Syrian Jews had predominantly two origins: those who inhabited Syria from early times and the Sephardim who fled to Syria after the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492 CE. There were large Jewish communities in Aleppo, Damascus, and Qamishli for centuries. In the early 20th century, a large percentage of Syrian Jews immigrated to Palestine, the U.S. and Latin America. The largest Syrian-Jewish community is now located in Israel and is estimated to number 80,000.

Following the Syrian Civil War and rise of ISIL, the majority of the remaining Jews of Syria have fled to Israel. As of June 2020 there are no known Jews remaining in the country.

Second Temple period
The tradition of the community ascribes its founding to the time of King David in c. 1000 BCE, whose general Joab occupied the area of Syria, described in the Bible as Aram Zoba: this name is taken by later tradition as referring to Aleppo. Modern scholarship locates Aram Zoba in Lebanon and the far south of Syria: the identification with Aleppo is not found in rabbinic literature prior to the 11th century. Whether or not Jewish settlement goes back to a time as early as King David, both Aleppo and Damascus certainly had Jewish communities during Late Antiquity.

Post Second Temple
In Roman times, about 10,000 Jews lived in Damascus, governed by an ethnarch. Paul of Tarsus succeeded, after a first rebuff, in converting many of the Jews of Damascus to Christianity in 49 CE. This irritated the Jewish ethnarch to such a degree that he attempted to arrest Paul; the latter's friends only saved his life by lowering him in a basket out of a window built into the wall of the city. Many Jews were murdered by the pagan inhabitants upon the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War. Later, Damascus, as the coins show, obtained the title of metropolis, and under Alexander Severus, when the city was a Christian colony, it became the seat of a bishop, who enjoyed a rank next to that of the Patriarch of Antioch. In the 5th century, under the rule of the Byzantine Empire, being the Talmudic time, Jews were living at Damascus for the rabbi Rafram bar Pappa went to pray in the synagogue of Jobar.

An early Jewish community is likely to have existed in Aleppo during the 5th century, when a synagogue was constructed there.  Also in the 5th century, Jerome reports the presence in Beroea (Aleppo) of a congregation of Nazarenes (Jewish Christians) using a Hebrew gospel similar to that of Matthew.

After the Islamic conquest

Damascus

The rule of the Umayyads brought a new period of splendor to the city, which now became the capital of that caliphate. This period ended with the rise of the Abbasids, and the city suffered during the following centuries from continuous wars. The Jewish community continued, and certainly existed in 970; "for," says a historian, "Joseph ben Abitur of Cordoba, having lost all hope of becoming the chief rabbi of that city, went to Palestine in that year, and settled at Damascus". Fortunately for the Jews, it resisted the siege of the Second Crusade in 1147. Some time afterward a large number of Palestinian Jews sought refuge in Damascus from the enormous taxes imposed upon them by the Crusaders, thus increasing the community in Damascus.  Little information exists concerning the Jews in Damascus during the following centuries. A little information is given by travelers who visited the city. In 1128, Abraham ibn Ezra visited Damascus (though compare the note of Harkavy.) According to Edelmann, Judah ha-Levi composed his famous poem on Zion in this city; but Harkavy has shown that "ash-Sham" here designates Palestine and not Damascus. In 1267, Nahmanides visited Damascus and succeeded in leading a Jewish colony to Jerusalem.

Benjamin of Tudela visited Damascus in 1170, while it was in the hands of the Seljukian prince Nur ad-Din Zangi. He found there 3,000 Rabbanite Jews and 100 Karaites. Jewish studies flourished there much more than in Palestine; according to Bacher it is possible that during the 12th century the seat of the Palestinian academy was transferred to Damascus. The principal rabbis of the city were Rabbi Ezra ben Abraham and his brother Sar Shalom ben Abraham, president of the tribunal; Yussef ִHamsi, R. Matsliaִh, R. Meïr, Yussef ibn Piat, R. Heman, the parnas, and R. Tsadok, physician.

About the same time, Petaִhiah of Regensburg was there. He found "about 10,000 Jews, who have a prince. The head of their academy is Rabbi Ezra, who is full of the knowledge of the Law; for Rabbi Samuel, the head of the Academy of Babylon, ordained him". It was a Damascus rabbi, Judah ben Josiah, who, toward the end of the twelfth century, was "nagid" in Egypt. At a later period another nagid, David ben Joshua, also came from Damascus.

In 1210, a French Jew, Samuel ben Samson, visited the city. He speaks of the beautiful synagogue situated outside the city (Jobar) and said to have been constructed by Elisha.

Under Saladin the city again enjoyed considerable importance; but upon his death the disturbances began anew, until in 1516 the city fell into the hands of the Turks, since which time it has declined to the rank of a provincial town.

It seems probable that Yehuda Alharizi also visited Damascus during the first decade of the 13th century. At least he mentions the city in the celebrated 46th "Makamah."

Toward the end of the 13th century Jesse ben Hezekiah, a man full of energy, arose in Damascus. He was recognized by Sultan Qalawun of Egypt as prince and exilarch, and in 1289 and in June 1290, in conjunction with his 12 colleagues, he put the anti-Maimonists under the ban.

The letters of the rabbis of Damascus and of Acre have been collected in the "Minִhat Qena'ot " (a compilation made by Abba Mari, grandson of Don Astruc of Lunel). No information is available for the 14th century. Estori Farִhi (1313) contents himself with the mere mention of Damascene Jews journeying to Jerusalem. A manuscript of David Kimhi on Ezekiel was written by Nathan of Narbonne and collated with the original by R. ִHiyya in Damascus, Ab 18, 1375. The Jewish community of Damascus continued to exist under the sultans (Burjites and Mamelukes) of Egypt, who conquered Syria; for the Jewish refugees of Spain established themselves among their coreligionists in that city in 1492, constructing a synagogue which they called "Khata'ib." The anonymous author of the "Yiִhus ha-Abot" also speaks of the beauties of Damascus; and of the synagogue at Jobar, "half of which was constructed by Elisha, half by Eleazar ben Arach".

Elijah of Ferrara in 1438 had come to Jerusalem and had a certain jurisdiction in rabbinical matters over Damascus as well. He speaks of a great plague which devastated Egypt, Syria, and Jerusalem; but he does not say how much the Jews of Damascus suffered. Menaִhem ִHayyim of Volterra visited Damascus in 1481, and found 450 Jewish families, "all rich, honored, and merchants." The head of the community was a certain R. Joseph, a physician.

Obadiah of Bertinoro in 1488 speaks in one of his letters of the riches of the Jews in Damascus, of the beautiful houses and gardens. A few years later, in 1495, an anonymous traveler speaks in like eulogistic terms. He lived with a certain Moses Makran, and he relates that the Jews in Damascus dealt in dress-goods or engaged in some handicraft. They lent money to the Venetians at 24% interest.

Aleppo
Maimonides, in his letter to the rabbis of Lunel, speaks of Aleppo as being the only community in Syria where some Torah learning survived, though the effort devoted to it was in his opinion less than impressive.

Benjamin of Tudela visited Aleppo in 1173, where he found a Jewish community of 1,500 (or on another reading 5,000) souls with three noteworthy rabbis attending to their spiritual needs: Moses Alconstantini, Israel, and Seth. Petaִhiah of Regensburg was there between 1170 and 1180, and Alִharizi fifty years later. The former calls the citadel the palace of King Nour-ed-din, and says that there were 1,500 Jews in Aleppo, of whom the chief men were Rabbis Moses Alconstantini, Israel, and Seth. Yehuda Alharizi, author of the Taִhkemoni has much to say in praise of the Aleppo Jews. In 1195 the leading Jew was Joseph ben Judah, who had migrated from the Maghreb by way of Egypt, where he was the friend of Maimonides, who wrote for him the Guide for the Perplexed. Other men of learning were Azariah and his brother Samuel Nissim, the king's physician Eleazer, Jeshua, Jachin Hananiah, and Joseph ben ִHisdai. Although he respected them far more than their Damascene counterparts, Alharizi thought little of the Aleppo poets, of whom he mentions Moses Daniel and a certain Joseph; the best was Joseph ben Tsemah, who had good qualities but wrote bad verse. Their piety must have been extreme, for Eleazer is held up to scorn for having traveled on the Sabbath, although at the sultan's command. Alharizi died in Aleppo and was buried there.

In 1260 the Mongols conquered Aleppo, and massacred many of the inhabitants, but many of the Jews took refuge in the synagogue and were saved. In 1401 the Jewish quarter was pillaged, with the rest of the city, by Tamerlane; and a Jewish saint died there after a fast of seven months.

Homs
Jews reportedly participated in the defense of Homs against a Byzantine reconquest.

Early Modern period

Arrival of Spanish Jews in Syria
After the expulsion of the Jews from Spain in 1492, Sephardi Jews settled in many of the Islamic countries bordering the Mediterranean, including Syria, which then formed part of the Mameluke sultanate of Egypt. For the most part they founded their own communities, but they often assumed positions of rabbinic and communal leadership in their new homes. A social distinction remained between the newly arrived Sephardim and the native communities, the Musta'arabi Jews, which took several decades to accept them. Aleppo Jews of Spanish descent have a special custom, not found elsewhere, of lighting an extra candle at Hanukkah: it is said that this custom was established in gratitude for their acceptance by the local community. In both Aleppo and Damascus, the two communities supported a common Chief Rabbinate. Chief Rabbis were usually but not always from Spanish-descended families: in Aleppo there were five in a row from the Laniado family.

The Sephardic presence was greater in Aleppo than in Damascus which maintained closer ties to the Holy Land. In particular, the Damascus community was strongly influenced by the Safed Kabbalistic school of Isaac Luria, and contributed several notable personalities, including ִHayim Vital and Israel Najara. This explains certain differences in customs between the two cities.

Captain Domingo de Toral, who visited Aleppo in 1634, mentions over 800 houses of Jews who spoke Castilian. An anonymous Jewish traveler who arrived a few years after the Spanish immigration, found at Damascus 500 Jewish households; also a Karaite community whose members called themselves "Muallim-Tsadaqah"; and a more important Rabbanite community, composed of three groups and possessing three beautiful synagogues. One of these belonged to the Sephardim; another, to the Moriscos (Moorish Jews) or natives; and the third, to the Sicilians. In each synagogue there was a preacher, who read the works of Maimonides to the pious every day after the prayer. The preacher of the Sephardim was Isִhaq Mas'ud, that of the natives Shem-ִTob al-Furani, and that of the Sicilians Isaac ִHaber. There were also two small schools for young students of the Talmud, containing respectively thirty and forty pupils.

Sixty Jewish families were living in the village of Jobar,  from Damascus, who had a very beautiful synagogue. "I have never seen anything like it," says the author; "it is supported by thirteen columns. Tradition says that it dates from the time of the prophet Elisha, and that he here anointed King Hazael. R. Eleazar ben Arach (a tannaite of the 1st century) repaired this synagogue." In order to indicate, finally, that the city was even then under the Ottoman rule, the narrator adds that the people of Damascus had just received a governor ("na'ib") from Constantinople.

Under the Ottoman Empire

In 1515 Selim I defeated the Mamelukes and Syria became part of the Ottoman Empire.

The "Chronicle" of Joseph Sambari (finished 1672) contains the names of a number of rabbis of note who lived in Damascus during the 16th century. He says that the Jewish community lived chiefly in Jobar, and he knows of the synagogue of Elisha (Central Synagogue of Aleppo) and the cave of Elijah the Tishbite. At the head of the community was a certain Abu ִHatseirah (so-called from a peculiar kind of headdress which he wore), who was followed by 'Abd Allah ibn Naִsir. Of the rabbis of Damascus proper he mentions Joseph ִHayyaִt; Samuel Aripol, author of "Mizmor le-Todah"; Samuel ibn 'Imran; Joseph al-ִSa'iִh; Moses Najara, author of "Lekaִh ִTob"; ִHayim Alshaich; Joseph Maִtalon; Abraham Galante. In this home of learning there was also a model-codex of the Bible called "Al-Taj" (the Crown). In 1547 Pierre Belon visited Damascus in the train of the French ambassador M. de Fumel. He speaks of the large number of Jews there; but makes the singular confusion of placing in this city the events connected with the famous Ahmad Shaitan of Egypt.

Among the spiritual leaders of Damascus in the 16th century may be mentioned: Jacob Berab, who, in the interval between his sojourns in Egypt and at Safed, lived there for some years (c. 1534); ִHayim Vital the Calabrian (1526–1603), for many years chief rabbi of Damascus, and the author of various cabalistic works, including "Etz ִHayim"; Samuel ben David the Karaite (not "Jemsel," as Eliakim Carmoly has it), who visited Damascus in 1641, mentions the circumstance that the Karaites there do not read the Haftarah after the Pentateuch section. Moses Najara; his son, the poet Israel Najara; Moses Galante (died in 1608), the son of Mordecai Galante; and Samuel Laniado ben Abraham of Aleppo were also among the prominent men of the 16th century.

The most celebrated rabbis of the 17th century were Josiah Pinto, a pupil of Jacob Abulafia, and author of the "Kesef-Nibִhar", and his son-in-law, Samuel Vital, who transcribed and circulated a large number of his father's Kabbalistic manuscripts. At the same time in Aleppo ִHayyim Cohen ben Abraham wrote "Meqor ִHayyim", published at Constantinople in 1649, and at Amsterdam by Menasseh ben Israel in 1650. Other Aleppo worthies are Samuel Dwek and Isaac Lopes in 1690 followed by Yehudah Kassin, Isaac Berachah and Isaac Atieh in the 18th century.

From the 17th to the 19th century, several Jews of Spanish and Italian origin settled in Syria for trading reasons. Whenever possible, they kept their European nationality in order to be under the jurisdiction of the consular courts under the Ottoman capitulations, rather than being treated as dhimmis under Islamic law.  These European Jews were known as Señores Francos (Frank Lords) and maintained a sense of social superiority to the native Jews, both Musta'arabi and Sephardi. They did not form separate synagogues, but often held services of their own in private houses. There were also Jews of Baghdadi origin who claimed British nationality through family connections in India.

Some information is obtainable from travellers who visited Damascus during the 19th century. Alfred von Kremer, in "Mittel-Syrien und Damaskus" (1853), states that in the municipal government of the city two Christians and one Jew had places; the number of Jews was 4,000, only 1,000 of whom, however, paid the poll-tax; the last Karaite had died there some fifty years previously, the Karaite synagogue being then sold to the Greeks, who turned it into a church. The traveller Benjamin II gives the same number of inhabitants. He describes the synagogue at Jobar (to the north-east of the city) thus:

"The structure of this ancient building reminds one of the Mosque Moawiah; the interior is supported by 13 marble pillars, six on the right and seven on the left side, and is everywhere inlaid with marble. There is only one portal by which to enter. Under the holy shrine . . . is a grotto . . . the descent to which is by a flight of about 20 steps. According to the Jews, the Prophet Elisha is said to have found in this grotto a place of refuge. . . . At the entrance of the synagogue, toward the middle of the wall to the right, is an irregularly formed stone, on which can be observed the traces of several steps. Tradition asserts that upon this step sat King Hazael when the Prophet Elisha anointed him king".

Benjamin II also speaks of valuable copies of parts of the Bible to be found in Damascus; though the dates he gives (581 and 989) are unreliable. Neubauer mentions a copy of the Bible which belonged to Elisha ben Abraham ben Benvenisti, called "Crescas," and which was finished in 1382.

Damascus had eight chief rabbis during the 19th century, namely: (1) Joseph David Abulafia (1809–16). (2) Jacob Antebi (1816–1833). (3) Jacob Perez (1833–48). (4) Aaron Bagdadi (1848–66). (During the next two years the office of chief rabbi was vacant, owing to internal quarrels.) (5) ִHayim Qimִhi of Constantinople (1868–72). (6) Mercado Kilִhi of Nish (1872–76). (7) Isaac ben Moses Abulafia (1876–88). (8) Solomon Eliezer Alfandari, commonly called "Mercado Alfandari" of Constantinople, who was appointed by an imperial decree in 1888 (still in office in 1901). A more recent chief rabbi was Nissim Indibo, who died at the end of 1972. Other Damascus Rabbis are Mordechai Maslaton, Shaul Menaged and Zaki Assa.

During the 19th, century the Jews of Damascus were several times made the victims of calumnies, the gravest being those of 1840 and 1860, in the reign of the sultan Abdülmecit I. That of 1840, commonly known as the Damascus affair, was an accusation of ritual murder brought against the Jews in connection with the death of Father Thomas. The libel resulted in the arrest and torture of senior members of the Jewish community, as well as the kidnapping of 63 children ages three to ten in an attempt to coerce a confession from their parents. The second accusation brought against the Jews, in 1860, was that of having taken part in the massacre of the Christians by the Druze and the Muslims. Five hundred Muslims, who had been involved in the affair, were hanged by the grand vizier Fuad Pasha. Two hundred Jews were awaiting the same fate, in spite of their innocence, and the whole Jewish community had been fined 4,000,000 piastres. The condemned Jews were saved only by the official intervention of Fuad Pasha himself; that of the Prussian consul, Dr. Johann G. Wetzstein; of Sir Moses Montefiore of London, and of the bankers Abraham Salomon Camondo of Constantinople and Shemaya Angel of Damascus. From that time to the end of the 19th century, several further blood accusations were brought against the Jews; these, however, never provoked any great excitement.

Prominent Aleppo rabbis include Eliahu Shamah, Abraham Antebi and Mordechai Labaton in the 19th century, Jacob Saul Dwek who died in 1919, followed by Ezra Hamwi and Moses Mizrahi who was prepared to be burnt with the Torah Scrolls but was removed by the Arab mob from the Jamilieh Synagogue during the pogrom of 1947. He was followed by Moses Tawil, Shlomo Zafrani and Yomtob Yedid.

In the 19th century, the commercial importance of Aleppo and Damascus underwent a marked decline. Beginning around 1850, and with increasing frequency until the First World War, many families left Syria for Egypt, and later moved from there to Manchester in England, often following the cotton trade. Later still a considerable number left Manchester for Latin America, in particular Mexico and Argentina.

Jews continued to emigrate from Syria into the early 20th century. From around 1908, many Syrian Jews migrated to New York City, where the Brooklyn community is now the world's largest single Syrian Jewish community.

French Mandate and independence era
With anti-Jewish feeling reaching a climax in the late 1930s and early 1940s, many Jews considered emigrating. Between 1942 and 1947, around 4,500 Jews arrived in Palestine from Syria and Lebanon. From 1945 to 1948, about 1,300 Syrian Jewish children were smuggled into Palestine.

On 17 April 1946, Syria became independent from France. After independence, the Syrian government banned Jewish emigration to Palestine, and those caught trying to leave faced the death penalty or imprisonment with hard labor. Severe restrictions were also placed on the teaching of Hebrew in Jewish schools.

In 1947, there were 15,000 Jews in Syria. On November 29, 1947, the United Nations approved a Partition Plan for Palestine, which included an independent Jewish state. Pogroms subsequently broke out in Damascus and Aleppo. The December 1947 pogrom in Aleppo in particular left the community devastated; 75 Jews were killed, hundreds were injured, and more than 200 Jewish homes, shops, and synagogues were destroyed.

Thousands of Syrian Jews illegally escaped to Palestine following these attacks.

In August 1949, the Menarsha synagogue grenade attack in Damascus killed 12 Jews, and injured dozens.

Post-1948

In 1948, Israel was created as a Jewish state and defeated an Arab coalition that involved Syria during the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. During that war, the Syrian Army invaded the Galilee, but its advance was stopped, and the Syrians were pushed back to the Golan Heights.

Despite an exodus to Israel or other countries of Jews that occurred throughout the Muslim world, Syrian Jews were not officially expelled. But after Israeli independence in 1948, the situation for Syrian Jews deteriorated once again. The Aleppo Arab riot of 1947 killed dozens of Jews and destroyed hundreds of homes, shops, and shuls. This marked the beginning of mass Jewish emigration from Syria to Israel, despite the Syrian government's willingness to put to death those who attempted to flee. Other repressive measures against Jews included barring them from government service, not allowing them to own telephones or driver's licenses, and forbidding them to buy property. The anti-Semitic attitude of Syria's government was displayed to the world when it provided shelter for Nazi war criminal Alois Brunner, an aide to Adolf Eichmann. Initially, Lebanon allowed Syrian Jews escaping to Israel free passage through its territory. This ended when the Syrian government began confiscating the passports of Jews, and Lebanon announced that it could not allow persons through its borders without travel documents. Between 1948 and 1961, about 5,000 Syrian Jews managed to reach Israel. Many Syrian Jews also immigrated to Lebanon, but a few were deported back to Syria upon the Syrian government's request. The Syrian Jews in Lebanon, along with the rest of the Lebanese Jewish community, would largely leave that country for Israel, Europe, and the Americas in later years.

The Syrian government passed a number of restrictive laws against the Jewish minority. In 1948, the government banned the sale of Jewish property. In 1953, all Jewish bank accounts were frozen. Jewish property was confiscated, and Jewish homes which had been taken from their owners were used to house Palestinian refugees.

In March 1964, a new decree banned Jews from traveling more than  from their hometowns. Jews were not allowed to work for the government or banks, could not acquire drivers' licenses, and were banned from purchasing property. Jews could not choose to have their heirs inherit their property, with the government confiscating the property of all Jews upon their deaths. Although Jews were prohibited from leaving the country, they were sometimes allowed to travel abroad for commercial or medical reasons. Any Jew granted clearance to leave the country had to leave behind a bond of $300–$1,000 and family members to be used as hostages to ensure they returned. An airport road was paved over the Jewish cemetery in Damascus, and Jewish schools were closed and handed over to Muslims. The Jewish Quarter of Damascus was under constant surveillance by the secret police, who were present at synagogue services, weddings, bar mitzvahs, and other Jewish gatherings. The secret police closely monitored contact between Syrian Jews and foreigners and kept a file on every member of the Jewish community. Jews also had their phones tapped and their mail read by the secret police.

In 1954, the Syrian government temporarily lifted the ban on Jewish emigration; Jews who left had to leave all their property to the government. After the first group of Jewish emigrants left for Turkey in November 1954, emigration was swiftly banned again. In 1958, when Syria joined the United Arab Republic, Jewish emigration was temporarily permitted again, again on condition that those leaving relinquish all their property, but it was soon prohibited again. In 1959, people accused of helping Jews escape Syria were brought to trial.

After Israel's victory in the 1967 Six-Day War, restrictions were further tightened, and 57 Jews in Qamishli were allegedly killed in a pogrom. The communities of Damascus, Aleppo, and Qamishli were under house arrest for eight months following the war. Many Jewish workers were laid off following the Six-Day War.

As a result, Syrian Jews began escaping clandestinely, and supporters abroad helped smuggle Jews out of Syria. Syrian Jews already living abroad often bribed officials to help Jews escape. Judy Feld Carr, a Canadian-Jewish activist, helped smuggle 3,228 Jews out of Syria to Israel, the United States, Canada, and Latin America. Carr recalled that Syrian-Jewish parents were "desperate" to get their children out of the country. Those who were caught attempting to escape faced execution or forced labor. If an escape was successful, family members could be imprisoned and stripped of their property. Often with the help of smugglers, escapees attempted to sneak across the border into Lebanon or Turkey, where they were met and assisted by undercover Israeli agents or local Jewish communities. Most escapees were young and single men. Many single men decided to put off marriage until they escaped, as they wanted to raise their children in freedom. As a result, the ratio of single men and women became heavily imbalanced, and Syrian Jewish women were often unable to find husbands. In 1977, Syrian President Hafez al-Assad, as a gesture to US President Jimmy Carter, began allowing limited numbers of young women to leave the country, and some 300 left in total under this program.

In 1970, the Israeli government began receiving intelligence of the situation Jews faced in Syria, and the efforts of many Jewish youths to flee in spite of the danger. That year, Israel launched Operation Blanket, a series of individual attempts to bring Jews to Israel, during which Israeli naval commandos and Mossad operatives made dozens of incursions into Syria. The operation only succeeded in bringing a few dozen young Jews to Israel. During a 10-year period in the 1980s, a collection of Jewish holy objects was smuggled out of Syria through the efforts of Chief Rabbi Avraham Hamra. The collection included nine bible manuscripts, each between 700 and 900 years old, 40 Torah scrolls, and 32 decorative boxes where the Torahs were held. The items were taken to Israel and placed in the Jewish National and University Library of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

In 1974, four Jewish girls were raped, murdered and mutilated after attempting to flee to Israel. Their bodies were discovered by border police in a cave in the Zabdani Mountains northwest of Damascus along with the remains of two Jewish boys, Natan Shaya, 18 and Kassem Abadi 20, victims of an earlier massacre. Syrian authorities deposited the bodies of all six in sacks before the homes of their parents in the Jewish quarter of Damascus.

In 1975, President Hafez al-Assad explained why he refused to allow Jewish emigration: "I cannot let them go, because if I let them go how can I stop the Soviet Union sending its Jews to Israel, where they will strengthen my enemy?"

As a result of mainly clandestine emigration, the Syrian Jewish population declined. In 1957, there were only 5,300 Jews left in Syria, out of an original population of 15,000 in 1947. In 1968, it was estimated that there were 4,000 Jews still in Syria.

In November 1989, the Syrian government agreed to facilitate the emigration of 500 single Jewish women, who greatly outnumbered eligible Jewish men. During the 1991 Madrid peace conference, the United States pressured Syria to ease restriction on its Jewish population following heavy lobbying from Americans of Syrian-Jewish descent. As a result, Syria lifted many restrictions on its Jewish community, and allowed Jews to leave on condition that they not immigrate to Israel. Beginning on the Passover Holiday of 1992, 4,000 remaining members of the Damascus Jewish community (Arabic Yehud ash-Sham) as well as the Aleppo community and the Jews of Qamishli, were granted exit permits. Within a few months, thousands of Syrian Jews left for the United States, France or Turkey with the help of philanthropic leaders of the Syrian Jewish community.  Some 300 remained in Syria, most of them elderly.

Of the Syrian Jews who left for the United States, 1,262 were brought to Israel in a two-year covert operation. Most of them settled in Tel Aviv, Holon, and Bat Yam. More than 2,400 others stayed in the U.S. and settled in New York. Israel initially kept the news of their emigration censored, fearing that it would imperil the rights of the remaining Syrian Jews to leave if they wished. After concluding that the Jews remaining wanted to stay and would not leave, Israeli authorities cleared the story for publication. In 1994, former Syrian Chief Rabbi Avraham Hamra immigrated to Israel from New York together with his mother, wife, and six children.

The Jews who stayed in the United States initially faced many difficulties. To save face, President Assad had demanded that the departures not be called emigration, forcing the Jews to purchase round-trip tickets, and the United States agreed to officially admit them as tourists. As a result, they were granted political asylum and received temporary non-immigrant visas, rather than being admitted as refugees with a view to full citizenship. Therefore, they were unable to obtain U.S. citizenship or permanent residency, and thus could not leave the country, work in their chosen professions, obtain licenses, or apply for public assistance. In 2000, a bill was proposed in Congress that granted them citizenship.

21st century
With the start of the 21st century, there was only a small, largely elderly community left in Syria. Jews were still officially banned from politics and government employment, and did not have military service obligations. Jews were also the only minority to have their religion mentioned on their passports and identification cards. Though they were occasionally subjected to violence by Palestinian protesters, the Syrian government took measures to protect them. There was a Jewish primary school for religious studies, and Hebrew was allowed to be taught in some schools. Every two or three months, a rabbi from Istanbul visited the community to oversee the preparation of kosher meat, which residents froze and used until his next visit.

The community gradually shrank. From 2000 to 2010, 41 Syrian Jews made aliyah to Israel. In 2005, the U.S. State Department estimated the Jewish population at 80 in its annual International Religious Freedom Report.

As of December 2014, fewer than 50 Jews remained in the area due increasing violence and war.

In October 2015, with the threat of ISIS nearby, nearly all of the remaining Jews in Aleppo were rescued in a covert operation and moved to Israel, where they were resettled in Ashkelon. In November 2015 it was estimated that only 18 Jews remained in Syria. In August 2019, BBC Arabic visited some of the last remaining Jews living in Damascus. As of April 2020 there were only a handful of elderly Jews remaining in the country, all in Damascus. In June 2020 the Jewish Chronicle reported there were no known Jews remaining in Syria.

List of Chief Rabbis of Syria

Damascus
H Yaaqob Antebi (1809–1842)
H Hayim Mimon Toubi (1842–1849)
H Hayim Romano (1849–1851)
H Yaaqob Peress (1852–1874)
H Hayim YissHaq Qimhi (1874–1878)
H Efraim Marqado-Alqali (1879–1883)
H YissHaq Abulafia (1883–1894 & 1908–1909)
H Shelomo Eliezer Ilfandari (1894–1908)
H Yaaqob Danon (1910–1924)
H Shelomo Moshe Tajir (1924–1935)
H Yosef Dana (did not have official title)
H Ezor Maslaton (did not have official title)
H Nissim Andebo (did not have official title)
H Abraham Hamra (did not have official title)

Aleppo
H Efraim Laniado (1787–1805)
H Abraham Sitehon (1805–1817)
H Abraham Antebi (1817–1858)
H Haim Mordekhai Labaton (1858–1869)
H Shaul Dwek HaCohen (1869–1874)
H Menashe Sitehon (1874–1876)
H Aharon Chuoeka (1876–1880)
H Moshe HaCohen (1880–1882)
H Abraham Ezra Dwek HaCohen Kalussi (1883–1894)
H Shelomo Safdieh (1895–1904)
H Yaaqob Shaul Dwek HaCohen (1904–1908)
H Hezqiah Shabtai (1908–1921 & 1924–1926)
H Shabtai Bahbout (1921–1924)
H Ezra Hamaoui (was the Ab Beit Din)
H Moshe Mizrachi (was the Ab Beit Din)
H Ezra Abadi Shayo (was the Ab Beit Din)
H Yom Tob Yedid Halevi

See also
Aleppo Codex
Baqashot
Central Synagogue of Aleppo
History of the Jews in Muslim lands
History of the Jews in Turkey
Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim lands
 Jewish Quarter of Damascus
Mizrahi Jews
Musta'arabi Jews
Pizmonim
Sephardi Jews
Syrian Jews

References

Endnotes

Bibliography
Ades, Abraham, Derech Ere"tz: Bene Berak 1990
Ashtor, Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Mitzrayim ve-Suriyah taḥat ha-Shilton ha-Mamluki (History of the Jews of Egypt and Syria under the Mameluke Sultanate): Jerusalem 1944–51
Cohen-Tawil, Abraham, Yahadut Ḥalab bir'e ha-dorot: al ha-historiah ha-ḥebratit-tarbutit shel yahadut Ḥalab (Aram Tsoba) (Aleppo Jewry through the Ages: on the socio-cultural history of Aleppo Jewry): Tel Aviv 1993
Collins, Lydia, The Sephardim of Manchester: Pedigrees and Pioneers: Manchester 2006
Harel, Yaron, Bi-Sefinot shel Esh la-Ma'arab (By Ships of Fire to the West: Changes in Syrian Jewry during the Period of the Ottoman Reform 1840–1880) (Hebrew)
Harel, Yaron, Syrian Jewry in Transition, 1840–1880 (English: largely a translation and expansion of the preceding)
Harel, Yaron, Sifre Ere"tz: ha-Sifrut ha-Toranit shel Ḥachme Aram Tsoba (The Books of Aleppo: Torah Literature of the Rabbis of Aleppo): Jerusalem 1996 summarized here
Harel, Yaron (ed.), Syrian Jewry: History, Culture and Identity: Ramat Gan 2015 (Hebrew and English)
Laniado, David Tsion, La-Qedoshim asher ba-are"ts: Jerusalem 1935 (2nd edition 1980)
Laniado, Samuel, Debash ve-ִHALAB al-leshonech: Jerusalem 1998/9 (Hebrew)
Shamosh, Y., Qehillat Ḥalab be-Suriyah, Mahanayim 1967
Sutton, David, Aleppo: City of Scholars: Artscroll 2005  (partly based on Laniado, La-Qedoshim asher ba-are"ts)
Zenner, Walter P., A Global Community: The Jews from Aleppo, Syria: Wayne State University Press 2000

External links
History: The Jews of Aleppo
Ritual: Sephardic Pizmonim Project
Bible: Aleppo Codex Website
Synagogues: Robert Lyons, Silenced Sacred Spaces

Syria
Middle Eastern diaspora in Syria

History of the Jews in Syria


was a Japanese sociologist whose early ideas on information and communication helped him become known as the "Father of the Information Society". His professional and academic activity played a crucial role in the strategic definition of a model for Japanese technological society, and he was one of the pioneers in conceptualizing the idea of information society.

Life and career
Masuda worked in various programs of the Japanese Ministries of Labour and Education  to improve and streamline production practices and training of the Japanese population. He was director of the Institute for the Development of the Uses of Computers in Japan and the founder and president of the Institute for Informatization of the Society. Professor at the University of Aomuri and director of the Japan Society of Creativity. From a Ministry of Trade and Industry (MITI) prepares for the institute JACUDI a plan for the 'Information Society. A national target for 2000 ', known as Plan JACUDI.

Theory
Masuda was one of the major candidates who attributed credit for coining the term information society. Although his book that uses such terms in the title dates back to 1980, there was already a public debate on the issue in the 50 and 60 in Japan. Thus, some authors suggest that the first scholars of the concept of Information Society appear in Japan : the book published by Yoneji Masuda in 1980 titled Johoka shakai, which means the higher stage of social evolution, from the perspective of the analogy with biological evolution. From post-industrial society to information society. The fifth chapter of it was entitled to turn the information age: quiet transformation of society. In it, Masuda tells of the birth of an era of information, focusing on computer technology, which operates in conjunction with communications technology. An information age is the time period during which takes place innovation information technology, becomes latent force of social transformation, able to cause an expansion in the quality of information and a large increase scale storage of information.

This was, for the author, the information society, focusing on computer technology, which would have a much more decisive impact on human society that the industrial revolution which began with the invention of the steam engine, because the fundamental role of the computer is to replace and amplify human mental work, while the basic function  of steam machinery was replacement and amplification of physical work.

Masuda spoke also of the possibility of a highly organic society, pointing out the similarity of environmental information system of communications technology and computer information systems to organic bodies, which would suggest something important to the vision of the (then) future information society. On this basis, one could hypothesize that the future information society would be a highly integrated society, like an organism. It would be a complex multi-centered society in which many systems are connected and integrated by information networks. Further, this would be a dynamic society able to respond more quickly and appropriately to contemporary society-then-to the changing environment, and thus the information society of the future would appear to us as a society with a highly organic information space, linked by a network of cognitive information proaction dense mesh (feedforward).

Writing about the social impact of the information age, Masuda understood to mean not only that would cause a great socioeconomic impact on contemporary industrial society, prove a force for social change powerful enough to transform human society into an absolutely new form, which is the information society. Overall, the innovative technology would change the social and economic systems through the following three phases:

Phase 1. – In which technology does the work previously done for humans based on automation.
 Phase 2. – In which technology makes possible the realization of a work that man could never do before. Knowledge creation, leading to enlargement of the mental work of man.
Phase 3. – In which socio-economic structures are transformed into new social and economic systems, a result of the first two phases of development.

The futuristic vision of Masuda of goes further: in the global information society, all citizens will be bound together by a global network of information and knowledge, leading to the formation of a global consciousness, which will sweep away the differences of cultures, interests and nationalities. In predicting the introduction of a general education system, the disappearance of illiteracy, the advent of world peace and human happiness, Masuda does not restrict his futuristic vision to those social sectors or countries actively participating in industry or in services information, but predicts a real New World Order that he calls "Computopía"

Publications
Masuda authored several books on technology and society. In 1968 he published An Introduction to the Information Society, Perikan-Sha, Tokyo, 1968, the forerunner of his most famous book, The Information Society as Post-Industrial Society, Institute for the Information Society, Tokyo, 1980, translated into many languages, including Portuguese, A Sociedade Sociedade da Informação as Post-Industrial, Rio / Embratel, Rio de Janeiro, 1980, and Spanish with a title that is changed 'information 'for' computer ': The information society as post-industrial society, Fundesco-Tecnos, Madrid, 1984.

References

1905 births
1995 deaths
Japanese sociologists

Yoneji Masuda


Ballast Nedam is a Dutch-based construction and engineering company headquartered in Nieuwegein. The company resulted from a merger between Amsterdamse Ballast Maatschappij and Nederlandse Aannemingsmaatschappij.

History
As the name might suggest, Ballast Nedam has its origins in the convergence of two separate lines of business.

Ballast
The existence of the Amsterdamsche Ballast Maatschappij can be attributed to the North Sea Canal (Noordzeekanaal). Its original operations back in 1877 were simplicity itself: empty merchant ships going to sea obtained dune sand as ballast. In later years, the company also applied itself to dredging. In the first decade of the 20th century, the company began to grow under the direction of Charles de Vilder, a paver and roadworker based in Amsterdam. Ballast evolved from a sand supplier to a construction firm, and from 1928 onwards, also operated as a concrete manufacturer. The introduction of the first labour-saving excavator in 1927 marked the automation of sand extraction. After the war, Ballast focused increasingly on dredging operations – and later, on civil engineering works too – abroad. The firm established its reputation within Dutch borders with the construction of the Afsluitdijk (Closure-dike) (1932) and the Velser tunnels (1957).

Nedam
H.F. Boersma set up in business as a contractor in Den Haag from 1899 onwards. He began with the construction of villas and country houses, but earned his reputation through the construction of the Peace Palace (Vredespaleis) (1913). In 1917, Boersma founded the company Ned. Aannemingsmaatschappij N.V. The building activities went so well that by 1921 he had already begun to establish a building company in what was known at the time as the Dutch East Indies. Nedam became more widely known through the construction of the Hague Convention Bureau (Congresgebouw), the former Bijenkorf department store in Rotterdam, and the Nederlandse Handels Maatschappij (Netherlands Trading Company) headquarters in Amsterdam, known as the Bazel building.

Merger
The Ballast Nedam Group came into being through the amalgamation of the two companies in 1969. The former Ballast contracts with the Middle East were extended, and Ballast Nedam was involved in the start of mammoth projects such as the Kuwait airport and the King Fahd Causeway, one of the longest cross-channel connections in the world. Works of distinction in the Netherlands include the development and construction of the Maarssenbroek district in the province of Utrecht (from the 1970s), the Oosterschelde dam (1986, the largest section of the Delta Works), the design of the modern Amsterdam Airport Schiphol and the construction of the Amsterdam Stopera (City Hall and Opera House) (1986). The Ballast Nedam Group grew as a result of the acquisition of Van Grootel's Bouwmaatschappij (Housing Company) in 1974. Three years later, the name was changed to Ballast Nedam B.V.

In May 1994, BN shares were once again quoted on the Amsterdam stock exchange, and the private limited company became a public limited company once more. The company strengthened its position in the Dutch market through acquisitions, and also acquired a United Kingdom contractor, Wiltshier - later renamed Ballast Wiltshier - in 1995. It sold its dredging activities in 2002. Ballast Nedam then withdrew from the international project market and concentrated its activities mainly within the Netherlands. Its UK business went into administration in October 2003.

Renaissance
In September 2015 Renaissance Infrastructure B.V. has made a recommended public offer on all Ballast Nedam shares. The offer was concluded successfully in 2016, making Renaissance the main shareholder. As of 26 February 2016 Ballast Nedam is delisted.

Projects (selection)

 Peace Palace (1913) in The Hague, Netherlands
 Van Nellefabriek (1931) in Rotterdam, Netherlands
 Afsluitdijk (1933) between the Dutch provinces of North Holland and Friesland
 Zeeland Bridge (1965) between Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland in the province of Zeeland, Netherlands
 Kuwait International Airport in Farwaniyah, Kuwait,  south of Kuwait City
 Botlek Tunnel (1980) between two sides of the Maas river in Rotterdam, Netherlands
 King Fahd Causeway (1986) between Saudi Arabia and Bahrain
 Oosterscheldekering (1986) between Schouwen-Duiveland and Noord-Beveland
 Amsterdam Arena (1996) football stadium of AFC Ajax in Amsterdam, Netherlands
 Windpark Egmond aan Zee (2007): the first large scale offshore wind farm built off the Dutch North Sea coast
 Kustwerk Katwijk (2015): car parking on the Boulevard Zeezijde promenade in Katwijk
 Stadskantoor Venlo (2016): cradle-to-cradle city hall in Venlo, Netherlands
 Ecoduct Zeepoort (2017): ensures good connection between the subregions in the National Park, Netherlands.

References

Construction and civil engineering companies of the Netherlands
Construction and civil engineering companies  established in 1877
Dutch companies established in 1877
Companies based in Utrecht (province)
Nieuwegein

Ballast Nedam


The Baku Musical College (now the Azerbaijan National Conservatory Music College) is a state college of professional secondary education in Baku and one of the most important secondary music schools of Azerbaijan.

General information
Baku Musical College is a four-year special secondary school. About 1,400 students study and 400 pedagogues teach there. More than 8,000 musical personnel studied in this college since its foundation. Nazim Kazimov, "Honored Art Worker of Azerbaijan" is a chairman of the college.

History
In 1885, Antonina Yermolayeva, alumni of the Moscow Conservatory, opened a private music school with the support of her sisters Yelizaveta and Yevgeniya. Antonina Yermolayeva became director of the school. Musical classes under the Baku department of the "Musical Union of Russia" were opened on the basis of this school in 1901. Antonina Yermolayeva was in charge of them too. Education in these classes were professional. In 1916, musical courses were transformed into a musical school. Pedagogical staff of the school mainly consisted of alumnus of Russian conservatoires. Education was based on the curriculum which was accepted in Saint Petersburg and Moscow, in the beginning of the 19th century. In 1922, Uzeyir Hajibeyov, the most famous Azerbaijani composer, led the school. New faculties, where foundation of theory and play on Eastern instruments was also taught along with the European instruments, were opened during Uzeyir Hajibeyov's direction (1922-1926 and 1939-1941). In 1953, the school was named after Asaf Zeynally, an Azerbaijani composer and pedagogue.

Famous alumni
 Khan Shushinski
 Asaf Zeynally
 Said Rustamov
 Sabina Babayeva
 Ahmad Bakikhanov
 Muslim Magomayev
 Zeynab Khanlarova
 Alim Qasimov
 Lutfiyar Imanov
 Valentin Jenevskiy

References

Music schools
Buildings and structures in Baku
Colleges and universities in Azerbaijan
Azerbaijani music
1885 establishments
1916 establishments
1910s establishments in Azerbaijan


Timothy John Stamps (15 October 1936 – 26 November 2017) was a Welsh and Zimbabwean politician and medical doctor who served in the Government of Zimbabwe as Minister of Health from 1986 to 2002. For most of that period, he was the only white member of the government.

Early life and career

Stamps was born in Wales in 1936. After completing medical training at Cardiff Medical School, he initiated training in Paediatrics before becoming a GP in Newport, South Wales. He gained experience in Public Health in South Wales before moving, with his then wife and children, to Rhodesia in 1968 as Medical Officer of Health for Salisbury. He spent the remainder of his life in Rhodesia and Zimbabwe. He was promoted to Chief Medical Officer in 1970.

He was dismissed from this last post in 1974, allegedly for trying to switch the emphasis in healthcare provision slightly more towards the black community. At that time, whites comprised no more than 15% of the population of Salisbury but at least 60% of municipal spending on social services in the city was directed towards them.

After his dismissal, Stamps worked as a private GP and got involved in a number of community projects. In 1974 he gained a law degree at night school and became increasingly interested in politics. He became chairman of the 'Freedom from Hunger' campaign (a UN-sponsored organisation) in Rhodesia. In May 1976, he was elected to Salisbury City Council.

At the time of Zimbabwe's independence, an insurance funded healthcare system provided a first world provision for most whites. By contrast, most blacks enjoyed only the most basic of medical services. The only access to healthcare for blacks in rural areas was through mission station clinics or clinics provided by white farmers for workers and their families.

In the early-1980s, Stamps was active in raising finance from overseas sources (government, NGO and international organisations) to fund the construction of clinics and community hospitals in rural areas. The Zimbabwean government also sought to expand healthcare facilities and Stamps worked closely with the Ministry of Health on a number of projects. One thing Stamps found with these early projects was this it was less difficult to raise funds to cover the capital construction cost of a project than it was to cover its continuing revenue costs.

He also took an interest in wider social and economic problems facing Zimbabwe. The land tenure system which had been installed during the existence of Rhodesia had resulted in a situation in which most of the farming land in the country was either: (a) individually titled and white owned, or (b) collectively owned for use by African tribes. Both of these forms of tenure presented problems that needed to be urgently addressed. Although most Zimbabweans agreed on the need for reform in general terms, conservative elements (including both white farmers and African tribal chiefs) would put up stubborn resistance to specific proposals for reform.

Stamps sought to develop a new model for land ownership and usage. In 1982, he acquired a formerly white-owned dairy farm near Harare for development as a co-operative. Funded by a $2,000,000 grant from the German charity AgroAction, he was able to settle 2,000 people at this farm. Stamps claimed that Vuti farm became self-funding after eight years.

Political career
At the 1980 election, Stamps fought the white roll Kopje constituency as an Independent candidate against the Rhodesian Front. Although he polled only about one-third of the vote in a straight fight, this was the highest vote for any non-Rhodesian Front candidate. Along with a number of the white elite in the post-independence period, Stamps subsequently joined ZANU-PF. Being one of only a small number of party members with healthcare management experience, Stamps' advice and services were eagerly sought. He became a ZANU-PF Member of Parliament at the 1985 general election and in 1986 was appointed as Minister of Health and Child Welfare – a position he held until 2002.

During his early years as a Minister, he promoted the development of community healthcare using the slogan "Health for All by the Year 2000".

He oversaw a substantial expansion of the Zimbabwean healthcare and public health systems in the late-1980s and early-1990s. This expansion attracted a great deal of favourable attention both at home and abroad. The Zimbabwe experience was often held up as an example for other developing countries. Stamps took a lot of the credit for this and was frequently asked to address international conferences.

His credibility in Zimbabwe was such that he could speak out on various matters that other politicians would exercise caution over. For example, his predecessor as Health Minister had dismissed the AIDS epidemic as a fiction invented by the media to cause panic. In an interview in 1996, Stamps commented that:

Ministers have tended to shy away from the issue because it is seen as contaminated. AIDS activity by government is not seen as politically beneficial, since it may offend conservative religious and traditional groups and somehow attracts a stigma. There are no votes in talking about AIDS. Only lost votes."

Stamps was also critical of police conduct in attempting to maintain public order, notably when measures to quell disorder at an international football match in 2000 ended up leaving eleven people dead.

He also drew attention to "Project Coast", the name given to chemical and biological warfare programmes run by South Africa in the 1970s and 1980s. Project Coast included attempts to develop genetically engineered diseases and toxins that would affect blacks more than whites. The idea being to apply treatments to a population to correct any ethnic imbalance. Stamps' suggestion that various epidemics in Rhodesia in the 1970s (notably, an anthrax epidemic in 1978) may have been the result of a biological attack was widely disbelieved. A 'Southern African Research and Documentation Centre' report has claimed an unnamed former senior member of the Rhodesian Security Forces alleged that the Rhodesian government intentionally infected cattle in the Tribal Trust Lands (TTLs) with anthrax and blamed guerilla militants. Presenting an alternative description of events, Colonel Lionel Dyke, a Mugabe ally who participated in the Gukurahundi, stated that anthrax and cholera spores (supplied by the South African Defence Force) were spread in the TTLs during the closing stages of the civil war, but claimed that this was the result of South African intelligence services treating the country as a "laboratory", and that Rhodesia had no capacity to produce anthrax or cholera.

Events in the late-1990s pushed Zimbabwe into economic recession. This made it difficult to sustain many of the new healthcare facilities and services that had been constructed in earlier years. The government was struggling with a large budget deficit and the external bodies that had provided funding for building and equipment costs in the past seemed reluctant to fund the continuing operation of the associated facilities. Bad publicity concerning corruption, cronyism and incompetence in Zimbabwe did not help in this regard. The salaries paid to doctors and nurses were eroded by inflation, and many key personnel emigrated. There were also a series of damaging strikes that attracted unfavourable attention at home and abroad. Stamps found himself struggling to prevent the collapse of the system he had built up, and was reported to have lost his temper with media and union representatives on several occasions.

During most of his time as Health Minister, Stamps was the only white member of the government. As such, he was often called upon to present the government's position on various matters which were outside his normal brief. For example, he frequently defended the government's policy on land reforms in interviews with Western journalists. This made him a hate figure to many White Zimbabweans. His popularity among both the members of ZANU-PF and the wider population declined as a result of problems in the healthcare system. However, Stamps remained well regarded by President Mugabe.

During the near breakdown in relations between Whites in Zimbabwe and the ZANU-PF government around the time of the 2000 election, Stamps attempted to exercise some moderating influence on the situation:

Whites are the face of the problem, but the causes go deeper than that. In general, our race relations are good – certainly much better than those of our neighbour, South Africa. We have the opportunity to improve on the solid black/white relationship that has been built over the past 20 years. It is the extremists who are creating divisions.

Stamps actively campaigned for ZANU-PF in the 2000 election and was returned to the House of Assembly as a non-constituency MP. He carried on as Health Minister until March 2002, but was becoming increasingly exhausted, and in late 2001 he suffered a stroke. He was replaced as Health Minister by his deputy, David Parirenyatwa, in August 2002; due to Stamps' illness, Parirenyatwa had already been effectively running the ministry. After leaving the government, Stamps acted as adviser on health matters to the Office of the President.

As a footnote to his political career, in July 2002 Stamps was one of 92 Zimbabweans subject to EU "smart sanctions" intended to express disapproval of various Zimbabwe government policies. Stamps was banned from the EU and access to assets he owned in the EU was frozen. Many observers found the EU's treatment of Dr. Stamps to be curious, given that by July 2002 he was retired from politics and a semi-invalid. Also, he had never been implicated in human rights abuses, anti-democratic acts, corruption or any other form of wrongdoing.

In February 2008, as Health Adviser in the Office of the President and Cabinet, Stamps attended President Mugabe's eighty-fourth birthday celebrations with several other high-profile ZANU-PF party members.

Death
Dr. Timothy Stamps died on 26 November 2017 after succumbing to a lung infection on Sunday at the Borrowdale Trauma Centre in Harare. The Government of Zimbabwe declared him a National Hero. He was buried at National Heroes Acre. In 2017, Zimbabwe's second President Emmerson Mnangagwa gave a speech encouraging all Zimbabweans to follow the example of cooperation and patriotism set by Timothy Stamps.

See also
 List of Welsh medical pioneers

References

1936 births
2017 deaths
Rhodesian politicians
White Rhodesian people
British emigrants to Rhodesia
British emigrants to Zimbabwe
Zimbabwean people of Welsh descent
White Zimbabwean politicians
ZANU–PF politicians
Members of the National Assembly of Zimbabwe
Rhodesian physicians
People with acquired Zimbabwean citizenship
Disease-related deaths in Zimbabwe
20th-century Welsh medical doctors
21st-century Welsh medical doctors
20th-century Zimbabwean politicians
21st-century Zimbabwean politicians
People from Harare

Timothy Stamps


The U34CH was a  passenger diesel locomotive built by General Electric between 1970 and 1973. In total, 33 U34CH units were built; 32 were built for the New Jersey Department of Transportation and operated by the Erie Lackawanna Railway and, later, Conrail, with the last unit coming as a later rebuild of a GE U30C for the New York MTA.

Erie Lackawanna, 1970–76
The 32 initial locomotives numbered 3351–3382, were built by GE for the New Jersey Department of Transportation (NJDOT) and operated by the Erie Lackawanna Railway with new Pullman Standard push-pull coaches. The units were intended to replace locomotives in suburban commuter service out of Hoboken, New Jersey. The U34CH preceded the GE U36C in GE's catalog. The U34CH was the first GE locomotive to use steel crowned pistons to develop  and was the first commuter locomotive built with shaft driven HEP–that is, a HEP alternator driven by the locomotive prime mover rather than by a separate diesel. To provide HEP at the proper AC frequency the FDL-16 prime mover ran at a constant 900 RPM, so traction horsepower was 3430 minus whatever was going into HEP.  By contrast, when not providing HEP, the FDL-16 could produce 3600 traction horsepower at its usual 1050 RPM. To show their NJDOT ownership, the units were painted in a dark blue and silver paint scheme with NJDOT logo and were often called "Bluebirds" by rail enthusiasts. The U34CHs on the weekends were sometimes used in Erie Lackawanna freight service, often being on freight duty from Saturday to Sunday and returning to commuter service Monday morning.

Conrail, 1976–82
On April 1, 1976, the Erie Lackawanna, which had been bankrupt since 1972, was merged into Conrail. The U34CHs were assigned new numbers 4151–4182. Only one U34CH (3351) would receive Conrail lettering. It was involved in a wreck in 1974 and was sent to the GE apparatus shop in Cleveland to be rebuilt. It returned painted in a Bicentennial paint scheme with Conrail lettering and the number 1776. It was eventually renumbered 4151 in an NJ DOT paint scheme. The other U34CH units showed little change from their EL days and continued to operate on former EL lines out of Hoboken, New Jersey. They continued to wear their EL "Bluebird" paint scheme sans EL markings with their new numbers.

In 1978 one final U34CH was built for the New York MTA (later Metro-North Railroad) as part of their commitment to service to Port Jervis, New York. This new U34CH, numbered 4183, was rebuilt from an accident-damaged former Chicago and North Western Railway GE U30C (C&NW number 934). It too was painted in the "Bluebird" paint scheme, but with an MTA logo on its nose.

New Jersey Transit, 1983–90

Conrail operated commuter service on behalf of NJ DOT until January 1, 1983, when New Jersey Transit took over all commuter rail operations in the State of New Jersey. The U34CHs, having been owned by NJDOT, were conveyed to NJ Transit. Many of the U34CHs would remain in their "Bluebird" paint scheme with only a silver patch and NJ Transit logo painted on their noses to indicate their ownership. Seven U34CHs were repainted into NJ Transit's "Disco Stripe" scheme. The U34CHs continued to operate primarily on former EL lines out of Hoboken, New Jersey.

Final years and disposition, 1990–96

By the 1990s the U34CHs were starting to show their age. As New Jersey Transit received rebuilt former Penn Central GP40PH-2B from Conrail's Juniata shops during 1993–94, the fate of the U34CH was sealed. As the units suffered major mechanical failures, they were removed from service rather than repaired. The U34CHs were formally retired from passenger service in August 1994, at which time the United Railway Historical Society (URHS) ran a "Farewell to the U34CH" excursion. A few U34CHs were used in work train service until the delivery of replacement  EMD GP40-2s.

For a time, three U34CHs were leased to SEPTA and one unit, 4154, received SEPTA's blue diesel paint scheme. Nine of the U34CHs were scrapped. Nineteen U34CHs were sold to Conrail, which eventually sold the units to GEC-Alstom which shipped them to Mexico. Of the units shipped to Mexico, five U34CHs are known to have been in operation, with one being in service as late as 2003. Their current status is unclear, due to a privatization of the Mexican railroads leading to many older locomotives being scrapped. Two U34CHs were sold to Conrail and then sold to RMDI. Both units were scrapped at Pittston, PA during the summer of 2003. One U34CH was sold to América Latina Logística of Brazil for parts use. All U34CHs were off NJ Transit property by 1996.

Preservation
One U34CH, 4172 (formerly 3372) was donated to the United Railway Historical Society of New Jersey (URHS) and was stored on the New York and Greenwood Lake Railway in Passaic, New Jersey. In October 2013, the URHS began a fundraising effort to restore 3372 called "Project U-Boat." The campaign had raised enough funds by March 2014, and later that year, the URHS began looking for bids to move the locomotive. On October 29, Morristown & Erie Railway crews were sent to Passaic to rescue the U-Boat and remove it from NY&GL property. The locomotive was stored at the URHS Restoration facility in Boonton, NJ while funds were being raised to restore it to operation. Restoration efforts began in September 2022. By September 2023, the locomotive had been cosmetically restored.

References

External links
Erie Lackawanna 3372

C-C locomotives
U34CH
NJ Transit Rail Operations
Passenger locomotives
Diesel-electric locomotives of the United States
Railway locomotives introduced in 1970
Conrail locomotives
Standard gauge locomotives of the United States

GE U34CH


Elliston-Lafayette was a census-designated place (CDP) in Montgomery County, Virginia, United States. The population was 1,241 at the 2000 census; in 2010, Elliston and Lafayette were split into separate CDPs. It is part of the Blacksburg–Christiansburg Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Montgomery County, Virginia, including the towns of Blacksburg and Christiansburg, and the city of Radford.  However, many residents of the eastern section of Montgomery County more often travel to Roanoke or Salem for work, shopping, and services since these cities are generally closer and do not require driving up Christiansburg Mountain on U.S. Route 460 (which is a concurrency with U.S. Route 11 here) or Interstate 81.

Elliston and Lafayette are also considered distinct communities by most local residents.  Lafayette is located along the Roanoke River just across the Roanoke County line.  The north fork and south fork of the river join near Interstate 81 north of Lafayette.  While Lafayette is named for the Marquis de Lafayette, it is pronounced "Luh-fett" or "Luh-fay-ett".  The center of Elliston, which is the larger community, is approximately three miles west of Lafayette on US 460.

Shawsville is approximately four miles west of Elliston.  The majority of US 460 between the communities is a completely straight stretch of road, which is not common in this area of Virginia, known locally as the Elliston Straightaway.  During the 1990s, there was some minor controversy between Elliston and Shawsville about how far down the Elliston Straightaway would be the appropriate place for a "Welcome to Shawsville" sign.  Additionally, Shawsville Elementary School also resides in 24087, the Elliston ZIP Code.

Geography
Elliston-Lafayette is located at  (37.222075, −80.218018).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the CDP has a total area of 1.9 square miles (4.8 km2), all of it land.

Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 1,241 people, 489 households, and 348 families residing in the CDP. The population density was 672.2 people per square mile (259.0/km2). There were 533 housing units at an average density of 288.7/sq mi (111.2/km2). The racial makeup of the CDP was 91.86% White, 4.03% African American, 0.56% Native American, 0.16% Asian, 0.16% Pacific Islander, 1.05% from other races, and 2.18% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.53% of the population.

There were 489 households, out of which 33.9% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples living together, 15.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.8% were non-families. 23.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 9.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.53 and the average family size was 2.97.

In the CDP, the population was spread out, with 27.2% under the age of 18, 9.3% from 18 to 24, 31.5% from 25 to 44, 21.2% from 45 to 64, and 10.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.5 males.

The median income for a household in the CDP was $34,643, and the median income for a family was $37,266. Males had a median income of $22,479 versus $23,333 for females. The per capita income for the CDP was $13,785. About 8.6% of families and 12.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.4% of those under age 18 and 18.3% of those age 65 or over.

References

Census-designated places in Montgomery County, Virginia
Census-designated places in Virginia
Blacksburg–Christiansburg metropolitan area

Elliston-Lafayette, Virginia


The A Division is a division in the New York City Subway. It is made of IRT-operated services. Services in the A Division are given numbers, as opposed to Services in the B Division which are given letters.

References

A Division (New York City Subway)


is the Japanese original academic degree given to people who had spent more than 4 years and successfully completed a particular specialized course of study at the vocational schools certified by Japanese MEXT (the educational ministry of the Japanese government). The vocational schools in this article mean a "senmon-gakkō" (専門学校) which means a professional training college and a "senshū-gakkō" (専修学校) which means a Specialized training college. This academic degree was established in 2005 to improve the graduates' reputation and to promote lifelong learning. Its level is equal to Bachelor given by the university.

Requirements
To spend more than 4 years.
To spend more than 3,400 lessons (equal to about 2,834 hours and 126 credits at a university) before graduation.
There is a proper system of education assigned by certified vocational schools.
To pass the examinations assigned by certified vocational schools.

See also
Diploma (Japan)

External links
The official leaflet published by MEXT (Japanese)
The 139th announce of MEXT (Japanese)

Academic degrees of Japan

Advanced Diploma (Japan)


The Amarillo Wranglers were a minor professional ice hockey team in the Southwest Hockey League from 1975 to 1977.  This was the second Wranglers ice hockey team established in Amarillo, Texas;  the first being the Pittsburgh Penguins farm team described in a separate entry.

The Wranglers were established by Las Vegas businessman Ralph Engelstad, founder of the Southwest Hockey League.   The league model was unique in that it promoted the educational development of its players.   Players received a stipend of $60.00 per month, were provided with room and board, and were provided with tuition and fees to a local university or junior college.  Players not drafted by higher  leagues could complete their education.

The Wranglers wore orange, blue, and white jerseys modeled after the New York Islanders.

The Amarillo Wranglers were Southwest League Champions for the 1975-1976 season under Coach Cal Swenson.

The Wranglers underwent reorganization and briefly played as the Amarillo Lone Stars beginning in December 1976.  The Southwest Hockey League folded in January 1977.

In March 2013, the Wranglers held their 36th reunion in Amarillo, TX.  At the NAHL Amarillo Bulls final home game in 2013, the Wranglers were heralded as the city's first hockey champions.  A banner is now on display in the Amarillo Civic Center commemorating the Wranglers' championship season.

President - Bill O'Grady

Coach - Cal Swenson

Season record
Note: GP = Games played, W = Wins, L = Losses, T = Ties, Pts = Points, GF = Goals for, GA = Goals against

Southwest Hockey League

Amarillo Wranglers all-time roster

References

Sports in Amarillo, Texas
Defunct ice hockey teams in Texas
1975 establishments in Texas
1977 disestablishments in Texas
Ice hockey clubs established in 1975
Ice hockey clubs disestablished in 1977

Amarillo Wranglers (1975–1977)


The PowerBook 190 and its companion PowerBook 190cs are laptop computers manufactured by Apple Computer as part of their PowerBook brand, introduced to the market in August 1995. The two models differ only in their screen: the 190 had a 9.5" greyscale display, while the 190cs featured a 10.4" color display. Apple's target sales audience for this model was the college student in need of a no-frills portable computer.

In terms of hardware, along with the PowerBook 150, the 190 has much in common with Apple's "professional" laptop of the same period, the PowerBook 5300 series. In exchange for the cheaper price point (approximately US$2,200 compared to over US$6,000 for the cutting-edge PowerBook 5300ce), the 190 was equipped with a passive matrix LCD rather than a crisper active matrix screen.

More significantly, while the 5300s ran PowerPC 603e processors at 100 or 117 MHz, the 190 had only a Motorola 68LC040 clocked at 33 MHz - in fact, the 190/cs were the last Macintoshes to use a 68k CPU. However, Apple offered a PPC upgrade for the 190, a heavily marketed selling point for all new 68040 Macs at the time. In addition, a rather cramped 500 MB IDE hard drive was standard, and factory models shipped with System 7.5.2.

It is the only one of the 100 series PowerBooks that does not use the original 140 case design (except the PowerBook 100), thus was the only one to include a 68LC040 processor, a trackpad rather than the standard trackball, and along with the 150 the only ones to provide for more than 14 MB RAM expansion and larger, less-expensive IDE drives. The 190 was the de facto replacement for the PowerBook 500 series, which was completely discontinued with the introduction of the 5300 and the only 68040-based PowerBook Apple offered.

Sales figures for the 190 are unavailable, but in any event it did not benefit from reports of "exploding battery syndrome," where the similar 5300 factory-default lithium-ion battery could short-circuit and burst into flames. Apple quickly offered a recall on all such batteries. The PowerBook 190 series used a nickel–metal hydride battery which did not exhibit this problem.

Production of the 190 halted in June 1996, while the 190cs was sold until October of that year, when it was replaced by the PowerBook 1400cs.

Timeline

External links
 Apple's datasheets: PowerBook 190, PowerBook 190cs
 apple-history.com: PowerBook 190, PowerBook 190cs

190
68k Macintosh computers

PowerBook 190


Synthetic MRI is a simulation method in Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI), for generating contrast weighted images based on measurement of tissue properties. The synthetic (simulated) images are generated after an MR study, from parametric maps of tissue properties. It is thereby possible to generate several contrast weightings from the same acquisition. This is different from conventional MRI, where the signal acquired from the tissue is used to generate an image directly, often generating only one contrast weighting per acquisition. The synthetic images are similar in appearance to those normally acquired with an MRI scanner.

The parametric maps can be computed from a particular MRI acquisition designed to measure the tissue parameters, known as quantification. Using the maps, which contains the measured parameters for each voxel, virtual scanner settings that correspond to those used in conventional scan are given. These settings can be echo time (TE) and repetition time (TR) for a spin-echo (SE) sequence or TE, TR and inversion time (TI) for an inversion recovery (IR, FLAIR, STIR, PSIR, FSE-IR, TIRM) sequence. Using the signal equations for different types of MR acquisitions, it is then possible to calculate what a conventional image would look like. Calculating the images based on maps and scanner settings is called synthesizing the images.

History of Synthetic MRI

Synthetic MRI was proposed as early as 1984 Bielke et al. and 1985 by Bobman et al.

Although scientifically interesting, the method was cumbersome for clinical use. The acquisition duration was too long for a patient to lie still, and the computations needed for quantification were too demanding for the standard commercial computers of the day.

For the computers, the problem was both overall computational speed and handling numbers over 16 bit. To perform the synthetization, Lee et al. suggested a purpose-built computer that would be able to synthesize images in about 600 ms. It would use a look-up table to save computations and be capable of handling number sizes up to 28 bit.
This device did however not solve the calculation needs for quantification, nor the long acquisition times.

MR Image Expert, a software to create synthetic magnetic resonance images, was introduced in the late 1980s. It was aimed at educational and research purposes, among them contrast agent applications. Since 1989, more than 12,000 licenses of this software have been distributed.

In 2004 the first rapid acquisition and quantification method for creating parametric maps was invented. This new acquisition method performs 8 acquisitions at 4 different excitation delays, giving 8 values to estimate T1, T2, PD and M0 for each imaged voxel.

There are also other methods for creating the parametric maps being researched. Most notable is Magnetic Resonance Fingerprinting. This method uses a randomized acquisition that creates a unique response depending on T1-T2-PD values of a voxel. This unique response is then matched against a database of response from all possible T1-T2-PD combinations.

Features of Synthetic MRI
Creating a synthetic contrast weighted image is very quick and the scanner setting parameters can be changed interactively. This is different from acquiring the images directly on the MRI scanner with a pulse sequence where it might take several minutes to get new images with different settings. Synthetic MRI also enables the possibility to create new image contrast weightings after the scan has been completed and the patient has left the hospital. A prospective multi-reader, multi-case, multi-center clinical trial of overall image quality of synthetic MRI compared to conventional MRI in a general neuroimaging population has shown that synthetic MRI is non-inferior to conventional imaging.

The parametric maps
Synthetic MRI is based on parametric maps. These maps are generated by using the MR scanner not to acquire an image, but to measure magnetic properties in the tissue.

The parametric maps can for example be longitudinal (T1) and transversal (T2) relaxation times as well as either proton density (PD) or apparent equilibrium magnetization (M0). It is conceivable to use other parameters depending on the acquisition sequence to be simulated, but these are sufficient for spin-echo and inversion recovery acquisitions.

Governing equations for Synthetic MRI

The synthetic images are calculated using the signal equation of the type of image synthesized. The signal equation is a formula for calculating the signal intensity, i.e. the numerical value, of an image pixel. The signal intensity S in a pixel depends on the tissue properties T1, T2 and PD of the corresponding voxel, as well as the echo time TE and repetition time TR.

The equation for synthesizing a fast spin-echo (FSE) image is:

Here ETL is the echo train length, and ESP is the spacing of echoes in the echo train. If the acquisition simulated has the echo in the middle of ETL used for central k-space then . The scanner parameters TE and TR are the same over the entire slice/volume that is being synthesized but the parameters T1, T2, PD and the resulting signal S are different for different voxels. The parameters T1, T2, and PD correspond to physical properties of the tissue within the voxel.

For an inversion recovery (IR) sequence the equation is:

Note that setting  means that the signal equation becomes identical to the equation for FSE. This is because the inversion pulse is executed at the end of acquisition where the longitudinal magnetization is 0 due to excitation pulse being played out before acquisition.

For a double inversion recovery (DIR) sequence the equation is:

Note that setting  makes the signal equation identical to the IR equation, and setting  gives the same equation as for FSE (since the inversion pulses cancel out). The equation is derived under the assumption that .

For IR and DIR the signal may be negative in some voxels. In a real MRI scanner the signal is complex and due to off-resonance effects and other scanner imperfections the phase of the complex value may vary between different voxels, this leads to it being difficult to distinguish between a positive and negative signal. It is common to only reconstruct the magnitude image. For the synthetic images it is easy to keep the sign of the synthesized signal and thereby effectively creating a contrast weight that corresponds to a phase-sensitive inversion recovery (PSIR) which may also be called IR Real or Corrected Real.

If apparent equilibrium magnetization (M0) is used instead of true PD there may be effects of coil sensitivity (central shading) and dielectric shading present in the images.

Commercial availability

Dedicated acquisition for creating parametric maps is available on some scanners by GE and Philips, under the brand names MAGiC and SyntAc.

Post processing software for Synthetic MRI is available in the commercial product SyMRI from SyntheticMR AB which is included as an option called MAGiC on the MR console for GE's SIGNA Pioneer 3T MRI scanner. Since 2017, synthetic MRI is also available in Siemens machines.

Olea Medical offers a product similar to Synthetic MRI named Olea Nova+. It offers a method for automatically computing conventional images from a standard protocol: T1 and T2 mapping. Users  are  able  to  create  any  image  contrast-weighed  in  T1,  T2 (...) or  maps  combining  various TE, TR, TI.

See also
Magnetic resonance imaging
Relaxation (NMR)

References

External links
 SyntheticMR AB company website
 MAGiC
 EMRF's Basic Magnetic Resonance Textbook

Computing in medical imaging
Magnetic resonance imaging

Synthetic MRI