Deir el Qamar Synagogue

The Deir el Qamar Synagogue, in Deir el Qamar, a village in south-central Lebanon, is the oldest synagogue in Mount Lebanon. The synagogue was built in the 17th century, during the Ottoman era in Lebanon, to serve the local Jewish population, some of whom were part of the immediate entourage of Fakhr al-Din II. The building is in good condition.

The synagogue remained under Jewish ownership even after the dispersal of the local Jewish community in the aftermath of the sectarian conflict in Mount Lebanon in 1860. However, it was eventually sold in 1893, contrary to the counsel of the sages of Jerusalem, who advised against its sale unless for the construction of a new synagogue.

As of 2016, the Synagogue is in excellent condition; yet, in the meantime, the synagogue has been shut to the public for security reasons and has been entrusted to the French cultural center by Lebanon's Direction Générale des Antiquités (General Directorate of Antiquities).