Behind the stories of Syrian Jewry are individuals who lived through it all. One of them is Dayan Chadida, born in 1951 in the city of Qamishli in northeastern Syria.
Chadida appeared on Kikar Hashabbat's podcast and told interviewer Moshe Arye about Jewish life in Syria, relations with the Arabs, persecution by the regime, and moments when he did not know if he would make it out alive.
When the entire market closed on Shabbos
Qamishli was once home to a large Jewish community. Many of its Jews arrived from the Turkish city of Nusaybin after the First World War. In the 1930s, some 3,000 Jews lived in the city, maintaining communal life, observing tradition, and working in trade and crafts.
Chadida recounts that in the early years, relations between Jews and Arab tribes were excellent.
His grandfather, he says, was a well-known merchant, and Arabs who came from the villages would stay at his home, buy goods, and return to their villages.
"On Shabbos the entire market would close," he recalls. "They loved us and we loved them very much. We were like one family."
But that situation did not last forever.
