Salam-Home
Salam Home is a heritage diplomacy initiative dedicated to advancing Jewish-Arab reconciliation through cultural memory, dialogue, and restoration. We believe that peace begins with understanding – and understanding begins with returning to thestories, spaces, and spiritual homes that shaped us all.
The Problem
This initiative was founded by Syrian American Kalid Loul, MALA’s co-founder. The Syrian Jewish community was once one of the oldest and most vibrant in the world – from Aleppo to Damascus. Today, almost none remain. War, displacement, and decades of broken relations have created deep emotional and physical divides between Syrian Jews and the land they once called home.While programs like Birthright Israel have offered young Jews a connection to Israel, there exists no equivalent pathway for Jews of Syrian descent to return – even symbolically – to the streets,synagogues, and cemeteries of their families.At the same time, there are increasing efforts toward diplomatic openness in the Middle East. Yetpeace that only exists on paper, without cultural healing, is fragile. We must build bridges from theground up.
Our Vision
We envision a future in which:
- Syrian Jews can visit, document, and honor their heritage sites in Syria.
- Muslim and Jewish communities engage in authentic, mutual storytelling and shared preservation work.
- Young people from both communities participate in interfaith learning and reconciliation journeys.
- Legal and logistical groundwork is laid to allow Syrian Jews to buy back ancestral properties orcontribute to restoration.
- Cultural diplomacy becomes a pillar of peacebuilding in the region.
What We Do
Salam Home is currently:
- Creating a digital archive and oral history project for Syrian Jewish memories
- Building relationships with Jewish communities worldwide, peace organizations, and Syrian civilactors
- Preparing a proposal for a future Birthright-style program to Syria
- Engaging policymakers to remove travel bans and pave the way for cultural visits
- Facilitating conversations about property rights and restitution
- Hosting educational and interfaith events through partnerships with MALA and others
Why Now
In 2024, our founder Kalid Loul – a Syrian-American and peace activist – returned to Syria after a15-year ban. That journey crystallized a truth: true peace must be rooted in dignity, memory, and the right to return – not in conflict narratives, but in human ones. With shifting regional dynamics and renewed interest in cross-cultural collaboration, there is a narrow but vital window to begin healing past wounds.Salam Home is uniquely positioned to seize this moment. But we cannot do it alone.
How You Can Help
Your support will allow us to
- Conduct documentation trips and record oral histories
- Host heritage reconciliation events in the U.S. and abroad
- Offer educational programming for young Jewish and Muslim changemakers
- Advocate for policy pathways for return, restitution, and reconciliation
- Launch our flagship Salam Home Heritage Delegation (2025-2026)
Join Us
Help us bring Salam – peace – to where it has long been absent.Help us return memory to place, and dignity to history.Together, we can write a new chapter of Jewish-Arab relations: one where the past is not erased,but reclaimed.
