I’m Syrian AMA | Imamother

amother

Clover

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:21 pm

amother Ecru wrote:

Really? So Egyptians and Lebanese are also SYs?

No. AmericanJewish Syrians are Syrian decent. American Lebanase of of Lebananse decent.
American Egpytians are from Egypt. They all have their own shuls in the Sephardic Commnunity. But as the years went by, they have all intermarried.

isrmss91

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:31 pm

I just want to clarfiy that while we are from the same area of the middle east of the now defunct Ottoman Empire there are a few slight differences. Please don't lump, Syrian, Lebanase, Morrocan & Egyptian together. There are differences in the Arab Dialects of the Region. Also, there are jews who have lived in the regions for thousands of years. Then a few hundred years ago, the Spanish Jews came to the ME. The spanish jews do not marry the Native jews of the region. (Eventually they did start to "intermarry") They had their own shuls (simialar to the situation now in America) Then the Aleppoian jews started to marry the spanish jews. but those spanish jews are the original Sephardim, which means they are from Spain. To lump all jews from the Middle East, as "Sephardim" is incorrect
There are 2 areas in Syria, the Jews lived in Aleppo (Halab) & Damasacus (Sham). they are different. in parts of davening. I would say actually the Damascus Jews are more similar to Lebanse Jews. as even in America many Shammies (Damascus jews) pray in the Lebanse Shuls. (though they will not be included on the shuls commities unless they are of Lebanse Jews.

amother

Clover

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:37 pm

MrsEsther wrote:

Lebanese and Egyptian are all under the Syrian umbrella.

I take offence to that. Please learn the beautiful differences & customs in the community you claim to reside in. We are different have the shuls to prove it. Ahave' Ve Ahave is Egyptian. SLC & Har HaLebanon are Lebanse. Shaare Sion is Halabi and Ahi Ezer is Shammie.
The Persians and Morrocans have their own.

isrmss91

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 12:41 pm

amother OP wrote:

Kibbe and lahmagine are for sure syrian items. Empanadas are Middle Eastern(not specifically syrian).
Both chickens aren’t syrian

Empandas are a Spanish food. The Sephardim brought with them to the middle east. The Fried Chicken pieces are new recent addition to the Mazza Repetoire. My Grandma did not make those in the old country. LOL

But it is nice addition & gives more variety to our Shabbats.

amother

Denim

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:17 pm

I'm kind of curious why you identify as Syrian. I assume you don't live in Syria. If I would look at you, I would say your American, Israeli, Jewish, something like that. What part of your identity is still tied to being Syrian? Or is it just a nickname like Heimish?

I mean, I'm of Russian descent but I don't identify as Russian. And Syria isn't exactly a country people want to be in at the current moment, so I assume it's not nationalistic pride.

Maybe a dumb question but that's what I was wondering.

amother

Seashell

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:22 pm

amother Denim wrote:

Similar to saying someone is Hungarian. Or Yekke , Litvish etc. Gives you an idea of their culture and minhagim.

isrmss91

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:33 pm

amother Denim wrote:

Not the OP, but this is one of my pet peeves. My family is one of those that came from Spain to a ME country. I won't say which country but not Syria. I hate when people lump us from the various ME into one into one category. While we do have similar customs, there might be a few different ones. Just like you have Polish Jews, Hungarian, German Jews. They are not lumped together.
There are were also Ashkenaz jews who migrated to the ME as well. There are people in are community with the last name Ashkenazi, Guess where they are from orignially. not a rocket scientist, but they eventually took on ME customs.
Anyway, At this point on the jewish Journey we are all mixed. we are all "intermarried" My husband was of Syrian Decent, I think it is more clear when that term is used. Unless you were born in Syria. Most claiming to be Syrian don't even speak Arabic anymore. Food and slang words don't count and its "Haki Balash" To my not in the know fellow sisters, equivalant to the the term "Talk is Cheap"

amother

Ecru

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:36 pm

isrmss91 wrote:

The Sephardim from Spain who moved to the Ottoman Middle East have intermarried already for the last 250 years with the Mizrachi Jewish Arabs originally from the areas the Sephardim moved up. How would anyone today even know which side they originally came from? In fact, the vast majority today are from mixed marriages.

amother

Denim

Thu, Oct 05 2023, 1:41 pm

isrmss91 wrote:

But that is precisely my question. In my experience, Polish, Hungarian, German, and Russian Jews are all lumped together. People identify as Yeshivish, JPF, MO, Heimish, Chasidish, etc. Which defines their hashkafa or society, not their country of origin.

Most kids don't know their country of origin till they do a report in school and need to ask. As opposed to a child who will say he's "Syrian".

The only time I use the term Ashkenazi is for Halachic distinctions or medical/genetics.

shaqued_almond

Mon, Oct 09 2023, 2:34 am

I'm a writer of shomer negia romances and I have an idea for a novel set in an American Syrian community. Could I ask you some questions? I write stories that feature Jewish joy while tackling serious topics.

The premise of the novel in question:

An SY Boy agrees to a fake engagement with his childhood best friend, an SY girl. The girl has a crush on a boy her parents wouldn't approve of (son of a convert, or himself a convert). She wants to keep getting to know her crush while pretending to go out with her former bff. But as she spends more time again with her former bff, they develop feelings for each other.

Please pm me if you're interested. I'm currently working on something else but I'd like to do research before starting this.

amother

DarkMagenta

Mon, Oct 09 2023, 9:12 am

amother Denim wrote:

I find that sephardim are much more connected to their roots in this way. If you look at ahskenaz girls in school, they just identify as ashkenaz. Take a look at sephardi girls, they'll be more specific about the type of sephardi they are.

I don't think there's really a "why" answer to your question. It just is. Sephardim have a very rich culture. They are very proud of where they come from.

amother

Lemonchiffon

Mon, Oct 09 2023, 9:18 am

I am not from Syria but from
Another ME country my parents where born there and I understand arabic to a 80% I can speak too. my mother almost always speaks in arabic and there is many diferent traditions also every country speaks arabic with diferent accent and diferent grammar so if you see the grandmothers at Shuk speaking arabic you can tell from where they are

amother

Wine

Wed, Oct 25 2023, 10:55 am

If you want to read about the Jews of Egypt you can read the Man in the White Sharkskin Suit by Lucette Lagnado. It was beautifully written, as was everything that Lucette wrote.

(Also it’s much easier for me to read of Jews coming from Iran, Russia, and Egypt rather than any more Holocaust memoirs about Jews coming from Poland, because that’s a bit too close to home for me).

turca

Wed, Oct 25 2023, 11:29 am

amother Ecru wrote:

Last name and ladino.