By: Tzirel Rosenblatt

In a quietly momentous development that has drawn international attention, Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa met on Tuesday with Rabbi Yosef Hamra, a prominent spiritual leader of the global Syrian Jewish community, during the president’s diplomatic visit to Washington, D.C.  The meeting—confirmed by representatives from both sides—was described by several observers as a symbolic yet profound gesture that could mark the beginning of a new chapter in Syria’s complex relationship with its Jewish heritage and diaspora.

As VIN News reported on Tuesday, the encounter took place in a private setting and carried both spiritual and historical weight. Rabbi Hamra, whose family lineage traces directly to the once-flourishing Jewish communities of Aleppo and Damascus, offered what he called an “Abrahamic blessing” for the Syrian leader and his nation’s future.  According to sources cited in the VIN News report, Hamra told al-Sharaa that “Hashem watches over him,” expressing hope that the Almighty would guide Syria toward “peace, prosperity, and moral restoration after generations of pain.”

For many familiar with Middle Eastern affairs, the meeting represented something extraordinary. The presence of a Syrian rabbi and the head of the Syrian state in the same room—on U.S. soil—signaled not just a political gesture but an effort to re-engage with a long-erased segment of Syria’s own identity.

As the VIN News report contextualized, the Syrian Jewish community, among the oldest in the world, dates back more than 2,500 years.  Once numbering in the tens of thousands, Syrian Jews were an integral part of the country’s cultural and commercial fabric until waves of repression and emigration following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 effectively ended Jewish life in Syria.

Rabbi Hamra himself was among the final Jewish leaders to leave the country in the early 1990s, after decades of restrictions placed on the remaining Jewish population under Hafez al-Assad’s rule.  Now based in New York, Hamra serves as a central figure in preserving the Syrian Jewish legacy, leading global efforts to restore historic synagogues in Aleppo and Damascus and to maintain the region’s sacred memory among younger generations.

“This meeting,” one scholar of Middle Eastern interfaith relations told VIN News, “is not merely symbolic—it’s restorative.  It represents a subtle acknowledgment from Damascus that its past cannot be fully understood without the Jewish story.”

Though no official readout was released by the Syrian government, the optics of the encounter suggest a possible recalibration in Syria’s diplomatic posture.  Al-Sharaa, who succeeded Bashar al-Assad as president amid the nation’s gradual recovery from years of war and international isolation, has made gestures aimed at reintroducing Syria into the global community.

According to diplomatic sources cited in the VIN News report, al-Sharaa’s visit to Washington—his first since assuming power—was framed as an “outreach mission” focused on humanitarian dialogue, reconstruction, and cultural preservation.  The inclusion of Rabbi Hamra in his itinerary, however, was not widely anticipated.

Some analysts believe it was a deliberate signal that the Syrian leader is seeking to project a new image—one of religious inclusivity and cultural reconciliation—as part of a broader strategy to re-engage with Western institutions and Jewish organizations that have historically advocated for the protection of Syria’s cultural heritage.

“Al-Sharaa is attempting to position Syria as a nation of shared civilizations rather than sectarian division,” a Middle East policy analyst told VIN News. “By meeting Rabbi Hamra, he is acknowledging a history that the regime long suppressed and opening the door to potential interfaith diplomacy.”

For Rabbi Hamra, who has spent decades serving as the spiritual heartbeat of the Syrian Jewish diaspora, the meeting represented both a personal and communal milestone. As reported by VIN News, Hamra conveyed to the president that his prayers for Syria’s recovery are guided by the belief that “the God of Abraham watches over all nations that seek peace.”

Just last month, The Jerusalem Post reported that Rabbi Hamra  declared his candidacy for the People’s Assembly in the Damascus district, a landmark move given that Jews have been barred from seeking political office in Syria since the 1967 war.

The move is a step towards reintegrating a long-marginalized religious and cultural group into Syrian public life.

Rabbi Hamra, 48, is the son of Rabbi Yosef Hamra, the chief rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in New York. His father left Damascus in 1992, after Syria lifted restrictions on Jewish travel, by which time fewer than 10 Jews remained in the capital.

Rabbi Hamra also advises Jewish preservation initiatives in the Middle East and has long urged global awareness of Syria’s Jewish heritage.  His advocacy has helped fund projects aimed at restoring ancient synagogues—such as the once-majestic Jobar Synagogue near Damascus, destroyed during Syria’s civil war—and protecting Jewish cemeteries and archives still scattered throughout the country.

“He believes in dialogue, even when history makes it uncomfortable,” said one community member quoted in the VIN News report. “Rabbi Hamra sees this not as a political statement but as a spiritual opportunity—a chance to heal wounds that have remained open for decades.”

The rabbi’s blessing reportedly touched upon both Syria’s historical grandeur and its modern suffering. He invoked the biblical patriarch Abraham as a symbol of shared heritage among Jews, Christians, and Muslims, emphasizing the moral imperative of coexistence rooted in faith.

The timing of the meeting has also intrigued policy observers and historians alike. Coming at a moment when Syria continues to rebuild after years of devastation, the encounter with Rabbi Hamra could serve as a diplomatic bridge to segments of the global Jewish community that maintain ancestral ties to Syria.

As the VIN News report highlighted, this development could have far-reaching implications for diaspora engagement, potentially encouraging renewed academic, cultural, and humanitarian collaboration between Jewish organizations and Syrian institutions.

In private discussions following the meeting, individuals close to both parties described a shared recognition that history cannot be rewritten—but it can be reclaimed. “There was no talk of politics,” one source familiar with the meeting told VIN News, “only of shared heritage, divine purpose, and the moral duty to honor those who came before us.”

For many Jews of Syrian descent—now living primarily in New York, Deal, Mexico City, and São Paulo—the meeting carried deep emotional resonance.  While the prospects of normalized relations between Damascus and Jewish communities abroad remain uncertain, the symbolism of dialogue itself has inspired cautious optimism.

Whether this unprecedented meeting will translate into formal policy shifts remains to be seen. Syria, still facing significant economic challenges and diplomatic isolation, remains wary of being perceived as courting Western favor at the expense of its political alliances.

Still, the moment has not gone unnoticed.  As VIN News reported, religious and diplomatic figures from across the Middle East have quietly praised the encounter as a gesture of moral courage in a region still burdened by historical division.

“It was an image few could have imagined—a Syrian president and a Syrian rabbi sharing blessings in Washington,” the VIN News report observed. “But sometimes, the smallest acts of faith can carry the greatest significance.”

In an era when faith-based diplomacy increasingly intersects with cultural reconciliation, Tuesday’s meeting between President Ahmad al-Sharaa and Rabbi Yosef Hamra may come to be remembered as a moment when two worlds—divided by exile, war, and memory—briefly met in mutual recognition.

For now, as the VIN News report noted, “The encounter was neither political theater nor mere courtesy. It was an acknowledgment—quiet, sincere, and long overdue—that Syria’s soul, like its history, remains inseparable from the many faiths that shaped it.”