Syrian local authorities close up kabbalist rabbi’s grave dug up in Damascus

Syrian local authorities have re-filled in the grave of prominent kabbalist Rabbi Chaim Ben Yosef Vital in the Damascus Jewish cemetery, Joe Jajati, a member of the Syrian Jewish diaspora who visited the city last week, confirms to The Times of Israel, after the Kan public broadcaster first reported the development yesterday.

The grave of the 17th-century scholar, which is housed in a shrine in the cemetery, was dug up by unknown perpetrators on April 22.

The few remaining local Jews, as well as Jews of Syrian ancestry abroad, had asked the new Syrian government to bring the perpetrators to justice and to protect Jewish sites in the country.

“When Syria’s Foreign Minister [Asaad al-Shaibani] spoke at the UN last week, he mentioned how they [the government] were able to bring the Jews back to Syria,” Jajati told The Times of Israel after the incident. “They are using it as a card to try to remove the sanctions on Syria. In my view, since they are claiming it, they better be doing what is needed to actually protect Jewish sites there.”

He describes the covering of the grave as a positive development.