A 130-year-old synagogue in the historic quarter of Algiers was demolished on Saturday, October 11, by Algerian authorities, despite attempts to save it.
The Chaloum Lebar synagogue in the district of Bab El Oued was listed as a structure at risk of collapse, with fears that it may compromise the safety of passersby. Official sources told Algerian media its destruction was “a purely urban measure” and “does not carry any religious or political connotations.”
Algerian media reported that the demolition was part of an urban renewal project aimed at removing dilapidated buildings in historic districts.
According to media reports, the demolition has been on the cards for years, but was delayed multiple times when foreign parties intervened and called for it to be preserved for the sake of memorializing Algeria’s Jewish heritage.
The Chaloum Lebar synagogue, also known as the Rue de Dijon synagogue, opened on April 14, 1894. The building was donated by Mr. Chaloum Lebar, from whom the house of worship takes its name.
According to French-language Algerian archives, the synagogue was expanded in the 1920s, increasing its capacity to accommodate 500 people, up from the original 300. It was closed down following Algeria’s independence, and has been neglected for decades.
The synagogue contained a red curtain covering the tabernacle, with ancient ceramics on either side, and the lighting around the altar made the glass inlays of the wall hanging shine, according to Algerian Jewish archives.
Caroline Elisheva Reboah, who is familiar with the synagogue, told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday: "It was a beautiful synagogue where they held bar mitzvahs and weddings." She added that in the 1950s, a woman named Mouni Doneddu used to play for weddings there on a small piano (a harmonium) that was operated by a side handle.
“There was no wedding, and no bar mitzvah, without the songs she used to play in the synagogue,” the source said.
Bab El Oued became a popular district after it was colonized by France in 1830 and went on to house mainly French emigrants until 1962.
Demolition was planned, delayed due to foreign intervention
Local sources said that the demolition had been planned for several years but was delayed due to interventions from an unspecified foreign embassy, which called for preserving the synagogue as a landmark of Jewish memory in the Algerian capital.
The other main synagogue in the city, the Great Synagogue of Algiers, was converted into a mosque.
Algeria’s Jewish community once numbered over 100,000 people before its independence in 1962. Now, it is believed that only around 200 Jews remain, according to the US State Department’s Religious Freedom Report for 2024.