Syrian American Rabbi Henry Yosef Hamra has declared his candidacy for the People's Assembly in the Damascus district, a landmark move given that Jews have been barred from seeking political office in Syria since the 1967 war. The move is a step towards reintegrating a long-marginalized religious and cultural group into Syrian public life. Hamra, 48, is the son of Yosef Hamra, the chief rabbi of the Syrian Jewish community in New York. His father left Damascus in 1992, after Syria lifted