Vandals on Wednesday desecrated the gravesite in Syria of a prominent 16th century Jewish mystic and disciple of the famed Kabbalist Rabbi Isaac Luria, known as the Ari.
The Jewish cemetery’s main gate was smashed and a pit dug near the grave of Rabbi Chaim Vital, who died in Damascus in 1620. The vandals were apparently searching for remains. Wednesday marked the day before his yahrzeit, or anniversary of death according to the Hebrew calendar.
“We are deeply shocked and saddened by the desecration of the tomb of Rabbi Chaim Vital this Thursday in Damascus,” the Alliance of Rabbis in Islamic Countries, an umbrella group representing rabbis from Jewish communities across Muslim-majority nations, said on Saturday night. “We urgently call on the Syrian government to immediately secure Jewish holy sites, synagogues, and cemeteries and ensure their safety, security, and well-being,” the statement continued.
Syrian Jews living in the United States had visited the site earlier this year.
Fewer than 10 Jews live in Syria today.
Earlier this year, the chief rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in Israel penned an extraordinary letter to the new leader of Syria, congratulating him on his ouster of the Assad dictatorship and encouraging him to preserve the heritage sites of the country’s historic Jewish community.
