Jews of Egypt
Bar-Am, Micha
JEWS OF EGYPT MICHA BAR-AM Proceeding page: The magnificent prayer-room of the Karaite synagogue is the only one still in use out of many which were in Cairo until a number of years ago. Sometimes...
...Although hardly any Jews come to the Rav-Moshe Synagogue, it is visited by local Arabs who believe in the holiness of Maimonides...
...Micha Bar-am was sent to Egypt by Bet Hatfutsot, as part of a project of documentation of contemporary Jewish communities...
...The Jews, out of bitter experience, were reserved and concerned...
...Raphael Bilbul (secretary and member of the council) of the community in Alexandria...
...The Eliyahu-ha-Navi Synagogue...
...Saadia Gaon and Maimonides, was felt far and wide...
...The office of the rabbinical law court in Alexandria...
...Here and there are family plots, in some of which the coffin had to be lowered by a crane...
...In Spring 1979,1 returned...
...and altogether only about a dozen children...
...Today 180 are left...
...Clement Setton (chairman) and Mr...
...He apologizes that he has only been there about twenty years...
...In this picture he is standing at the entrance to the cellar where, according to tradition...
...Men and women pray together without any partition...
...his comrade, who died recently, had lived there for many decades and knew all about the place...
...Left: The Jewish cemetery...
...Above: Unlike the Rabbanite Jews, the Karaites kneel during prayer...
...The first time was in December 1977, when I went with an enthusiastic contingent of Israeli journalists at the beginning of the peace process...
...Abraham and Sarah, Jacob and his sons, went down to Egypt in times of famine and drought...
...Like every other Jew, I see myself as though I was personally a part of the Exodus from Egypt...
...But despite the Biblical prohibition never to return there—/ went back...
...Today it's a crowded quarter, with dwelling houses, light industry and commerce, not far from the Great Bazaar of Khan al-Itili...
...Sometimes the small daughter of Farag, secretary of the congregation, comes to visit her father...
...Some usually hide their Jewish identity...
...Now and again, they are joined by former Egyptian Jews, now living in Europe, who return for occasional visits to the scenes and smells of their childhood...
...Next page: In an agricultural region in the Delta, not far from Alexandria, is the grave of Rabbi Jacob Abu-Hezira, who was born in Morocco...
...on a rare occasion they appear at a Jewish function—and then return to their anonymity...
...The picture I received of the community was not entirely clear and unequivocal...
...Thousands of Jews lived here, and there were many synagogues and schools...
...Before 1948, there were about 20,000 Jews in Alexandria...
...They spoke of a total of about 300 Jews in both communities combined (apart from 60 members of the Karaite community in Cairo...
...The Alexandrian cemeteries are in excellent condition, well kept and surrounded by high walls...
...about two-thirds are women—most of them widows...
...To this day, people from the neighborhood who are ill or crippled come to spend time in the cellar, in the belief that they will be helped by Maimonides' healing powers...
...Apparently because he is also revered by the local Arabs, his grave has been preserved and is looked after...
...There is no rabbi, and the shohet (ritual slaughterer) is unlicensed...
...Even the statistics given to me by the official representatives of the Cairo and Alexandria communities were only approximations...
...In contrast to my first visit, where I went to record history-in-the-making, on this occasion I was there out of personal motivation and on behalf of Bet Hat-futsot, in order to photograph the situation of the Jewish community...
...Left: Mr...
...The average age is high...
...shadow of a glorious past: Empty synagogues, vanishing communal institutions, and huge cemeteries being encroached upon by frantic development on the one hand and by the desert on the other...
...In Spring 1979 I found a shrunken community, a continued on page 37 The only man living in what remains of the Rav-Moshe synagogue is the Nubian sexton, called Mahmad...
...Preceeding page: The Karaite cemetery in Basatin has mostly family mausoleums, protected by walls—but roads have now been built through the middle and apartment blocks are being put up all around...
...I was in Egypt at a period of uncertainty regarding the outcome of the peace talks...
...The neighborhood was once called "Harat al-Yahud" ("The Neighborhood of the Jews...
...Under the Pharaohs, the Greeks, the Christians and the Moslems, culture flourished and the impact of personalities, such as Philo...
...The Home for the Aged in Alexandria...
...Throughout the ages, Jews arrived in Egypt from many directions—fugitives from wars in the Land of Israel, refugees from medieval Spain, survivors of pogroms in Russia and exiles from Jaffa and Tel A viv in World War I. It was not only the "Flesh-pots of Egypt" that attracted Jews to the banks of the Nile...
...Copyright © by Micha Bar-Am and Bet Hatfutsot...
...Even in ancient times Jews were living in Egypt...
...Maimonides wrote his books...
...Lately, it has again been the object of pilgrimage by Jews of Moroccan origin, who come to pray, rejoice and offer sacrifices...
...In an alley near the Rav-Moshe Synagogue in the Muski Quarter in Cairo...
...Not all the Jews living today in Egypt keep in regular touch with the traditional community institutions...
Vol. 4 • September 1979 • No. 8
