The Jews of Lebanon: History, Identity, Memory

Abstract

The small Jewish community of Lebanon has received little attention in the study of Oriental Jewry and even less in the study of Lebanon's minorities. The former can be partially explained through the absence of a history of persecution, while the latter can be explained by the community's size, which never reached more than 14,000. Lebanese Jews for most of Lebanon's history were just one of 23 ethno-religious minorities who had all at one point or another found refuge in Lebanon. They were similarly integrated, no more a subject of hostilities than any other group, and, until the 1975 civil war, led a comfortable life. This had a profound impact on how Lebanese Jews constructed their communal history, identity, and memory.