Enfants Heureux 1959 Shaar Ha Shamayim Synagogue Ecole de la Communautee Staff 1940's

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The Longest Five minutes

The Longest Five MinutesAt the outset of the “Six Day War” every Jewish family heard a knock on the door by police officers in civilian clothes summoning all males over the age of eighteen to the police station for a “Five-Minute” briefing. For many those “Five Minutes” lasted three years in prison without any given reason or charges. The only crime they have been accused of is that they are Jews. “YAHUD”.

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Lost 1,000-year-old Hebrew Bible found on dusty Cairo synagogue shelf

While attempting to document Egyptian synagogues, an Israeli historian stumbles upon a massive, well-preserved 616-page codex that was written in 1028

IT'S HARD TO BE INDIFFERENT TO THIS MANUSCRIPT'S BEAUTY'

By AMANDA BORSCHEL-DAN 24 February 2020, 3:58 pm The Times of Israel

In July 2017, Israeli historian Yoram Meital stumbled upon a handwritten 1028 CE biblical codex that was lying abandoned on a dusty shelf in a Cairo synagogue. Wrapped in simple white paper of the sort one finds on tables in cheap eateries, at 616 pages, the Zechariah Ben ‘Anan Manuscript is one of the era’s most complete and preserved examples of the “Writings,” the third and concluding section of the Hebrew Bible. It had been lost to scholars for almost 40 years.

This detailed illustration lists the name of the scribe, Zechariah Ben ‘Anan, as well as the owners of the Codex that was rediscovered in 2017 by Israeli scholar Prof. Yoram Meital in a Cairo synagogue. (Yoram Meital)

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A Thousand-Year-Old Biblical Manuscript Rediscovered in Cairo:

The Future of the Egyptian Jewish Past

By Yoram Meital Jewish Quarterly Review Volume 110, Winter 2020

Abstract

In the course of carrying out a project surveying synagogues in a Cairo now nearly devoid of Jews, the author rediscovered a rare medieval manuscript copy of a portion of the Bible. The manuscript, with a colophon indicating that it was copied by the scribe Zechariah Ben 'Anan in the year 1028, had been catalogued in the first half of the twentieth century but its whereabouts were unknown of late. This essay describes the manuscript's features and the process of its discovery along with numerous other rare books and manuscripts in the Karaite synagogue. It lays out a plan for retention of these treasures in Egypt as the property of the local Jewish community and a component of Egyptian national history.

ZBAM, Esther 9.13.

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What happened to the Jews of Egypt?

BY DAVID KENNER | MARCH 27, 2013 FP

Laissez passe for Renee Joseph Hassan

You wouldn’t know it from walking around Cairo today, but there used to be a vibrant Jewish population in Egypt. Throughout the first half of the 20th century, this 80,000-strong community was a pillar of the country’s political, economic, and cultural life — and then it died out, collateral damage to the political and religious ...

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The Jews Were Expelled from Egypt

By; Israel Bonan

Israel Bonan and his family on vacation in Alexandria, Egypt, 1950s Israel Bonan

This article is a rebuttal of Mr. Eyal Sagui Bizawe’s recently published article in Haaretz, “Were Egypt’s Jews Really Expelled?”

My name is Israel Bonan, and I currently reside in the United States. I was born in Egypt, and so were both my parents. In 1967, while the Six-Day War was raging between Israel and Egypt, I was jailed for being a Jew, and deported—that is, expelled with a passport stamped “Exit with No Return.”

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Israel said set to seek $250b compensation for Jews forced out of Arab countries

Jews of Aden, Yemen, awaiting evacuation to Israel on November 1, 1949

Israel is preparing to demand compensation totaling a reported $250 billion from seven Arab countries and Iran for property and assets left behind by Jews who were forced to flee those countries following the establishment of the State of Israel.

“The time has come to correct the historic injustice of the pogroms (against Jews) in seven Arab countries and Iran, and to restore, to hundreds of thousands of Jews who lost their property, what is rightfully theirs,”

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Despite Reports, Egypt Not Spending $71 Million To Restore Jewish Sites

Shaar Ha Shamayim SynagogueReports that Egypt will allocate $71 million to restore Jewish sites are inaccurate and might be part of a wider propaganda campaign aimed at propping up President Abdel al-Fattah al-Sisi, experts familiar with the project argue.

Last month, Egyptian Antiquities Minister Khaled al-Anani announced that Sisi had earmarked the money to rehabilitate Jewish monuments and houses of worship in the country. He was quoted by local media as saying that this is a priority for Cairo “much like [upholding] Pharaonic, Roman, Islamic and Coptic heritage,” and that the government “will not wait for any foreign party to grant finances” for the venture.

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Testimonies from the Jewish detainees in Abu Zaabal

إفادات من المعتقلين اليهود في ابو زعبل

لأول مرة وبالفيديو: إفادات من المعتقلين اليهود في ابو زعبل
في الخامس من شهر يونيو 1967 طرق اثنان من رجال المخابرات المصرية على باب منزل عوفاديا يروشالمي الذي كان طالبا جامعيا في القاهرة وطلبا اليه ان يرافقهما الى محطة الشرطة للإستفسار. أعدت له والدته بعض الملابس والنقود ليحملها معه فقالا لها ليس داع لذلك وانه سيعود خلال 5 دقائق. استغرق هذا المشوار سنتين.
إختار يروشالمي عبارة "خمس الدقائق الطويلة" لتكون عنوان الكتاب الجديد الذي كرس له سنوات طويلة من البحث والتوثيق للحملة التي تعرض لها يهود مصر بعد حرب الأيام الستة سيما الاعتقالات في السجون التي استغرقت أحيانا حتى 3 سنوات.
إليكم هذا الشريط القصير

Prayer Books used the entire year

Siddur Yesharim 1954

The HSJE and our friends would like to thank Dr. Maurice M. Mizrahi for scanning the book, and Mr. Tony (Nathan) Sidès, for providing the book.

Please note the stamp on the first page denoting that the book belonged to the Ahava ve Ahva 4 Midan El Daher Cairo Egypt.

You may download the entire book for your personal use

Siddur Tefillat Yesharim-1954.pdf

Siddur Nehamat Tzion 1939

Siddur NehamaJerusalem: Mendel Friedman, 1939
Prayer book for the whole year, according to Sephardic custom..

Thanks to Mrs Maryse Zeitouni for providing this siddur that belonged to her late husband Edmond Zeitouni, z"l, and to Dr Maurice Mizrahi for scanning it.

Siddur_nehama/Siddur Nehamat Tzion (Jerusalem, 1939).pdf

Siddur Farhi

Daily Prayers - Hebrew with Arabic Translation Authored by Dr. Hillel Yaacob Farhi
Edition: Fouth Edition of the 1917 Prayer Book.
Daily prayers, Shabbat prayers, Special prayers, Minor Holidays prayers (except Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), Supplications, Blessings and Hymns from Syria and Egypt. With Arabic translation of each facing Hebrew page.

Menasce Synagogue in Alexandria to be added to Egypt's heritage list

Menasce synagogue interior

Nevine El-Aref ,
Thursday 28 Sep 2017

The synagogue in El-Manshia Square was built by Baron Yacoub de Menasce in 1860

Antiquities officials have decided to add the Menasce Synagogue in Alexandria to the national heritage list of Islamic, Coptic and Jewish monuments.

According to Mohammed Metwali, general director of antiquities in Alexandria, the synagogue was built by philanthropist Baron Yacoub de Menasce in 1860.According to Mohammed Metwali, general director of antiquities in Alexandria, the synagogue was built by philanthropist Baron Yacoub de Menasce in 1860.

Ahram on line

Private Motive for Egypt’s Public Embrace of a Jewish Past

Restoration work being done last month at a synagogue where Moses Maimonides once worked and studied in Cairo. Credit Shawn Baldwin for The New York Times

By MICHAEL SLACKMAN
SEPT. 6, 2009

CAIRO — Egyptians generally do not make any distinction between Jewish people and Israelis. Israelis are seen as the enemy, so Jews are, too.

Khalid Badr, 40, is pretty typical in that regard, living in a neighborhood of winding, rutted roads in Old Cairo, selling snacks from a kiosk while listening to the Koran on the radio. Asked his feelings about Jews, he replied matter-of-factly. “We hate them for everything they have done to us,” Mr. Badr said, as casually as if he had been asked the time.

New York Times

The Sad case of our Cemeteries

Egypt expelled the Jews, now they wish to eradicate the dead's legacy


Interview with Dr. David Marzuk and Albert Gamill

Who's Who

Haim Saban

Haim SabanIt was August 2003 and Haim Saban was awaiting word on a deal to acquire a controlling stake in ProSiebenSat.1 Media, Germany’s largest broadcasting group, that country’s approximate equivalent of owning ABC, CBS, and CNN.

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Gaby Aghion

Gaby AghionGabrielle Aghion was a French fashion designer and the founder of the French fashion house Chloé. She is said to have coined the phrase "prêt-à- porter."

The Greek-Italian daughter of a wealthy cigarette manufacturer, Gaby Aghion was born Gabrielle Hanoka in Alexandria, Egypt,

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Moshe Habousha

Moshe HaboushaWhat are popular, totally secular Egyptian songs doing in and to the synagogue? Liturgical poet-musician Moshe Habusha, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's cantor, says Israel's European-dominated culture has much to learn from the late great Arab singers.

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Leaving Egypt

Leaving EgyptLike their Biblical forerunners, the Egyptians of the twentieth century temporarily played host to the Jewish
people — close to 80,000 of them by the early 1940s.
And like their Biblical ancestors, the Jews of Egypt
eventually left the country in a hurry, though without the great wealth and miraculous wonders that had accompanied their nation over 3,000 years earlier.
Here Inyan presents a kaleidoscope of proud shomrei
Torah u’mitzvos who share memories of their lives in Egypt and the modern-day exodus they experienced.

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Interview with Dr. Maurice Mizrahi

The Technology GuruWhen the State of Israel was declared in 1948, Jews in Arab lands became scapegoats. Mobs in Algeria, Morocco, Libya, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon and Egypt vented their frustrations against their Jewish neighbors, most of whom they had been living with peace­fully for generations. It resulted in a great exodus of Jews, some 850,000 by most estimates. In comparison, the events of 1948 created about 726,000 Arab refugees from "Palestine."

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I am a forgotten Jew.

Letter from a Forgotten Jew

My roots are nearly 2,600 years old, my ancestors made landmark contributions to worldDavid Harris civilization, and my presence was felt from North Africa to the Fertile Crescent — but I barely exist today. You see, I am a Jew from the Arab world. No, that’s not entirely accurate. I’ve fallen into a semantic trap. I predated the Arab conquest in just about every country in which I lived. When Arab invaders conquered North Africa, for example, I had already been present there for more than six centuries.

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Personal and individual Stories

THE STORY OF EGYPTIAN JEWS

Mary Halawani 

PyramidsEgyptian Jews belong to a very ancient culture. In biblical times, when Jacob and his family fled from the famine besieging the land of Canaan, Egypt opened its doors. It was in Egypt that the children and grand children of Jacob-Israel multiplied and became a people of twelve tribes.

It was also in Egypt that my family was forced to repeat the biblical exodus of Moses’ time. Like thousands of Jews (an estimated 75,000 in the 1950’s), they had to leave behind a lifetime of friends and possessions. I experienced this exodus as a child. I was forced to grow up in an alien culture, longing for the land and the time that my grandparents had lived in.

 

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A DOCUMENTARY FILM ABOUT THE CAIRO GENIZA

Cairo to the Cloud

"The Geniza gave us a kind of video on life a thousand years ago that is totally unique. Every aspect of life is represented there." --Stefan Reif, Cambridge University Library (Emeritus).

Cairo to the Cloud tells the captivating story of the Cairo Geniza, a vast treasure trove of manuscripts discovered in the “geniza,” or sacred storeroom, of an ancient synagogue in Old Cairo.

The Geniza is not only the largest cache of Jewish history ever found, it is a window into a vanished civilization, with over 350,000 documents illuminating over a thousand years of Jewish, Christian and Moslem life in the heart of the Islamic world.

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ARE YOU A JEW FROM EGYPT?
WE NEED YOUR STORY NOW!

Send it to My Story

Have you noticed that the voices of Holocaust denial are getting louder and more frequent? In Iran, in Arab countries, in other Islamic countries, in the West -- they seem to proliferate everywhere. Why do you think that is so? Simple: Holocaust survivors are dying out. Witnesses to man's inhumanity to man will soon completely disappear and will no longer be able to confront the liars face to face. Then -- who knows -- the lies may well become established history. The same will happen to Jews from Arab countries. We, too, are dying out. For almost forty years, since the Six-Day War of 1967, Arab countries have been essentially "judenrein" -- devoid of Jews. The youngest among us who still remembers anything is in his early fifties. enter"

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Locked away:

Egypt’s forgotten Jewish literary heritage

Current Egyptian Minister of Culture Helmy al-Namnam:

"There is nothing called ‘Jewish books in Egypt,’ the books scientifically should be classified as Arabic, Persian, Turkish, etc.”.

Egypt Minister of Culture Helmy al-Namnam Inside a library of a synagogue in downtown Cairo, hundreds of Judaic books dating from the medieval ages to 20th century are shelved, unread and un-indexed.

Despite a center dedicated to their preservation, government ministries have stalled, eschewing responsibility for what would be an expensive project to review and record the manuscripts digitally ...

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Our Galleries

Synagogues

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Schools

Cattawi Pashsa 1936

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Activities

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An Inventory to the Jamie Lehmann Memorial Collection

Records of the Jewish Community of Cairo, 1886-1961

Abstract Consists of account books, by-laws, case files, certificates, correspondence, legal documents, minutes, photographs and reports from the Sephardic and Ashkenazic Jewish communities of Cairo. Also contains minute registers of two lodges of the International Order of B'nai B'rith in Cairo, which provide information crucial for understanding the modernization of Egyptian Jewry that took place in the early decades of the twentieth century.

The records of the Sephardic Jewish Community are divided into five series:
Jewish Community Council
Chief Rabbinate
Administration of Synagogues
Administration of Jewish Schools
Welfare Agencies

The Jewish Community of Cairo in the Twentieth Century

Egyptian Economics and Politics (1869 - 1936)

European colonial intervention in African affairs in the mid-nineteenth century had its strongest impact on Egypt. French engineer Ferdinand de Lesseps built the Suez Canal (1869) and British engineers built the country's first railroad system. With French and British influence growing in the country, Egypt had to respond to international demands and pressures which destroyed its traditional economic structure. ...

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The Egyptian Jewish Community: Demography

Within a short period of time, fewer than sixty years, Egyptian society was completely transformed. Rapid changes affecting the economy and shifts in the political system had serious repercussions for the Jewish community. Modernization forced Egyptian Jews to reconsider their established customs and practices, and introduced western ideas into their culture.

There is no census of the Jewish population in Egypt until the end of the nineteenth century when an estimated 25,000 Jews lived in the country. The Jewish population increased to more than double between 1897, the year of the first available census, and 1917, when it was estimated at 60,000. This figure remained stable until the mass emigration of 1947. Today, only a few hundred Jews are left in Cairo and Alexandria.[2] ... Read More ...

From the archives of the Historical Society of Jews from Egypt

On June 6th 1997 The Historical Society of Jews from Egypt extended an invitation to Her Royal Majesty Queen Elizabeth II, Queen of the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand, and to His Majesty King Juan Carlos I of Spain, to become Patrons of the Historical Society of Jews from Egypt.

Her Royal Highness
Queen Elizabeth II

Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II reply letter from her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II

His Royal Highness
King Juan Carlos I

His Majesty King Juan Carlos I reply letter from his majesty King Juan Carlos I

VIDEOS BY VARIOUS CONTRIBUTORS

Brazilian immigration cards given to Jews from Egypt in the 1950s.

A Lista de Nasser from Alain Bigio on Vimeo.

Album de fotografias from My early years in Egypt and the beginning in Brazil

Album de fotografias from Alain Bigio on Vimeo. My early years in Egypt and the beginning in Brazil

The Second Exodus: A New Way to Promote Peace between Israelis and Palestinians

והגדת לבינך - יציאת מצריים השניה

Levana Zamir Speech to the United Nations - 21.11.13

Interview with Levana Zamir 26/04/2015

"My best friend was a Muslim"

תור הזהב מצגת

حوار اليوم- مع ليفانا زمير

An Egyptian Refugee Says Goodbye

"My life in Abuzaabal and Tora" introduced by Elie A. Kheder

Growing up under Pharoah

Les Juifs d'Egypte - J'ai grandi à l'ombre du Pharaon (2012)

لنَشْأة فى ظِلّ فرعون -- يهود مِصر - الدكتور موريس م. مزراحى

Dr Maurice Mizrahi - Sono cresciuto all'ombra del Faraone - Gli ebrei d'Egitto

Remy Pessah, Jewish Life in Egypt

Remy Pessah, Jewish Life in Egypt from JIMENA Media on Vimeo.

(c) Copyright, JIMENA INC

Egyptians in the Shadows

The last Jews of Alexandria

New Book Releases From the Library

Les Chemins de la poésie

Les Chemins de la Poesie

« Les Chemins de la poésie » se font tortueux, pleins de virages inattendus, explorant tout autant les émois passionnels que les coins dun globe soumis, encore et toujours, à lintolérable Appel à léveil des consciences et de la mémoire, odes à la paix et à la réconciliation, hommages aux abîmés et traumatisés forment ainsi le matériau dans lequel est coulée une uvre dont les notes rappellent autant le Qaddish que lhumanisme

Siddur Farhi

Siddur FarhiDaily Prayers - Hebrew with Arabic Translation
Authored by Dr. Hillel Yaacob Farhi 
Edition: Fouth Edition of the 1917 Prayer Book.

Daily prayers, Shabbat prayers, Special prayers, Minor Holidays prayers (except Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur), Supplications, Blessings and Hymns from Syria and Egypt. With Arabic translation of each facing Hebrew page.

Growing Up Jewish in Alexandria

Growing Up Jewish in Alexandria

Lucienne Carasso grew up in Alexandria, Egypt. Her cozy, secure and settled world was shattered by the Suez Canal Crisis in November 1956 when her father and uncle were interned by the government of Gamal Abdel Nasser. This marked the beginning of the end of the century-long sojourn of her extended Sephardic family in Egypt. In her memoir, she shares the magical world of her childhood in the rich, multifaceted city of Alexandria,

The Abyss

The Abyss

Bridging the Divide between Israel and the Arab World Hardcover – May 5, 2015 by Eli Avidar

Eli Avidar looks into the abyss that divides Israel from its Arab neighbors, in order to understand the inherent flaws, prevailing misunderstandings, and tragic mistakes that characterize the relations and bloodletting, and how, if at all possible, to bridge the differences. In doing so, he offers a new perspective about the reality of the Middle East and all the clichés that have transformed the Hebrew-Arab lexicon into a complex and hopeless minefield.

The Journey: From Ismaeleya to Higienópolis - The story of an Egyptian Jew

The Journey: From Ismaeleya to Higienópolis - The story of an Egyptian Jew

Whenever I am asked: "Where are you from?" I feel insecure and hesitate to answer. Strange as it may sound, for me the answer is neither simple nor direct. I was born in Cairo Egypt, in 1944, yet I don’t have an Egyptian nationality and can hardly speak the national language, Arabic. I have a French nationality, without ever having lived in France. Although my surname sounds Italian, I don’t speak the Italian.

On the Mediterranean and the Nile: The Jews of Egypt

On the Mediterranean and the Nile: the Jews of Egypt"Aimée Israel-Pelletier examines the lives of Middle Eastern Jews living in Islamic societies in this political and cultural history of the Jews of Egypt. By looking at the work of five Egyptian Jewish writers, Israel-Pelletier confronts issues of identity, exile, language, immigration, Arab nationalism, European colonialism, and discourse on the Holocaust.

Pre-order from Amazon This title has not yet been released. Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

From the Library

Collections

The HSJE urges everyone, PLEASE do not discard any invitation(s) in your possession, or any you may receive or acquire, such as, invitation of Bar/Bat-Mitzvah, Weddings, Engagements, Graduations, or any Community announcements. Please collect and mail them to us. Such material holds valuable genealogical as well as communal information. Please mail to:


HISTORICAL SOCIETY OF JEWS FROM EGYPT
COLLECTIONS
P.O BOX 230445 BROOKLYN, NY 11223 USA