The Magen Abraham Synagogue in Beirut.

By Ezra Glinter February 9, 2010

A new book, documenting Lebanon’s largely vanished Jewish community is a bestseller — in Arabic.

In fact, “Wad Abu Jamil,” a book by BBC journalist Nada Abdelsamad named after the formerly Jewish neighborhood in Beirut, is available only in Arabic, though translations into English and French are forthcoming.

According to Alexandra Sandels of the LA Times’ Babylon and Beyond blog, “Wad Abu Jamil” began as part of a series on Lebanon’s religious communities, but quickly evolved into a book-length project. Despite the fact that Abdelsamad couldn’t find any Jews still in Lebanon to speak with, she found plenty that were living elsewhere:

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

“It was a chain of interviews,” she said, adding that she was met with a bit of skepticism at first by some of the people she interviewed. “People asked me, ‘Will it be harmful for us to talk?’ They were skeptical because this is a topic that has been sleeping for all these years.”

The book was launched in December at the Beirut book fair, and has apparently become a huge hit.

Read the entire piece here.

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount