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Jews settled in Alexandria as soon as it was Alexandria, that is, in 332 BC. In the first century AD, they were a powerful and sizable minority of the city. Between 66 and 117 AD, however, they suffered a massive reversal. Robert Louis Wilken ( Judaism and the Early Christian Mind: A Study of Cyril of Alexandria's Exegesis and Theology ) writes:

"many Jews were cruelly murdered, their homes destroyed, synagogues demolished, and their leaders tortured. During this period the extent and influence of Judaism rapidly diminished . . . . The fact that so few literary sources remain from this period is itself a testimony to the devastation of Jewish life. Apparently the great synagogue of Alexandria was also destroyed and the activity of the Jewish court in Alexandria suspended."

This reversal was caused by wars between Jews and Greeks (and Romans) in Alexandria.

Peder Borgen notes that already in 30 BC, Egyptian-Jewish relations were deteriorating, due to three uprisings: "the armed uprising at the death of the emperor Gaius Caligular in A.D. 41, the impact of the Jewish war in Palestine on the tensions in Egypt, A.d. 66 and 70-73, and the suicidal Messianic revolution of Jews in Cyrene and Egypt in the years A.D. 115-117."

Regarding the conflict of the 60s, Borgen writes: "In A.D. 66 the Alexandrian Greek polis wanted the emperor Nero to cancel the Jews' rights in the city . . . . According to Josephus a number of Jews entered the amphitheater in Alexandria where the members of the polis were deliberating on the subject of an embassy to be sent to Nero. The Greeks tried to capture the Jews, got hold of three of them, and took them away to be burned alive. This caused the whole Jewish community to rise and attempt to set fire to the aphitheater. The Roman Prefect, Philo's nephew Tiberius Alexander, crushed the Jewish revolt. The soldiers killed the Jews, burned and plundered their houses. The Jews tried to oppose the Roman troops with arms, but they were totally routed. According to Josephus 50,000 Jews were killed."

Seven years later, Borgen continues, "the sicarii fled from Palestine to Egypt, and instigated the Egyptian Jews to revolt under the slovan, 'No lord but God.' After they had killed some of the moderate Jews of rank, the leaders of the council of elders in Alexandria called a general assembly and charged the sicarii for causing dangerous trouble. The assembly seized 600 sicarii on the spot." The ones that escaped were captured and brought back to be executed by the Romans. But the militants made the Romans suspicious of all the Jews: "the Romans, fearing the Jews might again join together in revolutionary actions, demolished Onias' temple."

Sources on the conflict of 115-117 are sketchy. Apparently, Jews supposed a messianic king named Lucuas, Cyrenaian Jews marched on Egypt along with many Egyptians, perhaps in the hope that they would eventually be able to take Palestine. Jews had the upper hand until Trajan deployed Roman troops to stop them. Christopher Haas writes that despite the brevity of the fighting the effect was devastating: "it would be difficult to exaggerate the effects this violence had on the Alexandrian Jewish community. While it is safe to discount the talmudic claim that 'sixty myriads upon sixty myriads' were slaughtered in the city, the loss of Jewish life must have been high during the course of fighting against both Roman troops and Alexandrian Greeks. Compounding this decrease in Jewish population was the subsequent emigration of many Jews, including prominent Alexandrian rabbis, to Palestine. Those Jews who remained were forcibly relocated to a new settlement just outside the walls and to the east of the city . . . . It would be many years before the Alexandrian Jewish community would again play an important role in the city's life."

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Jews settled in Alexandria as soon as it was Alexandria, that is, in 332 BC. In the first century AD, they were a powerful and sizable minority of the city. Between 66 and 117 AD, however, they suffered a massive reversal.

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ALEXANDRIA - Nabi Daniel Street was once the center of this cosmopolitan city. Elegant people dressed in clothes of every type and religion used to walk here. They made their way from the beachfront promenade, through Saad Zaghloul Square, inward to the city center - passing by the grand facades of the skyscrapers of that era, four to five stories high.

A few dozen meters back from the street, at number 69, stands the main synagogue of Alexandria, named for the prophet Elijah. It was completed in 1884, and it greatly resembles European churches of the time. All seats were filled by dues-paying members. From the dais to the back row, the dozens of seats are affixed with metal plates bearing members' names.

The array of names is staggering: Jews of Ashkenazi descent sat here alongside those born in Arab lands. Jews from throughout the world, locals and strangers, Arabic and French speakers, filled the hall on holidays. One community member, Nanda Hagar, recalls the women's section on the second floor was also filled to capacity: "My mother told me, when we came on the holidays, that we must pay or else we would not have seats," she said.

Today the congregation numbers 20 women and three men, and is headed by its eldest member, Dr. Max Salame, who is around 90. His deputy is Ben Gaon, 52, divorced with no children. The women make occasional appearances there. Some are married to Muslims; others are widowed. All their children have emigrated or else do not consider themselves part of the Jewish community. Those present plan to celebrate Rosh Hashanah with a fish dinner, accompanied by apples and honey, at the synagogue.

Hagar, like member Luli Saad, who visited the synagogue last week, are among the youngest women in the community. They were not asked their precise age, but they appear to be at least 70. With their coiffed hair and tailored suits, one could picture them living in any European city - or alternatively, in a community of Egyptian immigrants in Israel. They converse with visitors in a variety of languages. Hagar's English is slow but solid, her Egyptian Arabic is lightening quick, and her French is pronounced with a proud and correct accent. She is current with today's means of communication, from text messaging on her mobile phone to Skype. "What's your username?" she asks in parting.

But Hagar and Saad represent a dying generation. Their parents and grandparents came here in the 19th and early 20th centuries from Europe and countries in the region. The city was in its prime then, and drew many immigrants. Things changed when Israel was founded in 1948, which created constant tension between the community and the regime that had fought to forestall it. In 1956, Egyptian president Gamal Abdel Nasser nationalized Jewish property and revoked Jews' citizenship. Only an estimated 5 percent of the community managed to preserve its Egyptian citizenship. Many in Alexandria were left with no assets and had to leave the country. Dr. Salame, it is said, used to be the Nasser family's dentist.

Last week he received visitors at his modest office, and his deputy, Ben Gaon, served light refreshments. On the wall hung a picture of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in his youth. The congregation was hoping for a complete minyan at the holiday prayer services, the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee had decided to help, and last Thursday a JDC representative visited Alexandria with the president of the Jewish Community Council of Cairo, Carmen Weinstein. The small delegation was headed by the Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Shalom Cohen, who was joined by Israel's Consul General in Alexandria, Eli Entebi. The conversation in Dr. Salame's office was conducted in fluent French.

"I came to say Shana Tova on behalf of the government of Israel," Cohen said. Entebi promised to attend Yom Kippur services, thereby increasing to four the roster of Jewish men present on the holiday. What will be next year? "God only knows."

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ALEXANDRIA - Nabi Daniel Street was once the center of this cosmopolitan city. Elegant people dressed in clothes of every type and religion used to walk here. They made their way from the beachfront promenade, through Saad Zaghloul Square, inward to the city center - passing by the grand facades of the skyscrapers of that era, four to five stories high.

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Fears for the future of religious minorities in Egypt were accentuated last week when it was announced that the last synagogue in the country would be closed down. The Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, which had operated in Alexandria, was the last functioning center of Jewish life in the country. It is now clear that its cavernous halls, built in the nineteenth century, will not be open to worshippers hoping to mark Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services this year.

Traditionally, the synagogue has been managed by an Israeli rabbi of Egyptian descent who frequently returns to the country to lead services there. Although there are many synagogues around Egypt, the one in Alexandria is the only active one, the others having been turned into tourist sites.

This year, as Rabbi Avraham Dayan was making preparations for the High Holidays he was told that the Egyptian authorities could not guarantee the safety and security of those wanting to attend the synagogue. Dayan told Ynet:

"This year there have been some violent demonstrations in Alexandria, and they [sic] are afraid to take responsibility over people...We are trying to organize a quorum, but because of the security-related situation we are not really succeeding. We are still in touch with the Egyptian security organizations and are trying to make some progress.

Sectarian tensions across Egypt have been heightened ever since last year's revolution, with Christian minorities bearing the brunt of the violence.

One of the unintended consequences of the Arab Spring is the guarantee of security - long assured by the region's old dictators; it has been cast away by the tide of popular unrest sweeping the region.

The power vacuum and instability caused by the overthrow of Mubarak empowered Salafist and Brotherhood activists who increasingly stoke sectarian tensions. Last October, when Christian activists took to the streets of Cairo to protest their mistreatment, they were first involved in scuffles with radical Islamists before the army moved in. During the resulting crackdown, more than 25 Christian protesters were killed and more than 300 injured. It marked one of the most bloody and shameful sectarian episodes in Egypt's recent history. A Copt protester, Alfred Younan, told Reuters:

Why didn't they do this with the Salafists or the Muslim Brotherhood when they organized protests? This is not my country any more.

This kind of instability has meant the Jewish presence in Egypt has steadily declined over much of the last century, and has now dwindled to just a handful in Cairo and Alexandria. A study by Stanley Urman of Jews for Justice from Arab Countries has found that this exodus started with the first Nationality Code in Egypt, passed in May 1926.

The Code stipulated that an Egyptian born to a 'foreign" father - even if the father had been born in Egypt and had been previously recognized as Egyptian - was only able to claim citizenship if the father could prove that he:

...belonged racially to the majority of the population of a country whose language is Arabic or whose religion is Islam.

This law effectively blocked Jews from claiming Egyptian citizenship and relegated them to a lesser legal status in their own country. Later, because the Jews were not officially Egyptian, the government was able to expel a number of them.

This problem was accentuated in 1947, when amendments were passed which stipulated that at least 75% of administrative employees in any company had to by Egyptian, while 90% of the overall workforce also had to be Egyptian. This, of course, struck against Jewish commerce in the country, placed stifling strictures on some of their business, and accelerated the departure of more Jews.

The news that Egypt's last synagogue, the Eliyahu Hanavi, will now be unable to hold services effectively brings an end to any remaining semblance of Jewish life in Egypt. This is something which should concern not just Jews, but Muslims too, as it epitomises growing intolerance and persecution of a minority. Where religious fanatics have started by persecuting minorities, it has not been long before they turned on their own, accusing them of irreligiousness, heresy and insidious betrayal. The religious freedoms of all Egyptians are in peril.

© 2017 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.

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Fears for the future of religious minorities in Egypt were accentuated last week when it was announced that the last synagogue in the country would be closed down. The Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, which had operated in Alexandria, was the last functioning

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Information about Jewish Alexandria

Jewish Alexandria featured by Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue. It is a Jewish synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt. Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue Alexandria located in Nabi Daniel street. It built in 1354. Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue Alexandria was bombed by the French during their invasion of Egypt in 1798. It re-built in 1850 with contributions from the Mohammad Ali Dynasty. Although services still held in the synagogue, it now caters to a small community of Jewish. This is due to the dwindling number of Jews in Alexandria.

Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue is one of the largest synagogues in the Middle East. This magnificent Italian-built structure served Alexandria's once thriving and cosmopolitan Jewish community. The interior of the synagogue features immense marble columns and space for more than seven hundred people. With brass name plates still affixed to the regular seats of male worshipers. Since the wars with Israel and the 1956 Suez Crisis, the community has dwindled. Rarely musters the 10 men necessary to hold a service. If you want to get a glimpse of what the Jewish community was like in the prime, get to Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue.

error: Copyright © www.etltravel.com !

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Jewish Alexandria Information | tours | Online Booking | Photos Gallery

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Jewish Alexandria featured by Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue. It is a Jewish synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt. Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue Alexandria located in Nabi Daniel street. It built in 1354. Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue Alexandria was bombed by the French during their invasion of Egypt in 1798. It re-built in 1850 with contributions from the Mohammad Ali Dynasty.

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The Septuagint: a Legend from Alexandria

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The Septuagint: a Legend from Alexandria

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Septuagint, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. The Septuagint was presumably made for the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the common language throughout the region. Analysis of the language has established that the Torah, or Pentateuch (the first five books of the Old Testament), was translated near the middle of the 3rd century and that the rest of the Old Testament was translated in the 2nd century bce.

The name Septuagint (from the Latin septuaginta, "70") was derived later from the legend that there were 72 translators, 6 from each of the 12 tribes of Israel, who worked independently to translate the whole and ultimately produced identical versions. Another legend holds that the translators were sent to Alexandria by Eleazar, the chief priest at Jerusalem, at the request of Ptolemy II Philadelphus (285-246 bce), though its source, the Letter of Aristeas, is unreliable. Despite the tradition that it was perfectly translated, there are large differences in style and usage between the Septuagint's translation of the Torah and its translations of the later books in the Old Testament. In the 3rd century ce Origen attempted to clear up copyists' errors that had crept into the text of the Septuagint, which by then varied widely from copy to copy, and a number of other scholars consulted the Hebrew texts in order to make the Septuagint more accurate.

Given that the language of much of the early Christian church was Greek, many early Christians relied on the Septuagint to locate the prophecies they claimed were fulfilled by Christ. Jews considered this a misuse of Holy Scripture and stopped using the Septuagint altogether; its subsequent history lies within the Christian church. The Greek text, not the original Hebrew, was the main basis for the Old Latin, Coptic, Ethiopic, Armenian, Georgian, Slavonic, and part of the Arabic translations of the Old Testament and has never ceased to be the standard version of the Old Testament in the Greek church. Indeed, St. Jerome used the Septuagint to begin his translation of the Vulgate Old Testament in 382 ce.

In addition to all the books of the Hebrew canon, the Septuagint under Christian auspices separated the minor prophets and some other books and added the extra books known to Protestants and Jews as apocryphal and to Roman Catholics as deuterocanonical. The Hebrew canon has three divisions: the Torah (Law), the Neviʾim (Prophets), and the Ketuvim (Writings). The Septuagint has four: law, history, poetry, and prophets, with the books of the Apocrypha inserted where appropriate. This division has continued in the Western church in most modern Bible translations, except that in Protestant versions the Apocrypha are either omitted or grouped separately.

The text of the Septuagint is contained in a few early, but not necessarily reliable, manuscripts. The best known of these are the Codex Vaticanus (B) and the Codex Sinaiticus (S), both dating from the 4th century ce, and the Codex Alexandrinus (A) from the 5th century. There are also numerous earlier papyrus fragments and many later manuscripts. The first printed copy of the Septuagint was in the Complutensian Polyglot (1514-22).

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Septuagint | Greek, Hebrew & Aramaic Sources

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Septuagint, the earliest extant Greek translation of the Old Testament from the original Hebrew. The Septuagint was presumably made for the Jewish community in Egypt when Greek was the common language throughout the region. Analysis of the language has established that the Torah, or Pentateuch (the

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Eliyahu HaNavi Synagogue at Alexandria, Egypt

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Origins: Built in the 19th Century at a time when Egypt was booming after the opening of the Suez Canal, the synagogue reflects how community leaders saw a grand future for Alexandria's Jewish community. 2 Today, with almost no Jews remaining in the port city, the synagogue remains in relatively good condition, but with few visitors aside from Muslim caretakers and a pack of guard dogs.

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Search for "Alexandria"

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Archeologicalevidence of a Jewish presence in Egypt has been documented as far back as the Assyrian period, thanks to the famous discovery of Aramaic papyri and ostraca on the Island of Elephantine, near Aswan in Upper Egypt ( http://www.hebrewhistory.info/factpapers/fp019-3_africa.htm).

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2 Remaining synagogues in Alexandria: Eliyahu Hanavi & Menasce Synagogues

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2 Remaining synagogues in Alexandria: Eliyahu Hanavi & Menasce Synagogues

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2 Remaining synagogues in Alexandria: Eliahou Hanavi & Menasce Synagogues

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Book Title:  "Jews in Nineteenth-Century Egypt"
Author: Jacob M Landau
Published: 1969 in Great Britain by University London Press, Ltd

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Although nineteenth-century Egyptian Jewry was an active and creative part of society, this work from 1969 is the main comprehensive work devoted to an analysis and appraisal of its activities. The period under review commences with the fall of the Mamluk regime in Egypt, and the incipient modernization of the state, with the resulting increase in Jewish activity.

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Helpful Sections: "Ancient Period," "Arab Period," "Mamluk and Ottoman Periods," "Hebrew Press"

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Encyclopedia of Jewish and Israeli history, politics and culture, with biographies, statistics, articles and documents on topics from anti-Semitism to Zionism.

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Once proud and flourishing, the Jewish communities of Egypt are today on the verge of extinction. With a generous research grant from the Orthodox Union, Dr. Ari Greenspan and Rabbi Dr Ari Z. Zivotofsky recently visited the dwindling Egyptian Jewish communities of Alexandria and Cairo to offer hope and encouragement to the few remaining Jews and to learn more about the rich Jewish life that once was.
ALEXANDRIA, EGYPT
Jews have lived in Alexandria since 332 BCE, shortly after the city was first founded. Alexander the Great encouraged Jews to move there, and they did in great numbers. Indeed, the Talmud discusses the massive synagogue of Alexandria in which those sitting in the back could not hear the cantor, so large was the synagogue. Centuries later, in Maimonides' day, Cairo's Jewish community was a center of Jewish commerce and scholarship.

Even in modern times, Jewish life flourished in Alexandria. Up until the 1940s, as many as 80,000 Jews lived in Egypt, significantly contributing to the country culturally and economically. But after the birth of Israel in 1948, and in the aftermath of the Arab-Israeli wars, thousands of Jews fled Egypt. The shuls were sold, torn down and built over or locked up. Today, there are fewer than fifty Jews-most of whom are intermarried, elderly and poor-left in all of Egypt. Insecure and afraid, the few Jews left are careful not to draw attention to themselves.

The Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue, Alexandria, Egypt, 1994. The synagogue on Nabi Daniel Street once served as the central synagogue of Alexandria.
While making travel arrangements we discovered that Israel does not exist on the Egyptian airline web site. Despite Egypt's peace treaty with the Jewish State, relations between the two countries remain tense. The demonizing of Israel and of Jews is common in the Egyptian press.

A policeman approached us when we arrived at the Alexandria airport, and we soon realized that a police escort had been arranged for us for the duration of our stay. With the rise of Islamic fundamentalism in the country, we were not ungrateful for the protection. (In fact, the security situation in Egypt is such that all shuls are heavily guarded at all times.) Interestingly, the locals we met were consistently friendly and gracious. Throughout our day-and-a-half stay in Alexandria, four policemen did not leave our side, not even at 2:00 AM when we went for a stroll in the still-bustling souk (market).

Yosef Gaon, the head of the tiny Jewish community in Alexandria, gave us a fascinating tour of what Jewish Alexandria was like decades ago.

Today, the sole intact shul in Alexandria is the 150-year-old Eliyahu Hanavi Sephardic synagogue. One of the largest synagogues in the Middle East, the magnificent building sits within a courtyard that once contained the Jewish school, the mikvah and the various communal offices.

A viable Jewish community needs a variety of institutions, and Alexandria has at least one very useful one: a well stocked and organized Jewish library. It is unfortunately not used much (although we greatly enjoyed leafing through the tomes), and the Egyptian government prefers that it remain locked. But there are over a dozen bookcases full of Jewish books including Gemarot, the Shulchan Aruch and hundreds of books of responsa. However, you will not find books published within the past fifty years. Everything in the library is older than that; many are 150 years old and older. The existence of such an impressive library indicates that the kehillah in Alexandria was once vibrant and learned.

We noticed roll-on stampers used to designate kosher meat among the artifacts our guide showed us. Not too long ago, Alexandria had its own kosher slaughtering house under local rabbinic supervision, but sadly, today, there is no one left in Alexandria to support such an enterprise.

We had another capable, if unusual, guide, in addition to Gaon: Abed Al Nabi, a Muslim from southern Egypt, who has worked for the Jewish community for decades and speaks fluent Hebrew. Nabi took us to see the mikvah in the community compound, which still exists but is no longer in use. He also showed us the matzah making machinery, which is rusty and old, but still in the community's possession. The communal offices include a "court room" where the beit din used to convene and a large communal school building, which is today used as a Muslim school. The guided tour through the once Jewish buildings led by a Hebrew-speaking Egyptian was somewhat surreal.

Sixty sifrei Torah from all the shuls in Alexandria have been collected by the government and are now housed in the Eliyahu Hanavi Sephardic synagogue. The only other remaining shul in town is run down and, although still guarded by police, appears slated for destruction. The city has three Jewish cemeteries in various states of disrepair. Many tombstones are cracked, but the cemeteries are not entirely neglected. Non-Jewish caretakers tend to the cemeteries and live on the cemetery grounds. The vastness of the cemeteries and the magnificence of many of the tombstones attest to the impressive size and affluence of the community that once existed.

During our visit, we heard a fascinating story about a Jewish Anussah, or Marrano, who was taken by a Muslim man as a young girl and wed to him against her will. Although she had to convert to Islam, she stubbornly kept her Jewish soul alive for all sixty years of her married life. During that time, she could not live a Jewish life and even her three daughters do not know that they are Jewish. However, ever since her husband died, she began attending shul. Unfortunately, as she lives among Muslims, she was too afraid to meet with us.
Alexandria's Jewish cemeteries are in various states of disrepair. Courtesy of Ari Z. Zivotofsky.

CAIRO
We left Alexandria via train and headed to Cairo, a filthy, noisy metropolis of close to seven million people. Cairo is home to one of the world's oldest Jewish communities. It is not known exactly when the Jewish community of Cairo was first established, but it was certainly many centuries ago. Currently, no more than a score of elderly women comprise the Cairo Jewish community. The majority of the city's Jews were driven out decades ago by mob violence and state-sponsored persecution related to the Israeli-Arab conflict. Many Jews were evicted or arrested; their bank accounts were frozen and properties were seized. Reverberations from some of these seizures are still being felt. (An example is the ongoing litigation being handled by Nathan Lewin on behalf of Refael Bigio, an Egyptian Jew who is accusing Coca-Cola of illegally benefiting from his factory that was nationalized in 1962 by Nasser's regime.) Many other Egyptian Jews left of their own accord, hoping for a brighter future elsewhere.

Within this crowded city, one can still find a number of synagogues. We visited the oldest and most famous synagogue in Cairo: the Ben Ezra Synagogue, thought to date back to 882, located in the Fustat area of Coptic Cairo, the old Jewish neighborhood. Today no services are held there. The Rambam used to pray and hold court in this shul, and in 1896 the famous "Cairo Genizah," one of the most valuable troves of historical documents ever discovered, was found in its women's gallery.

The Teva (detail), Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagagoue, Cairo.
For the better part of the twentieth century, the building was left to deteriorate. However, in 1983, following the Camp David Accords, the Egyptian government realized the historical value of the shul and began to restore it, down to its marble pillars and ceiling painted in muted greens and reds-a project that took more than ten years to complete. The mikvah in the basement is still in a terrible state of disrepair. The restoration of the women's gallery is in progress, and visitors are not allowed in. However, the president of the Cairo Jewish community, Carmen Weinstein, graciously arranged for us to visit the women's gallery and see the entrance to the "attic" where the genizah was found.

While we were there, many groups of tourists-mostly Asian and European- flowed in and out. Interestingly, we did not see any Jewish, American or Israeli tourist groups.

In recent years, the Egyptian government has come to accept that preserving the country's rich Jewish heritage and religious sites is its responsibility since the tiny Jewish community there lacks the funds to do so. A yeshivah and shul known as "Rav Moshe," one of Cairo's most historic synagogues, and the grand-looking Karaite synagogue of Cairo were recently restored by the Egyptian government and rededicated. The government pledged to restore six more synagogues in the next two years. There are several other shuls in Cairo, but most are dilapidated and closed to the public. The one exception is the Sha'ar Hashamayim synagogue, also known as the Adli Street Synagogue, founded more than one hundred years ago. A structure of gray stone, the synagogue has carpeted floors and gold-painted walls. In the 1940s, upper-class Jews would fill its pews on Shabbat. On a recent Shabbat, it was empty. On rare occasions, such as when the Israeli embassy makes a request, minyanim are held there. The government uses it for all Jewish "functions" and thus it was there that Israeli POWs were paraded in the aftermath of the Yom Kippur War. This past February, a makeshift bomb was thrown at the historic shul, but fortunately it failed to detonate.

Kosher food is not available in Cairo. The Jewish school ceased functioning over fifty years ago, and we were told that it is dangerous to visit the Jewish cemetery-not a promising future for a Jewish community. What is left of this once-grand Jewish community? Books. There are three significant Jewish libraries in Cairo. Books from many of the now-destroyed shuls were collected and in 1989, a 7,000-book library was established. In 1997, a 3,000-volume library was inaugurated next to the Ben Ezra Synagogue, and a smaller library exists next to the large Karaite synagogue.

Dr. Ari Greenspan, a US-trained dentist with a practice in Jerusalem, is a co-founder of the Ptil Tekhelet Association. He is also a mohel, shochet and sofer, and has spent more than twenty years collecting Jewish traditions from far-flung Jewish communities.

Rabbi Dr. Ari Z. Zivotofsky, a Jewish Action columnist, is on the faculty at Bar-Ilan University. He is also a shochet, has a master's in Jewish history, and writes widely on topics of Jewish interest.

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Once proud and flourishing, the Jewish communities of Egypt are today on the verge of extinction. With a generous research grant from the Orthodox Union, Dr. Ari Greenspan and Rabbi Dr Ari Z. Zivotofsky recently visited the dwindling Egyptian Jewish communities of Alexandria and Cairo to offer hope and encouragement to the few remaining Jews ...

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"The largest, most significant, and culturally most creative Jewish Diaspora in early Jewish history flourished in Alexandria, where, in the 1st century bc, 40 percent of the population was Jewish." -- Encyclopedia Britannica  

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"The largest, most significant, and culturally most creative Jewish Diaspora in early Jewish history flourished in Alexandria, where, in the 1st century bc, 40 percent of the population was Jewish." -- Encyclopedia Britannica  