TRIPOLI

TRIPOLI, port in N. lebanon (Ar. Tarabulus al-Sham; called in Hebrew sources Sinim, on the basis of Gen. 10:17). From the seventh century there was a Jewish community in the town, although it never was large. At the beginning of the Arab conquest, Muʿāwiya, the umayyad governor of syria , established a garrison of Jewish troops in the harbor fortress to guard it against Byzantine attacks. At the beginning of the 11th century – after Syria came under fatimid rule – the caliph al-Ḥākim imposed severe restrictions on non-Muslim communities; as a result the Tripoli synagogue was turned into a mosque and several Jewish houses were destroyed. When the decrees were abolished, the Jews asked for the return of the synagogue; the Tripoli Muslims, unlike those in other towns, refused their demand, claiming that the place had already become a Muslim sanctuary. The Jews in turn asked for a royal permit to build a new synagogue. A document from the community, dated 1079, and which is signed and witnessed by the local bet din, has been preserved. There were Jews from Tripoli who immigrated to egypt in the Arab period. During the First Crusade, R. abiathar b. elijah ha-kohen , the Ereẓ Israel rosh yeshivah, took refuge in Tripoli and sent a letter from there. After its conquest by the crusaders in 1109, Tripoli became the capital of an independent principality, but remained a busy port and industrial center. The Jewish community continued its existence throughout the period of crusader rule. benjamin of tudela , the 12th-century traveler, reported that there were many Tripoli Jews among the victims of the earthquakes   that struck Syria in the middle of the 12th century. In 1289 the town was captured by the mamluks , who razed it and built a new town on a nearby hill and at its base. The Jewish community reestablished itself on the new site. During Mamluk rule there were karaites and Samaritans in the town, in addition to the Rabbanite Jews. In a letter written in 1489 R. Obadiah of Bertinoro reports that there were 100 Jewish families living in Tripoli at the time, but this figure seems exaggerated. At the end of the 15th century the Spanish scribe Abraham ha-Sefaradi lived in the city. In the 16th century Sephardi Jews came to settle in Tripoli and some became wealthy merchants. According to R. Moses Basola there were 100 Jewish households (400 people) in Tripoli in 1521, some of which were Musta'arabs and the others immigrants from spain and Sicily. The Jews owned shops and many of them were merchants and workmen. They had one synagogue. Tripoli rabbis are mentioned in the responsa dating from this period. In mid-16th century Isaac Mishan was the rabbi of the town and was followed by R. Samuel ha-Kohen and by the latter's son, R. Joseph ha-Kohen, who officiated until 1590. At the beginning of the 17th century Tripoli Jews suffered from the oppressive rule of Yūsufoglu Seyf Pasha and many left. A small community remained and is mentioned in the diary of a Hebron emissary who visited the town in 1675. The community went into a further decline during the 19th century due to the economic decline of the city and the emigration from Tripoli of many local Jews heading for beirut , aleppo , and other cities. In 1824 the traveler David D'Beth Hillel visited the city and found there 15 Jewish families who had a little synagogue. Yehoseph Schwarz noted 112 Jewish families in Tripoli. In 1843 there were only 11 Jewish families in the city, numbering 50 people. The head of the community at that time was Isaac, an oil merchant. The majority of the Jews were poor. Eliezer L. Frenkel visited the city in 1856 and found 17 families (80 people) there. The older graves survived 400 years. The Jews of Tripoli spoke Arabic. The community had no talmud torah. There were a few merchants who participated in international trade. On the eve of World War II only four Jewish families were left. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: E.L. Frenkel, Yerushalayma (1860), 142–146; Rosanes, Togarmah, 2 (1937–382), 145f.; Ashtor, Toledot, 1 (1944), 274–5; 2 (1951), 121, 427, 445. ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: A. Yaari, Masot Ereẓ Israel, 527; B. Dinur, Israel ba-Golah, 1:104, 199, 274, 298, 331; 2:337, 427, 428, 441, 448, 463, 525; S.D. Goitein, Ha-Yishuv be-Ereẓ Israel be-Reshit ha-Islam u-va-Tekufah ha-Ẓalbanit (1980), 278–284, 302; M. Rozen, in: Pe'amim, 14 (1982), 32–44; M. Gil, Ereẓ Israel ba – Tekufah ha-Muslemit ha-Rishonah (634 – 1097), 1–3 (1983), index; N. Shor, in: Pe'amim, 24 (1985), 117, 136–38; I. Abramsky-Blei, in: Pe'amim, 28 (1987), 131–57; H. Gerber, Yehudei ha-Imperiyah ha-Otmanit ba-Me'ot ha-Shesh-Esrie ve-ha-Sheva-Esrei: Ḥevrah ve-Kalkalah, 172; E. Bareket, Shafrir Miẓrayim (1995), 17, 154. (Eliyahu Astor / Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (2nd ed.)