MY SECRET TRIP TO LEBANON 🇱🇧

[Applause] [Music] chickens for sale. I got my Beirut beer and my grapes. [Music] How much for one [Music] chicken? This is crazy. [Music] Hello friends and welcome back to my channel. Today I'm going to tell you guys about my secret trip to Lebanon. So a while back I was surfing the web looking for interesting story ideas. I was writing for Ammy Magazine. I still write for Ammy Magazine which is a Orthodox Jewish weekly print magazine based in Brooklyn, New York, but sold and read all around the world. And I was looking for stories that I thought would resonate with the readers of the magazine. And I came across some articles about Jewish history in Lebanon. And I realized that I hadn't known there was any Jewish history in Lebanon. To me, Lebanon is a country that is near Israel. But stupid me, I guess. I didn't realize that the history of Israel and the history of Lebanon, the history of the Lebanese people, history of the Jewish people are quite intertwined. Now, I know that Lebanon is not considered to be a safe country and many people are afraid to go there, myself included. So when this happened, I was obviously intrigued to know more. At the same time, I realized that it would be very difficult for me as an Orthodox Jew to visit Lebanon. However, after doing a deep dive into the matter, I started to believe that perhaps I could pull it off. I knew it wouldn't be simple because there is an organization inside Lebanon called Hezbollah, which is considered by the United States and other countries to be a terrorist organization. And Hezbollah kind of has its people everywhere all over the country. And obviously for an Orthodox Jew to be running around that country with the Hzbollah people would not be a good idea. Therefore, I knew that if I was going to make this trip, it would have to be with many drastic changes to my appearance and the way I usually do my trips. But I was persistent and I wanted to make this happen. I thought it would be fascinating if I somehow managed to pull it off. So, I continued pushing for it and eventually I was able to make it happen. Before we get into the meat and potatoes of this video, I need to take a moment to thank our sponsor, Meal Mart. Meal Mart is a company that I've been familiar with since I'm a little child. My family has been using their products for as long as I can remember. And when I started to take travel seriously and wanted to travel places where kosher food was not available, I found out about their amazing meals. They're called Amazing Meals. They come in many different varieties. And this one is actually my favorite, the pepper steak. So, what I do is I keep these in my suitcase, in my backpacks. I keep them around my house and whenever I'm going on a trip to a place that doesn't have kosher food or even to a place that does have kosher food, I usually take some of these along with me just to make sure that if I'm ever hungry and in a tough spot, I can just pop one of these in the microwave or heat it up on a stove or on a hot plate or even eat it cold. Additionally, Meal Mart recently introduced these new products called Salaminis which come in three flavors and they are delicious, easy on the-go snack you can take anywhere with you. They're high in protein and perfect for people who keep kosher and travel like me. Both of these products are available wherever kosher food is sold. And by the way, we're going to be doing a giveaway and we're going to be sending salamines to a bunch of people. So, please comment on the video. Let me know what part of the video is your favorite and you might be the lucky winner of some salamines. Thank you Meal Mart for sponsoring this video. Once I had all of my research done and I felt like I was finally ready to book a trip, that's when things really got a little bit scary for me. I hate to sound negative or pessimistic, but honestly speaking, if people knew who I really was inside that country, there's a very decent chance that I could disappear forever. You see, Hisbala is an enemy of the United States and a sworn enemy of Israel. And while I'm not an Israeli citizen, any Jewish person, especially when they're traveling the Arab world, is often associated with Israel and its policies. If people in Lebanon would know my true identity, it could put me in grave danger. All of the external signs of my Judaism were hidden away so that nobody would know, hopefully nobody would know who I really was. Now it was time to travel to Lebanon. I don't really have any contacts there. I'm not in touch with anybody in Lebanon. But what I ended up doing was I had the owner of the Airbnb where I was staying arrange for a taxi to pick me up at the airport and take me in to the city and to the Airbnb. So, we just got into Lebanon. I'm here with my friend and uh we're going to go to the hotel. This is awesome. First time in Lebanon. From there on, I didn't have much of a plan, but I figured that I'd wing it and take things one step at a time. Hey guys, I'm sorry to interrupt the video. I just have to tell you about one thing quickly. Okay, I need you guys to subscribe to my WhatsApp status. Go to the app store, download the WhatsApp app, and then send me a message. The phone number is 9297775425. Once you're subscribed to the status, you'll be able to see daily updates from my travels around the world. So once again, send me a message 929777-5425. Okay, now let's go back to the video. One last thing I should mention is that the video you're about to watch is different from many of the other videos that I've recorded because at that point in time, I had no plan of starting a YouTube channel. I was kind of just recording these videos for myself for personal use. Therefore, the video quality might not be as high as I would have liked it to be. But it is what it is, and I am very glad that I do have some footage from this trip. Once I got to my Airbnb, I made some phone calls and I hired a local taxi company to have somebody take me around. They sent me a driver and this guy took me to my first stop, which is in a town called Bahamun, about an hour away from Beirut. Maybe it's a little bit closer. I don't remember exactly. [Music] But this town is a place where many Jewish families lived and would vacation. It's in the mountainous area outside of Beirut. And there was a large, beautiful synagogue that once stood there, and I wanted to see the place for myself. After much research, I was able to find the location of this place on Google Maps, and I asked my driver to take me there. So, we show up there, and this building is still standing, but it's in a really, really bad state. There are no windows anymore. I can't even get close. There's like a fence and a wall. I had to climb over the wall and then through a hole in the fence to get into this building, which is completely abandoned. And there's a sh here. I have to climb up this wall to get inside. There's almost nothing left of the synagogue aside from some unique factors which if you know anything about synagogues, you'd be able to tell that it was once a synagogue. I climbed over a wall and now here I am about to walk into this room. Wow. Crazy. Check it out. Unbelievable. This place once had a thriving Jewish community. And now look what's left. Nothing. Now going to go up to the address to see what's left. Okay. So, I'm in the Ezra Nashim of the abandoned shul of Bun, Lebanon. It's a city a few kilometers away from Beirut and it's a was a vacation town. It still is. I believe a lot of uh people from Saudi Arabia and from Qatar and from Dubai come here on vacation but once upon a time it also had a large Jewish population and um this was the shul. It hasn't been induced since for sure the 1980s and uh giving you guys a tour exclusive for Ammy magazine. For example, the holy ark, the Aron Kodesh, the place where we keep the Toras inside a synagogue. That ark still exists in the synagogue. That's what Aron Kaidesh was. And uh it's crazy to think that once upon a time this was [Applause] a active Jewish community. There was uh there were minanam here every day. I'm now stepping into where the arkes used to be. Unbelievable. There was this little elevated stage in the center of the synagogue which on that little stage there would be something called a beimma which is the altar upon which we read the Torah. And that little stage was also there. That's where the beam stood. Other than that, there wasn't much else to see. I took some pictures. I took some videos. I prayed a little bit. I ded because this is a place where Jews had prayed for many years. And although the building is abandoned now, I still believe that there is some spiritual energy there. I wanted to connect to that by praying. So after leaving Bahamun, we went to the next place called Alai, which is not far from Bamdun. Also a mountainous town where Jewish people lived. And there too there was a synagogue which I was able to visit. Then it got dark and I didn't really feel comfortable hanging around in the streets and driving around looking for these locations in the dark. So I asked my driver to take me back to the Airbnb and we decided to pick it up again and start our search for the Jewish sites the next morning. The next morning, I started my day in the Airbnb with shakras with the morning prayers. And while I prayed there, I noticed that I was overlooking the port of Beirut. Now, my visit to Lebanon was in the summer of 2018. Almost 2 years later, to the day, a massive explosion erupted in the port of Beirut, killing hundreds of people, injuring thousands, and causing billions of dollars in damage. Now, look how crazy this is. Okay, this is a post on X or Twitter, whatever you want to call it, where I posted that, you know, that's me in Beirut 2018. Anyway, this person writes, "Below is a photo of him in front of the Bay Report for some reason, for some unknown reason before it was blown up, leading to several hundreds of deaths. Also, he's a self professed like Zionist." Basically, he's accusing me of blowing up the port, which is crazy because I'm a Jew who travels the Arab world. Nothing to do with Israel, but because I'm Jewish and Israelis are Jewish, they're accusing me of blowing up the port. And obviously this guy's just some loser on X on Twitter, but it's just wild like what people will accuse you of for being Jewish. And by the way, this is exactly why Jewish people have to be very careful when traveling in the Arab world. After the morning prayers, I headed over to downtown Beirut where I walked around a little bit. There were a lot of beautiful buildings there. Also buildings that were old and damaged from different wars and conflicts that the country has experienced, but it was a very nice part of the city. I also visited a Jewish cemetery in a neighborhood called Sodo. So I'm now in the Jewish cemetery of Sodo, which is in Beirut, Lebanon. And um it's about 200 years old. The last Levia here, he says, was a year ago. And um yeah, this is it. It's uh not in such good condition. And I also got to visit the Men Abraham Synagogue, which is the most famous synagogue in Lebanon. Now, I wasn't allowed to take any videos inside or outside of the synagogue. No photos inside either, but they did allow me to take some photos outside, which I was very grateful for. Next, I had my driver take me about an hour southbound to the city of Sida, or as the Torah calls it, Sidon. Good morning. So, it is day number two of our trip to Lebanon. Khaled, say hi. Yeah. So, this is my friend Khaled. Best driver, best driver in the world. And um we are on the way to Sida to go to Sidon is mentioned in the Torah as the place where Zulan, the son of Yakavinu, the son of Jacob, lived and did business. Zulan is also buried in Sidon and some say that his brother Ysakar is also buried right near him. So in Sidon I was able to find the location of the place which according to tradition is the burial place of Zulan. I'm now approaching the ky of Zillyakov villain the son of Yanov. Wow. Unbelievable. This is crazy. I bet almost no one ever comes here, but here I am. There it is. He's buried in Sidon. And it talks about this in the Kumush. in it says uh that he's by the water which is he is very close to the water. It was a very meaningful experience to be able to go there and pray especially with the knowledge that Jews probably have not been able to visit there or pray there in a very long time. So I just finished governing at the c of villain. There it is in the distance. I'm walking away now. Unbelievable. I was able to take out my tahillim and davin. The whole time I was worried that uh maybe someone will see me. And usually that wouldn't be a problem. I'm not doing anything wrong. But because I have a tahillum in my hand, which is Hebrew letters, they can accuse me of being from Israel and that could be a big problem. So Barash, I was able to do him for about 10 minutes. No one bothered me. Now I'm getting back into the taxi quickly and we are going to get out of here. Next I went to the old synagogue of Sidon which is rumored to be about a thousand years old. The Jewish people who managed that synagogue had to run away in the 1980s due to the Lebanese civil war. And in their place a family of Palestinian Syrian refugees moved into this synagogue and they now live there and call this place their home. I had to muster up all of my courage to knock on the door and ask them to let me in. Obviously, they didn't know who I was or that I was Jewish, but they did allow me in. And I got a glimpse of this old synagogue, which was quite incredible. And this is the kitchen. And Logan Dove is up there. Again, used to be here. And these people were very nice for letting me in. Uh, Synagoga. Yes. See the mandavits up there. This is there's a refugee family living here now in Sida in the old sh and this is their house. Um amazing. Very very sad. The synagogue is on a street called Harat Alkuds which used to be Harat Al Yahoud. Harat means the street and alud means of Jerusalem. But it used to be called Harat Aly Yahoud, the street of the Jews when the Jewish community was living in and active in [Music] Lebanon. Okay, so I'm now in uh Sida, Lebanon, and I'm in the old city in the narrow shook. This is one of the uh creepier places I've been to. It's very quiet. Everyone looks at you with suspicion. Um, everything's dark, but uh, I found what I needed to find. After leaving the synagogue, I walked around the markets of Sidon a little bit. Live chickens for sale. How much for one chicken? How much? One chicken. How much? How much money? One chicken. How much money for one chicken? Five. Four. What? Oh, okay. [Music] So, this is some sort of basket weaving factory. They're making nice baskets. And I also had my driver take me to Sidon's Jewish cemetery, which I was not able to get access to, but I did stick my GoPro over the fence to try to get some photos and videos from inside. I didn't really succeed, but I knew it was there, and I also prayed there a little bit. [Applause] It's time for Mina Mina time. So, I'm at the beach in Sida, Lebanon. And uh all of our Muslim cousins are going to Dava Milka now, which reminds me that I need to find a place to dav also because I can't d in public over here yet. Maybe one day. My last stop in Lebanon before heading to the airport was in a town called Derel Amar, which also once had a Jewish community. There is a nice synagogue which used to be used by the community but since it has been abandoned it was taken over by a cultural institute teaching French and now the synagogue is used for poetry and dance recital. Thankfully I was also able to get into that building and document it. Okay. Okay. So, I'm in the Jewish synagogue synagogue. Yes. Temple of uh D Alam in uh Lebanon. And my friend here tells me that it's a 16th century building. And look at the stone ceilings and nice windows. Now, it's used as a what what does the uh Institute of French use it for? for class, for uh some uh reception, some dance, dance. They have a floor for dance. This is a floor for dance. And this is uh a little room here. The side you can't really see in, but I suspect it may have been a mikvah once. And this is where the cordage used to be. Do Jews ever come here? Do they ever come to pray here or visit here? Uh there is no more Jewish. Oh, they at 82 Israel to Lebanon. Oh, the Israelis came to occupy Lebanon. Yeah. And all the Jews left. Yes. Oh, I'm on the roof of the French Institute, Lebanon. They have a mosque in the background. There are churches. I think there's a lot of Drew people who live here, Barashem. We found a nice guy who was able to let me in and I spent some time there. Davend a little da. And uh getting ready to go now to the airport. Once I was done in Daryl Amar, I had my driver take me back to the airport. [Music] She don't give me [Music] Khaled. Thank you so much. You are the best. The best driver. I I am so happy that I met you. Messi. Messi. Messi. Now, it was time to leave Lebanon. And I want to tell you guys that honestly, Lebanon is a place that I never thought I'd be able to visit. I knew it would be complicated from a political perspective, from a religious perspective, from a safety perspective. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to pull it off. But thank God, I was finally at the airport and ready to leave. Okay, so I am at the lounge, the Cedar Lounge in Beirut, Rafi Kharidi International Airport and getting some work done. I got my Beirut beer and my grapes cuz that's what kosher people eat. and my passport and my boarding pass. This is what success looks like. I'm so so happy with the way the trip came out. Uh worked like I could never have imagined that it would go this well. I got to see places that I never thought I'd get to see and um thank you Hashem for the most amazing experience ever. I can't wait to share it with all you guys. By the way, this is by far the nicest airline lounge I've ever seen. It's gigantic. I mean, check it out. Very impressed with uh the lounge here in Lebanon. Got open bar. They have the screens on display. Open bar. Ton of food. Obviously, I'm not going to eat any of it because I'm kosher, but I think uh a lot of other countries and airlines can learn from this. This is the Cedar Lounge in uh Beirut Rafi Kari International Airport. So we get a A+ rating, five stars on this one. And we got to catch our flight. Thank you. Let's go. Okay, so I just left the lounge and then I didn't realize this, but there was another security check that had to happen after the lounge and uh I asked permission to skip the line and they let me. And now I'm running up to my gate. number eight, which should be right here. Oh, thank God. Okay, it's here. And hopefully they're going to let us on the plane now. Okay, so made it past another surprise security check right at the gate, like right before boarding to the ramp. Thank God. We're on the plane about to take off. taxiing the runway and here we go. Lift off. Now I can relax. I must say that although I was only in Lebanon for about a day and a half, I did leave with the impression that it's a beautiful country with beautiful people and a long and beautiful history. Things have been complicated in Lebanon throughout the past few decades. There's been a lot of conflict. There's been a lot of terrorism. There's been a lot of strife. There's been a lot of war. Sadly, there is a minority of some very evil and misguided people both inside and outside of Lebanon who have dragged the country into chaos. And therefore, there have been so many years of hardships for the Lebanese people. I hope and pray that someday Lebanon will once again be safe and welcoming for all people of all backgrounds, of all religions, and that Jewish people and Lebanese people of all faiths will be able to tolerate each other. and not only tolerate each other but make friendships and get along peacefully and together use their talents to make the world a better place. So that's Beirut from the air. This is the wing of the plane and it was an amazing trip and I'd love to come back again if they let me in. We'll see what happens. Thank you for watching this video. If you enjoyed it, please subscribe to my channel. Don't forget to leave a comment so that you can be entered into the giveaway for the Meal Mart salaminis. See you later.