ShalomNewYork.com

photo:Beirut’s oldest synagogue will be renovated and reopened by 2010. (A Photographer in Lebanon / Flickr)
“Better than that: what remained of Lebanon’s 14,000 Jews (some reports put the figure at 22,000, back in the 1960s) managed to unite every faction in the country, including Israel-bashing Hezbollah, in support of a $1 million restoration effort (”We respect divine religions, including the Jewish religion,” said Hussein Rahhal, Hezbollah’s media chief). Most of the money poured in from abroad. But organization (and conciliation) was local. Reconstruction was set to begin last November. Then the financial crisis broke over the country, as it did over the rest of the world, and halted reconstruction.  ” more@About.com