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BAHRAIN · 26.2°N 50.6°E · CITY

Manama

A tiny mercantile community of Iraqi origin (from the late 19th century) and the only Gulf community with a working synagogue tradition into the 21st century.

Modern locality anchor

Manama

Bahrain · City · 26.2°N 50.6°E

This anchor orients the sourced locality record. It is not a reconstructed historical position or border; the single map below provides geographic context.

View location

Where is Manama?

Land geometry: Natural Earth 1:50m via world-atlas. Pins mark modern localities or representative regional anchors stored on Atlas place records, not historical borders and not reconstructed positions. · Sources & methods

THE COMMUNITY TIMELINE · EVERY NODE DATED

What happened to the Jewish community of Manama?

1880–2020

Iraqi-origin mercantile community (late 19th c.)

2020–present

Post-Abraham Accords visibility

Today

Today

Tiny community; normalization-era visibility (2020 Accords) - described without security detail.

LANGUAGES & COMMUNITY

What did Manama sound like?

Judeo-Arabic is a language with its own grammar, literature, and history — not “broken” anything, and not a dialect of Hebrew.

AFTER · IN FULL COLOR

What survives today?

In Manama

Tiny community; normalization-era visibility (2020 Accords) - described without security detail.

  • Manama synagogue

    synagogue · public landmark

    Landmark; no operating claims.

In Israel & the diaspora

The community's story continued elsewhere — these places carry it now.

SOURCES & REVIEW

  • Bahrain - Virtual Jewish History Tour

    Jewish Virtual Library · open source

  • Encyclopaedia Judaica, 2nd ed. (place entry)

    Macmillan Reference USA · 2007

Reviewed 2026-07-30

Reading about Judeo-Arabic and Hebrew (עברית, Ivrit)? Baba can help you understand the languages in context →