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Concept
Maghen Abraham Synagogue
Summary
The Maghen Abraham Synagogue (كنيس ماغين أبراهام - Kanīs Mā'ghīn Abrā'hām; בית הכנסת מגן אברהם - Beth HaKenesset Magen Avraham) is one of the main synagogues in Lebanon.
Located in the Jewish district of Wadi Abu Jamil in downtown Beirut, the synagogue was damaged by IDF during the Lebanese Civil War. Restoration of the synagogue began in May 2009. In August 2010, renovations were nearing completion, with finishing touches being made to the interior of the building. Haaretz reported that "synagogue restored to glory" and "has been renovated beautifully". The synagogue reopened, but was slightly damaged in the 2020 Beirut explosions.
Maghen Abraham has a daughter synagogue in Canada, Congregation Maghen Abraham.
An older synagogue in Beirut was demolished in 502 by a great earthquake which destroyed several cities in Lebanon. Maghen Abraham was constructed in 1925 and named after by its funder and benefactor the son of Abraham Sassoon, Moise Abraham Sassoon of Calcutta, on land donated by Isaac Mann. It was designed by the architect Bindo Manham and construction was overseen by Ezra Benjamin and Joseph Balayla." The head of the Jewish community, Josef Farhi, helped in raising additional funds to complete the interior. The synagogue was also used for Torah and scientific lectures, weddings and other festive events.
In the 1950s and 1960s there were sixteen synagogues in Beirut and they were all full, according to a Lebanese expatriate who moved from Beirut to Paris in 2003. Jews were entitled to the same rights as other minorities and the number of Jews was increasing even after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, by which time there were about 14,000 Jews in Lebanon. In 1976, a year after the civil war began, Joseph Farhi transferred the Torah scrolls from the synagogue to Geneva and entrusted to renowned Jewish-Lebanese banker Edmond Safra, who preserved them in his bank's coffers. Most of them have since been relocated to Sephardic synagogues in Israel.
Official source
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