For the first time in three decades, Rabbi Joseph Hamra and his son Henry read from a Torah scroll in a synagogue in the heart of Syria's capital Damascus, carefully passing their thumbs over the handwritten text as if still in awe they were back home.

Syria’s small Jewish community held its first group prayer in decades Wednesday at a Damascus synagogue, celebrating the long-awaited revival of

Syria's tiny Jewish community said they held their first group prayer in decades on Feb. 19, in a synagogue in Damascus's Old City, expressing joy at the long-awaited return to public worship.