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

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.

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.