JUBAYL

JUBAYL (Djubayl, Jubail, Gebal-Byblos), a small town N. of beirut , lebanon . When Jubayl was annexed to the military province (Jund) of damascus at the beginning of the Muslim rule, there was a medium-sized Jewish community some of whose members were wealthy merchants. When the fatimid caliph al-Ḥākim issued (c. 1010) his decrees against the Jews and Christians, the Jews of Jubayl had their synagogue seized from them but were later authorized to rebuild it. In a document of the late 11th century, the community is mentioned as one of those visited by the messengers of the nasi david b. daniel in their attempt to gain recognition for him as exilarch. benjamin of Tudela found some 150 Jews in the town during the period of Genoese rule in the 12th century. Some documents concerning the Jews of Jubayl were found in the cairo genizah . After the return of the town to Muslim rule, the Jewish population decreased in numbers until it finally disappeared. -BIBLIOGRAPHY: Mann, Egypt, 1 (1920), 73; Braslawski, in: Eretz Israel, 1 (1951), 155–7. (Eliyahu Ashtor)