews is initiated by Canadian Judy Feld Carr.
-
The restoration of the Great Synagogue begins.
-
The Council for the Rescue of Syrian Jews (CRSJ) is formed.
-
President Assad allows 2,800 Jews to leave on tourist visas without assets.
-
Jews are allowed to leave Syria with their assets.
