abuses; sanctions were lifted in 2012.) The Council planned to raise enough funds to provide for the synagogue's monthly expenses; complete restoration and maintenance of the synagogue; and assist the synagogue to purchase and establish a new cemetery. The government wanted to move all cemeteries out of the city. Restoration was completed in 2013 and other goals were achieved. On December 8, 2013, an interfaith event attended by the Myanmar Presidential Minister U Aung Min, US Ambassador Derek Mitchell, Israeli Ambassador Hagay Moshe Behar, the Yangon Religious Council, and other guests celebrated the completion of the restoration and establishing the synagogue as self-supporting. They credited anthropologist Ruth Cernea, who wrote a history of the Jewish community in Rangoon; Laura Hudson of the Council, and Stuart Spencer, a member of the synagogue's diaspora, as three leaders of this project. During Cyclone Nargis in May 2008, the synagogue lost its roof and sustained water damage. In 2015 the current Jewish population of Myanmar, including Yangon, is fewer than 19. Moses Samuels (משה בן יצחק שמואלי), long the Trustee of the synagogue, died on May 29, 2015, in Yangon. Surviving him are his widow, Nelly (נלי); and his children Samuel "Sammy" (שמואל בן משה), Dina (דינה בת משה), and Kaznah (גזנה בת משה) Samuels. Sammy returned to Myanmar after studying at Yeshiva University in New York for three years. While there he promoted travel to Yangon. Since his return, he established a travel agency and two hotels in the city. The synagogue is ranked as among the ten top attractions in the city by TripAdvisor. On June 6, 2016, Yangon Heritage Trust and Yangon Regional Government "awarded a commemorative blue heritage plaque to Yangon's only Synagogue" to remember the Jewish community who lived in Yangon for many generations and to recognize the diverse faiths still alive in the city today. Gallery References Further reading Cernea, Ruth Almost Englishmen: Baghdadi Jews in British Burma, Lexington Books (2007) External links Nehardea: Journal of the Babylonian Jewry Heritage Center. "A Visit to Musmeah Yeshua Synagogue in Yangon (Rangoon)" Myanmar's Jews live in fear; Ynetnews; October 3, 2007 Myanmar Jews count on tourism; globeandmail.com; December 2, 2006 Burma Last Jews Struggling to Preserve Synagogue; BurmaNet News; November 27, 1995 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-34966494 http://www.worldjewishcongress.org/en/news/commemorative-plaque-unveiled-at-myanmars-only-synagogue-6-3-2016 Photographs Jewish Virtual Library: Synagogues of the World - Myanmar (Burma) Bene Israel Cochin Jews Edot HaMizrach Jews and Judaism in Myanmar Indian diaspora in Asia