Egypt - the Lost Homeland : Exodus from Egypt, 1947-1967 - the History of the Jews in Egypt, 1540 BCE to 1967 CE [1 ed.] 9783832587895, 9783832540524

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Arabische Welt - Arab World Edited by Rudiger ¨ Lohlker

Volume 2

Alisa Douer

Egypt - The Lost Homeland Exodus from Egypt, 1947-1967

λογος

Arabische Welt - Arab World

Band 2

Arabische Welt - Arab World Band 2

Herausgegeben von Rudiger ¨ Lohlker

Alisa Douer

Egypt - The Lost Homeland Exodus from Egypt, 1947-1967 The History of the Jews in Egypt, 1540 BCE to 1967 CE

Translated by Karin Hanta-Davis

Logos Verlag Berlin

λογος

Bibliografische Information der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek verzeichnet diese Publikation in der Deutschen Nationalbibliografie; detaillierte bibliografische Daten sind im Internet u¨ ber http://dnb.d-nb.de abrufbar.

Coverfoto: Alisa Douer. Pyramid of Menkaure, 2009

c Copyright Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH 2015

Alle Rechte vorbehalten.

ISBN 978-3-8325-4052-4 ISSN 2199-4013

Logos Verlag Berlin GmbH Comeniushof, Gubener Str. 47, 10243 Berlin Tel.: +49 (0)30 / 42 85 10 90 Fax: +49 (0)30 / 42 85 10 92 http://www.logos-verlag.de

Dedicated to the Sephardic Jews of Egypt

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A Note of Thanks

First of all, I would like to express my deep gratitude to my professor and friend, Dr. Rüdiger Lohlker for sharing his knowledge, his humanity, and his endless patience with me. I have learned so much from him in this process. He has never wavered in his belief in me. I hope that I have lived up to his expectations. I would also like to express my profound gratitude to my Egyptian-born interview partners and their children, who unreservedly welcomed me in their homes and answered my questions as best as they could. I have met very special people along the way and would not have wanted to miss this experience for the world. Since I interviewed almost 100 people, readers will find their names in the main part of this book: the interview section. I would also like to thank my Muslim interview partners in Egypt and the United States who gave me insights into Egypt, especially the time before 1948 and the role of Jews in Egypt. Readers can find their names under the heading “Other Voices” in the interview section of this book. Many thanks go to scholars in Egypt: Professor Mustafa el-Abadi, Professor Nur Shareef, Professor Mohamed Awad; in Israel: Professor Israel Gershoni, Professor Margalit Bejerano, Professor Uri Kupferschmidt, Professor Yoram Meital; in the United States: Professor JeanMark Ran Oppenheim und Professor Joel Beinin, for being willing to talk to me and support me. They were very helpful and answered many of my remaining questions. I am indebted to Professor Guy Stern, Detroit, United States; Professor Albert Lichtblau, Salzburg; and Professor Israel Gershoni, Tel Aviv for their positive and constructive evaluation of my dissertation. Many thanks go also to Dr. Rudolf Agstner from the Austrian Ministry for Foreign Affairs for his advice and the many materials to which he gave me access. I would also like to thank my friends who listened to me and patiently supported me by just being there, especially Barbara Hulan, Vera Kofler-Mongold, and Fredi Kuncio.

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Egypt, Jews, and Memory

Alisa Douer’s book traces the long history of Egyptian Jews. They exemplify a vital part of the history of the Middle East (a term with a sometimes-dubious history). To relegate them to a mere footnote in history would therefore be a blatant omission. This book traces the Jewish minority in the Arab world, a world that for centuries did not correspond to a homogenized vision of a single Arab nation. This world was inhabited by a wide variety of ethnic and religious minorities that coexisted and cohabited in a more or less peaceful manner. The author brings to our attention the expulsion of the Jewish portion of the Egyptian population in the 20th century, which went hand in hand with the construction of a modern Egyptian nation. She also sheds light on the ethnic and cultural diversity lost in the process of nation-building. Alisa Douer brings to light the difficult situation Sephardic refugees from Egypt faced in Israel as a non-accepted minority. She also examines the reasons why Egyptian-Jewish refugees integrated in the United States, for the most part successfully. And last but not least, Alisa Douer unearths the stories of people who were expelled from their homeland and found a way to start a new life. She reminds us of all of this and points to the fact that the disintegration of old social structures in the Middle East meant an incalculable loss for these new states. By disentangling the region’s century-old entanglements—which started with national separations giving way to religious ones—she paints a picture of old, albeit colonial Egypt, but also juxtaposes this Egypt with a utopian notion, in which (con)fusion and connection no longer seem dangerous. Based on this utopia, we may be able to find a better name for the region, a name no longer determined by colonialism. We may want to consider using the term “Levant,” if we use it confidently in spite of the contempt Europeans have for all things “Levantine.” There are many reasons why it is worthwhile to examine the history of Jews in Egypt and

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after Egypt. The topic certainly has not been exhausted with this dissertation. The history of the Egyptian exodus from Egypt forms part and parcel of 20th-century history; Alisa Douer brings it back from oblivion. As a final note, I would like to remind readers that Martin Hartmann once compared the multilingual beginning Arabic and Hebrew verses of the Iberian Muwashshah poems to “salt, sugar, musk, and ambergris.” Alisa Douer eloquently makes the case that a country that expels its minorities lacks exactly these things.

Rüdiger Lohlker (Vienna)

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Table of Contents A Note of Thanks.......................................................................................................................................6 Egypt, Jews, and Memory..........................................................................................................................7   Table of Contents.......................................................................................................................................9   Introduction..............................................................................................................................................18   1. Jewish Presence in Egypt throughout the Ages ..............................................................................25   Chronological Overview..........................................................................................................................25   A First Jewish Presence in Egypt ............................................................................................................26   Moses .......................................................................................................................................................27   The First Exodus from Egypt...................................................................................................................28   Jewish Life in Egypt ................................................................................................................................29   The Merenptah Stele ................................................................................................................................29   The Hycsos ..............................................................................................................................................29   Nebuchadnezzar II ...................................................................................................................................30   Jewish Settlements ...................................................................................................................................30   The Papyri................................................................................................................................................31   The Elephantine Papyri............................................................................................................................32   The Zenon Papyri.....................................................................................................................................32   The Structure of Jewish Society ..............................................................................................................33   Monotheism/Judaism ...............................................................................................................................33   Anti-Monotheism/Anti-Semitism ............................................................................................................35   Jewish Literature and Ancient Scholars...................................................................................................36   Jewish Philosophers .................................................................................................................................36   Ben Sira (2nd Century BCE) ...................................................................................................................36   Philo of Alexandria (15/20 BCE-40 CE) .................................................................................................36   Josephus Flavius (37/38-100 CE) ............................................................................................................37   Jewish Rights and Privileges ...................................................................................................................38   Jews in Christian Egypt ...........................................................................................................................39   Alexandria................................................................................................................................................39   The Hellenistic-Ptolemaic Period ............................................................................................................40   The Ptolemaic Dynasty ............................................................................................................................40   Alexandria’s Special Status under the Ptolemaic Dynasty ......................................................................41   The Roman Period ...................................................................................................................................42   Alexandria and Christianity .....................................................................................................................43   Babylon ....................................................................................................................................................44   2. The Islamic Period .............................................................................................................................45   Islam (starting in 642 CE)........................................................................................................................45  

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The Umayyad Rule (642-750) .................................................................................................................46   The Abbasid Period (750-914) ................................................................................................................47   The Fatimid Dynasty (914-1171) ............................................................................................................47   The Foundation of Cairo (969) ................................................................................................................48   Jews under Fatimid Rule..........................................................................................................................49   Jewish Life ...............................................................................................................................................50   The Cairo Geniza .....................................................................................................................................51   The Ayyubid Rule (1171-1250)...............................................................................................................52   The Mamluk Dynasty (1250-1517) .........................................................................................................53   Jews under Mamluk Rule ........................................................................................................................54   Jewish Philosophers and Scholars ...........................................................................................................55   The Geonim .............................................................................................................................................55   Saadia Gaon / Rasag (882-942) ...............................................................................................................55   Judah/Jehuda ha-Levi/Rihal (1075-1141)................................................................................................56   Maimonides/Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam (1135-1204) .............................................................56   Abraham/Avram Maimonides (1186-1273) ............................................................................................57   Anatoli Ben Joseph (ca. 1200) .................................................................................................................57   Benjamin of Tudela (1130-1172/73) .......................................................................................................58   The Nagid/The Negidim ..........................................................................................................................58   Jews under Islamic Rule ..........................................................................................................................59   3. The Ottomans (1517-1922) ................................................................................................................61   The Beginning of the Ottoman Empire in Egypt .....................................................................................61   Jews under Ottoman Rule ........................................................................................................................63   Jewish Scholars under Ottoman Rule ......................................................................................................64   Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra/Radbaz (1479-1573) .............................................................64   Rabbi Isaak Luria/Ha’Ari ha’kadosh (1534-1572) ..................................................................................65   Sabbatei Zevi (1626-1676) ......................................................................................................................65   Sephardim: Jews from the Iberian Peninsula...........................................................................................66   Ottomans and Jews ..................................................................................................................................67   Egyptian Purim ........................................................................................................................................67   Jewish Lifestyle .......................................................................................................................................68   Ottomans in Egypt ...................................................................................................................................69   A Crisis in the Ottoman Empire ..............................................................................................................69   Napoleon in Egypt (1798-1802) ..............................................................................................................70   The End of an Era ....................................................................................................................................71   4. Muhammad Ali and His Dynasty (1805-1882) ................................................................................72   Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849).........................................................................................................72  

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Egypt under Muhammad Ali’s Rule ........................................................................................................73   Demographic Data ...................................................................................................................................74   Foreigners and Jews in the Early 19th Century .......................................................................................75   Alexandria—The Window to Europe ......................................................................................................76   Cairo—Paris on the Nile..........................................................................................................................77   A Heyday for Jews and Foreigners..........................................................................................................79   Jewish Culture..........................................................................................................................................80   Anti-Semitism ..........................................................................................................................................80   The Suez Canal ........................................................................................................................................81   The Orabi Revolt (1881)..........................................................................................................................81   5. The British in Egypt (1882-1956) .....................................................................................................84   The Occupation of Egypt .........................................................................................................................84   Egyptian Loyalty towards Great Britain ..................................................................................................85   Alexandria under British Rule .................................................................................................................86   Alexandria, an International City.............................................................................................................86   Cairo under British Rule ..........................................................................................................................87   Sidenote: Austria in Egypt.......................................................................................................................89   The Imperial Austrian Matrikelbuch of Cairo (1908-1914) ....................................................................89   Administration and Reorganizaton ..........................................................................................................89   World War I (1914-1918) ........................................................................................................................90   The Balfour Declaration ..........................................................................................................................91   The Interwar Period (1918-1939) ............................................................................................................91   Politics .....................................................................................................................................................91   Political Consciousness............................................................................................................................92   Egypt under the British and the Ottomans...............................................................................................93   The State Treaty.......................................................................................................................................93   Economic Affairs and Education .............................................................................................................94   Jews in the Interwar Period......................................................................................................................94   Persecution...............................................................................................................................................96   World War II (1939-1945).......................................................................................................................97   The White Paper ......................................................................................................................................97   Rommel in Egypt .....................................................................................................................................97   After 1943 ................................................................................................................................................98   A New University (1943) ........................................................................................................................99   After World War II ..................................................................................................................................99   Political Unrest ........................................................................................................................................99   After the Holocaust ................................................................................................................................100  

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1947 in Egypt.........................................................................................................................................101   Foreigners and Jews...............................................................................................................................101   The First Arab-Israeli War of 1948 .......................................................................................................102   1952-1956 ..............................................................................................................................................103   The Free Officers’ Revolution of 1952..................................................................................................103   Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970) .........................................................................................................103   Consequences of the Revolution............................................................................................................104   The Lavon Affair and Its Consequences................................................................................................105   Nationalization of the Suez Canal; the Arab-Israeli War of 1956 .........................................................106   Egyptian Cultural Life ...........................................................................................................................107   Jews in Egypt .........................................................................................................................................107   Jewish Culture and Art ..........................................................................................................................109   The Jewish Press ....................................................................................................................................109   Jewish Film and Theater ........................................................................................................................110   Jewish Music..........................................................................................................................................110   Jews and Politics ....................................................................................................................................110   Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................111   Excerpt from Samir Raafat’s Article .....................................................................................................112   6. The Time before 1948 ......................................................................................................................113   Egyptian Jewish Communities...............................................................................................................113   Egypt after 1918.....................................................................................................................................113   Demographic Data .................................................................................................................................114   Emigration to Palestine/Eretz Israel before 1948 ..................................................................................115   A Brief Survey of Zionism ....................................................................................................................115   Zionism in Egypt ...................................................................................................................................116   Jews Are Philanthropists........................................................................................................................118   Nazis in the Middle East ........................................................................................................................118   Palestine/ Eretz Israel.............................................................................................................................119   The 1930s...............................................................................................................................................119   World War II, 1939-1945 ......................................................................................................................120   The Post-War Period..............................................................................................................................120   The Exodus ............................................................................................................................................121   Sephardim and Ashkenazim ..................................................................................................................122   November 29, 1947................................................................................................................................123   7. The Exodus from Egypt - 1948-1967..............................................................................................125   Egypt’s Jewish Communities.................................................................................................................125   Demographic and Statistical Data..........................................................................................................126  

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Statistical Information on Escape and Emigration, 1948-1967 .............................................................126   Who is Who in Egypt.............................................................................................................................128   The Foundation of Israel, May 15, 1948 ...............................................................................................128   The First Arab–Israeli War of 1948.......................................................................................................130   The End of the War................................................................................................................................131   Post–War Egypt .....................................................................................................................................131   1949–1952 .............................................................................................................................................133   Free Officers’ Coup of 1952 ..................................................................................................................134   The Lavon Affair of 1954 ......................................................................................................................135   The Arab–Israeli War of 1956 ...............................................................................................................136   The Post-War Period..............................................................................................................................136   The Interwar Period from 1957 to 1967 ................................................................................................138   The Six–Day War of 1967 .....................................................................................................................138   The Pre–War Period...............................................................................................................................138   The Six–Day War ..................................................................................................................................139   The Result ..............................................................................................................................................139   The Third Exodus from Egypt ...............................................................................................................140   The Paths of Emigration ........................................................................................................................141   Emigration Destinations ........................................................................................................................143   United States.........................................................................................................................................143   Requirements .........................................................................................................................................143   Escape to the United States....................................................................................................................143   Integration in the United States .............................................................................................................144   Identity in the United States...................................................................................................................145   Israel......................................................................................................................................................146   Occidental Zionism in the Middle East .................................................................................................146   Identity in Israel .....................................................................................................................................147   Mizrahim and Ashkenazim ....................................................................................................................148   A Culturally Charged Encounter - The Israeli Zionists’ Mistake..........................................................149   Mizrahim and Post-Zionists...................................................................................................................152   The Refugee Problem ............................................................................................................................155   Our Nakhba............................................................................................................................................156   Homesick for Egypt ...............................................................................................................................157   What Life in Egypt Was Like ................................................................................................................158   8. The Interviews..................................................................................................................................160   My Personal Interview Style..................................................................................................................160   An Interview Is Not a Photograph .........................................................................................................161  

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Interviews in Israel ..............................................................................................................................162   Aharon Benni, born in Cairo in 1929, Sakhanini ..................................................................................162   Aharon Neli, born in Alexandria in 1931, Camp Cesar.........................................................................163   Aharoni Ada, born in Cairo in 1933, Tahrir ..........................................................................................163   Bar-Av Bentata Avraham, born in Cairo in 1941 ..................................................................................164   Bohana Fortune, born 1936 in Alexandria, Harat-el-Yahud .................................................................165   Brakha Eliyahu, born in Alexandria in 1926, Ibrahimiya......................................................................166   Brakha-Rosenthal Dina, born in Cairo, Tahrir, in 1927 ........................................................................167   Braunstein-Piccioto Ninett, born in Cairo in 1930, Heliopolis..............................................................168   Calamarov- Belbel Lucy, born in Cairo in 1944, Daher........................................................................169   Cohen Sami Samuel, born in Cairo in 1943, Harat-el-Yahud ...............................................................170   Cohenca Nisim Edi, born in Alexandria in 1922, Heliopolis ................................................................171   Dahan David, born in Alexandria in 1935, Hadara ...............................................................................172   Dahan-Dan Gil, born in Israel in 1969 ..................................................................................................173   Dassa Clement, born in Alexandria in 1936, Manshiya ........................................................................173   Dassa Eveline, born in Port Said in 1946 ..............................................................................................174   Dassa Givoni Orit, born in Israel ..........................................................................................................174   Dubek (Douek) Efrayim Frederic, born in Cairo in 1930, Tahrir..........................................................174   Elimelech Clement Ran, born in Tanta in 1931.....................................................................................176   Ezra Sasson Odet, born in Cairo in 1933...............................................................................................176   Gabei Ellen, born in Alexandria in 1940, Camp Cesar .........................................................................177   Gormezano-Goren Itzhak Robert, born in Alexandria in 1941, Sporting .............................................178   Har’el Wahba David, born in Tanta in 1928 .........................................................................................180   Henson Joefry, born in Alexandria in 1931, Smohha............................................................................182   Jerushalmi Ovadia, born in Cairo in 1945, Abasiyya ............................................................................183   Kimhi Ruth, born in Cairo in 1944, Center ...........................................................................................184   Lagziel Kibritt Lea, born in Israel in 1956 ............................................................................................186   Levy Itzhak, born in Cairo in 1922, Center ...........................................................................................187   Loeventhal Jaques, born in Alexandria in 1936, Cleopatra ...................................................................187   Oppenheim Dan, born in Alexandria in 1945, Sporting ........................................................................190   Ozon Julia, born in Cairo in 1941..........................................................................................................191   Rofe Avraham Roje, born in Cairo in 1927, Heliopolis ........................................................................192   Rofe Joya Jehudit, born in Cairo in 1929, Heliopolis............................................................................192   Rosenthal Lazar, born in Cairo in 1942, Heliopolis ..............................................................................193   Salama Daniel Dorit, born in Cairo in 1949, Heliopolis .......................................................................194   Salama Hirschberg Mazal, born in Cairo in 1948, Heliopolis...............................................................195   Shem-Tov Frieda, born in Cairo in 1946, Samalek ...............................................................................196  

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Shem-Tov Shimon, born in Alexandria in 1942....................................................................................197   Silvermann Rubinstein Shmuel, born in Alexandria in 1943, Camp Cesar ..........................................198   Yadgard Rodrigues Jeane, born in Cairo in 1926, Abbasiya.................................................................199   Yarhi Kissus Alegra, born in Alexandria in 1925 .................................................................................199   Yarhi Davidovich Zipi, born in Cairo in 1949, Daher...........................................................................200   Zadka Raphael, born in Cairo in 1938, Daher .......................................................................................201   Zadka Rina, born in Sudan in 1943, Chartum ......................................................................................203   Interviews in the USA..........................................................................................................................204   Abemayor Gracia, born in Cairo in 1940, Abasiyya .............................................................................204   Aciman André, born in Alexandria in 1951 ..........................................................................................204   Behar Ricky Richard, born in the USA in 1961 ....................................................................................206   Ben Ezra Albert, born in Cairo in 1944, Center ....................................................................................206   Castro Salomone, born in Alexandria in 1935, Muharam Bay..............................................................207   El-Wahid Joseph, born in Cairo in 1936, Heliopolis .............................................................................208   Farhi Alain, born in Cairo in 1944, Garden City ...................................................................................209   Farhi Piccioto Sarin, born in Cairo in 1945, Garden City .....................................................................211   Fiorentino Jacques, born in Cairo in 1945, Center ................................................................................212   Lambez Rita, born in Alexandria in 1925..............................................................................................213   Hazan George Rose, born in Alexandria in 1950, Cleopatra.................................................................213   Hazan Toby, born in Alexandria in 1945, Cleopatra .............................................................................213   Kleinman Dassa Aimee, born in Alexandria in 1951, Cleopatra...........................................................215   Kleinman Michele, born in the USA in 1980 ........................................................................................215   Lagnado Eduard, born in Cairo in 1926, Abasiyya ...............................................................................216   Levy Renee, born in Cairo in 1921, Bab-el-Look .................................................................................217   Levy Joseph, born in Cairo in 1957, Bab-el-look..................................................................................217   Levy Marc, born in Alexandria in 1939 ................................................................................................218   Maier Alice, born in Alexandria in 1931 ...............................................................................................218   Mayo Joyce, born in Paris in 1957 ........................................................................................................221   Mayo Philips Juliana, born in Cairo in 1953, Heliopolis.......................................................................221   Mayo Lee, born in Cairo in 1953, Heliopolis ........................................................................................222   Mayo Dover Helen, born in Cairo in 1927, Heliopolis .........................................................................222   Merdinger Mayo Sophie, born in Cairo in 1929, Heliopolis .................................................................223   Menashe Joe Joseph, born in Cairo in 1955, Center/Daher...................................................................224   Molkho Angele, born in Cairo in 1916, Abasiyya.................................................................................225   Molkho Lehrer Grace, born in Alexandria in 1941, Center...................................................................225   Lehrer Jeremy, born in New York .........................................................................................................226   Oppenheim Jean-Marc Ran, born in Cairo in 1947, Zamalek ...............................................................226  

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Paolini Banown Vivian, born in Alexandria in 1939, Cleopatra ...........................................................228   Ribakoff David, born in Bukhara in 1926 .............................................................................................228   Ribakoff Elisa, born in Suez in 1931 ....................................................................................................229   Salama Joe Joseph, born in Alexandria in 1947, Sporting ....................................................................229   Salama David, born in the United States in 1977 ..................................................................................231   Sasson Michel, born in Alexandria in 1935, Sporting...........................................................................231   Sasson Ted, born in Boston in 1965 ......................................................................................................232   Shem tov Alegra, born in Cairo in 1937, Abasiyya...............................................................................233   Wiener Nina, born in Alexandria in 1933, Sporting..............................................................................233   Zermati Elio, born in Cairo in 1945, Bab-el-look..................................................................................235   Zonana Joyce, born in Cairo in 1949, Heliopolis ..................................................................................236   Zonana Nely, born in Cairo, Heliopolis.................................................................................................237   9. Other Voices .....................................................................................................................................238   Scholars in Egypt ...................................................................................................................................238   el-Abadi Mustafa, professor emeritus in Alexandria.............................................................................238   Nur Shareef, professor emeritus in Alexandria .....................................................................................238   Awad Mohamed, architect, project-manager at the Bibliotheka Alexandria ........................................239   Scholars in Israel....................................................................................................................................240   Gershoni Israel, Tel Aviv University, cathedral of Mizrahanut—Middle Eastern Studies ..................240   Kupferschmidt Uri, University of Haifa, Social History of the Middle East ........................................241   Meital Yoram, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center...............241   Bejerano Margalit, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Department of Oral History ..................................242   In the United States................................................................................................................................242   Beinin Joel, San Francisco University, Department of Modern History of the Middle East ...............242   Bostanian Louise, born in Greece in 1922, lives in Alexandria ............................................................243   Dr. Said el-Wardani Neil, born in the United States .............................................................................244   Tawill Isabelle, Alexandria....................................................................................................................245   Sephardic–Mizrahi Voices.....................................................................................................................245   Na’ama Garshi .......................................................................................................................................245   Gini Alhadeff .........................................................................................................................................246   Lucette Lagnado ....................................................................................................................................246   Jean Naggar............................................................................................................................................246   Yitzhak Gormezano-Goren....................................................................................................................247   Jacqueline Kahanoff ..............................................................................................................................247   Ortal ben-Dayyan...................................................................................................................................248   Sami Michael .........................................................................................................................................248   Sami Shalom Chetrit..............................................................................................................................248  

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10. Interview Analysis..........................................................................................................................250   Tradition.................................................................................................................................................251   Identity ...................................................................................................................................................251   Social Aspects........................................................................................................................................252   Emigration/Escape .................................................................................................................................253   Nationalization.......................................................................................................................................253   Schooling and University Education .....................................................................................................254   Language................................................................................................................................................254   A Sense of Belonging ............................................................................................................................255   Generations ............................................................................................................................................255   The Younger Generation .......................................................................................................................256   The Middle Generation ..........................................................................................................................256   The Older Generation ............................................................................................................................256   The Children of Emigrés........................................................................................................................257   Professions .............................................................................................................................................257   Discrimination in the United States .......................................................................................................258   Discrimination in Israel .........................................................................................................................258   In Israel: Our Nakhba ............................................................................................................................259   Statistical Data .......................................................................................................................................260   Final Remarks ........................................................................................................................................261   Conclusion .............................................................................................................................................261   Bibliography ..........................................................................................................................................264   References..............................................................................................................................................270   Websites.................................................................................................................................................270   Expert Interviews ...................................................................................................................................270   Research at Various Institutions ............................................................................................................271   Foot notes...............................................................................................................................................272   Table of Egyptian-born interviewees ....................................................................................................309

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Introduction

In view of its geopolitical location; its cosmopolitan, pluralistic cities; and its multicultural society, Egypt belonged to the Orient or the Levant, as it was also called, in the first half of the 20th century. Egyptian Jews were thus Orientals and Levantines. At the same time, they were also Europeans and Occidentals because they grew up and were socialized with the French language and culture. Political Zionism succeeded in completing a project that the Pharaoh had failed to accomplish 3500 years ago: the movement brought an end to a thriving Jewish community in Egypt. “It seems as if nobody realized that a second exodus from Egypt was taking place,” writes Ada Aharoni. “The first one, which happened thousands of years ago, is much better known than the second one, which occurred in our day and age.“1 Out of a minority of 80,000 to 100,000 Jews, 100 have remained in Cairo and Alexandria.2 In order to be able to understand and analyze the history of this minority, a historical overview of the phenomenon “Jews in Egypt” is needed. I do not strive to provide a comprehensive historical representation, however. I will start out with an overview of the history of Jews in Egypt since Biblical times (ca. 1550 BCE to 642 CE). I will then examine the Islamic period (642-1517), the Ottoman Empire (1517-1922) and Muhammad Ali’s dynasty. After briefly describing British rule in Egypt (1882-1956), I will devote attention to the time before 1948. The chapter about the exodus from Egypt (1948-1967) starts with the foundation of the State of Israel and ends with the Six-Day War of 1967. This chapter also describes the end of Jewish life in Egypt. In the final chapter, I will analyze the interviews and shed particular light on the acceptance and integration of Jewish immigrants in Israel and the United States as well as on their personal and collective histories. If we accept the Bible as a historical source (albeit with some reservations), most scholars will agree that the first exodus of Jews from Egypt recorded in history took place in about 1550 BCE.3 The second exodus lasted for about twenty years—from 1947 to 1967 to be more exact—and affected not only Egyptian Jews, but also Jews from the entire Islamic world.4 These two exoduses had different causes. The first exodus happened because Jews wanted to liberate themselves from Pharaonic rule and slavery in Egypt. The second one was not a voluntary movement. Instead, Jews were expelled because they had become enemies of the state a few

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months after the State of Israel was founded.5 Goitein aptly describes the history of the Jewish minority in Egypt: The great majority of the Jewish people have been living in the diaspora as minority groups during the past 3550 years, while the Arabs ... who have in the past sometimes been forcibly displaced, but, as a whole, never have suffered galuth—exile— ... have, so to speak, suffered ‘exile’6 … on their own soil.“7 When it comes to investigating the issue of Jewish minorities in the Middle East, Egypt proves to be a fertile ground. Jews have lived in Egypt without interruption for 3500 years. The Egyptian-Jewish diaspora is thus the oldest one in the world.8 In contrast to other Arab states, urban Egypt—at least with the onset of the Muhammad Ali Dynasty in 1805—drew a great number of Europeans to the country. These foreigners exerted great influence on the country’s urban society and infrastructure. Even though a Jewish community had existed in Egypt for thousands of years, more than half of this community immigrated between the 12th and the 20th century. Between the 11th and the 15th century, it was mostly Jewish refugees from the Inquisition on the Iberian Peninsula who settled in Egypt. Later on, Jews immigrated to Egypt from the Ottoman Empire9 and Eastern Europe, especially from Russia after the pogroms in the 19th century. The construction of the Suez Canal in 1860 drew engineers and skilled laborers to the region, as well as European merchants and businessmen, including Jews. In the early 20th century, many immigrants came from the Maghreb region as well as Syria and Iraq. In the course of the 20th century, many Nazi refugees from Europe also escaped to the region. Because these Jewish groups hailed from different countries, they also differed in tradition, culture, and language. For thousands of years, since Biblical times, Egypt was therefore a “safe haven” for Jews. Jews were not the only minority, however. Foreigners flocked to Egypt in great numbers because of its close vicinity to Europe, its port in Alexandria, its commercial relations with the Far East, and because people could live comfortably in the region. Greeks, Italians, and Turks as well as French and British people, settled in Egypt. They formed their own homogenous religious and national communities. Different Islamic and Christian denominations—such as Sunnis, Shiites, Alawites,10 Catholics, Protestants, Copts, and members of Eastern Orthodox Churches including the Greek, Russian, Armenian, and Syrian congregations—were represented in Egypt.11 Egyptians themselves did, for the most part, not keep historical records on Egypt and its cities. As a result, there is scant information on the region’s Muslim

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population, which is mostly treated as a big, anonymous mass.12 In contrast to Europe, where the better part of the population was Christian and ethnically homogenous and where Jews represented a single, foreign religion, Jews in the Islamic world were just one of many minorities.13 Scholars investigating the life of the Jewish minority in Egypt primarily take two different stances on the topic: the first group depicts Jewish life as marked by coexistence, harmony, integration, acceptance, and tolerance between Jews and Muslims. The second group asserts that Jews were always oppressed and had to pay special taxes. Under intolerant and fanatical rulers, Jews were repeatedly persecuted and discriminated against.14 As this book will show, there were long periods of harmony, although not complete integration. Many Egyptian rulers, the Fatimids and the Ottomans in particular, welcomed Jews15 and granted them a privileged status.16 Others introduced restrictions against them and persecuted them. Two of my interviewees illustrate these diverging opinions: “The fairy tale that Jews were always doing well in Arab countries is not true,” Nina Wiener said. “Problems with the Jews did not start until Gamal Abdel Nasser came to power,” Maurice Mizrahi opined. Even if they had lived in Egypt for generations, Jews, like other non-Egyptians, always remained foreigners and also cultivated this status. The reasons for this can be found both on the Egyptian and the Jewish side. On the one hand, Egyptian Muslims brought about this situation because they considered Jews a minority and treated them as foreigners. But Jews also bore part of the blame because they considered themselves an elite and did not want to mix with Egyptian Muslims. Many of them did not speak Arabic, or only as much as was necessary for everyday life. Their children attended foreign schools and did not have any social contact with the Muslim population. Most of them spoke many languages. Their lingua franca was French, their lifestyle European and about 30 to 50 percent of the Jews had foreign nationalities. Questions as to whether the Jewish minority was different from other foreign minorities, whether it was a homogenous society or whether there was a binding agent between Jews other than a common religion can only be answered in part. The position of non-Muslim subsocieties in Islamic countries in general and of Jews in particular, is a controversial one—even among Egyptian Jews. “The typical characteristic of this part of the population is that they were a ‘heterogeneous society.’ My father was an Ashkenazi born in Cairo.17 My grandfather had come from Russia to Israel/Palestine in 1905 and married my grandmother, who was born in Rosh Pina.18 Afterwards, they went to Egypt. My mother was born in Aleppo, Syria. Her father was Italian.

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Her mother was from Turkey. She came to Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. My mother tongue was French. My grandparents on my father’s side spoke Yiddish or Hebrew, on my mother’s side the Aleppo Arab dialect. The family’s common language was French,”19 Ruth Kimhi writes. The fact that Egypt did not see itself as part of a Pan-Arab movement for a long time, but instead strove to establish a national Egyptian identity, helped Jews identify with the country. They simply were Egyptians of Jewish descent. When the State of Israel was founded, the situation changed dramatically. Even though Jews did not engage in politics and were not interested in Zionism until the end of World War II, they were considered Zionist enemies and accused of being “Zionist spies” overnight. Although the Arab League had been founded in Cairo as early as 1945, a movement towards Arab unity did not develop until 1948, when the State of Israel was founded. Massive propaganda efforts were used to proclaim a common enemy to the Arab world. Egyptians had retained their national identity until the 1930s. At that time, Pan-Arabism gradually started to spread in the region.20 If the country wanted to be accepted by and play a political role in the Arab world, Egypt had to join this movement towards unity. Zionism started to spread in Egypt when some yishuv21 representatives began to visit the region in the 1920s and 1930s. They tried to spread excitement among young, healthy people about the idea of a State of Israel and emigration to Palestine. As a matter of fact, the nascent country urgently needed people who were fit to work. The yishuv representatives were not able to enthuse but a few, however, because young people did not yet see the need to leave Egypt. All foreigners in Egypt were still doing well. The expulsion and escape from Egypt were a direct result of the foundation of Israel, and, in its wake, the Israeli-Arab Wars of 1948, 1956,22 1967, and 1973. Political Zionism had taken root in Europe because of political necessity. The history of European Jewry is one marked by pain. Jews suffered as a result of persecution, pogroms, xenophobia, and anti-Semitism. After the Sho’a—the Holocaust—tens of thousands of Jews found shelter in refugee camps in Europe and needed a place to move to. There was an urgent need to find a safe haven for Sho’a survivors. In addition, Western countries had a bad conscience about the atrocities that had happened during the war; the best solution seemed to be to give Jews a state of their own.23 Zionists in Egypt did not yet feel a need to interpret their Jewishness in a Zionist way. They were integrated and most of them were well-to-do—or even very wealthy. They were not persecuted and had no reason to leave their country. While the state of Israel constituted the

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only safe haven for European Jews, the ordeal for Jews in the Arab world was just about to start.24 When a UN resolution about the foundation of the State of Israel was passed in 1947, Jews needed to leave the Arab countries. “There was no way we could have stayed there.”25 Jews were blamed for poor conditions in Egypt. Men aged 16 to 60 were imprisoned. Some of them were even tortured. In the end, most of them were released—be it with the help of bribes, or friends in high places. Once released, they were ordered to leave the country within a short period of time: for some it was 48 hours; for others, two weeks. These prisoners’ families were for the most part not detained. As a result, the biggest stream of refugees and the biggest population exchange in modern history was initiated in the Middle East. Both Jews from Arab countries as well as Palestinians from Israel/Palestine had to get on the move. The exact number of refugees on both sides cannot be determined.26 These refugee streams strongly altered socio-demographic, political, and geographic landscapes. None of the works I have consulted include personal accounts of life in Egypt.27 Materials from oral history projects (mostly in Israel and the United States) have only been processed in part and it is often hard to gain access to them.28 The few accessible interviews mostly ended with the escape from Egypt. They neither dealt with the time after the emigration nor with the human aspects of loss of homeland, culture, and language—nor with other aspects of deracination and integration. My 94 interview partners shared highly personal stories with me. These stories are very important and unique sources because they are only available for a certain (life)time. My interview partners29 are individualistic, reserved, modest, friendly, polite, and well-spoken. They define their identity by their familial relationships and circles of friends, which—in the case of older people—are mostly made up of compatriots, not least because of language. Those who have grown up in countries outside of Egypt do not care too much about where their friends are from. I have decided to work with narrative and qualitative interviews. When this method is used, interviewees tells their stories in their own words. Both personal and shared experiences can therefore be analyzed. I used tables for further quantitative analysis and to have a better overview of details. I used literary passages to support the interviewees’ personal points of view. Even if these literary passages do not constitute “scholarly evidence,” literature helps me draw up a better picture of life.30 I chose Israel and the United States from a wide variety of exile countries. Israel is a country to

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which all Jews are connected. The question why the Jewish community in Egypt did not immediately go to Israel in its entirety seemed important to me and I will examine it in detail. A country of immigrants, the United States has one of the biggest Jewish populations in the world. Many Egyptian Jews went to the United States directly or via other countries. We do not exactly know how many of them went to the United States. Egyptian Jews were “immigrants” only for a short time. They made contacts through their jobs, studies or children—who generally have a strong need for social contact and easily adapt to new circumstances. Integration just happens “automatically” in children. I daresay that Jews overall are “better immigrants” than other ethnic groups, maybe because of thousands of years of experience. They did not need to create enclaves—ghettos—to retain their identity.31 In both Israel and the United States, we can observe that Egyptian Jews were dispersed across the entire territory, primarily because of their jobs, schools, etc. Out of necessity, they initially founded communities in Israel, the maabarot,32 where they lived in their own microcosm.33 When people settled into apartments later on, the maabarot were dissolved, like many other associations. I was born and raised in Israel and therefore was one of the privileged ones. I was different from all the “diaspora Jews” from Europe and especially different from Jews from the Arab world. All olim—immigrants—were foreign to us sabres.34 The language they spoke and their overly polite manners made us go on the offensive. Clichéd images complemented Israeli stereotypes of people from the Arab world. Based on these stereotypes, Israeli authorities settled most of the Arab Jews in the periphery. As the Israeli population was oriented towards Europe, they despised and disrespected these people’s culture and language.35 Jews from Arab countries were often discriminated against. I consider it as one of my tasks to deconstruct and disprove these stereotypes and prejudices. Jews from Egypt were, however, different from Jews from other countries in the Islamic world. The fact that their lingua franca was French and that most of them spoke many other languages helped them integrate successfully in both Israel and the United States. The Israeli scholars I interviewed told me that this topic had not been examined systematically for years because nobody seemed interested in these minorities. This situation has changed for the better within the last 20 to 30 years because a new generation of scholars and—not least— émigrés and their children have written about the subject and have also produced literary works. In the beginning, émigrés wrote autobiographies and biographies, later on, works in other genres, which have played an important role in the new Israeli literature.36 In the United States, the situation was different from Israel. Equal opportunity existed for

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everybody and integration did not depend on one’s origin, but rather on one’s individual choice. People were also not restricted in where they could live. In the United States, however, Egyptian Jews were left to their own devices in finding housing. In this book, I will use some terms synonymously—both self-designated terms as well as foreign appellations. This wide variety of terms is a result of my work with many sources in different languages and because my interview partners chose to express themselves that way. The terms—“Arab Jews,” “Sephardic Jews,” “Oriental Jews,” “Egyptian Jews,” “Jews from Egypt,” as well as “foreigners,” “others,” “migrants” and “newcomers”—were used both in literature and by my interview partners. I have used them to preserve their authenticity. When I started my research I did not know about the wealth of literature on the topic. In different research projects, statistical and other data often diverge. These differences become manifest in this book. I use different data to present all these facts; since this is not a philological work in the proper sense of the word, I did not choose to transcribe proper names exactly and therefore try to avoid the confusion ensuing form different transcription methods.

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1. Jewish Presence in Egypt throughout the Ages Chronological Overview37 Empires Chronology

Period

Dynasties

Middle Kingdom

2133-1800 BCE

12th

2 Interim Period

1800-1567 BCE

13th to 17th

Hycsos 1730-1530

New Kingdom

1567-1300 BCE

18th

Exodus from Egypt

1300-1100 BCE

19th to 20th

Judicum

1085-525 BCE

21th to 26th

Regnum I, II

nd

Later Middle Kingdom

1000-586 BCE Achaemenid-Persian

525-405 BCE

Ptolemaic

305-30 BCE

First Temple 27th

516 BCE - 70 CE Last dynasty

405-343 BCE

2nd Persian Empire

343-332 BCE

Hellenistic

332 BCE - 30 CE

Roman

30-395 CE

Byzantine

395-642

Sassanid (Persian)

618-628

Islamic:

starting in 642

Umayyad

661-750

Abbasid

750-914

Fatimid

914-1171

Ayyubid

1171-1250/1341

Mamluk

1250-1517

Ottoman

1517-1914

Muhammad Ali

1805-1882

British Rule

1882-1952

Republic

1952

Independence

1956

Biblical

Second Temple 28th Talma’im Geonim38

Mongols

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A First Jewish Presence in Egypt The first known record39 of Jewish settlements in Egypt can be found in the First Book of the Old Testament. In Canaan,40 Joseph was sold to the Ismaelites,41 who were on their way to Egypt42 and in turn sold him to Potiphar, the Pharaoh’s eunuch43. After Joseph reached adulthood, he held a high position at the Pharaoh’s court because of his outstanding intelligence. When a severe famine broke out in Canaan, Joseph sent for his family to join him in Egypt.44 As the Canaanite population grew in size, it posed a threat to the Pharaoh’s power.45 As a result, the ruler enslaved the Jewish population and ordered them to kill all their first-born sons. In the Bible as well as in the Egyptian chronicles of the New Kingdom, this story is presented as a “Tale of Two Brothers.” The two versions are very similar to each other and only differ marginally. “There is no serious doubt that the structure of the motif is essentially the same.” Other stories included in the Bible and in Egyptian records show little differences, as well.46 “The settled inhabitants of Syria and Palestine were known as Canaanites from about 1600 BCE,” Mansfield notes. “They were formed through a mingling of people. Some of them came from the sea and some from the desert.” After fleeing from Egypt, Jews returned to the land of Canaan in around 1300 BCE.47 “The Pentateuch48 is ambiguous about the length of the stay in Egypt.” If we believe the Torah—albeit with reservations—Jews endured slavery in Egypt for 200 years.49 The Book of Exodus50 talks about 430 years, dating the migration to Egypt to the 17th century BCE.51 It is neither scientifically nor ethically possible to say with certainty whether the Bible only consists of literary motifs or includes actual historical facts. There is no archeological evidence for an Exodus52 from Egypt. Wilson notes that in spite of a wide selection of sources, the events cannot be confirmed by evidence. There are various reasons for this: A. Most “historical records” passed on from Egypt focus on religious ceremonies. B. All records preserved through time probably represent a fraction of what was actually written. C. At the time, most Jews lived in the very humid Delta region where— unlike inscriptions on stone or ceramics—paper, papyrus, and similar materials did not survive. D. Egyptians did not distinguish between various ethnic groups living in the region. They only used one or two general terms for all those who originally were non-Egyptians. E. Most importantly, ancient Egyptian inscriptions only recorded the successes and victories of the rulers.53

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Throughout the course of Antiquity, ancient Egyptian tradition repeatedly tried to trace the origin of the Jewish people to Egypt.54 Diodorus Siculus55 writes about this in several sections of his Bibliotheca Historica. He describes the Jews as a nomadic tribe that repeatedly entered and left Egypt over the course of time.56

Moses Moses is considered the first and most important redeemer of the Jews, the “Master of all Prophets,” a shaper of Jewish faith, and one of the most important characters in the Bible.57 Moses58—Moshe59 in Hebrew—was born to Jewish slaves in Egypt. According to legend, Moses’ mother put the baby in an ark, which she concealed in the bulrushes of the river Nile to protect him from a Pharaonic decree ordering the murder of all first-born sons.60 Pharaoh’s daughter found the baby in the ark and raised Moses in the palace. As an adult, Moses became the Pharaoh’s adviser and subsequently led the Jews out of Egypt. There are two different approaches to analyzing Moses’s meaning for Judaism: the Jewish approach and the Christian-European approach. These approaches are not uniform in and of themselves, however, but splinter off into different opinions and interpretations. As I come from a Jewish tradition, my interpretation differs from Assmann’s and other European researchers’ who follow a European and Euro-centric tradition.61 That is why there are so many different reflections on Moses, the Exodus,62 and ultimately also on the Old Testament. According to André Neher, the content of the Five Books of Moses was written much earlier than the final version. Even though scholars are finding more and more evidence for the historical correctness and “literary antiquity” of these books, we can assume that later additions occurred.63 According to Neher, “we have to treat the person of Moses very carefully, in spite of many pieces of historical evidence.“64 Assmann notes the following on this subject: “We cannot be sure that Moses ever lived because there are no traces of his early existence outside the tradition.“65 Just like Freud or Nietzsche, Assmann tried to turn Moses into an Egyptian—which he was among other things—because he was born and raised in Egypt. Moses was an Egyptian Hebrew who became the leader of his people, whether he was Egyptian, a Midianite, or a Jew. In Jewish tradition, Moses’s story represents a milestone because it serves as an essential reference for the unity of the people. Moses is the person who freed Jews from slavery and led them back to their land. He is a symbol of the covenant between God and the people of Israel,

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but—by breaking the cycle of violence and showing that Jews do not need to be easy victims—he also symbolizes Jewish hope for a better future.66 The Passover saying “Next Year in Jerusalem” refers to the land of the fathers to which Moses led back his people and to Jerusalem as their eternal capital—not only during the Exodus, but also as a vision or ideal of redemption. Moses also stands for a “phenomenon of collective Jewish memory.” He is relevant because the Exodus is remembered as an important fact in Jewish history.67 It is no accident that Passover is the most important one among the three Jewish high holidays.68 (The other ones are Rosh ha’Shana, New Year, and Yom Kippur, the Feast of Atonement). On this holiday, almost every Jew outside of Israel goes to synagogue. Passover exemplifies unity and redemption from pain, a leitmotif in Jewish faith.69 The fact that the Jewish God is an abstract one means that he—in contrast to local pagan gods—transcends borders. As a result, Mosaic religion was so different from other existing religions that it completely changed the world.70

The First Exodus from Egypt When the situation grew worse and worse for the Jews, Moses asked the Pharaoh, “Shlach et Ami“71—“Let my people go.” The Jews left Egypt72 in ca. 1540 BCE73 to return to Canaan, their original homeland.74 Schäfer thinks that “Jews had settled in Egypt since Biblical times, probably as early as the late 8th century BCE.”75 During the forty years the people of Israel spent in the desert, Moses developed into a one-ofa-kind leader. A teacher, he decreed laws in a time when Jews strengthened their faith, shaped their society, and created a sense of tribal affiliation. Moses is not considered a prophet in Judaism, however.76 Led by Moses, the Exodus from Egypt stands out as one of the watersheds in Jewish history. According to Jewish tradition, the people of Israel left Egypt to escape enslavement out of their own volition. By contrast, the Egyptian and Greco-Roman tradition holds that the people of Israel were expelled from Egypt because of “ethnic cleansing.”77 “Most scholars agree that the story of the Exodus was created in an anti-Semitic climate in Hellenistic Egypt,”78 writes Schäfer. Scholars have made repeated attempts to find historical evidence for the expulsion and/or Exodus from Egypt. According to Schäfer, Eduard Meyer and Raymond Weill are authorities in this field. Meyer sees this event as a confluence of two other events—a rebellion in ca. 1200

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BCE and earlier unrests in the years 1377-58 BCE, which went hand in hand with Akhenaten’s79 “monotheistic reforms.” Weill thinks that any attempt to date the Exodus is a methodological nightmare.80 The only evidence for a Jewish Exodus was found in the “admonitions of Ipuwer” Papyrus,”81 which dates to the end of the 13th century BCE.82 It is considered a copy of a much older scroll, probably from 1850 to 1600 BCE.83

Jewish Life in Egypt The Merenptah84 Stele85 The Merenptah Stele is significant to Biblical archeologists because it constitutes the first extra-Biblical evidence for the existence of the nation of Israel. Scholars assume that Jews continuously lived in Israel from the time of this inscription until later references were made. “Whenever there was trouble in Judea, ... this fortress [Egypt] would be the natural asylum of any refugees.”86

The Hycsos87 The Hycsos people migrated to Egypt in ca. 1720 BCE.88 Scholars assume that they were Semitic nomads, possibly Jews. They ruled Egypt for about 200 years until they were expelled from the region in 1570/80 BCE.89 “It is as one of the late waves of nomadic Hycsos that the account of Abraham must be viewed,” writes Flinders. Most Hycsos integrated well in Egypt. Some were expelled, however.90 Manetho writes that the Hycsos were the ancestors of the Israelites.91 “The Hycsos immigrated from Southern Palestine and built their capital Avaris in the Eastern Delta in the 17th and 16th centuries BCE. They ruled Lower Egypt and made Upper Egypt their tributary.”92 Avaris was located in the Eastern part of the Delta. In contrast to all other sources, the Encyclopedia Judaica describes the Hycsos as a non-Jewish people.93 Scholars such as M. Lichtheim contest the veracity of this story. For lack of better explanations, it is accepted as a standard hypothesis, more as a part of Jewish tradition from

29

the 14th century BCE than as a historical truth. Flinders notes that Syria was the center of Semitic peoples. “This Semitic conquest of Egypt had a close parallel in the Hycsos invasion of Egypt.“94

Nebuchadnezzar II95 Nebuchadnezzar II, King of Babylon, conquered the kingdom of Judah in 597 BCE.96 He destroyed the First Temple97 and laid siege to Jerusalem, enslaving the king of Israel and forcing him and his people into the Babylonian diaspora.98 Jews who were able to save themselves fled to other regions.99 While most of the Jews were forced into slavery in Babylon, scholars assume that a substantial part of them also went to Egypt.100 “Most of the city’s population was deported to Babylon; some, however, took refuge in Egypt,”101 the Encyclopedia Judaica notes. Schmidt seconds this claim: “Many Judeans avoided deportation by Nebuchadnezzar by emigrating to Egypt.”102 Flinders writes that Egypt was a natural asylum for Jews and Greeks whenever there were problems in Judah, especially coming from Syria. In Egypt, there were “five cities speaking the language of Canaan.”103 The Bible tells the same story. Many Jews had found refuge in Egypt after the destruction of the Kingdom of Judah in 597 B.104 The Egyptian-Jewish community therefore was the first Jewish diaspora community.105

Jewish Settlements “In ca. 586 BCE106 the region of what was later called Alexandria107 was the largest Jewish center outside of Israel. Until the Islamic conquest in 642 CE, Alexandria was the capital and most important city of the country, therefore attracting Jews and other foreigners to the region. Many historians assume that about one million Jews lived in the region when the town of Alexandria was founded.”108 After the Second Temple was destroyed in 70 BCE and Jerusalem had vanished as an intellectual and spiritual center, Egypt became a natural alternative for the Jews, especially because many of them had already settled there. Besides Alexandria—where a Jewish community had existed since the foundation of the city—these new immigrants also settled in large parts of the Eastern Delta region.109

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“Jews repeatedly settled in the region. They had mostly emigrated from Eretz Israel to Egypt. In the course of history, it became a constant and natural refuge for them, not least because of its geographic proximity and lack of borders and the fact that Israel and Egypt often lived under the same foreign rulers.”110 Jews started to settle in Egypt 250 to 300 years before the Hellenistic era, notes Cherikover. At least since that time, they had continuously lived in Egypt. Apollonius111 sent government officials to Eretz Israel112 to buy Jewish slaves who were transported to Egypt on the ocean route.113 Shamir writes that the Jewish community in Egypt represents the oldest Jewish “diaspora” community.114 Ilbert also notes that “it is essential to point out one fact: Jews have been living in Alexandria continuously, from the time of the city’s foundation by Alexander of Macedonia. ... According to both the anti-Semite Apion115 and the philosopher Philo, they represented almost one third of the total population.”116 The number of Jews living in Egypt varied in the course of 3500 years. During some periods, as many as a million people lived in the region as an integrated part of Egyptian society. At other times, the Jewish population was persecuted or expelled, and its population size therefore dwindled.117 Jewish communities were dispersed all over Egypt. The bigger ones settled in and around Alexandria, and later in Cairo, Fayum, Ismailia, Port Said, Mansura, and Damanhur. Papyri scrolls indicate that Jews often leased land, grew wine, and worked as shepherds. This points to the existence of a Jewish population in the countryside. This population also included tradesmen, artists, and moneychangers. The scrolls do not list any additional Jewish professions other than scholars or judges who held religious offices and provided religious education.118 “Israel’s sojourn in the desert is described everywhere in the Bible as a short interval between a prolonged residence in Egypt and the conquest of Canaan.”119

The Papyri120 “The Papyri ... give a full picture of the social and economic state of the Jews in towns and villages throughout Egypt ... They provide valuable historical evidence.”121

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The Elephantine Papyri122 Elephantine, also known as Yeb, is a small island on the Eastern shore of the Southern Nile. During the time of the Middle and the New Kingdoms,123 the Egyptians administered Nubia from there. During the Persian reign of Egypt in 525 BCE, Elephantine became the center of Persian military power in Egypt. The Persians established a mercenary camp there, in which many Jewish soldiers served as well.124 Elephantine became known in the West in the early 20th century when papyri—mostly written in Aramaic—were discovered. These papyri give accounts of Jewish life in the 6th and 5th centuries BCE.125 They are a collection of Jewish manuscripts and documents including letters, contracts, marriage and divorce licenses, reports about slaves, and other business matters as well as accounts about tensions between Egyptians and Jews. The Passover Letter of 419 BCE also refers to these tensions.126 Since they were buried in dry sand, these scrolls were preserved for almost 2000 years. They were written in Greek, Latin, Aramaic, Hebrew, and Nabatean. Most of them are written in Aramaic, because this language was most commonly used for speaking and writing in the Persian Empire.127 A strong Jewish community even built a temple in Elephantine in ca. 525 BCE128 during the Persian reign. This temple was to replace the one destroyed in Jerusalem. “The first known event in Jewish history that can be read as an eruption of anti-Jewish sentiment occurred in the Egyptian military colony on Elephantine.”129 In 410 BCE fanatical Egyptian priests destroyed this temple. According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, it was rebuilt later on, albeit on a smaller scale.130 The scrolls are invaluable sources of knowledge about Jewish society, law, religion, holidays, language, names, etc.131

The Zenon Papyri132 An Egyptian fellah found the Zenon Papyri east of Fayum,133 in a place where the Hellenistic Philadelphia was located. They date to the 3rd century BCE and are mostly written in very clear and comprehensible Greek. They give valuable insights into commerce, administrative matters, laws, the slave trade, and everyday life in Ptolemaic Egypt.134 They contain about 100 documents, including contracts, records of Jewish customs and laws about the Sabbath and other holidays, personal affairs such as marriage, and private letters.

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Only a small fraction of them has been processed and published as of yet.135 They also include a papyrus from pre-Christian times written in ancient Hebrew.136 According to the Zenon letters, only 25 percent of all Jews had Hebrew names. Many of them had assumed Greek names during the Hellenistic era. Just like other scrolls, the Zenon Papyri give evidence of the existence of a Jewish community in Egypt.137

The Structure of Jewish Society Even though they belonged to many different sects, Jews always defined themselves Jews, “above all the Pentateuch because of their links with Israel and Jerusalem.”138 Jews were divided into three different religious groups: a. Rabanim:139 in addition to the Bible, they believed in later books such as the Mishna140 and the Talmud.141 Most Egyptian Jews belonged to this group. They considered themselves superior to the other groups. b. Karaim: they only believed in the Mikra142, the Old Testament, and the Five Books of Moses of the Old Testament. They did not accept later books143 as part of their faith, their customs, and way of praying. They were a relatively small minority of Jews primarily born in Egypt. In contrast to other Jews, they mostly spoke Arabic and assimilated to Arab culture. Many of them were goldsmiths, jewelers, and physicians. They also included many poets and playwrights.144 c. Shomronim:145 this third and smallest group included the remaining descendants of a very old people from the “ancient Kingdom of Israel.” The four pillars of their faith were: the God of Israel, the Prophet Moses, the Torah, and the Mount Gerizim in Israel, their only sacred space. A small minority,146 the Shomronim were often persecuted by other Jews throughout history. Their population of 1.2 million was decimated to 150 people in the 5th and 4th centuries BCE.

Monotheism/Judaism Judaism seemed totally foreign to pagan Egypt in 3760 BCE.147 Egypt only experienced one monotheistic period during the rule of Amenophis IV, also known as Akhenaten,148 in ca. 1353-45 BCE. At that time, Egyptians worshipped the sun god Aten. In Amarna,149 this

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religion was practiced for thirteen years. According to Assman, clay tables in the Akkadian language confirm that this city, then the Pharaonic capital, kept up this belief system.150 “The Jewish idea of a single God who does not tolerate any other god beside him” is the topic of many pagan treatises at the time. “These treatises contain a wide range of emotions, from admiration to curiosity, disapproval, and satiric contempt.“151 The Jews had no image of their God, which seemed blasphemous to both Greek and Egyptian pagans, who also worshipped certain animals.152 This strange Jewish faith in one God—their “invisible, hidden, spiritual God, out of this world, time and space … a single, eternal, omnipresent and unimaginable God” “153—appeared godless to non-Jews. They could not conceive of this Jewish God, who was synonymous with the heavens and the sky. This incomprehensible God decreed laws and rules, among them the Ten Commandments. At the time, this was an incomprehensible innovation that could also lead to misunderstandings because: 1. The Jewish God had no name. They called him Adonai (my Lord), Adon Olam (Lord of the World), HaShem (the Name), Rahman (Merciful One), Jahve (Hebrew acronym), Elion Superior One), H` (the fifth letter of the Hebrew alphabet), Elohim (Lord of the Heavens). Observant Jews are not allowed to use the latter name, but can only call him HaShem.154 2. They were not allowed to eat pork.155 3. Some tribes practiced mandatory circumcision. 4. Saturday was a day of rest, also for slaves and animals. 5. Jews were not allowed to proselytize. 6. Jews had a calendar of their own.156 “The Sabbath, the weekly rest day, is the greatest gift of Judaism to the world.”157 Other peoples considered this kind of faith strange because it had established laws for mostly social and hygienic reasons. In the course of history, the Jewish people therefore encountered hatred and rejection because of their beliefs. They were accused of boasting of their God and their special covenant with him and therefore were often expelled from different regions.158 “Not what the Jews did or what they thought of themselves was the reason for anti-Semitism but how they behaved towards others and distanced themselves from others,”159 notes Benjamin Isaak. Hecataeus160 and Manetho161 give two causes for the expulsion of the Jews: “godlessness” and “mioxenia” [xenophobia]. We should bear in mind that both authors wrote in Greek for a Greek audience. As a result, “Egyptian anti-Semitism” only rose to prominence in a Hellenistic context,162 writes Schäfer.

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Egyptians and Jews are Semitic peoples. Besides, the term “anti-Semitism” was coined by Christians and therefore cannot be used for a pre-Christian context. “Egyptian anti-Semitism in essence is anti-monotheism and can be explained by the latent psycho-historical consequences from the Amarna time.163 ... During the Ptolemaic and Alexandrian periods in Egypt, a number of central anti-Jewish clichés were coined for the first time. They have survived to our day and age.“164 We can therefore conclude that Egyptians did not disapprove of the Jewish religion per se, but reacted to a monotheism that claimed to be the only valid belief system and considered all other gods “idols” and their believers “pagans.” Based on their experience with the sun god Aten, Egyptians had to reject monotheism.165 Assman thinks that “monotheism caused a break, a differentiation between true and false, generating differences between Jews and pagans, Christians and pagans, Christians and Jews, Muslims and infidels, people of the right faith and heretics.”166 Hecataeos of Abdera, a Greek historian and ethnographer, was the first and most famous pagan to extensively write about Jewish history. “Hecataeus’ account ... is on the whole sympathetic to the Jews. … His apparently high regard for the Mosaic constitution explains the popularity of pseudonymous books under his name.”

Anti-Monotheism/Anti-Semitism Semitism is a composite of the Hebrew word “Shem,” and the Arabic ending “ism”. All of the purported descendants of Noah’s son Shem are considered Semites.167 “However, it is not a racial but a linguistic term. ... All the Semitic languages have striking similarities in their syntax and basic vocabularies,” and, “Hatred of Jews and Jew-bashing are as old as the diaspora itself,” Theodor Mommsen writes in the chapter on “Judea and the Jews” of his Römische Geschichte (fifth volume). Most people of the Middle East are Semites.168 The Jewish religion is the oldest one among the Abrahamic169 religions. “What are the facts about the Semitic race? First, the word ‘Semitic’ is a comparatively recent invention. It was coined by a German scholar in the year 1781 to denote a group of closely related languages, of which Hebrew and Arabic were the best known.“170 “One certainly cannot deny the existence of pagan anti-Judaism in late Ptolemaic Egypt. We have not yet come to the stage of the ‘teaching of contempt’, which was to become the hallmark of Christian anti-Semitism. But it is enough to exempt the primitive Christian Church from the odious privilege of having ‘invented’ anti-Semitism.“171

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Jewish Literature and Ancient Scholars Greco-Jewish literature starts during the Ptolemaic time172 with the translation of the Pentateuch173 [the Five Books of Moses] from Hebrew into Greek.174 Schimanowski confirms these

translations:

“Judaism can therefore be identified as an Egyptian religion.”175 Like other Jewish and nonJewish scholars, Schmidt is of the opinion that “the cornerstone on which the entire construction of Judeo-Alexandrine literature rests is the Greek translation of the Scriptures, the Septuagint, [the Old Testament].“176

Jewish Philosophers

Ben Sira (2nd Century BCE) Ben Sira, also known as Simeon Ben Jesus, was a Jewish aphorist, sage, and writer who lived in the second century BCE. In the Christian tradition, he is known as Jesus because that is what he was called in Greek translation. In the Hebrew version, Jesus turns into Jeshua. 177 His most important work is Hochmat Ben-Sira (The Wisdom of Ben-Sira). The book was probably completed in 170 BCE.178 Even though Ben Sira was a renowned scholar, nothing further is known about him, his family or his origin.

Philo of Alexandria (15/20 BCE-40 CE)179 Philo Judaeus, also known as Philo Alexandrinus,180 was born in Alexandria in 15/20 BCE and died there in 40 CE. Philo was born into one of the most prominent and wealthiest JudeoHellenistic families. He is famous for his interpretations of the Torah even though at times he takes a more philosophical than religious stance towards the work. He was educated in the Jewish and Hellenistic181 tradition, but it is not known whether he spoke Hebrew. Almost 50 of

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Philo’s texts have survived, some of them in their Latin translation. We can conclude from Philo’s cross-references that about 20 to 25 of his texts were lost—among them exegetic, historical, philosophical, cosmological, anthropological, and ethical texts.182 He is considered the most important thinker of Hellenistic Judaism because of his excellent knowledge of Jewish laws and the Midrash.183 Philo indirectly reveals some facts about this life in Alexandria when he describes the changes in the situation of the Jews after Gaius Caligula became Emperor of the Roman Empire.184 “Alexandria had two classes of inhabitants, our own nation and the people of the country ... and Jews who inhabited Alexandria and the rest of the country ... were not less than a million of men. ... There are five districts in the city named after the first five letters of the written [Hebrew] alphabet. Two are called the quarters of the Jews because the chief portion of the Jews lives in them.”185 Most of the foreigners in Egypt did not enjoy the same civil rights as the Egyptians. “The conflict about Alexandrian civil rights took place between three ethnic groups, the Greeks, the Egyptians, and the Jews. Every time [Philo] refers to ‘Egypt,’ ... he localizes [the Jews] at the lower end of the social spectrum,”186 notes Schäfer. The rabbinical authorities that subsequently rose to prominence were not interested in Hellenistic Judaism. Religious Jews ignored Philo.187 Christian scholars, by contrast, have valued Philo highly and have passed on his writings. The Alexandrian School of Thought188 rose to highest fame under Philo.189 His life work was written in Alexandria. In his oeuvre, he referred both to the Jewish Exegesis and to Jewish philosophy.

Josephus Flavius (37/38-100 CE)190 Josephus Flavius was also known as Joseph ben Mathitjahu ha’Cohen. He was born in Alexandria in 37/38 CE and died there in 100 CE. A historian, he spoke Aramaic, but wrote in ancient Greek. For centuries, these texts were the most important ones of their kind. Josephus Flavius was born into a prominent family of royal priests from Jerusalem. He remained ambivalent towards Judaism until the end of his life. In his writings, he mostly focuses on the history of Judaism,191 but he also did some autobiographical writing. After Apion persecuted Jews in Alexandria,192 Josephus Flavius wrote his most important work, Kidmot ha Jehudim neged Apion (Jewish writings against Apion). Both Philo and Josephus193 refer to the existence of many foreign communities—Greeks,

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Romans, Macedonians, and Jews—in Alexandria at the time.194 He lived and worked in Alexandria.

Jewish Rights and Privileges Under the Persian rulers,195 the Jews enjoyed special rights and privileges that they also preserved under Ptolemaic rule. “[As a] consequence of the assistance that the Jews had given against the Egyptians, Alexander granted them [the same rights] as the Greeks.”196 In spite of several massacres, expulsions, and repeated destructions of their property, Jews returned to Egypt again and again. A few centuries after the Islamic Conquest of Egypt in 642 CE, the new Arab rulers allowed Jews to stay in the region.197 “Although history scarcely mentions the Jews in Egypt for some centuries, they were by no means expelled. As traders, perhaps as cultivators, they kept a place in the country,” Flinders notes. “The discovery at Oxyrhynkhos, Middle Egypt, of fragments of four papyri written in Hebrew as early as the 3rd century are the oldest Hebrew writings known, apart from stone inscriptions. The age of them is given ... as 193-211 CE.”198 Documents from the 3rd to the middle of the 2nd century BCE prove that Jews spoke and wrote Aramaic and Hebrew. From the middle of the 2nd century onwards, the process of Hellenization was rapidly advancing. Documents were written in Greek or translated into Greek. The translation of the Bible, the Septuagint, could be considered as evidence. Even prominent Jewish philosophers such as Philo and Josephus Flavius wrote in Greek, not least because they wanted to be understood by Greek readers. Many Jews changed their names to make them sound Greek.199 Aramaic, the language Jews used to converse and write in until the beginning of the Ptolemaic period, finally gave way to Greek. “From Ptolemaic times until the Early Roman Empire, we have only three or four Aramaic texts dealing with Jews and Judaism in Egypt ... compared to 500 or so Greek documents relating to the Jewish diaspora.” This fact could be seen as evidence of the triumph of Greek over Aramaic. It is not conclusive because many letters were addressed to Greek recipients.200 Egyptian Jews tried to combine Greek with Judeo-Hebrew intellectual values, sometimes successfully, especially in Egypt. They quickly adapted to the Greek language and culture.201 Their cultural achievements were outstanding. The Encyclopedia Hebraica even alleges that most Hellenistic writings were penned by Jews.202

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Jews in Christian Egypt Christianity quickly spread in Egypt before the end of the first century. Most Greeks as well as a Hellenized Egyptian middle class remained pagan at first. It was not until ca. 300 CE that the Roman Emperor Constantine the Great203 made Christianity the state religion.204 In Christian Egypt, Jews were more persecuted than in pagan Egypt. This situation changed with the Islamic conquest of Egypt in 642. According to Jacques Hassoun, 40,000 Jews lived in Egypt at the time. The Geniza Documents in Cairo confirm this finding. Over the course of time, Jewish history in Egypt had its ups and downs.205 Egypt was the most important center of Hellenistic Judaism. Once the Muslims conquered Egypt, the heyday of Judaism in Egypt was over, also demographically. When the Caliphate came to an end, and Turkish and Mongolian tribes entered Egypt, the situation of all nonMuslims became more and more insecure.206

Alexandria207 “Nobody would have lived in this city without writing about it after they left—either from a position of love or hate,”208 Zaloscer notes. Alexandria209 was founded by Alexander the Great,210 King of Macedonia, in 331 BCE. After Alexander had invaded Egypt with his army, the city was built around a small fishing village on the Mediterranean. The emperor commissioned the Greek architect Dinocrates to plan out and construct the city. A smart man, Alexander realized that it was a “world city par excellence, on the threshold of three continents.”211 As Alexandria is locked in between the ocean and Lake Mariout, it mostly spreads east and west.212 Soon after its foundation, Alexandria became Egypt’s gateway to the Mediterranean world.213 Scholars assume that a port existed in the north and west end of the island of Pharos even before Alexandria was founded. It was linked to the mainland by a dam. Immediately after the foundation of Alexandria in April 331 BCE, Alexander left the city and visited Heliopolis, the capital of Memphis in the Oasis of Siwa.214 He subsequently returned to Babylon with his army and died there two years later without returning to Alexandria.215 Ptolemy I216 had

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Alexander’s corpse transferred to Alexandria and buried him in a golden casket. To this day, his burial site has not been found.217

The Hellenistic-Ptolemaic Period218 The Hellenistic period started after the death of Alexander the Great in 323 BCE and ended with Cleopatra’s death in 30 BCE. The term Hellenism is used for the Greek-speaking region of the Roman Empire. Only a few sources have survived about this period.219

The Ptolemaic Dynasty The Ptolemaic Dynasty started with Ptolemy, later Ptolemy I,220 one of Alexander’s most loyal and trusted companions. After Alexander’s death, he became the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty.221 During this dynasty, the second big wave of Jewish immigration to Egypt set in. The new rulers “attracted many Jews early in their reign to settle in Egypt as tradesmen, farmers, mercenaries and government officials. During their reign, Egyptian Jewry enjoyed both tolerance and prosperity.”222 The Encyclopedia Judaica only had words of praise for the dynasty: “The Ptolemies organized a state-controlled economy in Egypt, which had no parallel elsewhere.”223 After the Kingdom of Judah had fallen, many Jews fled to Egypt. A major immigration wave of Jews to Egypt occurred in the time of Ptolemy I, shortly after the death of Alexander the Great.224 Ptolemy I conquered Palestine/Eretz Israel225 and settled the Jews in Egypt: “He removed from the land of the Jews into Egypt up to one hundred thousand people, of whom he armed about thirty thousand chosen men and settled them through the land in the forts.”226 This number might be exaggerated. The papyri include some inscriptions, however, that confirm the presence of a Jewish population in all parts of Egypt during that time. The construction of Alexandria was not completed until Ptolemy II227 was in power. The city plan had already included a Jewish district228 so that Jews could practice their laws and religion and administer schools, the rabbinate, courts of laws, etc. “During the Roman era, two of Alexandria’s five quarters were inhabited by Jews.” Alexandria’s Jews enjoyed a greater degree of political and personal independence than Jews in other places in Egypt. Since the Ptolemaic rulers did not trust the Egyptian population and considered Jews reliable and loyal,

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they encouraged them to pursue careers in the army, the police, and tax administration. Other Jews became managers in the royal bank or worked in public administration. Alexandria also had a large number of tradesmen and merchants.229 Some sources say that many synagogues from the time bore inscriptions with dedications to the royal family.230 Schmidt quotes a different source: “The High Command of Jewish generals during the Ptolemies confirms the rank of Jews as Hellenists, thus consolidating the Macedonian upper class.“ These developments gave rise to a new Jewish immigration wave to Egypt. “The legal status and internal organization of diaspora communities and their members are documented by inscriptions, coins, and papyri.”231 Egypt attracted Jews since Antiquity and there was a continuous Jewish presence in the country. We can thus assume that the country left an imprint on Jewish thought. Under the Ptolemies, Jews enjoyed equal status with Egyptians and other important minorities.232 Between 320 and 311 BCE, Alexandria became the capital of the Ptolemaic Empire233 and remained so until the end of the dynasty. The Greco-Ptolemaic dynasty had started with Alexander the Great and ended with Queen Cleopatra III in 30 BCE.234 Texts by the Judeo-Alexandrian scholars Philo and Josephus Flavius indicate that even during that time, many foreigners lived in Alexandria.235 The Encyclopedia Judaica states that “many Jews even acquired citizenship in the city.”236

Alexandria’s Special Status under the Ptolemaic Dynasty For centuries, Alexandria was not considered a part of Egypt. Commonly referred to as “Alexandria near Egypt,” the city always retained its special status and hardly noticed the hinterland. In its heyday from 300 to 395 CE, Alexandria was considered an economic, intellectual, and political center of the Roman-Hellenistic world: “A Greek-Egyptian culture emerged.”237 Numerous theaters, a big library with an adjoining museion, palaces and temples as well as the Pharos lighthouse238 were considered technical masterworks of Antiquity, cementing Alexandria’s world fame.239 Some scholars, including Hölbl, state that “in his bibliomania, Euergetes240 went so far as to confiscate books and texts from boats that anchored in Alexandria and only returned copies to the owners.”241 Legend has it that Ptolemy III242 decreed to confiscate all written documents from every traveler who left ship in Alexandria. This is how the famous Bibliotheca

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Alexandrina, one of the most important libraries and research centers of Antiquity, came into being. The library owned the biggest collection of books and scrolls in the world.243 The relationship between Greeks and Jews was good during the Ptolemaic era, but deteriorated towards the end. The Greek community allied itself with the Egyptians against the Ptolemies, who received continuous support from the Jews. Scrolls from the era record an “anti-Semitic unrest,”244 according to Cherikover. Modrzejewski views this event in the following way: “Judaism was nothing else but Hellenism enriched by the idea of a unique God.”245 The Encyclopedia Judaica notes that “the most obvious instances of Greek influence are to be seen in Jewish literature of the Hellenistic period.” The Septuagint is only one of several documents that bear proof of this fact. “Greek influence ... is clearly to be seen in Hellenistic Jewish art and architecture.”246 The decline of the Ptolemaic Empire was sealed when the Romans invaded Egypt. “The 3rd century BCE was the period of the greatest power and prosperity of this kingdom. ... During the 2nd century BCE the increasing inability of the Greco-Macedonian ruling class ... is noticeable.” The Romans seized their chance to invade when they saw that people in Egypt were afraid and ended up conquering the Hellenistic state.247 The Romans focused their attention on Alexandria, the capital. The city and it immediate vicinity were the center of Jewish life even though Jews lived in other parts of the country as well. When the Fatimid rulers made Cairo the capital in 969, Alexandria’s status changed. 248

The Roman Period In 30 BCE, Alexandria was conquered by Roman armies and incorporated into the Roman Empire. During Roman rule, several incidences of unrest occurred and Christians were persecuted. Alexandria soon became the second biggest city of the Empire after Rome.249 “According to the tradition of the Egyptian Church, Christianity was introduced to Alexandria by Saint Mark in 45 CE. ... The community was organized under its ‘overseer’ or bishop, who soon took the title of patriarch, and appointed bishops elsewhere in Egypt.”250 Emperor Augustus,251 the first Roman ruler of Egypt, at first was grateful to the Jews for their loyalty and support, but continued to rely on the Greeks, which led to unrests between Jews and Greeks. “The fact remains that, under Augustus, the Jews were suddenly wrenched from their erstwhile condition as an integral part of the Greek-speaking minority. They had been ‘Hellenes’; now they suddenly became ‘Egyptians’.”252

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Jews were ousted from higher positions and replaced by Greeks. Augustus revised the Egyptian constitution, dividing the population into three groups: 1. Romans, Greeks, (priests, members of the upper class). 2. Middle class: Egyptians and half-Greeks. 3. Egyptians of the lower class. Jews were considered lower class. Besides having to pay the highest taxes and no longer holding a social position, Jews were deeply hurt in their pride.253 Emperor Caligula254 decreed that the Roman Emperor was synonymous with god. His statue was to be erected and worshipped in all of the temples, also in synagogues. After Caligula was assassinated, Jews took revenge by staging a massacre in the Greek community. Shortly thereafter, Caligula’s successor Claudius published a pro-Jewish decree in 41 CE.255 Flaccus256 “permitted a mob to erect statues of the Emperor Caius Caligula in Jewish synagogues of Alexandria, an unprecedented provocation. ... Flaccus was destroying the synagogues, and not leaving even their name. ... Their enemies slew them and thousands of others with all kinds of agony and tortures, and newly invented cruelties, for wherever they met with or caught sight of a Jew, they stoned him, or beat him with sticks. Some ... Jews were crucified.”257 Jew suffered most under Emperor Nero.258 “The close of Nero’s reign marked the beginning of an ill-fated period for the Jews under Roman rule. A series of great catastrophes befell them.”259

Alexandria and Christianity In 115/116 CE, a large-scale Jewish revolt broke out in Alexandria and other places in Egypt, but was subdued by 117. As a result, most Egyptian Jews were decimated. The scrolls give evidence of a sizable Jewish community that had existed in Egypt from before 70 CE to 200 CE. After that, Jews were banned or decimated to a dwindling minority.260 Christian sources reveal most about the time of ca. 200 CE. Christians got along well with Jews when Christianity first took root in Egypt. In ca. 300, there is increasing evidence of Jewish names and Hebrew fragments in the scrolls, an indication of a Jewish renaissance.261 Since its foundation, Alexandria had been a cosmopolitan city with a very diverse, selfconfident population that included many foreigners. As a strategic and geographic center on Egypt’s margins, the city’s location was not ideal. As a result, Babylon,262—formerly a Roman and Byzantine fort—came to replace Alexandria as an Islamic center. It was also situated “at the meeting point of Upper and Lower Egypt, and on the route between the eastern and

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western lands of the empire.“263 At that time, Alexandria started its first decline, one of the many changes in its tumultous history.

Babylon Long before the city’s foundation, a few small settlements were located in the region that is known as Cairo today. One of the settlements was called Cheri-aha. It was founded anew under Emperor Trajan264 in the first century CE and renamed Babylon. Later on, the Romans expanded it into a fort. After the Copts265 distanced themselves from Byzantium and Rome and founded their own denomination in the 4th century CE, they started to settle in the region and build churches and protective walls. This settlement is located in the southern part of Cairo today. Slowly, this part developed into a community, which today is known as “Coptic Cairo” or “Old Cairo.” In ca. 380 or 392 CE, Christianity became the state religion of Egypt. Alexandria had already been chosen as the seat of the patriarch and developed into one of the most important centers of Christianity.266 Egypt experienced turbulent times during the ascent of Christianity. After Muslim troops had conquered Iraq and Syria in 636, they also invaded Byzantine Egypt in 642. Since the Byzantines had oppressed the Egyptian population both in religious and financial terms, the Islamic invaders were welcomed by Egyptians.267 Shortly after the Islamic Conquest, the Greek minority left Egypt and the Muslims founded their capital near Babylon. They called it Fustat,268 which today is a district in Cairo.

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2. The Islamic Period Islam (starting in 642 CE) “The early biographers of Muhammad regarded it as a sign of God’s providence that the town al-Medina, the seat of the first Muslim community, harbored so large a Jewish population which, by its example and influence, was able to prepare its Arab neighbors for the acceptance of a monotheistic religion. ... There were many Jewish settlements spread throughout Arabia.”269 Between 641 and 642, Egypt was conquered by Muslim armies: “At the edge of the town of Misr, old Memphis, ... a battle took place between the Arabs and the Byzantines in July 640, in which the Byzantines suffered a crushing defeat. The fall of Misr followed. ... They abandoned the fortress and sailed to Alexandria on the river Nile.”270 “The Church in Egypt was constantly involved in religions controversies ... which shook the Byzantine Empire at large.”271 Even though Muslim armies laid siege to Alexandria at the end of 641, they did not invade the city as long as the Greek troops were there. As soon as the Greeks withdrew a year later, the Muslim armies began to occupy Alexandria. “The Arabs were anything but barbarians; their own creation of Cairo is a sufficient answer to that charge. But their civilization was Oriental and of the land; it was out of touch with the Mediterranean civilization that had evolved in Alexandria.”272 Alexandria’s decline started when the Muslims began to build a capital near present-day Cairo. Alexandria became a run-of-the-mill “Arab city,” which did not “flourish again until colonial times in the 19th century.”273 The new Arab rulers converted the churches and the mausoleum into mosques, but destroyed the Caesareum, the Museion, the Lighthouse, and the Ptolemaic palace.274 With the ascent of Islam, the situation of the Jewish community in Egypt and in other parts of the Arab world improved for a period of time. “They ceased to be an outcast community ... and became part of the vast class of subjects with a special status.“275 At the beginning of the Byzantine period,276 the Jewish population size in Egypt, and especially Alexandria, had increased in spite of persecutions by the Christian church. In 414, Jews were banned from Alexandria, but returned shortly thereafter. “According to Arabic sources, there were about 400,000 Jews in Alexandria at the time of its conquest by the Arabs in 642, but 70,000 had left during the siege,”277 notes the Encyclopedia Judaica. In his article in Beinin’s book, Jacques

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Hassoun, by contrast, notes that about 40,000 Jews lived in Egypt when the Islamic invasion started. The manuscript fragments of the Cairo Geniza confirm Hassoun’s assessment.278 Stillman notes that the Islamic Conquest initially relieved the Jewish community from the strain of persecution, bringing a certain sense of security.279 The first two centuries of Islamic rule brought many political, social, and economic changes from which all the residents of the Middle East, including Egyptian Jews, benefited. During this time, many Jews, especially those living in Iran and Iraq, emigrated to Egypt.280 At the beginning of the Islamic rule, Egypt was a Christian country and Alexandria the capital and religious center of the Coptic community. “Choosing a capital for the newly conquered country was naturally of great importance. The Arabs could have placed it in Alexandria. Militating against this were Alexandria’s cosmopolitan character, its powerful population, its location, as it were, outside Egypt, and the fact that the Egyptians associated it with a hated rule. ... It was clearly logical to put the new capital near the Roman and Byzantine stronghold of Babylon, ... at the most convenient point for crossing Egypt.”281 The Muslim rulers built their capital in the geographic center of Egypt and called it Fustat. Fustat preceded Cairo as a capital and is one of its Southern districts today. It is located at the intersection of Upper and Lower Egypt and on the main road between the Eastern and Western part of the country.282 Most residents of the new capital were Copts and Arab Yemenites who had come to the region with the Muslim invaders: “It is almost certain that Jews settled there shortly afterwards or possibly even at the time of its foundation.”283 Since both Byzantine and Arab sources on the Muslim conquest of Egypt are few and far between and contradict each other, they cannot be considered reliable.284 According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, there are only very few sources that describe the situation of the Jewish community in Egypt from 640 to the end of the 10th century. Fustat, the new Islamic capital, grew rapidly. Meanwhile, Jewish communities increased in size in other parts of Egypt. In the bigger cities, they had their own infrastructure, synagogues, and Bet Din.285 The first independent Islamic ruler of Egypt, “Ahmed ibn Tulun286 seems to have favored the Jews.”287

The Umayyad Rule (642-750) In the first years after the conquest, the Islamic rulers were highly tolerant of non-Muslims.288 It was not until the time of Caliph Umar II289 that an Islamic conversion movement set in. As a

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result, the rulers became less tolerant of other religious groups, not least because Arabic was introduced as the official language.290 Most Egyptians voluntarily converted, either for opportunistic reasons or because they hated the Greek rulers. Many of them, however, were forced to do so.291 “Byzantine Egypt continued for a long time the Greco-Roman traditional patterns in culture and administration, but by the time of the Arab conquest some important changes had taken place, which had drastically altered its social structure.” During the Byzantine period, Greek was both the official and communal language of Egypt. Papyri scrolls292 attest to the fact that Greek and Copt were the languages of the Egyptian elite.293 “From the conquest until the turn of the 8th century, there were no abrupt and conspicuous changes in the lower levels of the administration.”294

The Abbasid Period (750-914) The name of this dynasty refers to Al-Abbas ibn Abd al-Muttalib.295 The Abbasids came to replace the Umayyad dynasty in 750. The Abbasid period reached its political, economic, and cultural heyday in the 8th century, especially under Harun al-Rashid’s rule. It has been pointed out that the Abbasids probably assumed power because many Muslims considered the Umayyads too secular. Very distrustful of Jews and foreigners, Al-Rashid296 decreed in 807 that all Jews and Christians were to mark their clothing with special symbols denoting their religion.297 “Misr,298 at the time of the Abbasid take-over in 750, was a country in which Islamic and Arab culture were still confined to the ruling elite, the vast majority of the population still being Coptic Christians. Fustat was the capital and centre of the Arab population.”299 Raymond notes that every dynasty in the Middle East left its mark on the laws of the country. “A new dynasty wanted to create a command center separate from the city; building dynastic cities was a common phenomenon.”300

The Fatimid Dynasty (914-1171) The Fatimid Dynasty301 derived its name from Fatima, the Prophet’s daughter and the wife of Ali, founder of the Shiite branch of Islam. Their descendants were designated to be Fatimid

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caliphs. The Fatimids were Shiites in a country that was almost exclusively Sunnite.302 At the time, the majority of the Egyptian population was Coptic. All those who had converted adhered to the Sunni faith—just like the conquerors. “On the eve of the Fatimid conquest, Muslim Egypt was still far from achieving its potential as a great power.”303 The Fatimids, a new power from the West, conquered Egypt in 914 and established their center of power in what was to become Cairo. It was not until 969 that they founded the new capital of Cairo in a region North of Fustat. A new era in the city’s history had begun.304 At the time, there was a large Christian and a smaller Jewish community in Cairo. The Jewish community had inhabited its own parts of town. As the establishment of such districts was not mandatory, they were not ghettos. The members of the Jewish community had professional contacts with Muslim and Christian residents, but did not mingle socially or marry nonJews.305 Meital notes that “it is not known how many Jews lived in Fustat until the 12th century, but we can assume that [the number] ranged in the thousands.”306 At the turn of the 10th century, the Fatimid kingdom expanded across large parts of North Africa, Syria and Palestine/Eretz Israel. These conquests initiated a period of wealth in trade and commerce, and Jews benefited from this development. The Fatimid’s positive attitude towards non-Muslims was essential in creating new wealth. The Fatimids allowed Jews and Copts to build synagogues and churches and practice their religion.307

The Foundation of Cairo (969) Cairo (al-Qāhira), the victorious city, did not receive its name until the Fatimid conquest in 969.308 When the Fatimid caliph Abu Tamin al-Muizz309 visited the capital in 969, he called it al-Qāhira, the “strong” or “victorious” city. It was also called “Misr” (Egypt) by Egyptians. The name Cairo has been maintained to this day. The new city became the capital of the Fatimid kingdom in 973 and grew rapidly.310 Cairo soon became the most important economic, religious, and cultural center of the Islamic world.311 When Cairo became the capital in 969, several Jewish families moved there and soon enough it also became the intellectual center of the Middle East. Alexandria, by contrast, turned into a small Arab city, decreasing in importance and cultural influence.312 From 975 to 976, “the majority of the rural population of Egypt was still Christian and Copticspeaking. ... Christian and Jewish officials made a career in the central administration.”313 Cairo’s Jews were a heterogeneous community, both in terms of origins and denominations.

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The manuscripts in the Cairo Geniza indicate that Fustat’s Jews practiced several professions in the 11th and 12th centuries. According to the documents, there were 265 artisans, 90 merchants and financiers, and 100 members of the free professions as well as administrative clerks.314

Jews under Fatimid Rule Jews fared very well under Fatimid rule until 996. For the first time in history, a Jew was made a vizier. It is highly likely that Jewish doctors treated the Fatimid caliphs. “Islamic law protected their life, property and freedom, and gave them the right to exercise their religion with only a few restrictions,”315 Goitein quotes a Muslim geographer without explicit mention of other sources. “One Muslim geographer states that in the second half of the tenth century most bankers and moneychangers in Syria and Egypt were Jews.”316 From 996 to 1020, the situation of all non-Muslims deteriorated in Egypt. Depending on the caliph in power, Jews and Christians experienced the ups and downs of tolerant and intolerant, of calm and agitated times. “Restrictive laws have sometimes been passed ... ordering Jews to wear bells or carry a wooden calf, or the later … yellow turbans.” This situation prevailed even though some Jews held high-ranking offices.317 Some of the laws that applied to Egypt’s nonMuslim populations had been decreed during Byzantine times.318 But not only in Cairo and Alexandria, but also in other parts of the country, “the synagogues, new and old, were destroyed. The caliph ordered the Jewish quarter [in Cairo to be] burned to the ground with its inhabitants. Many Jews emigrated ... but it is correct to say that ... the position of the non-Muslims under Arab Islam was far better than that of the Jews in medieval Christian Europe.”319 At the time, Egypt relied especially on its trade with India and the Far East, which was largely controlled by Jewish merchants. “The economic stratification of Egyptian Jewry during the Fatimid period was very diversified.” Protected by the rulers, Jews were also active in other trades and industries.

“The primary source of Egypt’s power and prosperity was [its]

international economic activity. An indication of its scope comes to us from the Genizah documents. Although they document the Jewish communities, they show us the remarkably free movement of men, goods and money in Egypt. ... There also existed close ties with European trade,”320 Raymond notes. “The 10th century saw a prolonged economic and political crisis in Iraq.” As a result, many

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Iraqis had to flee. Some of them went to Egypt. At the time, there was no major Jewish population in Egypt. This situation changed when many Babylonian Jews emigrated. “And it was at this time that the flourishing Jewish community, which we find described in the Genizah documents developed.”321 Raymond notes that most of the Geniza manuscripts were written between 1002 and 1266, thus enabling us to analyze the Fatimid period. “And [they] allow us to form an image of the social and economic life of the Muslim world from the eleventh to the thirteenth century.”322 Documents became more and more scarce towards the end of the Ayyubid period. In 1047, “Egypt controlled the supply of Sudanese gold and exported raw materials, which were in great demand in Europe, such as alum, and products of high quality, for example woolen fabrics ... and linen ... brocades and items of precious glassware,” mostly destined for ecclesiastical use.323 Stillman notes that the best-known and most important Jewish minority of the medieval Islamic world lived in Egypt. His statement refers to both demographic data and the cultural importance of the diaspora, which we have primarily derived from the documents of the Cairo Geniza,324 a collection of 250,000 manuscripts and fragments. The earliest documents date to the 8th century, but the majority of the documents and letters was written between the 10th and 13th century: i.e., during Fatimid and Ayyubid, and at the beginning of Mamluk rule.325 More than any other country, Egypt showcases the positive changes and developments brought about by emigration to the region. In the late 10th century, a complete about-face took place: Egypt, a country previously structured around agriculture, became the commercial center of the Arab world. Arab documents show that entire groups of merchants from Iraq—both Jews and Muslims—immigrated to Egypt, spurring on this development.326

Jewish Life Settling in Egypt in the 10th century, the Babylonian Jews formed their own communities and built their own synagogues. “Religion and juridical queries were addressed to the heads of the Babylonian academies.” Jews from Syria and Palestine/Eretz Israel behaved similarly “and they recognized the heads of the Palestinian academies.”327 As a result, two additional Jewish communities were founded in Cairo: - The Palestinian, or Jerusalem community (al-Shamiyyun in Arabic). - The Iraqi or Babylonian community (al-Iraqiyyun in Arabic).

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These new communities oriented themselves toward the Yeshivot328 from Iraq and Palestine/Eretz Israel. The synagogue of Palestinian Jews was called Ben-Ezra-Synagogue.329 It was there that the famous Geniza, purportedly the oldest one in the world, was found. This synagogue has existed since pre-Islamic times. The area was also home to Iraqi and Karaite330 synagogues. The latter one was one of the biggest Jewish communities in Fustat in the 10th century.331 Of the three famous synagogues, only Ben-Ezra-Synagoge in Fustat (“Old Cairo”) has been preserved to this day.332 Goitein notes that the two main synagogues in Cairo were those of Iraqi and Palestinian Jews. He therefore concludes that the Egyptian Jewish community mostly belonged to these two groups at the time.333 The make-up of the Egyptian-Jewish community changed over the course of time due to the Inquisition and persecutions in other countries, as well.334 “An academy had existed in Fustat from at least the end of the tenth century.” Jewish scholars from Babylon had founded this academy. In the first half of the 12th century, PalestinianJewish scholars founded another academy. These academies were led by the Geonim,335 who were known as eminent scholars even outside of Egypt.336 “The language of this civilization was Arabic. ... The Arabs were soon absorbed into the old sedentary population of the Middle East, imposing their language on it even while they themselves lost their national identity. ... Arabic, like Latin in Europe, had ceased to be a national language and became the language of a civilization.”337

The Cairo Geniza338 The term Geniza denotes a secret, temporary shelter or archive. Documents or manuscripts that mention God are preserved in the synagogue.339 Religious Judaism forbids and considers sinful that such documents are thrown away or destroyed. According to tradition, such documents should be buried at a Jewish cemetery when they are no longer used.340 One of the cemeteries where such documents were found is Cairo’s Basatin Cemetery, one of the oldest final Jewish resting sites in Egypt. Many members of the most notable Jewish families of Cairo—both rabbinical and Karaite Jews—are buried at this cemetery, with some of their graves containing Geniza documents. Due to road construction and land confiscation by the Egyptian state, the cemetery decreased in size in the 20th century. As a result, it is much smaller today than it previously was. According to Meital, the cemetery dates to the time of the Second Temple: i.e., 70 BCE.341

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The Cairo Geniza was discovered at the Ben Ezra Synagogue342 in Fustat, South of Cairo.343 The manuscripts include papyri scrolls, as well as vellum, parchment, and paper with Hebrew, Aramaic, Greek, and Syrian writing. The manuscripts were written over several centuries. Only a few of them date to pre-Islamic times.344 The Geniza treasures were distributed among several universities and museums around the world.345 They bear proof of Jewish history and life in Egypt, among other things. Between 1864 and 1896, several European and American scholars visited the synagogue. Solomon Schechter was the first one to successfully take the majority of the collection to Cambridge, University, publishing them in the Taylor-Schechter Collection. An additional 4,000 Geniza manuscripts were discovered in the Jewish Basatin Cemetery east of Fustat at the beginning of the 20th century. Meital notes that the entire collection distributed all over the world is estimated to include one million documents. The majority of the manuscripts were written in Arabic in the Hebrew alphabet. These documents were drawn up over 900 years, from the 9th to the 19th centuries, even though the oldest document dates to the 8th century.346

The Ayyubid Rule (1171-1250)347 The Ayyubid ruler Saladin348 worked his way up from the position of Fatimid vizier to the unofficial ruler over Egypt within two years. He remained in power for twenty years. He was the founder of the Ayyubid dynasty. After his death in 1193, Egypt was ruled by another branch of the Ayyubid family. His dynasty was therefore short-lived.349 Fatimid rule from 914 to 1171 and Ayyubid rule from 1171 to 1250 was a time of tolerance for Jews and other minorities,350 notes Raymond. Stillman, by contrast, asserts that the situation of the Jews deteriorated when the Ayyubids came to power.351 The situation for non-Muslims became more difficult at the end of the Fatimid dynasty. Islam was introduced as the official religion of Egypt. Restrictions were imposed on non-Muslims and minorities were again persecuted.352 After the end of the Fatimid rule, Egypt turned again to Sunni Islam under the Ayyubids.353 Even though they were in power only for a short time, the Ayyubid rulers left behind a great legacy in Egypt. Saladin started two huge construction projects in 1176: The first one was a citadel in the Muqattam Hills—a political, administrative and military center, which, thanks to its geographic location, was safe from invaders. It was completed by his successor in 1208.

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The second one was a wall around Fustat and Cairo,354 which had not yet been linked. This wall was to be built around both parts of the city so the could be defended more easily. The Ayyubid rulers also valued education highly. During their rule, twenty new madrasas (schools) were built.355 Except for the crusaders,356 hardly any outside invaders threatened Egypt during Ayyubid rule. Their invasion from 1248 to 1249 was short-lived, however, because the caliph paid them 200,000 dinars to withdraw.357 Introduced by the Ayyubids, the new military system relied on the recruitment of slaves from Turkey as soldiers, who were to be given their freedom after their training. The Mamluk rulers subsequently used the same policy.358

The Mamluk Dynasty (1250-1517) The Mamluk359 dynasty rose to power in Egypt in 1250. The first dynasty360 consisted of former military slaves from Turkey; the second one361 consisted of former Circassian362 slaves. After the slaves had served as soldiers for a certain period of time, they regained their freedom. This method was not new to the Islamic world. In Egypt, the Ayyubids had introduced it. “It was not considered an indelible moral or religious stigma.”363 Slaves were trained in various disciplines. In order to serve in the administration and the army, they also learned Arabic. After their training, they were granted their freedom and became real Mamluks.364 “The Mamluks do not share our military savvy. They have no uniforms, no provisions, no order, and no discipline. They cannot even follow orders. Their army is a mob, their campaigns are a mess. Their wars consist of theft and robbery, which, if need be, start right in the middle of Cairo. … They are corrupt and steal from their masters.”365 Raging in 1348, the Black Plague was the first one in a series of crises that befell Egypt until ca. 1394.366 In ca. 1354, the economic situation of the Jews deteriorated because the Mamluks had introduced a system of monopolies, which all but abolished private trade.367 The Mamluk rulers completed spectacular construction projects in Cairo including a big madrasa, a hospital, and several palaces. “At last Qahira experienced a period of rapid development for businesses, shops, and caravanserais.”368 The Mamluks ruled over a huge empire369 that included Hijaz,370 Palestine/Eretz Israel, Syria, and a large part of Western Anatolia. “The relationship between the Mamluk military aristocracy and the local population in all its

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different layers, both in the cities and in the countryside, had always been contradictory. The Mamluks were the lords of the country.”371

Jews under Mamluk Rule During Mamluk rule (1250-1517), the time of tolerance had come to an end, and Jews suffered under persecution.372 The Mamluks aimed at reaching higher positions in the Egyptian upper class by demonstrating to the Muslim population that they would strike out against nonMuslims. They decreed a series of laws against Jews and Copts and relentlessly persecuted these two communities. These laws applied until 1517, when the Ottomans conquered Egypt. Starting in 1301, Jews were again ordered to wear a yellow cover over their tarboosh hats. Christians were ordered to wear a blue cover. All non-Muslims were forbidden to ride animals and build houses that were higher than those of Muslims. As a result, all non-Muslim houses of worship had to close in Cairo.373 In 1354, a terrible rebellion took place during which many Jewish and Christian buildings and homes were destroyed.374 Goitein, by contrast, interprets the Jewish situation at the time differently. In ca. 1300, the dominant religion in Egypt was Islam, which meant that Jews and Christians held an inferior position in society. On the other hand, this society was mostly secular so that in theory, nonMuslims could live in peace.375 These completely opposed views show how events can be interpreted in different ways and that it does not make sense to insist on the “absolute truth” because it does not exist. In spite of all the restrictions, Jewish literature flourished in the second half of the 13th century, as it had during Fatimid and Ayyubid rule. Biblical literature was also written and published during that time.376 In the course of the 15th century, non-Muslims were persecuted again and new anti-Jewish laws were enacted. Jews were no longer allowed to trade in spices and other products from India, which had previously been their domain. Having belonged to the middle class of merchants and artisans during Fatimid and Ayyubid rule, Jews saw their economic situation deteriorate because of the new laws. Only a small, privileged group remained unaffected.377 An anonymous Jewish traveler came to Egypt in 1481. In his report, he describes the following situation: There were 650 Rabinite Jewish families, 150 Karaite families, and 50 Samaritan families in Cairo, 50 Jewish families in Alexandria, and a few others in other places. We can conclude from his report that about 5,000 Jews lived in Egypt at the time. During the same

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year, Spanish and Portuguese Jews immigrated to Egypt. The number of Jews thus increased considerably. This new minority greatly contributed to Jewish cultural life. They included many scholars that immediately integrated in the educational system. Some of them were appointed to the position of dayyanim (Jewish judges). That is why these new immigrants were welcome by the existing Jewish community.378

Jewish Philosophers and Scholars The Geonim379 “The title of ‘Gaon’—genius—was given to the heads of the two Babylonian academies of Sura and Pumbedita. There are no data whatever to verify when the title ‘Gaon’ originated. ... The period of the Geonim may be said to begin with the year 589. The last Gaon died in 1034/38. ... It was Saadia Gaon’s380 activity that lent to this academy unusual lustre and an epoch-making importance for Jewish science and its literature.”381 As a rule, a Gaon was elected by the academy, but was sometimes also nominated by the Exilarch.382 The Gaon’s main task was to interpret the Talmud;383 to make “religio-legal decisions;“ and to know the Midrash.384 The Gaon was also the Supreme Judge. The Geonim were teachers of the entire Diaspora and often members of the Great Sanhedrin.385 It was not until after the decline of the Babylonian and Palestinian academies that the institution of a Geonat was established in Egypt.386 The Fatimids acknowledged and respected the institution of the Gaon.387

Saadia Gaon / Rasag (882-942)388 “Greatest scholar and author of the Geonic period.” Saadia ben Joseph Al-Fayyumi389/Saadia Gaon/Rasag (acronym)390 was born in a village near Fayyum in 882 and died in Israel in 942.391 In contrast to other scholars, he came from a working-class background. Neither Jewish nor Greco-Arab philosophical sources reveal who his teachers were. He left Israel when he was young and pursued his studies in Tiberias. But even before that, he had made a name for himself as “a learned scholar of Torah and secular sciences.”392

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The Rasag returned to Egypt, but ended up leaving the country for good at the age of 23. Saadia Gaon was the first important rabbi to write extensively in Arabic. He is also one of the most important Geonim. One of his seminal achievements was the translation of the Bible from Hebrew into Arabic and his comments thereon. The Rasag was the first one to seriously study Hebrew grammar. He wrote the first Hebrew dictionary as well as philosophical, grammatical, linguistic, and Halakhic393 works, and poetry. His contact with and ties to Egypt marked him for the rest of his life.394

Judah/Jehuda ha-Levi/Rihal (1075-1141)395 Jehuda ha-Levi/Rihal (acronym) was born in Toledo in 1075 and died in Israel in 1141. He was raised in the Judeo-Andalusian tradition and knew both Hebrew and Arabic. A student of philosophy and science, he also was a poet396 and a medical doctor. Ha-Levi often traveled to Egypt for professional reasons. “His arrival caused great excitement.” The honor and wealth bestowed upon him in Egypt made him extend his stay for one-and-a-half years. He divided his time between Alexandria and Cairo and became active in the Bet-Din, the Jewish court. He wrote many of his famous poems during his time in Egypt.397 The letters that were found in the Cairo Geniza indicate that he died in Egypt and was buried there.398 The Rihal mostly wrote poetry and works of philosophy. His most important work is Sefer Ha-Kusari (Book of the Khazars), which examines the history of the Khazar people that converted to Judaism in the 8th century.399

Maimonides/Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam (1135-1204) “The greatest Jewish Aristotelian and most prominent figure of medieval Jewish thought:”400 Maimonides/Rabbi Moshe ben Maimon/Rambam (acronym).401 Arabic name: Musa bin Maimun.402 Born in Cordoba (Spain) in 1135, he died in Egypt in 1204. His mortal remains were subsequently buried in Tiberias. His father was a dayyan, a judge at the Jewish court. The Rambam received a comprehensive education in Hebrew and Arabic. In 1148 his family had to flee from Spain. After a few years in exile, they settled in Fustat, Egypt in 1165/66. During his exile, the Rambam had already started writing philosophical texts and he continued his studies.403

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A philosopher, rabbinical authority, legal scholar, astronomer, and medical doctor, the Rambam is considered the most important Jewish scholar. Starting in 1185, he was the personal physician of Sultan Salah el-Din.404 In Egypt, he wrote and edited many books and essays, including his most important and most discussed works such as Mishneh Torah (Commentary on the Torah).405 His religious-philosophical magnum opus Moreh Nevokhim (The Guide for the Perplexed) was translated into many languages.406 The Rambam was also considered the highest authority in the field of religious law. He penned several medical treatises in Arabic.407 Several of Maimonides’ letters attest to the fact that he was tolerant by nature even though he was an uncompromising, orthodox Jew who considered Judaism the only true religion.408

Abraham/Avram Maimonides (1186-1273)409 A successor to his father’s two offices, Maimonides’ son Abraham was born in Fustat in 1186 and died there in 1273. A personal physician to the sultan and the head of the Jewish community, he also was a nagid.410 Under Sufi influence, he founded a Chassidic411 circle. Abraham wrote several important works of Jewish mysticism. He followed his father’s example in reforming Jewish life and was both active in the Fustat and Cairo communities.412

Anatoli Ben Joseph (ca. 1200) Anatoli Ben Joseph lived during the 12th and early 13th century. He was one of the European scholars who settled in Alexandria during the Rambam’s time and became active as a dayyan (judge). He later moved to Fustat. Anatoli Ben Joseph was one of the best-known Halakhists413 of his time and often lent advice in difficult Halakhist matters, also to Jews from other countries. He was in close contact with Maimonides, who valued his opinion highly. “Several piyyutim414 and selihot415 are ascribed to him and he also wrote secular poems.“416

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Benjamin of Tudela (1130-1172/73)417 “The greatest medieval Jewish traveler.” Benjamin me-Tudela was born and raised in Spain. He went down in history as one of the most important Jewish travelers. The only work of his known to this day is Sefer ha-Masa (The Travels of Benjamin). He started his travels in Spain in ca. 1159 and returned there in 1172/73.418 “His personal impressions are obviously [summarized] in his admirable and detailed account of Egypt in general and its Jewish life in particular, especially in Cairo and Alexandria.” He wrote about how long it took to travel from one city to the other and examined several Jewish communities—their leaders and scholars, their economic and professional life. He also estimated the population size of communities and described Alexandria’s foreign trade.419 He was especially interested in Jewish scholars and in the “characterization of the organization of synagogal life in Egypt.” Although not always considered reliable, his accounts are important sources that reveal the knowledge of the time.420 According to Benjamin of Tudela, 12,000 to 20,000 Jews lived in Egypt at the time of his reports.421 This number has not been verified, confirmed, or proven as false by other sources.

The Nagid422/The Negidim The position of the nagid was created at the end of the 11th century. The nagid was the president or secular leader of a Jewish community. 423 The authorities usually chose a dignitary of the Jewish community who already held a high office. Most negidim were doctors who were appointed with the approval or even upon the recommendation of the leaders of the Jewish community. Negidim were tasked with supervising the community in fulfilling its obligations towards the rulers. They also had to appoint dayyanim (judges) and other important offices in the community. People in these positions were sometimes also called nasi,424 president.425 In Egypt, the office of the nagid was maintained for five centuries, starting in the Fatimid period. “At the beginning of their rule, the office of nagid was established,” and it remained a permanent office until the end of Mamluk rule.426 The manuscripts of the Cairo Geniza mentioned this office for the first time in 1060.427 These documents contain extensive information on the Nagid’s many obligations and activities. Among other things, he was responsible for supporting students without resources and the

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poor. The Ottoman rulers abolished this office, and introduced the position of the hakham,428 a sage and a chief rabbi for Jewish affairs.429

Jews under Islamic Rule “During the rule of Islam the position of the Jews fluctuated like that of the Christians. Restrictive laws [were] sometimes passed, as that of El-Hakim, ordering Jews to wear bells ... or yellow turbans.”430 Flinders also notes that “Jews [rose] to high power.” Some held high offices and in 1044 there even was a Jewish vizier. Jews wielded a strong influence on cultural life, especially in Alexandria, not least because of their unique Jewish School of Literature and Philosophy. They had the same status as other minorities. The Ptolemaic431 time “was perhaps the age of the greatest political power in Jewish history.”432 According to Arabic sources, 400,000 Jews lived in Alexandria at the time of the Islamic Conquest. About 70,000 of them left the city during the Muslim siege. Even though this number seems exaggerated, it could serve as an indication of the importance of the Jewish community in Alexandria at the time. One Geniza manuscript from the 11th century states that the Jewish community in Alexandria included 300 families.433 Even though this number seems too low, we can assume that during the entire Middle Ages, a well-organized Jewish community headed by rabbis and scholars existed in Alexandria.434 “The Jews of Alexandria were engaged in the international trade centered in their city, and some of them held government posts.”435 The Cairo Geniza lists more than 90 place names that had a Jewish population.436 There is scarce information about religious leadership in Arab countries in the Middle Ages. Exact fragments do not start until the 12th century. Information does not become more detailed until the 16th century, with the beginning of Ottoman rule in Egypt and the expulsion of Jews from Spain.437 In contrast to Judaism—where the Old Testament and works such as the Talmud do not stipulate political laws, but instead determine religious life—“in Islam there is no separation between religion and politics and no concept of secular state.” Since the Qu’ran is not a book of legal statutes, the laws of the Islamic world were culled from interpretations based on three main elements: 1. Personal examples from the life of the Prophet. 2. Hadith and other later traditions. 3. Oral traditions applicable across generations.438

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The Fatimid rule was a relatively peaceful period for Jews. Reports from several centuries indicate that Jews lived like their Egyptian-Muslim compatriots, especially in Cairo, even though they were also oppressed. The Encyclopedia Hebraica calls this period a “Golden Age” for Jews.439 When the Mamluks rose to power, the situation of Jews and non-Jews deteriorated because the new rulers imposed anti-foreigner laws. Intermittently, however, there were also more quiet times during these 500 years. At the turn of the first millennium, the Jewish population was largely decimated by starvation and epidemics, a situation that lasted until the mid-13th century.440 For a long time, Babylon was the intellectual center of Judaism in the Middle East. After Cairo was founded under the Fatimids, many scholars emigrated from Babylon to Egypt. As a result, Egypt became the most important Jewish center in the Middle East.441 In the mid-12th century, scholars, rabbis, and dayyanim headed Jewish life in Alexandria. During that time, the Jewish community in Alexandria had close contacts with the communities in Cairo and other cities. These communities helped each other, especially when their members were arrested.442 After the Islamic Conquest, Jews were divided into several groups. Each one of these groups followed its own lifestyle and religious rituals. The three most important ones were: 1. Musta’arbim: Egyptian-born Jews who spoke Arabic. 2. Maghrebinim: Jews from North Africa. 3. Sepharadim: Spanish Jews.443

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3. The Ottomans (1517-1922)444

The Beginning of the Ottoman Empire in Egypt Mamluk rule ended with the Ottoman conquest of Egypt.445 Sultan Selim I446 set out to defeat the Mamluks, who ruled over Egypt, Eretz Israel, and Syria. In 1516, he conquered their territories in Egypt, obtaining control of the entire country in 1517. During his successor’s— Sultan Suleiman the Magnificent447—reign, the Ottoman Empire reached its biggest expansion and achieved the highest level of influence in its history.448 Shamir analyzes the situation in the following way, “Before the Ottomans invaded the Middle East, the region was divided between the Persian rulers of Iraq and the Mamluks, who ruled Egypt, Syria, Palestine/Eretz Israel, a region that expanded to the Hejaz [on the Saudi Arabian Peninsula]. Sultan Selim I, the Grim, was the first one to expand Ottoman conquests from Europe to the Middle East. He started out in Syria, Iraq, and Palestine/Eretz Israel, reaching Egypt in 1517. Because of these conquests, most of the Arab-speaking regions in the Middle East came under Ottoman rule.“449 When the Ottomans took possession of Egypt, they changed the landscape of the country. The ancient routes to the Red Sea gave way to new roads to Suez. The Nile Delta and the Mediterranean region rose in prominence as commercial centers. “A Levantine Egypt appeared, ... a coastal Egypt.”450 These changes greatly affected Cairo. However, in spite of negative demographic and economic developments and the political standstill in 1517, Cairo retained the prestige it had acquired during its glorious past. “The business center still impressed visitors with its activity.”451 After landing in Alexandria, the Ottomans marched onto Cairo. Ottoman soldiers immediately started to abduct slaves and loot the homes of the wealthy.452 Petry notes that things proceeded as follows: Inebriated troops invaded Cairo and ran amuck for four days, raping women and looting. Street battles continued for days. After capturing about 800 Mamluks, Ottoman troops beheaded them and threw their bodies into the Nile.453 At least 700 additional Mamluk soldiers were taken to Alexandria in chains and transported to Istanbul. 454 “Cairo’s medieval glory was over. ... The city tumbled into mediocrity. It became an Ottoman garrison town.” The Mamluks continued to administer Egypt under the Ottomans for a period of time.455 The Ottomans did not have an easy start in Egypt. Since the Mamluks did not want

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to renounce their positions and staged several violent revolts,456 the Ottomans crushed them.457 Shamir thinks that Ottoman rule did not lead to major changes in the Middle East. Since the modern concept of national identity did yet not exist, the Egyptian-Muslim population did not have any difficulties accepting its new Sunni rulers, he notes. Egyptian Muslims had experienced this situation before, because both the Mamluks and the Ottomans were Turkish tribes that resembled each other in their customs.458 Immediately after the conquest, Egypt’s new rulers introduced a hierarchical system, dividing Egyptian population into three main groups: Cairo’s Muslim population was estimated to comprise 80,000 people, whom the Ottomans called “subjects.” These laborers occupied the lowest rung of the social ladder. Nothing changed for the poor in social terms. On the second rung were the merchants and artisans and on the third rung the wealthy bourgeoisie.459 Semek and Stauth, by contrast, quote different numbers that completely diverge from Raymond’s. Therefore, these three scholars’ assessment of the past does not line up. It is interesting to note that neither one of their positions can be verified scientifically.460 Cairo had about 263,000 inhabitants at the time, ten percent of which were non-Muslims. Greeks, Armenians, Turks, Arabs, Berbers, and Kurds lived in separate districts. According to Semek and Stauth, Cairo counted 53 ethnic districts in the 18th century. Both Raymond and Meital note that at any given time, probably no more than 3,000 Jews lived in the Jewish quarter “Harat el-Yahud.”461 Jews had lived there continuously for 900 years since the 11th century, under Fatimid, Mamluk, and subsequently Ottoman rule. There were eleven synagogues in the Harat el-Yahud district. The Jewish district was located in the center of Cairo and was inhabited not only by different Jewish sects, but also by Muslims and Christians, who had built mosques and churches there.462 The Egyptian historian Al-Makrizi463 remembers that five synagogues were in operation in the Jewish district.464 But not all Jews lived in Harat al-Yahud: the wealthier ones among them settled in more prestigious districts.465 At the beginning of Ottoman rule, about 2.5 million people lived in Egypt, among them 150,000 Copts and 200,000 foreigners. Most of them were Turks from other parts of the Ottoman Empire or Greeks, Armenians, Jews, Syrians, and French. Alexandria had reached its nadir. The only treasures to remain of its ancient architecture— thousands of palaces, several theaters and holy sites—were Pompey’s Pillar and some parts of the old ramparts, notes Moorhead.466 From the mid-19th century to the 1920s, a massive stream of foreigners started to flock to Egypt. Greeks, Italians, Syrians, North Africans, Armenians, and Jews from different countries immigrated to Egypt. In 1850, there were 15,000 foreigners in Egypt. By 1880, their number

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had increased to 100,000, and from 1920 to 1947, there were 200,000 foreigners in Egypt.467

Jews under Ottoman Rule Even though the Ottoman rulers allowed the Jewish population to take care of its internal affairs and protected them in a certain way, Egyptian mobs continued to attack Jews, destroying and looting their buildings. “As was the case with Jews everywhere throughout the medieval period, the fortunes of the Jewish community ... rose and fell in rhythm with political events largely beyond its control.”468 When the Ottomans invaded Egypt in 1517, the situation of all foreigners improved. Since the situation of the Jews had become more and more unbearable under Mamluk rule in the 14th and the 15th centuries, the new regime seemed to be a welcome because it brought Western, nonIslamic principles of Enlightenment and the French Revolution—the equality of all citizens, for example—to the region in the course of its rule. Not all of the Ottoman rulers applied the principle of equality, however, and the situation of the Jews and other non-Jewish minorities intermittently deteriorated. “Nevertheless the process of secularization of the world’s leading Islamic power had begun.”469 The Ottomans considered Jews a very useful and productive people who, in many ways, were able to contribute to their empire’s wealth. “It is true that, by and large, Jewry prospered and thrived under their rule.” Jewish doctors, for example, brought with them European medical knowledge and methods that starkly contrasted with the practices hitherto applied in the Middle East. They therefore were able to practice their profession without any difficulties.470 The Ottomans rulers charged members of the Jewish community with the financial and administrative control of Egypt, with coin trade and minting, and the levying of taxes. On the other hand, the Ottomans envied Jews for their wealth and therefore often took revenge on them or exploited them financially.471 Winter explains Ottoman tolerance towards the Jews with Ottoman pragmatism and business savvy. They employed many Jews and Christians, “whose economic and financial capabilities were appreciated and put to use by the Ottoman government.”472 The Ottomans permitted the reintroduction of the position of a nagid473 and the foundation of new yeshivot.474 The economic situation of all non-Muslims subsequently improved.475 Managed by Jews under Ottoman protection, Levantine trade reached new heights.476 I was not able to find information about Jewish schools in pre-modern times. All those who wanted to study went directly from the heder477 to the midrash.478 479 The Ottoman Empire became an important center for Torah studies because of its many Jewish

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immigrants. Many new yeshivot und Torah schools were founded in Egypt, attracting students from other countries. Among them was the Yeshiva of the Radbaz.480 “The information on the minorities is scanty and episodic in the Muslim sources. ... The Hebrew sources, including chronicles and rabbinical responses, are more reliable as a barometer for the mood of the Jews.“ According to Michael Winter, information on the Christian minority is even harder to come by.481 Called dhimmis, the Jewish and Christian minorities enjoyed a peaceful period in the 16th century and even acquired some wealth.482 In the course of the 17th and 18th century, however, the Jewish situation deteriorated to the point of escalation.483

Jewish Scholars under Ottoman Rule “There is no doubt that at the middle of the sixteenth century, Kabbalah484 was very much in the air in many parts of the Mediterranean and Ottoman worlds.”485 During that time, scholars emerged whose teachings are still valued to this day. Most of them sought refuge in the Ottoman Empire from the Spanish Inquisition, where they were welcomed with open arms.486

Rabbi David ben Solomon ibn Abi Zimra/Radbaz (1479-1573)487 The Radbaz was born in Spain in 1479 and died in Safed (today: Israel) in 1573. In 1492, he was banned from Spain and emigrated with his parents to Eretz Israel. In 1517, he moved to Cairo. He soon became Chief Rabbi of Cairo and a short time later assumed this position for all of Egypt for 40 years. He also founded and directed a yeshiva,488 a rabbinical academy. He also was a posek (judge).489 The Radbaz authored about 2,500 halachic490 verdicts and other scholarly works.491 He reformed Jewish everyday practices in Egypt in many ways, not least by introducing the Jewish calendar.492 “He was highly revered for his vast knowledge, integrity of character, and extensive philanthropy. The Yeshiva that he founded and supported attracted many distinguished students, among them Rabbi Isaac Luria/Ha-Ari ha-Kadosh.493 Upon attaining the age of 90, the Radbaz resigned the chief rabbinate and divided the greater part of his fortune among the poor, making special provision for Torah scholars. He then moved to Israel and settled in Safed, where he became an active member of the rabbinical court.“494

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Rabbi Isaak Luria/Ha’Ari ha’kadosh (1534-1572)495 The name Ha’Ari ha’kadosh as well as the acronym Ha’Ari did not emerge until after the sage’s death and is used by his students to this day.496 Born in Jerusalem in 1534, he died in Safed (Israel) in 1572. He lived in Egypt for about thirty years. After his father had died, his mother had moved the family to Egypt to live with a wealthy uncle.497 Ha’Ari traded in pepper, wine, wheat, and leather, among other things. Widely traveled, he lived in Cairo, but conducted business with Alexandria and the port city of Rashid/Rosette. At the time, it was common for a rabbi to have a secular profession so he could support his family.498 The most important elements of his teachings are the elaboration of two closely linked concepts, diaspora and redemption.499 Before the Rambam,500 redemption did not exist as a concept in Kabbalistic501 teaching. The Ari studied the Kabbalah intensively, especially the Book of Zohar.502 He also studied geometry and became one of the most important Kabbalah scholars of modern times. The Ari had many students who spread his teachings after his death through oral tradition, but also through writing. It is impossible to ascertain which manuscripts were based on the Ari’s original teachings and which ones were penned in his name by his students.503 At the age of 36, the Ari returned to Eretz Israel, where he died two years later.

Sabbatei Zevi (1626-1676) Born in Smyrna in 1626, Sabbatei Zevi is known as the worst mashi’ah sheker. This selfproclaimed false Messiah pronounced the name of God in spite of the strictest prohibition against it and was therefore chased out of Smyrna. In 1662, he arrived in Egypt, where he founded the Sabbatean504 movement, garnering substantial success and attracting quite a number of followers. In 1703, he moved to Cairo. In 1667, the Sultan made him chose between converting to Islam and execution and he subsequently converted. Many of his followers upheld the Messianic idea even after his death.505

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Sephardim: Jews from the Iberian Peninsula Many Jews fell victim to the Spanish Inquisition because the country’s Christian rulers wanted to force them to convert to Christianity. Not wanting to abandon their faith, they also escaped in several waves. By ca. 1492, most Jews had left the Iberian Peninsula.506 The Ottomans accepted these Jews with open arms, first in Turkey and then in the rest of their empire. A big wave of Jewish refugees also went to Egypt. 507 Jews from Spain were called Sephardim.508 Jewish refugees from Spain also went North, ending up in France, Belgium, Western and Northern Germany, and Holland. Many of these refugees migrated to the Ottoman Empire in later waves, i.e. in 1497, 1498, and from 1506 to 1521.509 It is estimated that 12,000 families, i.e. roughly 60,000 people, left Spain and Portugal for the Ottoman Empire, but the number might also be higher. Most of the ones who migrated to Egypt settled in Cairo.510 Having existed since 1165, the era of the Rambam, the Sephardic community was the biggest and most respected among Egypt’s Jewish communities. Most of its members had acquired wealth and led a comfortable life. The few Ashkenazi groups511—Central and Eastern European Jews—were new to the country and were considered inferior by the Sephardi establishment.512 Shamir notes that Egypt’s Jewish community was “predominantly Sephardic,”513 and had established a network of relationships throughout the entire region. As their business context was Mediterranean, they were connected and assimilated to this maritime culture. They often retained their religious rituals and the language of their country of origin over many generations.514 The Sephardic community named its own synagogues after its cities of origin515 and set new social standards, such as a new appreciation of the family. They brought culture, the arts, the theater, and the printing press to Egypt. Their contribution to the economy was paramount in Egypt.516 “When the Spanish and Portuguese refugees reached the Ottoman Empire, they organized communities according to their origins, each preserving its own traditions.”517 The spiritual leader of the community was called hakham (sage)518 or marbitz Torah (Torah scholar).519 He represented the highest religious authority of his district.520 Many Spanish refugees were respected Jewish scholars. As their learnedness usually was superior to that of Egyptian Jews, they soon took on a leading role in the Jewish community.521 Jewish chronicles of the time show that the Jews were justified in appreciating the Ottoman rulers because they were grateful to them for providing them with shelter and asylum.522

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Ottomans and Jews Even though the Ottoman rulers had a more positive attitude towards Christians than towards Jews, they still protected the latter so they could lead a largely safe life. This fact comes to light in the writings of the Radbaz,523 one of the biggest religious authorities of his time. He noted that the Ottoman rulers protected the Jewish community from the mob so that they could enjoy religious and civilian freedom.524 Even though Jews in Egypt were not persecuted, they were still discriminated against. In spite of a certain degree of tolerance, they were not treated as equals. In later years, the Ottoman rulers also enacted anti-Jewish laws. Jews were not allowed to own Muslim slaves;525 they had to wear cone-shaped hats so they could be distinguished from Muslims. Jewish women were prohibited from wearing elegant clothes or jewelry. The situation further escalated under Murad IV526 and Uthman III.527 Both sultans continued to curtail the rights of Jews. Under their rule, Jewish women were not allowed to wear silk or velvet clothing.528 Jews were exposed to such discriminating measures not only in the Muslim world, however.529 It was neither stupidity nor naiveté, but a century-long diasporic experience that had taught Jews not to expect equal treatment. Their religion and their traditions were just too different from those of other ethnic groups.530 Over time, Egyptian Jews oriented themselves towards France in their language and culture. 531 In the 18th century, the Ottoman rulers abolished the position of the nagid532 for inexplicable reasons, after they had re-introduced this post at the beginning of their rule. The nagid had been responsible for the mint. For all intents and purposes, he was replaced by another representative of the Jewish community. Many Jews continued to hold high positions in the Ottoman Empire even though the Ottomans had an ambivalent, irrational, and contradictory attitude towards Jews.533

Egyptian Purim534 Egyptian Jews often tell the story of Egyptian Purim. This feast originated in the year 1524. Sultan Ahmed Pasha,535 the Traitor, was experiencing a severe financial crisis. He pressured the Jewish community to provide him with whatever high sum he was lacking. When he attacked the citadel during a revolt, he suffered a defeat and was toppled. The Jewish population was saved, and from this time onwards, his death was celebrated as “Egyptian Purim” every year.536

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Jewish Lifestyle Between the mid-16th and late 18th century, Sephardic Jews were the dominant Jewish community in the Egypt, influencing everyday life of other Jewish communities. By the mid16th century, most other Jewish communities had accepted the Spanish Book of Prayers.537 Families were the backbone of Jewish life. All Egyptian Jews aimed at having strong families with many descendants.538 One’s identity was determined by one’s family and familial affiliation. Social contacts mostly existed only within extended families. All the communities followed the Halacha539 even though most Jews believed in God without being overly religious and only went to synagogue sporadically. It was a patriarchal society even though women also held jobs. Parents arranged for their children’s marriages when they were young.540 Polygamy was very rare because Jewish wives did not accept a second wife, opting for divorce instead.541 Under Ottoman rule, a number of Jews converted to Islam, but we do not know an exact number. Some of them reconverted at a later time. They did so for opportunistic and economic reasons because they were hoping for better business opportunities and a higher social rank, among other things.542 Egypt’s non-Muslim population was largely autonomous. In terms of religion and judicial affairs, the different ethnic communities were independent even though they had to pay higher taxes than Muslims; they also had to follow a certain dress code and were subject to other disadvantages. These ethnic communities were called melet543 and included Greek-Orthodox, Armenian, and Jewish groups.544 European Jews from Russia, Romania, and other parts of Central and Eastern Europe had also settled in Egypt by the 16th century. They were a small minority active in business and communal life. Many of them spoke Yiddish in the first and second generation. They prayed differently and had a different lifestyle. In 1865, they even founded a Jewish Ashkenazi Community with its own synagogue in Cairo. They published a Yiddish newspaper, founded an ensemble for classical music and a theater that performed Yiddish, French, and English plays.545

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Ottomans in Egypt Egypt was the biggest and most important Ottoman province. Its strategic position on the Red Sea and its economic wealth was of utmost importance to the Ottoman Empire. “The Ottomans clearly regarded Egypt as a special case.”546 In the course of the 18th century, Egyptians increasingly strove towards independence. “Egypt assumed a central importance in European strategic planning that it has never been lost.” Towards the end of the 18th century, Europe’s economic expansion proved advantageous to the Egyptian economy. The demand for new products from the Orient such as coffee and rice had a positive effect on Egypt’s aspirations towards economic independence.547 The competition between Egypt and Europe was decided in Europe’s favor, however. European pottery, glass, and textile industries outdid their Egyptian counterparts. Even coffee, one of Egypt’s most important export goods, was imported directly from the Antilles to the Ottoman Empire. “By the end of the eighteenth century, Egypt’s economy had become vulnerable to European commercial and political pressure,”548 notes Lapidus. “There was a total ban on printing in Turkish or Arabic. Printing was known, because Jews, Armenians and Greeks began to introduce it from Europe from the late fifteenth century and to set their own presses, but the religious authorities maintained the ban for Muslims,”549 notes Mansfield. “Like the decline in historiography in Egypt following the Ottoman conquest, Islamic scholarship in the sixteenth century clearly sank beneath its level of previous centuries.”550 Academic endeavors were on the decline under Ottoman rule. While there were 75 active madrasas in Cairo at the beginning of the beginning of the 18th century, only 20 were in operation at the end.551 Until Muhammad Ali’s552 reign, scholarly activities were restricted to religious institutions such as Qu’ran School at the Al-Azahr Mosque in 1805. Since Turks were Muslims themselves, they automatically filled the religious needs of the Egyptian-Islamic community. “The legitimacy of the Ottoman regime was never questioned from a Muslim point of view. Ottoman authority was based on a Turkish tradition of patrimonial leadership.”553

A Crisis in the Ottoman Empire Towards the end of the 18th century, the European powers realized that the Ottomans would not recover from defeats they had sustained in Russia and Austria. Especially France and Great

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Britain wanted to avoid Russian expansion to the South. The Ottoman Empire therefore started its decline. “The Sick Man upon the Bosporus”—as Europe called the Ottoman Empire—was ill from corruption and an inability to administer the conquered territories. The Ottoman army could not prevent the impending decline, either.554 The decline of the Ottoman Empire had started as early as the 16th century, Encyclopedia Judaica notes. The army had lost any sense of discipline and the Egyptian-Islamic population started to revolt in many regions of the country.555 When the Cape of Good Hope was discovered, Europe moved its trade routes from Egyptian roads in the Middle East to the shorter and cheaper maritime routes around the Cape. This development impacted the Egyptian-Ottoman economy negatively, triggering massive trade stagnation. Traveling merchants and caravans did not pass through the region anymore and merchants based in Egypt lost their work. All the other industries and trades were affected as well. Agricultural production declined and, lacking this income, the regime could no longer pay its civil servants and soldiers.556

Napoleon557 in Egypt (1798-1802) By 1775, a series of internal revolts had started in the Ottoman Empire, bringing the politically stable and peaceful times in Egypt to an end. In 1798, French general Napoleon Bonaparte wanted to take advantage of a weakened Ottoman Empire. Napoleon’s army occupied Cairo, Alexandria, and Rosette from 1798 to 1801. “Egyptian and Arab nationalist historiographies have seen the occupation as the first great intrusion of western imperialism.”558 Led by Napoleon Bonaparte, the French navy landed in Alexandria559 with 30,000 men in the summer of 1798, immediately defeating the Mamluks.560 The French army started to occupy Alexandria and then marched onto Cairo, whose inhabitants had mobilized against the invaders.561 The conquest of Cairo was accompanied by pogroms and attacks on Jews and foreigners. Three weeks after taking Cairo, Bonaparte ruled over Egypt. Conquering Egypt, however, was easier than administering it.562 When the French landed in Egypt, they were the first non-Islamic power to invade and occupy the country. Bonaparte discovered that it was a “promised land, more arid than that of the Jews.”563 “There were no forts or ramparts in sight. They had hardly four cannons, but nobody could operate them.“564 Convinced that the French had come to Egypt to stay, Bonaparte brought progress to Egypt.

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He set up a modern mail service and transportation system as well as irrigation facilities. He also started to levy taxes and introduced health laws. Roads were repaired and illuminated. Egyptians took offense to the fact that Christians dominated the country, however. In October 1798, a revolt against all non-Muslims broke out. The French reacted immediately by bombarding the Al-Azhar Mosque and reconquering Cairo.565 The Ottomans declared war on France and signed a defense treaty with Russia and Great Britain.566 Lapidus notes that until 1878 the British and the Russians competed in currying favors with the Ottoman Empire. Each country wanted to be the sole one to protect and support the Ottomans.567 General Nelson attacked the French fleet in 1798, sinking most of its ships. Napoleon had to beat a retreat from Egypt.568 The British had remained victorious against the French army. “Britain, after helping defeat Napoleon’s invasion to Egypt in 1798, became the paramount military and commercial power in the Mediterranean.”569 Shamir notes that westernization in Egypt started with the French invasion, deepening its relations with Europe and attracting foreigners from many European countries to the region. The British left Egypt in March of 1803 after securing a dominant position in the Ottoman Empire.570

The End of an Era The basic difference between the Mamluks and Ottomans was that the Mamluks soon came to consider Egypt their home. They had not claimed any other country of origin and had planned to make Egypt their homeland. As a result, they invested large sums in architectural projects, urban infrastructure, a network of public roads, and an irrigation system in Egypt’s big cities. The Ottomans, by contrast, were foreign rulers who stayed in the country as long as they could exploit it and derive geographic and economic advantages from the occupation. The center of the Ottoman Empire always remained in Turkey, with Constantinople as the capital. That is why the Ottomans probably did not make any long-term plans and did not attempt to create a socio-economic vision for Egypt. “No collection of Ottoman funerary inscriptions has ever been made [in Egypt]. There are moreover few mausoleums to show for 300 years of occupation,” the Encyclopedia of Islam notes. 571 Winter explains this absence of funerary sites by the fact that Ottoman rulers remained in Egypt only temporarily because each one of them wanted to return to the center of power, Constantinople.572 Sources such as the Encyclopedia of Islam, Jewish Encyclopedia Online, Raymond, etc.

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consider the year 1798573 “Egypt’s entry into the modern world.”574 Other scholars such as Vatikiotis, Fahsi, and Lapidus think that Egypt did not orient itself towards the West until Muhammad Ali assumed power in 1805. “Through part of the Ottoman Empire, Egypt retained a separate political and cultural identity. ... The weakness of the Ottomans led to profound changes in the whole of Egyptian society. First, it exposed Egypt to invasion by Napoleon in 1798, to British counter-invasion, and finally to the appointment of Muhammad Ali as governor in 1805.”575 “Out of the Arab conquests no new nation emerged that was able either to defend or to rule itself, or to control its economic and social problems. Not a single independent state with Arabic as its official language was in existence before World War I.”576

4. Muhammad Ali and His Dynasty (1805-1882)

Muhammad Ali’s rule is often considered the “beginning of modern Egypt.”577 Muhammad Ali was born in Kavala (Thrace) in 1769 and died in Cairo in 1848. An orphan, he was adopted by the governor of Macedonia. He received military training and quickly ascended on the military career ladder because of his decisive attitude and leadership talents. After having successfully served as an officer, he became commander of the Albanian unit of the Ottoman army.578

Muhammad Ali Pasha (1769-1849) In 1801,579 as the young officer in the Albanian unit of the Turkish army, Muhammad Ali Pasha went on an expedition to Egypt. “The French evacuation of Egypt in October 1801 left a power vacuum in the country in which a struggle for control among competing groups developed immediately. It was from this struggle that Muhammad Ali emerged victorious as the ruler of Egypt“.580 Since there was internal strife among the Mamluks and the Ottoman rulers were unpopular and weak, it was relatively easy for him to seize power in a political vacuum. Officially an Ottoman viceroy and pasha, he practically ruled Egypt independently.581 Muhammad Ali came to power in 1805 and retained the position of viceroy of Egypt and Ottoman pasha until 1848. His title became hereditary by law in 1841 and his dynasty ruled Egypt until 1952.582

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After many centuries,583 he was the first ruler that did not consider Egypt a temporary stronghold, but a new and permanent home. He replaced almost all of the Mamluk officers and other civil servants with his family members. “Muhammad Ali was truly the founder of modern Egypt, an Egypt in which the Egyptians found themselves silenced, exiled, and robbed of the fruits of their labor, an Egypt to be ruled as he had wished by his descendants for onehundred years after his death,”584 Fahmy notes. “Rising from obscurity to prominence in 1805, Muhammad Ali actively sought to carve out for himself an empire in the eastern Mediterranean. ... The Pasha’s stormy expansionism on both sides of the Red Sea ... should be viewed within a grand design of independence and regional hegemony.“585 During his reign, Muhammad Ali conquered many territories. He occupied the Hejas, Sudan, parts of Greece, Palestine/Eretz Israel, Syria, and Konya in Turkey.586

Egypt under Muhammad Ali’s Rule Economically and politically weak before Muhammad Ali’s reign, Egypt became a power to contend with during his rule.587 The new ruler spearheaded major reforms by applying European methods of government. He instituted a cabinet and a centralized system of monopolies, and carried out agricultural reforms. Muhammad Ali was the first ruler of an Islamic country to take economic development seriously. He reformed the Egyptian economy by focusing on agriculture, the country’s primary source of income, establishing it as an efficient “large scale industry” within ten years with the help of monopolies.588 Muhammad Ali seized land from the wealthy and divided it among the peasants. In 1840 there were about 260,000 industrial workers in Egypt. By 1850, their number had increased to 450,000.589 Between 1816 and 1850, many Egyptian farmers switched from agriculture to industrial work.590 Under Muhammad Ali’s rule, Egypt also became the world’s biggest supplier of cotton. A new modern industry was built to cover the entire range of the production process, from processing raw cotton to supplying finished products. Egypt’s newly found wealth was also based on supplying foodstuff to Europe. Muhammad Ali built trade routes to the Far East and an increasing number of shipping companies began to sail through the port of Alexandria.591 The land reform and agricultural laws enacted by Muhammad Ali and his successors in the years 1847, 1855, and 1858 changed the rural Egyptian social structure, not least because of

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the flight from the countryside to the urban industrial centers. Land was divided into smaller units and small farmers were now able to own land. But only men benefited from these reforms, as had traditionally been the case in Egypt.592 “Women were assigned the weaker and less attractive share of the labor market, and were further barred from educational and career opportunities.”593 Muhammad Ali instituted a new educational system with primary, secondary schools, and technical schools and invited European teachers and experts to the country because they provided a higher instructional level.594 Students were sent to European universities to establish an Egyptian cadre of experts in the field of business and science.595 Spanning over three decades, this new order helped modernize Egypt. Some of Ali’s successors continued his reforms. As the first Muslim ruler of Egypt, he intensified diplomatic relations with Europe, a continent he admired. “Muhammad Ali gave Egypt the organizational basis and the human cadres for the emergence of a modern state.”596 His French advisors helped him build an impressive public education system. French doctors advised him on how to build hospitals and a public health system.597 Muhammad Ali was mainly interested in the army, however, which secured his rule. He established the country’s first military academies and European-style public schools. Factories were built to meet the army’s needs. They provided basic goods such as clothing and ammunition. Housing and medical facilities were also built for soldiers, who were trained by European experts. Muhammad Ali knew that only a strong army could protect Egypt from its enemies.598 “In 1841, the powers allowed Muhammad Ali to establish a hereditary regime in Egypt. ... The Ottoman Empire had become a protectorate of Europe and a pawn of the great powers.” When Russia, Great Britain, and France intervened in his conflicts with the Ottoman Empire, Muhammad Ali suffered his first political defeat in 1840.599

Demographic Data In 1800, Egypt’s population was estimated to amount to 4,5 million people. By the end of the 19th century, it had increased to 10 million. Most Egyptians lived in rural areas and gained their livelihood from agriculture. In the 19th century, Egypt’s urban population increased from 8 to 10 percent. By the end of the 19th century, Cairo had 570,000 inhabitants, and Alexandria 320,000, which constituted a 40 percent increase.600

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In 1856, the Bank of Egypt was founded and in 1864 it was taken over by the Bank of England. In 1867, the Ottoman Bank was established and in 1875, Crédit Lyonnais. These new developments attracted foreign investment to Egypt.

Foreigners and Jews in the Early 19th Century By and large, the Ottoman government protected the Jewish minority. Jews also received assistance from European embassies and consulates as well as from Protestant missions and Jewish institutions such as the Alliance Israélite Universelle.”601 In the 19th century, alilot dam (blood libel stories) against Jews started to spread both in Cairo and Alexandria. Jews were falsely accused of murdering Muslim and Christian children and were only spared a massacre because European embassies intervened. Encyclopedia Judaica notes that the Greek community and embittered Egyptians had started these rumors because they felt economic rivalry towards their Jewish competitors. “Jews became the scapegoats for the hostility of the masses.”602 In early 1836, the Ottoman regime established the Office of the Hakham Bashi, the Chief Rabbi of Constantinople. In ca. 1864, this position was also established in other provinces of the Empire such as Egypt, where the Hakham Bashi was the sole authority in ritual affairs.603 While Egypt counted a few thousand foreigners in 1860 according to Vatikiotis, their number grew to over 100,000 in 1876.604 Toledano notes that in the early 19th century only a few foreigners lived in Egypt and that their number had increased to 140,000 by the end of the century.605 As mentioned above, many foreigners went to Egypt to benefit from its newly found wealth. Greek, French, and Italian citizens settled in the country in the 19th century. “Between 1830 and 1930, financial and commercial services and enterprises were largely owned and operated by foreigners, who were protected by the Capitulations.606 ... Selim III granted such privileges to local Christian and Jewish merchants, who were his protected subjects, so that they could compete with foreign commercial interests.“607 Muhammad Ali encouraged many foreigners to move to Egypt to participate in its economic development. The first ones to arrive were the Greeks. They were followed by Italian and French citizens as well as people from the Levant. It was relatively easy for foreign nationals to immigrate because passports and other formalities were not introduced until the 20th century.608

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When Muhammad Ali introduced an educational reform in the mid-19th century, Jews also felt that a need for better education. Until that time, boys had only learned how to read, write, and pray. Girls did not receive any education.609 Adolphe Crémieux610 and Salomon Munk,611 two French reformers, realized that Jewish education was insufficient and therefore founded European-style schools both in Alexandria and in Cairo. Besides studying the Torah, boys learned Hebrew, Arabic, French, geography, mathematics, and sometimes Italian. Girls were taught the same subjects as well as handicrafts. A modern schedule and grading system were introduced in schools. In Alexandria, these schools failed after two years; in Cairo, they continued to operate.612 Even though these schools closed down in Alexandria after a short time, there was an increasing awareness of how important education was to Jewish life. In 1854, a school for boys was opened and six years later, one for girls. Both schools were funded with contributions from wealthy Jewish philanthropists who built and maintained the schools and provided food and clothing for children in need. Wealthy Jews did not send their children to these schools, however, but chose non-Jewish secular and convent schools.613

Alexandria—The Window to Europe After an interruption of 1,000 years,614 Alexandria awoke from its dormant state and took another ascent. Legend has it that the commander615 of the Ottoman army wrote the following, “I conquered the Western part of Alexandria. Words cannot describe the riches I found. The city has 4,000 bathhouses, 12,000 vegetable vendors, 4,000 Jewish taxpayers, and 4,000 musicians. What should I do with this city? “616 Alexandria recovered quickly from several centuries of neglect. By the end of Muhammad Ali’s reign, its population size had increased to 100,000 people. By the end of the 19th century, it had increased to at least 200,000. Alexandria’s development went hand in hand with modernization projects all over Egypt.617 Alexandria’s port needed be developed to connect Egypt to the European economy. The roads between Cairo and Alexandria were improved.618 “Telegraph and railway networks spread. Regular train services linked Cairo to the Mediterranean in 1854. ... The poll tax on nonMuslims [from 1815] was officially abolished.”619 Many wealthy Egyptians, among them members of the royal family, built palaces and mansions for the summer months on Alexandria’s seashore and the city became cosmopolitan. 620

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Raymond notes that it was obvious that a new Egypt had arisen by 1841. At first, it was Egypt’s economic expansion towards Europe that triggered Alexandria’s development. Inhabited by 10,000 people in the early 19th century, their number increased to 105,000 by 1848 and to 232,000 by 1882, among them 49,000 foreigners.621 Cotton was the biggest commodity in Alexandria. Cotton, and especially natural cotton, was produced, traded, and exported from the city. New factories for the processing, weaving and finishing of cotton products opened up shop. The second biggest commodity in Alexandria was oil.622 Jews from Rashid, the Delta, and Damiat settled in Alexandria during this era. More and more immigrants, among them Jews from Italy, Greece, and Turkey flocked to the city. These immigrants connected with the Jewish community in Alexandria, who was one of the most successful ones in Egypt in the 19th and 20th century.623 Thanks to its port and international population, Alexandria became a modern, thriving city.624 Jews had lived in Alexandria since its foundation in 331 BCE. Their numbers varied in the course of history. According to Islamic sources, there were tens of thousands of them. In the 12th century, Benjamin of Tudela625 wrote that only 25 Jewish families lived in Alexandria. In 1882, it was about 3,000. Their number increased to 40,000 in 1940.626 “Alexandria is the most European of all Egyptian cities, but its way of being European has always been tied to the Mediterranean. ... While Cairo is an Arabic city, Alexandria is in many ways a GreekMediterranean city.“627 “That turned Alexandria into the most Mediterranean city of its time,” notes Shamir.628

Cairo—Paris on the Nile During Muhammad Ali’s reign, Cairo was not yet located on the shores of the Nile, but about one kilometer east of it. The fort that served as a seat of government was located in the east. During his reign, it was incessantly renovated and new buildings were added to it. “Modern Cairo took shape under Muhammad Ali [1805-1849].”629 In spite of his efforts, Muhammad Ali ended up neglecting Cairo and its population therefore size hovered at around 250,000.630 Cairo’s stagnation during Muhammad Ali’s rule was the result of lack of interest on the ruler’s part. Muhammad Ali preferred Alexandria and paid special attention to it.631 By the end of the 19th century, Cairo’s population size had reached 350,000 inhabitants. Muhammad Ali completely restructured Egyptian society, but not only earned praise for it.

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Since Cairo’s Jewish quarter was located in the old part of town, it was densely populated and poor.632 Like his predecessor, Khedive Ismail633 was fascinated with European, and especially French tradition and culture. In 1851, he signed a contract with Great Britain to build railroad connections between Cairo and Alexandria and Cairo and the city of Suez.634 In 1865, Ismail started to invest large sums in Cairo’s infrastructure. This was the beginning of modern Cairo. Gas and water mains, a streetcar system, roads, sidewalks, and the Kasr el-Nil Bridge were built. Trees were planted on boulevards. Muhammad Ali’s educational system was expanded to comprise 5,000 schools that taught to standards never before applied in the Arab world.635 Until the mid-19th century, no more than 4,000 Jews had lived in Cairo. By 1882, their number had increased to 5,000, by 1897 to about 10,000, and by 1917 to about 29,000. The latest immigrants to arrive were Eastern European Jews.636 By 1917, more than 90 percent of all Egyptian Jews lived in Alexandria and Cairo. According to Ruth Kimhi, this was the highest percentage of all Jewish minorities in Europe and the Middle East.637 Most of Cairo’s Jewish inhabitants had lived in an impoverished neighborhood called Harat-alYahud since the 11th century. They worked as moneychangers, credit lenders, goldsmiths, shoemakers, carpenters, metal-workers, cloth-dyers, and merchants. Once Cairo modernized and opened itself towards Europe, the economic situation of its Jewish population drastically improved638 and they ended up leaving their historic neighborhood for newer and more modern districts.639 “There were 7,000 Jews in Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century with eight synagogues. Most of them lived in Cairo in a quarter of their own which could be hermetically closed, with dirty streets, and large houses. ... They are ultra-religious. ... The rich among them, also living in the Jewish quarter are money-changers, bankers, dealers, goldsmiths, brokers, traders, shop owners and merchants. Among them are quite a number of poor Jews who live from the donations of their coreligionists.”640 A portion of the Jews from Harat-el-Yahud was born in Egypt. Their families had lived there for more than 2,500 years. Others were Italian Jews who had immigrated in the 18th century and Spanioli—Sephardim who had come to Egypt at the end of the 15th century.641 When the Suez Canal opened in the mid-19th century and their economic situation improved, more and more Jews moved to new districts. The first ones to move were the richest families, the Mosseiris, Qatawis and Suares.642 Located northeast of the city of Cairo, Abbasiya643 was a new Jewish quarter inhabited by 13,000 people, most of them middle-class. Also populated by Muslims and Copts, Abbasiya was a better residential area. Jews from Abbasiya spoke Arabic

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and French. In their clothing and customs, they resembled their non-Jewish, Arabic neighbors. In contrast to most other Jews, most of them had Egyptian citizenship or were stateless.644

A Heyday for Jews and Foreigners After Muhammad Ali assumed power, a new era started for Jews. The economic upswing attracted more Jews to the country, who primarily settled in Cairo.645 During Sultan Abdülmecid’s rule,646 Jews were restituted their rights, just like all other non-Muslims.647 The number of foreigners in the country, especially Europeans, rapidly increased. While their number had amounted to 10,000 in ca. 1805, it ranged between 70,000 and 80,000 by the end of the 19th century. They mainly lived in Alexandria and Cairo and held important positions in many different industries. Alexandria’s center already resembled a European city,648 notes Shamir. Muhammad Ali was mostly interested in public and economic affairs and abolished many discriminatory laws against non-Muslims in the process. The most important non-Muslim communities were—in order of size—the Coptic, Jewish, Syrian-Catholic, and Greek communities. Having mostly lived in Cairo, Jews mostly worked as money-changers, merchants, government officials, and goldsmiths. Most Europeans who immigrated to Egypt during this time lived in Alexandria.649 From the mid-19th century, Muhammad Ali and his successors invited more and more Jews from outside of Egypt to settle in the country. These new immigrants made a decisive contribution to Egypt’s economic miracle. They were bankers, merchants, architects, developers, industrialists, doctors, ministers, and intellectuals. With the exception of Sicurel, all of the big department stores in Egypt were founded and managed by Jews. “The community was diverse. There were poor Jews, middle-class Jews, rich Jews. Most of them were denied Egyptian citizenship, even if born in the country. They were ‘stateless’, and therefore had no protection from any entity. Some got European citizenship through their descendance.”650

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Jewish Culture Between 1750 and 1900, an active cultural Jewish life flourished in Egypt, especially in its bigger communities. Dozens of books were written in Hebrew in Egypt, Eretz Israel, and Syria.651 James Sanu’a652 was a journalist, playwright and director. From 1869 to 1871, he headed a theater ensemble. “He was, it seems, the first Egyptian in the 1870s to perfect political satire both in his publications and plays.”653 Sanu’a wrote and produced the first opera in Egyptian Arabic. It was first performed in Ezbekiya Gardens in Cairo. After Sanu’a had coined the slogan “Egypt for Egyptians,” Khedive Ismail Pasha654 held him in high esteem as “the Egyptian Molière.” In 1870, the ruler helped Sanu’a found the first Egyptian theater with a permanent ensemble. In the beginning, Sanu’a wrote all the plays himself. They were initially performed in Italian and French and enthusiastically received by a foreign audience. Later, Sanu’a started to translate the plays into Arabic and in the end wrote some very successful plays in the language.655 Thanks to his initiatives, many works of literature were translated into Arabic. Two years later, the theater was shut down because, for the Khedive’s taste, it was too critical of social conditions. The foundation of this theater is still considered the beginning of Egyptian drama.656 Several renowned Jewish actresses started to perform on the Egyptian stage. They played female roles in front of an audience that considered their profession despicable. In contrast to their co-religionists, some of these actresses were not chased out of the country in 1948 and continued to perform in Egyptian theaters until the 1980s. Ashkenazi Jews had also brought their Eastern European dramatic tradition to Egypt. They founded several Jewish theaters in the big cities and initially performed plays in Yiddish. 657 After having failed in Alexandria several times, a Persian Jew succeeded in establishing a Hebrew printing business in Cairo in 1873. By 1916, the printing business had released more than 40 books. A second printing business was founded in 1907 and produced several dozens of books.658

Anti-Semitism By the end of the 19th century, anti-Semitism reared its ugly head in new facets. In Europe, Jewish emancipation had started with Theodor Herzl,659 the founder of modern Zionism, who

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spurred on Jewish nationalist aspirations for a Jewish state. Anti-Semitism and fanatic Catholicism spread to Islamic countries. Egypt, the most progressive country in the Arab world, became one of the main hubs of hatred,660 Hirschberg noted in an article in Bat Ye’or’s volume. Overall, Jews were persecuted less than in other Arab countries because love of peace is deeply rooted in the Egyptian national character.661

The Suez Canal In 1854 Egypt signed a contract with the French diplomat and developer Ferdinand de Lesseps to build the Suez Canal. The Canal was inaugurated 14 years later and Egypt became a major center of the world economy. The income from the cotton trade and exports as well as canal fees had turned Egypt into a wealthy country.662 “Egypt took its place once and for all on the great field of world politics and world economy.”663 Porat considers the construction of the Suez Canal one of the most important achievements of Muhammad Ali’s dynasty, both nationally and internationally. Canal constructions had started under the second one of his successors,664 Said.665 It was completed under Muhammad Ali’s grandson Ismail666 in 1869.667 The construction of the Suez Canal threw Egypt into huge debts, costing it its economic independence and subjugating it to the control of foreign powers.668 According to Shamir, this development spurred on the formation of national movements and pan-Islamism. The fact that the occupied Islamic countries shared a common destiny was one of the most important factors for this development.669 Between 1878 and the start of World War I in 1914, the balance of power in Europe shifted.670 As a result, the territories of the Ottoman Empire and the Middle East in general were restructured politically and subsequently new national states were founded.671

The Orabi Revolt 672 (1881) Ahmed Orabi673 was born to a sheik in a village near Zagazig674 in 1841. Orabi studied in a Qu’ran school and later attended Al-Azhar University. Shortly after returning to his village, he joined the army, where he became lieutenant colonel at the age of 20. After Egypt’s debt load had led the country to the brink of bankruptcy in 1876, British and French financial oversight offices were set up within the Egyptian government. Mixed

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courts675 were introduced, fueling the rage that most Egyptians felt about these measures. “Lord Cromer676 tracked the progress of British domination.” Great Britain had the biggest economic stakes in Egypt. Eighty percent of Egyptian exports and 44 percent of its imports went through British hands. Even though France had built the Suez Canal, 80 percent of the traffic occurred on British boats. Great Britain owned about 44 percent of all shares in the Suez Canal Company. The British had made constitutional amendments relating to the army.677 Already a highranking officer, Orabi was displeased with these changes.678 In his opinion, these amendments were a provocation to all officers, preventing them from rising in the military hierarchy. After he organized a first protest in 1881, the government arrested all those involved. During the second protest, Orabi already acted as a “representative of the Egyptian army officers.”679 “Orabi quickly evolved from an obscure colonel [in 1881] into a national politician.” He soon began to realize his vision of “politics for Egyptians.”680 The demonstration he spearheaded at Abdin Palace in September 1881 went down in history as the “Orabi Revolution,” to which “people from a range of social backgrounds quickly lent their support.” The motto of this revolution was “Egypt for Egyptians.” People from all social strata took part in it, some of them spontaneously. Reid und Shamir write that the socioeconomic dimension of this revolution cannot be understood, even to this day. Participants included the intelligentsia, newly formed under Muhammad Ali, officers, soldiers, civil servants, journalists, merchants, land-owners, rich and poor people, and even peasants.681 Vatikiotis notes that Orabi became a national hero in Egypt. He wanted to free the country of “tyrannical rule” and protect it from “infidel subjugation.” For outsiders, it looked as if he wanted to eradicate Egypt’s minorities. The Ottomans, by contrast, hoped that he would help them chase out foreign rulers from Egypt. In spring 1882, he finally gained widespread support from different ideological and political camps, which turned his revolution into a national movement.682 In the summer of 1882 the British government made the following decision: “The Alexandria riot, British bombardment, and the ensuing invasion propelled the revolution into its third stage, the final break and war with Britain.” After Orabi’s army had fought back, the British deployed warships and became the sole rulers of Egypt.683 “The defeat of Orabi marked the end of an era and the beginning of another in Egyptian modern history.” In 1882, the Egyptian upper class took a wait-and-see attitude in view of these events. They did not care about the invasion as long as the British shouldered the responsibility for it.684

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“Colonel Ahmed Orabi gave his name to an upheaval that challenged Muhammad Ali’s dynasty and the European powers. While Nasser’s revolution was a qualified success, however, Orabi’s failed, ending in outright British occupation and reducing the nominally restored Khedive almost to a figurehead.”685 Muhammad Ali’s dynasty ruled Egypt until King Farouk was dethroned in a military coup in 1952. Especially towards the end, this dynasty was unpopular because it was considered corrupt and extravagant.686 Muhammad Ali made Egypt largely independent of the Ottoman Empire even though the Ottomans retained official control of the country until 1914.687

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5. The British in Egypt (1882-1956)

The Occupation of Egypt The Orabi Revolt turned into a national liberation movement688 against the Ottomans.689 In July 1882, British forces attacked Egypt, following the Ottoman Empire’s requests for help. They wanted to stop the Orabi Revolt and reinstate the Ottoman Khedive’s authority. Vatikiotis notes that the Orabi Revolt was responsible for the British occupation. The British Navy started the offensive by bombarding Alexandria.690 The British invaded Egypt at the same time as the French, following a request to protect Ottoman sovereignty.691 This had serious consequences for both Turkey and Europe. Egypt’s relations with Sudan, Turkey, and other Arab-speaking Ottoman provinces changed. British assistance to Turkey ended with many years of occupation of Egypt. The year 1882 was the stormiest in Egyptian history. A weave of xenophobia swept over the country, leading to tougher European sanctions against Egypt. At first, Great Britain and France sent warships to Egypt as a warning. The British Navy subsequently bombed Alexandria and occupied all of Egypt. Alexandria was the center of tensions between Europeans and Egyptians because many of its inhabitants were foreigners. The number of warships in Egypt’s waters rose steadily. Even so, thousands of Europeans liquidated their businesses and left the country. Shortly thereafter, a mob attacked European homes and business. Before the army could intervene, many casualties on both sides had occurred, notes Shamir.692 “By defeating the Egyptian army and occupying the country, Britain brought a forceful conclusion to almost a century of great power rivalry.”693 The British came to the country to help and advise the Ottomans. Officially known as “agents and consul-generals,” they actually occupied the country. Lord Cromer694 was consul-general of Egypt from 1883 to 1907. One of his hardest tasks was to abolish the privileges foreigners had heretofore enjoyed in Egypt.695 According to Shimoni, Arab nationalism started to take root during British occupation,696 triggering—among other things—the disintegration of the Ottoman Empire.697 Even though Great Britain initially did not intend to occupy Egypt when it helped the Sultan quell the Orabi Revolt, its forces ended up staying in Egypt. This added a new dimension to the EuropeanEgyptian conflict,698 notes Shamir. Mansfield sees it in the following way: “Britain’s singlehanded occupation of Egypt in 1882 was reluctant and almost accidental—the restoration of

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Ottoman authority in Egypt would have been preferable but was impractical. ... Britain had two immediate strategic concerns in the Middle East—the protection of the Suez Canal and the protection of the Gulf.699 Both were vital links with India.”700 When France acknowledged Great Britain’s authority over Egypt in 1904, Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Italy followed suit.701 When the British established their regime in Egypt, Jews and other minorities came to enjoy better protection again. Egypt’s Jewish community was the fifth biggest in the world.702 After the Revolution of the Young Turks of 1908 and 1909, all non-Muslims in the Ottoman Empire were granted more civil rights, but some restrictions remained. This led to a growing interest in Zionism and the foundation of new Jewish and Zionist organizations that primarily focused on teaching sports and culture, and—above all—Hebrew.703

Egyptian Loyalty towards Great Britain The Egyptian people were of two minds about the British occupation. On the one hand, the Egyptian elite was hoping that foreigners would modernize and Europeanize the country; on the other hand, many Muslim Egyptians felt loyal towards Turkey because they hailed from the region. It was anybody’s guess whether Egypt would retain its Islamic character while benefiting from British secular ethics in social and political affairs.704 Many Egyptians would have preferred an Islamic political course to secular British-Egyptian relations. “The [British] prominence between 1906 and 1914 marks the most illustrious phase of the movement for secular liberalism in modern Egyptian political history,”705 writes Vatikiotis. In 1907, Egyptian nationalism awakened. Towards the end of his term as governor, Lord Cromer even supported the educated Egyptian elite in its national aspirations. “Sa’ad Zaghlul [was] the leader of the modern Egyptian nationalist movement and first elected Prime Minister of the new kingdom of Egypt in 1923.”706 Having triggered a nationalist wave in the early 20th century, the relatively liberal British style of governing came to an abrupt end in 1914, at the onset of World War I.707 Egypt’s journalistic tradition, one of the oldest in the Arab world, came to play an ever more important role in the country’s political and national aspirations. Journalists gained influence through their writings. Rather than focusing on Pan-Arabism, educational issues and political problems, they highlighted Egyptian independence. The press had started to wield a decisive influence on Egyptians and continued to do so until the country gained independence many

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years later.708

Alexandria under British Rule Until 1882, visitors could still see beautiful remnants of the past in Alexandria. Erected by different civilizations, these ruins were located in a small swath of land between Lake Maryut and the Mediterranean. Most of them were lost, however, after a British development boom set in immediately after the invasion. Only a few ruins have remained in the Old City to this day. Most of the treasures were shipped abroad, torn down, or disappeared into the ocean.709 Today the island of Pharos is connected with the mainland and only a few archeological sites have survived in the city.710 “Generations of Alexandrians are resurrected: Copts, Romans, Greeks, Arabs, Jews, Europeans and Ottomans. But, how strange—it is not only the people who are resurrected, but the buildings that we had thought lost forever”.711 In the shorty story “Alexandria ad Aegyptum” of the collection Farewell to Alexandria, Harry E. Tzalas has a doctor form Alexandria tell the tale of his city: “He would describe, almost tearfully, how at the end of the last century the tall buildings began to sprout, one after the other in great numbers, demolishing the remaining medieval walls and consuming whatever ancient and medieval relics they found in their path, almost as if they were set upon erasing all traces of the past.”712 In Alexandria 1860-1960, Robert Ilbert writes that Alexandria “still manages to feed nostalgia ... in a few unchanged places and in the survival of names from another era.”713

Alexandria, an International City From the mid-19th century onwards, Alexandria was the most important city in the Middle East, not least because of its geographical location as a meeting point between Europe, Asia, and Africa. Adams describes Alexandria in the following way: “The meeting and mixing of different people, each bringing special skills, manners and customs, has usually proved stimulating ... migrating peoples converged in the Middle East from all quarters.”714 The British presence in Egypt guaranteed security to foreigners, whose number had risen from 68,600 in 1878 to more than 151,400 in 1907. Alexandria’s population quickly rose to over four million people. 715 It was a cosmopolitan, international city with a Western, secular character. Its wealth—and probably also its diversity—was largely due to its harbor716 and trade, which made it the most

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important hub in the Middle East. Foreigners preferred Alexandria because of its European character. People of different origins and creeds settled peacefully in this international metropolis. For centuries, Alexandria’s inhabitants lived side by side, accepting and respecting each other—even though this peace was interrupted from time to time,717 Bat Ye’or describes his own experience. In her essay “Between Two Worlds,” Jacqueline Kahanoff718 confirms that Alexandria was the most European of Egyptian cities, but that its Europeanness always had a special Mediterranean character to it. Kahanoff remembers that the city’s elite—mostly Greeks, Italians, and Jews—used to meet in elegant cafés or in casinos along the coast. Alexandria had its own political and literary circles and artists. The city was magical, feverish, full of gossip, intrigues—a melting pot of cultures.719 In the late 1940s, Levantine-European Alexandria experienced its last international heyday, Hilde Zaloscer notes. This author lived in Egypt for more than three decades. Great Britain, Germany, France, and the Soviet Union opened cultural institutes. Renowned artists from Europe and the United States visited the city to give concerts, readings, and lectures.720 From 1920 onwards, more than 100 books were printed in Alexandria, most of them in Hebrew, others in Judeo-Arabic and Ladino.721 Alexandria’s Jewish community grew steadily until the late 1930s. In 1910, it amounted to 30,000 people. Half of them were members of 500 Ashkenazi families. By around 1927, the community had increased to 63,550 people.722 There were eight big synagogues in Alexander and several other smaller ones. Today no more than twenty Jews officially live in Alexandria. The Eliyahu Ha’navi Synagogue on NabiDaniel Street is the last one still in operation, but only performs services on high holidays such as Passover, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.723

Cairo under British Rule Cairo was known as a fairy-tale city straight out of Arabian nights. Many 19th century travelers were fascinated by the city and settled there, Semsek and Stauth note.724 The colonial powers of the 19th century changed the Oriental cityscape by creating wide Parisian-style boulevards and building modern mansions for foreign residents, which contrasted starkly with the old, narrow, and overpopulated parts of town.725 Inhabitants were distributed throughout the districts not according to economic, but rather to

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ethnic and social, standards and they administered their neighborhoods themselves. Main thoroughfares were open to everybody, but dead-end streets were often considered private property. Street fights and lootings between the districts took place on a regular basis. Every district had its own houses of worship, Qu’ran schools, trade centers, bazaars, health services, and hammams.726 This description, however, only fits the Islamic parts of town, not Cairo’s actual cultural diversity. The majority of foreigners—Greeks, Armenians, Turks, Arabs, Berbers, and Kurds—had settled in neighborhoods of their own. In the 18th century, Cairo had 53 such neighborhoods.727 Cairo developed very quickly from 1882 onwards and became more and more European. In a veritable development boom, not only Alexandria and Cairo were both renovated and expanded. New modern neighborhoods such as Heliopolis and Heluan included modern stores, hotels, and banks. Western-style clothing was modern and changed the cityscape. Egypt became a cosmopolitan tourist attraction and a desirable place of residence for Europeans. Big hotels hosted balls; French and English was heard in the streets; Viennese waltzes played in the cities’ cafés. Thousands of residents gained their livelihood from tourism, but had only limited access to wealth.728 In 1905, five Jewish publishing houses and printshops were founded. They released books as well as newspapers and journals.729 They were commercial enterprises, but also printed books in Hebrew. After World War I, they printed more than 50 books in Cairo.730 In 1910, Moreno Cicurel opened Cairo’s first department store, which soon became one of the most desirable shopping locations and turned into Egypt’s biggest chain.731 “In 1918, Egyptian nationalism became a genuinely popular movement.” In 1925, Fuad University,732 the first secular institution of higher learning, opened in Cairo.733 At the beginning of the 20th century, Cairo’s Jewish community included 37 synagogues, several Jewish orchestras, three Jewish theaters (one of them performing in Yiddish).734 About a dozen of Jewish newspapers in several languages were published. There were also a Jewish hospital and old people’s home. The Jewish aristocracy mingled with Egyptian and European royalty.735 Today, only very few Jews still live in Cairo. The Shaar ha’Shamayim Synagogue in Adly Street is the only one still in operation on Jewish holidays. The old Ben-Ezra Synagogue is only a tourist site.736 Alexandria’s and Cairo’s synagogues are monumental, European-style buildings. Silent witnesses of a glorious past, they are adorned with many Jewish symbols such as Stars of David, Menorahs, tables of the Ten Commandments and biblical quotes.737

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Sidenote: Austria in Egypt

The Imperial Austrian Matrikelbuch738 of Cairo (1908-1914) The Austro-Hungarians Matrikelbuch—a register of Austrian citizens and people under Austrian protection—also includes some data on Egyptian Jews from 1908 to 1914.739 In 1888, the “Austrian” Yacoub Menasce Cattaui740 built the Rudolf Hospital in Cairo. The Austrian community therefore was the first foreign community to have a hospital of their own in the city. The Cattaui family continued to support the hospital financially and serve on its board of directors. The number of patients continued to rise so that another Austrian hospital opened with the Cattaui’s generous support in 1908. The Jewish architect Max Herz Pascha

741

completed the Rifai Mosque in 1912 und also built the Islamic Museum of Cairo.742 According to the 1907 census, Cairo counted 654,476 inhabitants, 3,128 of which were Austrians. The high number of female names in the book suggests that many maids and cooks went to Egypt.743 But not only citizens, but also “people under Austrian protectorate” chose to register. We can “assume with some certainty”744 that some 380 people were Jewish even though the Matrikelbuch does not always refer to a person’s religion.745 Many AustroHungarian citizens held high positions in Egypt. They were lawyers, doctors, archictects, civil servants, pharmacists, bankers, photographers, and merchants. Most protégés were local Sephardim who had come to Egypt from many different locations in the Ottoman Empire.746 When World War I started in 1914, the embassies in Cairo, Alexandria, and Port Said were closed down and their staff was taken outside of the country on British orders. All Germans, Austrians, and Hungarians had to register with the authorities. Whoever did not follow these orders was arrested.747 Starting in 1915, the Italian, and later the American and Dutch consulates started to represent the interests of Austro-Hungarian citizens and protégés. Until 1938, the Matrikelbuch lists other consular entries on an irregular basis.748

Administration and Reorganizaton Lord Cromer749 and his financial advisors steered the Egyptian economy on the right track to recovery. The British occupational government reduced the heavy debt load and contained corruption and spending. These austerity measures made themselves felt by 1893, but until

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1913 Egypt was debt-free,750 notes Shamir. The British were most reproached for their conscious efforts to keep the Egyptian people ignorant and illiterate so they could rule over them more easily. The British had, by contrast, established better health services, as a result of which the Egyptian population had doubled by 1914.751 Before World War I, the two communities with the most rapid population growth were the Syrian-Christian and the Jewish ones. Most Jews came from Eastern Europe, the Balkans, and Morocco, where they had been persecuted. In 1907, there were more than 50,000 Jews in Egypt. Less than half of them had Egyptian citizenship. The rest were foreign nationals. Many Jews were stateless. More and more Jews started to work in trade, finance and the liberal professions and Jewish communities flourished.752 When the French occupied Northern Africa and the British Southern and Eastern Arabia as well as Egypt in the early 20th century, the situation for Jews changed because the European powers protected them to a certain extent. Overt anti-Semitism decreased and Jews had more opportunities to become educated and active in the economy.753

World War I (1914-1918) Even though the British were supposed to occupy Egypt only for a limited time, they ended up staying for almost 70 years. The Ottoman presence officially ended in 1914, before the outbreak of World War I because Great Britain needed Egypt for strategic reasons. For many foreigners, British presence guaranteed safety and their number increased from 68,635 in 1878 to 151,414 in 1907.754 “The anomalies of Egypt’s juridical status” raised concerns. In 1914, Egypt’s legal status was that of a province of the Ottoman Empire, but the British upheld the law and were the de-facto rulers of the region.755 When the Ottomans signed a treaty of association with Germany at the onset of World War I, the British no longer felt compelled to accept Ottoman sovereignty and therefore declared Egypt their protectorate. By 1915, the Ottomans had finally lost their position in the Middle East.756 According to Rodenbeck, the British sent Turkish, German, and Austro-Hungarian citizens to “internment camps.”757 During the war, they introduced censorship, and outlawed trading with the enemy and importing enemy products. “Martial law was declared. ... and in December 1914 a [British] protectorate was declared.” Lord Kitchener became Secretary of State for War and joined the battle scene in Egypt during World War I. Egyptian hopes for independence did not materialize after World War I.758

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Since Egypt was now cut off from the Ottoman Empire, Alexandria and Cairo could accept 11,277 Jewish refugees from Palestine/Eretz Israel during World War I, a territory still occupied by the Ottomans. Most of them were Ashkenazi Jews of European decent. They were given housing, medical care, clothing, food, and work. They could also send their children to school. Even though Egyptian Jews followed traditions, most of them—in contrast to European Jews from Palestine—were secular. Cohesion within the group was still assured because of Jewish solidarity. Many Jews voluntarily joined the Jewish Legion and fought side-by-side with British soldiers. In 1915, Jewish refugees from Eretz Israel/Palestine established the Zionist Legion in Alexandria. This group was integrated in the British army as the Zion Mule Corps

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and

fought alongside British soldiers in Gallipoli and in the Dardanelles.760 Even though they were allowed to return to Eretz Israel/Palestine after the war, a number of them remained in Cairo and Alexandria.761

The Balfour Declaration762 The Balfour Declaration of November 2, 1917 was “a Letter to His Majesty, conveying His Majesty’s government’s view to the establishment of a national home for the Jewish people in Palestine.”763 According to Samir Raafat, this declaration stoked anti-Jewish sentiment in Egypt.

The Interwar Period (1918-1939) Politics After World War I, a political consciousness started to reemerge in Egypt, leading to a revolt against the British colonial powers in 1919,764 which, as tradition would have it, was also directed against all non-Muslims. A wave of unrest went through all strata of the population, causing a four-month upheaval. Not intended to take violent turns, this revolt was initiated by the Egyptian elite, but also spread to the common people. The newly founded Wafd Party765 played a prominent role in this endeavor. Even though this revolt did not bring about largescale reforms, it initiated a process of Egyptianization. What had started out as a student

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movement in 1918 and 1919 led to the formation of political parties. The most important among them were the anti-British National Party; the Umma Party, which advocated for cooperation with the British “as long as it was necessary;” and the constitutional Reform Party, which was loyal to the King.766 In 1921, a law was enacted declaring Arabic as the only official language of Egypt. In the early 1930s, the Egyptian middle class began to assert itself, demanding its rights to treatment equal to the foreigners’. With the exception of private affairs, foreigners were now subject to Egyptian law. In 1939, a law to control foreign exchange was enacted, effectively limiting the flow of monetary funds to foreign countries.767 Beinin writes that Egypt counted 9.7 million inhabitants in 1897 and 19 million in 1947. In spite of the construction of the Asswan Dam and major irrigation projects, Egyptian agricultural production did not live up to the demands of the country’s population. As a result, many people fled to the cities. Alexandria’s and Cairo’s combined population amounted to 1.24 million in 1917 and over three million in 1947.768 In 1927, Cairo had reached the onemillion inhabitant threshold. One fifth of them were part of various minorities, among them 35,000 Jews. They were the second biggest minority after the Copts.769 The migration to the cities affected political consciousness because urban dwellers had better access to the press and general information about political movements than the rural population.

Political Consciousness Headed by Sa’ad Zaghlul, the Wafd Party—in opposition to the pro-British government— failed in its attempts to fill a political vacuum and create an independent Egypt. It was not until Lord Allenby770 presented the British cabinet’s permission to create a “uniteral declaration of Egyptian independence” in 1921 that this idea came to fruition. The British presence in Egypt lasted for 35 more years, however, until 1956.771 Aspirations towards Egyptian independence were reawakened after World War I, especially among the bourgeoisie. Voices demanding British withdrawal from Egypt grew louder and louder. When the British arrested Sa’ad Zaghlul, the Egyptians went on a national strike in which all social strata were involved, from the fellahs to workers, to students and lawyers.772 In 1918, unrest set in among the Egyptian population. The British had sent Sa’ad Zaghlul into exile. In 1919 another strike paralyzed the Egyptian economy. “After three years of unrest, Britain relented. Egypt regained both its pride and its independence in 1922.” Soon thereafter,

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Zaghlul was allowed to return from exile and he was elected prime minister.773 Shortly before that event, the British had acknowledged the heir apparent—much hated by members of the Wafd Party—as the rightful king,774 effectively creating two co-rulers, the royal dynasty and the Wafd Party. Because of splinter groups and corruption, the Wafd Party subsequently ended up losing its power, but in the 1930s it again presented Egyptian political volition.775

Egypt under the British and the Ottomans “Egypt emerged as a semi-independent state under British tutelage (1922). An Egyptian King and a parliament governed Egyptian affairs.” Foreign politics, military and legal affairs of foreigners, and the Sudan were under British rather than Egyptian control, however. Like the Turkish elite, which was able to mobilize for political and military causes from its ranks, the Egyptian elite—owners of large estates, journalists, and politicians—was able to organize political activities. It failed to realize its dream of independence, however.776 In 1923, the Egyptian political elite developed a new political culture based on European parliamentarism in the hopes that progress in the West could also be applied to Egypt. The elite did not take into account Egypt’s social and political status, however. As Botman notes, these experiments came too early for the Egyptian society and its old traditional structures.777 In 1928, Hassan al-Banna founded the Muslim Brotherhood778 in Egypt. It was the first time that militant Islamism became activated in the country.779 In ca. 1934, it started to become active in Cairo, attracting many young people, teachers, civil servants, officers, and students. Banna wanted to create an Islamic state on the basis of the Qu’ran and Shari’a law.780781

The State Treaty In August 1936, the British-Egyptian State Treaty782 was signed. It noted that Egypt would be accorded “independence under certain conditions.” In addition, a military pact between the countries was agreed upon for a duration of twenty years, at the end of which the British forces would leave all Egyptian territory with the excepton of the Canal zone. This treaty also ended the special status of foreigners and suggested that Egypt should accede to the League of

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Nations as an independent state. In 1936 the Montreux Convention783 was signed to limit Great Britain’s control of Egypt. It also determined that the extraterritorial legal system for foreigners should become null and void by October 14, 1947. The High Commissioner was demoted to the rank of ambassador. British occupation of Egypt was to legally be terminated, but the British army stayed in the region until 1956.784 This convention also ended the legal immunity of foreigners by abolishing Mixed Courts. Egypt was granted a right to self-determination in matters of foreign politics.785 World War II prevented the treaty and the convention from entering into full force, however.786

Economic Affairs and Education In the interwar period, Egypt made great strides in economic terms. Exports grew rapidly and British cotton was in high demand wordwide. On the other hand, Egypt became more and more dependent on its partners, primarily the British. As a result of strong international demand, the country had created a cotton monoculture and therefore had to import many products previously manufactured in Egypt.787 While Egypt had a special status with the British, resentment against the occupying power rose. Egyptian civil servants came to be replaced with British ones. Major industries were in the hands of the British, however, who totally neglected the educational system.788 Taha Hussein,789 one of the most influential Egyptian intellectuals, severly criticized the British and assumed an anti-British position. He repeatedly alleged that the British were not interested in fighting illiteracy because they wanted to rule over an intellectually inferior country. It was unthinkable for Great Britain that Egypt would have its own cadre of scientists and scholars. “Education is as water and air the right of every human being,” Hussein repeatedly asserted. The British had no interest in building schools for “the natives.” The Wafd Party’s biggest accomplishment in the 1920s and 1930s was its demand for “free access to education for everybody.”790

Jews in the Interwar Period During the second quarter of the 20th century, Jews started a mass movement from Cairo’s old districts to the center as well as to adjacent elegant districts such as Zamalek, Maadi and

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Garden City791—to which well-to-do Copts, Armenians, Greeks, and a few Muslims had moved as well. They also moved a number of their stores and businesses there.792 Several Zionist organizations, newspapers, and journals had set up shop in Cairo as well. They were published in Ladino, Arabic, Hebrew, French, English, and Yiddish. Jews had an autonomous educational system that was known for its high instructional level even outside of their districts. Girls and boys were taught separately in private schools or schools run by the Jewish community. In 1927, Cairo’s Jewish community built one of the biggest schools for children from lower-income families. It went from kindergarten to the French or Arabic baccalaureat. Children and adolescents were taught both in Arabic and in French. The school also housed religious institutions such as a religious court. It was the administrative and religious nerve center of the Jewish community until the mid-20th century.793 Other charitable institutions were also established: baby wards, orphanages, and services to support orphans and help young girls whose parents could not afford to arrange a wedding for them. Bnai Brith,794 the Zionist movement, and many Jewish youth organizations also helped in the effort.795 Jewish parents that could afford it sent their children to private schools, however. French, British, and convent schools were the most popular ones because they prepared children to pursue a university education in Europe.796 Jewish families lived in all of Alexandria’s districts in the first half of the 20th century, not only in districts traditionally reserved for them. This was typical of and unique to the cosmopolitan city of Alexandria. Jews were spread throughout the city according to their socio-economic status, rather than their religious affiliation. Many well-respected Jewish families lived in Alexandria.797 They were bankers, international merchants, customs experts, or representatives of major international corporations. Well-to-do members of the Jewish community traditionally supported poorer members by establishing charitable organizations such as kindergartens, schools, hospitals, and soup kitchens. Starting in the 1930s, the Jewish community mostly belonged to the upper-middle class. They owned big department stores, banks, construction companies, and factories, or were intellectuals or university professors.798 In the late 1930s and early 1940s, the educational level of Jewish schooling reached its zenith. According to the 1947 census, 89% of the male and 76% of the female members of the Jewish community were able to read and write.799 In 1923, Joseph Cattaui became the Egyptian minister of finance and Chief Rabbi Chaim Nahoum was nominated to the Academy of Science in 1925.800

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Persecution In 1929, Jews and Arabs in Eretz Israel/Palestine started to clash, triggering anti-Jewish sentiment in Egypt as well. This sentiment intensified in the Arab Revolt of 1936.801 Until then, the educated Egyptian elite differentiated between Judaism and Zionism. Now the floodgates were opened for a new Middle Eastern type of Anti-Semitism. Pan-Arabism experienced a renaissance. Chauvinist nationalists in the Muslim Brotherhood802 and Misr elFatat803 used the situation to spread anti-Semitic propaganda,804 notes Beinin. Anti-Semitism spread far and wide after the Greek-Orthodox patriarch Nicholas lent his support to the cause. Anti-Jewish hate propaganda was published; the students at Al Azhar University demonstrated against Jews; clerics at mosques agitated against them as well.805 Krämer notes that neither the majority of the Egyptian population nor the press took part in the anti-Zionist and anti-Jewish campaigns.806 She also notes that Arab anti-Semitism—in contrast to the European variety—had nothing to do with religion, but was related to the conflict in Palestine. Overall, it was triggered by “changed historical circumstances” that affected both ideologies and religious expression.807 I doubt whether this was the only reason for this negative development. In Jews of Islam, Bernard Lewis describes the situation of Jews in the mid-19th century as precarious. He thinks that Muslims hatred was primarily turned towards Christians, the enemies of Islam. “[If] the Jew was not the principal malefactor, he was certainly the easiest victim,” however. While Christians were a big minority and enjoyed protection, Jews constituted a smaller ethnic group with a lesser degree of protection. Founded in France in 1860, the Alliance Israélite Universelle was the only organization to protect Jews in Arab countries to a certain degree.808 Held in Cairo, the 1938 World Parliamentary Congress for the Defense of Palestine produced anti-Zionist and anti-Semitic materials, among them translations of Adolf Hitler’s book Mein Kampf809 and of The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.810 The congress also called for a boycott of Jewish stores and goods. In 1939, a special boycott committee was set up to publish three black lists with names of Jewish merchants.811 When the Wafd Party called on its supporters to only shop in Egyptian stores, the Jewish department store Cicurel812 was declared to be an Egyptian business. In view of theses developments, Jews saw a need to define themselves: were they Jews from Egypt or Egyptians of Jewish descent? Were they part of the Egyptian nation or were they a

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separate Jewish nation? Having pleaded for harmony, cooperation, and understanding in previous years, they now needed to clearly define their positions on nationalism, Islam, Arabism, Zionism, and Palestine/Eretz Israel.813

World War II (1939-1945) World War II began on September 1, 1939.814 Egypt was of high strategic importance to the Allies because of its military bases, ports, and railway lines. Now identified as members of enemy nations, thousands of Italians and Germans were arrested. Sir Miles Lampson, the British ambassador to Egypt, was of the opinion that Egypt should engage in anti-Axis politics. When this did not happen, he sent tanks to the royal palace.815 It was only under pressure from the British occupiers that Egypt joined the war effort. The Allies used Egypt as a basis for their Middle Eastern forces.816 “As soon as Churchill became aware of the doubtful loyalty of the Egyptian army to the Allied cause, he insisted that Egyptian troops be sent back from the Western Desert to the Delta.” Because of their hatred for the British, both the royal family and the Egyptian population were unreliable, dividing their loyalty between the Axis and the Allied Powers. “People in the King’s entourage and the army were definitely on Hitler’s side.”817 German and Italian nationals were detained in camps and jails where they remained until the end of the war. 818

The White Paper The 1939 White Paper was issued as a political document by British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain’s government.819 It decreed that “Palestine would become an independent binational Arab/Jewish state with the Arabs dominating the government.” After the Nazi defeat, “[t]here was now overwhelming pressure that the survivors of the Holocaust should be allowed to take refuge in Palestine.” This suggestion was never put into practice, however.820

Rommel821 in Egypt When the German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel reached the city limits of Alexandria in 1941,

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the British army was reinforced by soldiers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, Yugoslavia, the Anders Army from Poland, and the Jewish Brigade from Palestine/Eretz Israel. According to Michael Adams, the Egyptian government was in “a state of emergency and introduced martial law and strict censorship.” Until the end of the war, it assumed the position of “careful neutrality.” After Rommel822 had reached Tobruk, he wanted to occupy Alexandria. His plan failed due to his defeat by the British in 1942.823 In his autobiographical novel No One Sleeps in Alexandria, Ibrahim Abdel Meguid describes the situation as follows: in 1940, Christians were celebrating Easter while Alexandria was being heavily bombarded. There were many hundreds of people injured and killed. The city was darkened at night for months. After having lost their homes in the bombardments, many people were sheltered in mosques and churches, first in Alexandria, then outside the city. “Alexandria could not provide shelter any more. In this raid the Jewish main synagogue on Nabi Daniel Street was destroyed.”824 When the Axis Powers resumed bombing a week later, the city was cut off from its supply channels. In addition, its residents—who had been friends and business partners up to that point—were torn apart because of divergent loyalties. Germans, Austrians, and Italians supported Nazi Germany, all others the Allied Forces. It was not clear where Egyptian support went,825 but they were essentially anti-British.826 The Jewish hospital for the most part did not withstand bombardments, yet continued to treat hundreds of injured people—not only Jewish ones—daily. The hospital also provided shelter for Jewish refugees from Europe. They included several doctors who helped continue services at the hospital.827

After 1943 Starting in 1943, the Yishuv828 sent agents of Sochnut, the Jewish Agency,829 to Egypt to prepare Jews for aliya,830 emigration to Israel. Jewish property—not only the property belonging to Zionists, of whom there were only a few in Egypt—was confiscated because all Jews purportedly were Zionists and, “as a logial result,” Zionist and British agents. This wave of nationalization affected many Jews who had nothing to do with Zionism. According to Beinin, many banks, insurance agencies, the stock exchange, and cotton businesses remained in Jewish hands, however.831 For lack of managerial experts, Egypt could not afford to

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nationalize these businesses.

A New University (1943) Taha Hussein,832 one of the most influential Egyptian writers and intellectuals, valued the education of Egyptian children and adolescents very highly. He wanted to create a cadre of educators and intellectuals that could take over education after the British had left Egypt.833 In spite of massive protests from the British side, he founded Egypt’s first Free Humanist University in Alexandria in 1943 and served as its first president. Foreigners were also allowed to teach at this university. Initially, it was mostly foreign educators—among them several Jews—who taught classes there.834 In November of the same year, Taha Hussein gave a talk at the Jewish community center in Alexandria about the relationship between Jews and Arabs, in which he pleaded for a dialogue. Since many Egyptian Jews enjoyed great social prestige and represented an economic force, they appealed to the public after Hussein’s talk: “We have always hoped that Egyptians and Jews would help create a movement for the reconciliation between Jews and Arabs in the Middle East.”835

After World War II

Political Unrest The Arab League was founded with British consent in 1945, legitimizing and giving more voice to agitators in many Arab countries,836 both Siton and Shimoni note. Pan-Arabism was considered a political necessity in view of the impending foundation of the State of Israel. “Islam was and remains a uniquely potent element in Arab nationalism.”837 In April 1945, Masr el-Fatat published excerpts from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion,838 fueling anti-Jewish unrest, especially in the cities. In Alexandria, demonstrators set three synagogues on fire, affecting the Muharram Bey Synagogue most severely.839 The Jewish Hospital was pelted with rocks. In January 1947, a bomb exploded at Alexandria’s Jewish school. Jewish professors and students were thrown out of the university.840 In spring of 1945, the British army withdrew from all parts of Egypt and was stationed in the

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Suez Canal.841 Just like other countries in the Middle East, Egypt wanted to end British occupation after World War II: “There was one group in the Middle East which had different priorities: the Zionist Jews.”842 After his escape to Bagdad, Haj Amin el-Husseini, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem,843 went to the Third Reich in 1944. He soon had to leave as well and ended up going to Egypt. He met up with the members of the Muslim Brotherhood844 and encouraged them to fight against Palestine/Eretz Israel. “Much to the embarrassment of Cairo’s anglophile Jewish aristocracy, Zionist extremists murdered Lord Moyne,845 the British colonial secretary ... in November 1944.”846 The time immediately after World War II was marked by major political unrest. Again and again, attacks were carried out and bombs exploded. Fear prevailed. Foreigners often did not understand the reasons for this unrest because they did not speak Arabic. King Farouk’s lifestyle also added to this discontent. Allegedly, he was paranoid and wanted to send the Egyptian army to Palestine/Eretz Israel “until the State of Israel had been strangled at birth.”847 After he lost the first war with Israel, xenophobia and anti-Semitism increased.848 On November 2, 1945, the anniversary of the Balfour849 Declaration,850 violent demonstrations against the British—and soon thereafter Jews—started. The latter were accused of being agents of Zionism, the British, and Communism. The Egyptian youth were incited to turn against the Jewish community, and together with a multitude of other Cairo residents injured 400 people and set Torah scrolls on fire. An easy target without protection, Jews became the incarnation of evil for many Egyptians.851 During the 1945 unrest, Young Egyptians burned down parts of the Jewish district, the Jewish Hospital, and the Jewish Geriatric Home. There were many casualties and injured. “This was the first disturbance of its kind in the history of independent Egypt.”852 Krämer notes that even though many foreigners identified with Arabism, they could not change the fact that they were non-Muslims and therefore had fewer rights.853

After the Holocaust After World War II, the world changed completely. European Shoa survivors were gathered in displaced persons’ camps in Western Europe. Since European governments did not want Jewish refugees to return to their countries of origin, they readily accepted the solution of establishing a Jewish state in Palestine/Eretz

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Israel. They considered this the best solution for the “Jewish question,” for displaced persons who represented an ethical and economic burden. Nobody was interested in whether the Islamic population of Palestine/Eretz Israel agreed to the settlement plans.854

1947 in Egypt 1947 was an important year for Egypt on a political level. The British had to leave India after the country had won its independence. The French lost their mandate in Lebanon and Syria, and Israel’s independence was imminent. Britain’s political weakness triggered a radicalization of national movements, strengthening the Egyptian royal family’s autocracy. “All this left a vacuum of leadership and power in the streets, factories, schools, universities, and the countryside at large.” Radical groups used the political situation reigning from 1945 to 1952 to bring the Free Officers to power.855 “Egypt was the Arab country in which the Palestine disaster had the most momentous longterm effects. The younger officers who served in the war became convinced of the criminal incompetence of the men ruling Egypt.” Food and medical supplies had run extremely short. Arms were so antiquated that they often could no longer be used. Most military orders were incompetent or did not make sense. The Egyptian parliament did not do its job well. It became increasingly clear that King Farouk’s regime was corrupt. As a result, his popularity sunk to an all-time low and he increasingly became the laughingstock of the country. 856 The year 1947 marked the beginning of the end of Egypt’s Jewish community. During that year, laws were decreed that no less than 75 percent of employees in any business had to be Egyptians. Since only about 20 percent of all Jews were Egyptian nationals, they often lost their livelihood.857

Foreigners and Jews The 1947 census yielded the following results: “65,600 Jews lived in Egypt; 64% of them in Cairo, 58.8% of whom were merchants, and 17.9% were in industry. ... The Cairo community was poorer than that of Alexandria. 21,128, i.e. 32% of all Egyptian Jews lived in Alexandria, including 243 Karaites and Ashkenazi, who were part of the community.” In Cairo, these two denominations were separate communities. The remainder of the Jewish communities was

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spread throughout other town. “The economic situation of Egyptian Jewry was relativly good; there were several multi-millionaires, a phenomenon unusual in other Jewish communities of the Middle East.” Most Egyptian Jews were educated, and—in contrast to other Egyptians— only a very small minority was illiterate.858 The British could no longer prevent an escalation of the political situation as well as acts of sabotage and guerrilla attacks.859 On November 28, 1947, one day before the UN Resolution on the Foundation of the State of Israel, the Egypt’s ambassador to the United Nations defined his country’s new policy: “One million Jews live peacefully in Egypt [in reality, it was 10,000 to 85,000 people], enjoying their civil rights. They absolutely do not want to emigrate to Palestine/Eretz Israel. Once a Jewish state is created, nobody will be able to prevent suffering. Pogroms will start and will spread to all other Arab countries, possibly leading to a war between the races … If the United Nations decide to divide Palestine, it will be responsible for the worst problems and large-scale massacres against Jews.”860 “They had become foreigners in their own land.”861 After the foundation of the State of Israel and the ensuing Israeli-Arab wars, Jews could not continue to live in countries they had called their home for generations. They were interned, arrested, tortured, and put on show trials. “There were raids on Jewish flats. The owners were forced to sell their furniture, jewels, and paintings for derisory prices to the new rising class—the military.”862

The First Arab-Israeli War of 1948863 “On May 14th 1948 ... on the day of the creation of the State of Israel, the institutions of Egyptian Jewry were at the height of their splendor.” In Alexandria and Cairo, there were sixteen schools with a “high standard of education,” two world-renowned hospitals, geriatric homes, orphanages, and poor houses as well as 60 synagogues. “50 percent of the syngogues’ revenues—which were high at that time—were used to fund the Jewish communal schools.”864 The life of the Jewish communities had largely normalized after 1948, as they had expected, notes Zohar. Children continued to attend Jewish and non-Jewish schools.865 “Numerically, the Jews of Egypt were close to 100,000 strong in 1948, when Israel was created.”866 Only one fifth of them were Egyptian citizens,867 notes Landau. Others estimate their number to have amounted to 100,000 people.868 Krämer notes that the number of Jews from the Islamic world in the Middle East amounted to 800,000 in 1947 and to 300-400 people in ca. 1980.869

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14,000 Jews had to immediately leave Egypt after the War of 1948. Others moved from the country voluntarily because they didn’t think they would have a future there. A total of 25,000 Jews left Egypt in 1947/1948. The majority of them went to Israel.870 The situation of those “who had completely identified with the country and its history was especially bad because one fine day they saw themselves excluded from the national community.”871

1952-1956

The Free Officers’ Revolution of 1952872 In July 1952, a group of free officers under Gamal Abdel Nasser873 staged a coup. King Farouk had to leave the country and Egypt became a republic. For the Egyptian people, this was a big day because Muhammad Ali’s dynasty, which they had so abhorred for having exploited them, had come to an end. The Egyptian people had great hopes for the Free Officers and a better and more just future. These officers had staged a non-violent coup, and their plans for a new constitution and an agrarian reform that benefited the common people seemed to be exactly the right thing for Egypt.874 One of the most important reasons for the 1952 Revolution was that the Egyptian army had been defeated by Israel in 1948. The officers had planned the coup from 1948 to 1952. The defeat had shattered Arab pride, especially that of the officers who were looking for a scapegoat. Aimed at punishing those responsible, the investigations determined cases of neglect and corruption, but did not punish those responsible.875 The mob set the center of Cairo on fire in 1952. “Special attention was paid to British property but also to shops, hotels and restaurants owned by foreigners. ... with Nasser’s accession to power in February 1954, many Jews were arrested on charges of Zionism, Communism, and currency smuggling.”876 Anti-Semitic articles akin to Nazi propaganda were published in newspapers and magazines.877

Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970)878 Gamal Abdel Nasser was born in 1918. He moved to Cairo in 1924 and went to Alexandria in

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1928, only to return to Cairo at a later date. Even when he was very young, he became active in politics. He was a member of a youth organization and participated in demonstrations against British occupation as early as 1935. After a few failed attempts, he entered the Egyptian military academy. His interests shifted from a political to a military career.879 Nasser was an officer in the Egyptian army and fought in the first war against Israel in 1948 together with Ali Muhammad Naguib,880 who was to become the first president of Egypt in 1952. After leading the Revolution of the Free Officers, he toppled President Naguib in 1954 and assumed power.881 “Nasser ... developed into a leader of considerable charisma.” Focusing on pan-Arabism, he became a symbol of modernization and social reform in Egypt and came closer to his goal of leading the Arab world.882 For Israel, Nasser’s nationalism became a “principal external challenge.”883 Nasser wanted to establish Egypt as a secular state.884 In 1953, he outlawed all political parties, therefore ending all political assemblies and organizations. He thought that the Muslim Brotherhood was slowing down Egypt’s development and vehemently persecuted it.885 In an impassioned speech in July 1956, at the fourth anniversary of the revolution, Nasser proclaimed the nationalization of the Suez Canal, therefore eliminating the last symbol of colonialism and showing the world who had the say in Egypt.886 Nasser’s speeches became more and more hardened over time. Under his leadership, Egypt lost three wars against Israel in 1956, 1967, and 1973.887 For Egyptians, he still remained a national hero and a father figure not least because he was the first Egyptian to eradicate British colonialism in the country. That is why the population put unlimited trust in him.888 Among other things, he swore to eradicate the last vestiges of colonialism and the kingdom, to rid Egypt of all foreigners, and to abolish the Jewish State. He succeeded in all but the latter. Nasser was Egyptian president from 1956 until his assassination in 1970. He was one of the most important politicians of the 20th century.889

Consequences of the Revolution Immediately after the 1952 revolution, the situation of the Jews improved, albeit for a short period of time. “The new revolutionary regime in Egypt ... went out of its way to reassure Jews and other minorities. ... General Muhammad Naguib ... made public visits to Jewish communal institutions in Cairo and Alexandria.” To manifest his good will, Naguib visited Cairo’s Big Synagogue on Yom Kippur. The new government refused to consider Egyptian Jews as

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“Zionist enemies,”890 notes Adams. Siton describes the situation of foreigners as totally different. Even though they held foreign passports, Jews had known no home country other than Egypt because most of them had been born there. They considered the Free Officers’ Coup as the end of an era and a turn towards an insecure future. Their situation did indeed worsen, especially after Gamal Abdel Nasser overthrew Naguib who had only been in power for one-and-a-half years. From that point on, the revolutionary government became anti-Israeli, anti-Jewish and anti-Zionist, and Egyptian Jews had to suffer for it. The exodus from Egypt reached a new height.891 All hopes for Egypt’s new government to lead the country to a better, less-corrupt future remained unfulfilled. The officers started to fight with each other and Nasser began to rule the country on his own.892

The Lavon Affair and Its Consequences In 1954, an Israeli spy ring was discovered during the Lavon Affair.893 Thirteen people were put on trial. Two of them were condemned to death, two to lifelong imprisonment. The rest received sentences of different durations.894 Starting in 1955, Jews were banned from government jobs, even if they were Egyptian nationals.895 In 1956, a new law was decreed forbidding

“Zionists”896 to hold Egyptian

nationality. Al those who had an Egyptian passport were immediately denationalized.897 The Egyptian authorities considered all Jews Zionists even though most of them were not. Egyptian Jews loved Egypt, which had been their home for thousands of years, and paid little attention to Zionism. The Zionist movement had no political importance in Egypt before 1947, but it became stronger and stronger the more precarious the situation became. “Some were expelled from their birthplace with one day’s notice and arrived penniless in Israel or the West.”898 About one third of Egyptian Jews were expelled from the country. The majority of Jewish property was confiscated. Like other foreigners, some Jews sold their property as fast as they could and left Egypt. In 1956, the new government started to put in practice its agenda of Arabizing the populations, instituting socialism, nationalizing the private property of Jews and foreigners, and closing down the stock exchange.899

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Nationalization of the Suez Canal; the Arab-Israeli War of 1956 The nationalization of the Suez Canal affected France and England most severely, especially because they had been the main investors in canal construction and the major shareholders of the canal corporation. Egypt prevented Israeli ships from passing the canal through the Straights of Tiran and Suez.900 Later on, the Egyptian navy sank several ships in the canal so that it could not be passed. The Third World celebrated Nasser as a hero. The West was in despair but the United States was opposed to a military intervention.901 In October 1956, England and France sent the Israeli army to fight in their stead in the ArabIsraeli War of 1956. For two days, both powers bombarded Egypt’s airports, liquidating the Egyptian air force almost in its entirety. “Nasser’s popularity in Egypt and among Arabs elsewhere reached new heights. Egypt suffered military defeat against overwhelming force but scored an almost total diplomatic victory.”902 During the war, the Egyptian government had nationalized the entire property of the English and the French and all those who had done business with these countries. As a result, most Jews and other foreigners lost everything they had—including their lifestyle, and their hopes for a future in Egypt.903 Most of the Jews who still lived in Egypt after 1948904 and 1952 left the country after the Arab-Israeli War of 1956. “About 20,000 Jews were expelled from the country without any baggage and with only 10 dollars in their pockets. Even though most of them had a foreign passport, this did not protect them from deportation.“905 Michael Adams quotes different numbers: “During the twelve months that followed the war, approximately 30,000 Jews, about 60 percent of the entire community, left Egypt.”906 After the War of 1956, not only Jews, but also British and French people had to leave Egypt and their property was confiscated. The last traces of British domination of Egypt had been erased. The Western powers refused to support Egypt any further and the United States withdrew from all its obligations towards Egypt as well as from the contract to build the Asswan Dam. As a result, Nasser was cut off from the West. The stage was set for another player to enter, the Soviet Union. It sent a powerful array of troops to the Middle East. The collaboration between Egypt and the Soviet Union lasted for about ten years. Nasser received full military support and help with the construction of the Asswan Dam. The political map in the Middle East was completely redrawn and the Cold War finally reached the region as well.907 The writer and journalist Jacques Hassoun908 writes the following about the situation:

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“Everyting that had been passed down in history until yesterday now seemed incoherent so that nothing remained of the heritage and the ideals of entire generations.”909

Egyptian Cultural Life There is no doubt that Egypt is a leader in most fields of modern Arabic art and culture. Egyptian movies, television, and radio programs have been exported to most of the other Arab countries. Egypt has also been an important center for the press and publishing, literature and the theater.910 When mass media started to develop, Egypt secured the most important place in the Arab world for itself. Hundreds of thousands of Egyptian newspapers and magazines have sold in high circulations all over the world. Even though all media are censored because they are government-owned and controlled and their quality has thereby been affected, their circulation has not diminished. The state-owned broadcasting station in Cairo is one of the biggest, most powerful, and richest in the world. Since the 1960s, it has broadcast programs in 62 languages for more than 600 hours per week,911 noted Shimoni in 1976.912 Cultural export is an important source of income for Egypt, thus making the Egyptian dialect the best understood in the Arab world. Singers such as Umm Kulthum and Abd el-Wahab, writers such as Nagib Mahfuz913 and Taha Hussein914 cemented Egypt’s standing in the international cultural scene. The relatively idyllic situation prevailing in Egypt even after the War of 1948 ended abruptly after the Arab-Israeli War of 1956. Hatred of Jews took on new and terrible dimensions and most of them had to leave the country immediately with nothing to their name.915

Jews in Egypt Different scholars and researchers have determined divergent population sizes for Jews in Egypt. This is largely due to the fact that census counts only occurred sporadically in Egypt. In ca. 1917, about 60,000 Jews lived in Alexandria and Cairo. By the mid-20th century their population size probably ranged from 80,000 to 100,000. “There were many Jews in Alexandria ... there were very rich Jews and very poor Jews ... there were Jews from the Levant, Greek Jews, French Jews, Italian Jews, and every other possible mixture you could

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imagine.”916 Before 1918, Jews primarily came from (former) territories of the Ottoman Empire: i.e. Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine/Eretz Israel, Iraq, Yemen, the Balkans, Greece, and the Maghreb, as well as Italy and Russia. The last immigration wave arrived from Central Europe in 1933.917 In contrast to Cairo, Jews lived in one joint community in Alexandria, which voluntarily submitted itself to Austro-Hungarian protection.918 One of the wealthiest Jews, the philanthropist Jakob de-Menasse, was made an Austrian baron. Port Said was also under the same protectorate.919 After World War I, all Jews who could afford it first moved from the Jewish district of Harat el-Yahud to Abbasiya, and later on to more affluent districts such as Zamalek, Garden-City, Gezira Island, and Giza.920 “Alexandria’s Jews were more cosmopolitan and richer than Cairo’s Jews. Most of them were middle and upper middle class,”921 notes Beinin. “The French and their [language] dominated intellectual life. ... Jews from throughout the diaspora took prominence in finance.” Sephardic middle-class Jews and other foreigners “adopted Mediterranean dress, manners and phrasing.”922 Jews founded major social institutions such as the Israelite Hospital, which enjoyed great prestige in the Middle East.923 Well-to-do members of the Jewish community built and maintained the hospital.924 They also built elementary and high schools and founded intellectual and philanthropic societies. There was also a rich diversity of cultural and artistic offerings. 925 Professor Awad, an architect and the head of projects at Bibliotheca Alexandrina said the following: “I can tell you that Alexandria’s Jews played an important role in many fields. More than half of the Italian community was Jewish. Jews had a decisive influence on Alexandria’s culture, trade, banking system, etc. Jews were major benefactors. They built hospitals and schools where non-Jews received treatment and education as well.”926 In 1925, Adolphe Cattaui Bey,927 one of the pillars of Cairo’s Jewish community and a close friend of Prince—and later King—Fuad, founded the first non-Islamic university in Egypt,928 Fuad University“929 as well as Cairo’s Geograpical Socity. The Jewish philanthropist Jacques de Menasce financed the construction of the mansion for Alexandria’s municipal library.930

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Jewish Culture and Art If you browse through Egypt’s 1945 Who’s Who, you will notice many names of Jewish artists, writers, and important business people and cultural brokers. I identified 892 Jewish names in the 1947 edition of Who’s Who for Egypt; in 1952, this number decreased to 504. In 1954 there were 715 Jewish names out of 4,632 names, which means that Jews still made up 15.4% of the Egyptian elite; in 1956, there were 472 names.931 Beinin researched these numbers. They are of special note especially in view of Jewish emigration since 1948. In a 1907 census carried out by the British occupational forces, the following was determined: Literate people [per 1,000]: Muslim men

78

Muslim women

2

Coptic men

188

Coptic women

16

Jewish men

719

Jewish women

477932

The Jewish Press In the interwar period from 1918 to 1939, the Jewish press experienced a renaissance. Twentyeight933 newspapers and magazines were published in Arabic, Hebrew, French, Italian, English, and even Yiddish:934 60 percent of them in Cairo. Between 1879 and 1950, a total of 90 Jewish newspapers and magazines were published—some of which also catered to a nonJewish audience.935 The Harari brothers936 published a literary journal with Taha Hussein as editor-in-chief.937 The Egyptian press was largely in Jewish hands, not least because Jews were much less illiterate than Egyptians. Between 1932 and 1954, the Jewish businessman S. Adziman headed the advertisement department of the newspaper Al-Ahram.938 There were many Jewish writers. The best known among them was Mourad Farag.939 He wrote twenty-five books in Arabic. In Cairo alone, eight Jewish families founded publishing houses.940 Writers, journalists, publishing houses, and bookstores were strictly watched and censored, however. Several Egyptian books and articles were only available abroad.941

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Jewish Film and Theater After France, Egypt was the second country in 1896 to show the first motion pictures by the French Lumière brothers,942 who had invented the technology. At first, Jewish cultural brokers imported movies. Later on, many of them studied filmmaking in France and became active in Egyptian film production. Jewish and foreign women played important parts in these productions because Egyptian women were traditionally not allowed to do so. From 1930 to 1945, Togo Mizrahi943 directed and produced Egyptian films. One of the pioneers of Egyptian cinematic arts, he was the country’s most successful director. He laid the groundwork for Egyptian-style comedies and musicals. Many of his films are still considered classics today. The best-known actress was Layla Murad. She went down in history as the “Cinderella of Egyptian film.”944 In 1912, the Ashkenazi director and actor Joseph Weinstein founded the Jewish Art Association. In existence for three decades, the theater performed plays in Yiddish. Its home was Cairo, but the theater also performed in Alexandria and Port Said until 1948. Its ensemble performed mostly works by Jewish authors. Each performance started with the Egyptian national anthem and the Jewish song Ha Tikva.945

Jewish Music Some of the most important composers and performers were Jews, both singers and musicians who played classical and traditional Egyptian music. One of the best-known Egyptian musicians of modern times was the Karaite composer, singer, and oud-player Da’ud Ha’dr Levy, also known under the name of Da’du Hussni.946 His name is closely linked to the first generation of Egyptian national composers. His opera Samson and Delilah was performed in the newly built opera in Cairo. He composed more than 500 works, many of them part of the Egyptian repertoire to this day.947

Jews and Politics In general, Jews played a very minor role in Egypt’s political life because they had shied away from taking on the Egyptian nationality. Only a small number of them had joined the Wafd or

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the Communist Party, the only alternative to anti-Semitism and hatred of Jews. A few of them had won seats in the parliament.948 Ezra Harari, a descendant of an old and very respected Jewish family, became a member of the central committee of the Communist Pary. He founded La Ligue Juive contre le Sionisme in Cairo, which also became active in Alexandria. His anti-Zionist group distributed an appeal in French and Arabic to all Egyptian Jews, which denounced Zionism as a political tool of British imperialsm. It ended with the following words: Down with Zionism! Long live the brotherhood of Jews and Arabs! Long live the Egyptian people!949 Adams writes that there was no anti-Semitic sentiment within the Communist Party and that Communists supported the foundation of the State of Israel. At least until the 1950s, Communism offered an alternative—a theoretical possibility of being both Jewish and Egyptian.950 The Marxist/Communist movements were attractive to many Jews, notes Hassoun,951 who was hoping to return to Egypt after his emigration to France: “It is true that we felt a lot of hatred against Zionism, which often manifested itself in hatred towards the Jews … in 1946, 1947, 1948.”952

Conclusion “Arab anti-Semitism” was “imported” from Europe. In Christian countries, Jews often constituted the only non-Christian population group. In contrast to the Islamic world with its diversity of cultures and religions, they stood out as “strange” in the Christian world. In Alexandria, an “interracial utopia” emerged in which all races and religions lived side by side in a “golden age of unbroken harmony.“953 According to Lewis, this was the reason why Jews had to suffer less under Islam than under Christianity. Because of Nasser’s politics, antiSemitism soared to new heights in Egypt.954 The more wars Egyptians lost, the more antiSemitism increased. In theory, this was understandable; in practice, however, it was hard for Jews to get spat at in the streets,955 writes Hilde Zaloscer, who—after thirty years in Egypt— felt like she did not have a future there anymore. She did not leave the country until after the Six-Day War of 1967, however.

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Excerpt from Samir Raafat’s Article Jews played a very important role in Egyptian society—be it economically, culturally or socially. Many of them were able to do well in business and became philanthropists. They did their share to improve the situation of Egypt’s poor, old, infirm, and orphans by building hospitals, schools, etc. In a 1996 article in Egyptian Mail,956 Samir Rafaat writes the following: “Early in the 20th century, the area flanking Kamel Mohammed Street in Zamalek, Cairo was an empty field. Subsequently, and as the island joined the urban sprawl, these were carved up ... for the construction of villas with gardens. It is there that banker-businessman Hector de Cattaui died. Like his father, Moise Cattaui Pasha, the long-standing president of Cairo's Sephardi community, Hector and his immediate family had little to do with Zionism. For generations they had graced the top echelons of Egyptian society and saw no need to exchange gracious living for life on a socialist kibbutz. Villa Goodman was the elected residence of Maitre Aaron Alexander, an affluent Ashkenazi with origins in Znin, Poland, who came to live in Egypt in 1913. A successful lawyer at the Mixed and British Consular Courts, Alexander was legal advisor as well as a board member of several British concerns in Egypt including Shell Oil, the Egyptian Delta Land Company, and the English School. Alexander's wife Victoria Mosseri was a niece of Moise Cattaui Pasha and a sister of banker-magnate Elie Nessim Mosseri.957 Monsieur Ovadia or Khawaga Salem: it would be due to his alleged Zionist sympathies that Ovadia Salem was subsequently interned in Huckstep military base east of Cairo following the first Arab-Israeli War of 1948. This was also when all his assets were summarily frozen except for his villa that was luckily in his wife's name.958 Salem was not alone in his internment. With him were some 500 Zionists, an equal number of communists [some of them Jews] and an even larger number of Muslim Brothers. The overflow of prisoners was sent to Al Tor in Sinai and Abu Kir, east of Alexandria. But with the arrival to power of the Wafd Party, things improved dramatically. Consistently treated better than their fellow Muslim Brother inmates, Salem and his colleagues were released with the proviso that those with foreign passports leave Egypt. Rather than leave, Ovadia Salem, who had acquired Egyptian citizenship, chose to remain. With interests in many companies including the famous Misr Group, Ovadia was an accepted pillar of the Cairo business community. Ovadia Salem died in March 1958 in Cairo.”959

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6. The Time before 1948 Egyptian Jewish Communities “Egyptian Jews—a community traditionally considered the oldest in the Jewish world and in our times—have practically become non-existent.”960 In The Jews of Egypt, Shamir describes the Jewish population of modern Egypt as a collective product of the Mediterranean world. As such, this population probably was more Mediterranean than its individual members who hailed from different countries of origin.961 Egyptian Jewry was composed of different autochthonous communities. Jewish emigration waves reached Egypt from the Levant, Turkey, Greece, Corfu, Italy, the Iberian Peninsula, North Africa, Syria, and Tripoli.962 For a long time, Egyptianized Jews cultivated the religious, cultural, familial, and economic traditions of their communities of origin.963 This multicultural, multinational, and multilingual community spoke Italian, Ladino, Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, and Greek. The lingua franca for this Mediterranean world was French, however.964 They often spoke a mix of all of these languages, which could only be understood by insiders.965 “My father’s family spoke Ladino ... my mother’s spoke French. Most of [the community members had] a foreign accent in every language they spoke even though they spoke these languages fluently everywhere but not quite

... Belonging

... There is an original me in every language I speak,” Gini

Alhadeff966 describes her linguistic situation, which applies to most Egyptian Jews. As highlighted in the first chapter, Jews were a big, well-integrated minority—in its long history often the second biggest non-Muslim minority in Egypt.967 They actively participated in Egypt’s economy as bankers, department store owners, and, as noted before, generous philanthropists. From the 19th century until 1948, they were considered the richest community in the Arab world.

Egypt after 1918 After World War I, Egypt’s Muslim population lived in relative harmony with its foreign neighbors. As a result of the general political climate—the ascent of nationalism, the desire for modernization, and the renaissance of political Islam—the Muslim majority kept a distance from the country’s other minorities. These factors directly or indirectly prevented non-Muslim

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minorities from achieving any kind of dominance, even though they held high positions in business and finance. In addition, Fascist propaganda was spreading, and the conflict in Palestine divided opinions. Political tensions culminated in the Egyptian Revolution of 1919 against British Colonialism968 and against all non-Muslims. Calling for an end to British occupation, the newly founded Wafd Party969 played an important role in this unrest.970 As a result, a process of Egyptianization set in. In 1922, the British Protectorate came to a formal end. In theory, Egypt was an independent state.971 Jews and other minorities no longer enjoyed British protection.972 Egyptian Jews still remained active in the economy. Two Jews973 were among the founders of the Misr Bank, for example.974 In the 1920s, the Egyptian-Muslim elite did not think that it shared an identity with Arabs from other countries. The elite therefore refuted political Islam. “Egypt identified with the Levantine culture of the Mediterranean rather than with Arabism, thus distinguishing itself from its neighbors.” Egypt is also called “the Mediterranean option,” a mixture of East and West.975 During the interwar period, Egypt was mainly interested in nationalism and in liberating itself from foreign rule. Two of the political leaders of the time were Sa’ad Zaghlul976 and Taha Hussein,977 both members of the Wafd Party. Zaghlul even declared in a newspaper interview that his movement was not Islamic or xenophobic. Several Jews also held leading positions in the Wafd Party and fought for Egypt’s independence.978

Demographic Data Most Jews did not have Egyptian nationality. Even though a law from 1929 granted Egyptian nationality to everybody born in Egypt, only 5,000 Jews acquired it.979 About 30,000 of them had a foreign passport from Greece, Great Britain, and other countries. About 40,000 Jews were stateless.980 The fact that only a small number of Jews had acquired Egyptian nationality was not due to a governmental restriction, but mostly to unwillingness on their part. All those who had foreign nationality preferred it to the Egyptian one. Jews often identified with other national groups such as Greeks, Italians, Turks, Syrians, and Armenians, rather than with Egyptians.981

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Emigration to Palestine/Eretz Israel before 1948 Emigration to Palestine/Eretz Israel before the foundation of the State of Israel:982 Until 1931

890 people from Egypt and the Sudan

1932-1939

1,145 people from Egypt

1940-1948

1,985 people from Egypt983

According to Krämer, these immigrants originally came from Yemen, Aden, and Morocco. They also included Ashkenazi from Eastern Europe who had left their homes in the early 1920s, but interrupted their aliya in Egypt. Krämer stresses that the latter was not an emigration movement of “real Egyptian Jews.”984 The fact that so few Jews emigrated to Israel before 1948 confirms that they led a good life and felt secure in Egypt. In spite of the Yishuv’s and the movement’s efforts, Zionism985 did not interest them greatly.986 In 1947, between 85,000 and 100,000 Jews lived in Egypt. In spite of all the suffering they had experienced after the end of World War II, they did not want to believe that their days in Egypt were numbered and that all hopes for a future in Egypt would be shattered. 987

A Brief Survey of Zionism The word “Zionism” is derived from the word “Zion,” a poetic name for Israel.988 “Zionism”989 became a political term after Theodor Herzl990 founded the Zionist movement in 1896. When the first Zionistic Congress took place in Basel in 1897, it became an international movement with a political agenda.991 In Europe, the time was ripe for modern, political, and social freedom movements, notes Alex Bein. Zionism developed at the same time as other European national movements such as Communism and Socialism.992 “In the same period that the idea of Zionism was being formulated within a Christian European context, Jews in the Muslim world occupied a different position, one that did not necessarily require a nationalist articulation of their identity.”993 Zionism had enemies from many camps, among them Jews and Gentiles, the political left and right, religious and non-religious groups. The idea was often described as an undesirable illusion.994 “Once the Jewish state exists, everything will make sense and seem natural. Maybe a just historian will deem it something special that a Jewish journalist without means made a nation out of a ragtag group of people mired in humiliation, during a virulently anti-Semitic time, and

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turned a rag into a flag,” Theodor Herzl, the father of political Zionism wrote in his diaries in Paris in 1901.

Zionism in Egypt With the ascent of Pan-Arabism/nationalism on the one hand and Zionism on the other, Egyptian Jews came to hold an ambivalent position towards both movements.995 When talking about Zionism in Egypt, we cannot overlook the fact that Zionism is a European “invention” triggered by the misery of Jews in Europe.996 Even the saying “Next year in Jerusalem” did not have a practical meaning, but rather a lofty, nostalgic one. “Without ‘Arab Fascism,’ Zionism would have never succeeded in extracting Jews from the Arab world,” El-Mahdi notes.997 “In the same period that the idea of Zionism was being formulated within a Christian European context, Jews in the Muslim world occupied a different position, one that did not necessarily require a nationalist articulation of their identity. Zionism was from its very beginning, a European concept meant to solve the Jewish problem in Europe from a Jewish point of view, according to anti-Semite developments which took place at least since the 18th century, but only in Europe, not in the Arab World, definitely not before World War II.” Shohat further notes that European anti-Semitism was transferred to the Arab world because of the foundation of the Jewish State and the following factors: “The anti-Jewish propaganda, … the failure of most Arab intellectuals and leaders to clarify and act on the distinction between Jews and Zionists; their failure to actively secure the place of Jews in the Arab world; the persecution of Communists, among them Jews who opposed Zionism, the secretive agreements between some Arab leaders and Israeli leaders concerning the idea of “population exchange;” and Zionism, a movement that had virtually nothing to do with those sentiments, even if it capitalized on a quasi-religious rhetoric.”998 Egypt’s Jewish community was an exception from other Jewish communities in the Islamic world. Most of its members belonged to the middle and upper-middle class and enjoyed a high socioeconomic status. Highly educated, they were oriented towards Europe. Until the mid1940s, their way of life and livelihood were not in peril. Many of them were members of the elite and spoke French as a lingua franca, which helped them integrate after the exodus. In contrast to other Jewish minorities outside of Europe, they did not leave Egypt all at once, but rather in three main stages in 1948, 1956, and 1967.999 The Zionist movement started in Egypt in ca. 1900, but did not play a significant role until

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1948. People were not interested in the ideology or in emigrating to Israel. Most of the dignitaries of the Jewish community even opposed Zionism.1000 Most Zionists were Ashkenazim1001 who learned about Zionism because of their Judeo-European traditions. Even though Jews wanted to distinguish themselves from Zionists and actually had little or nothing in common with the movement, they still collected money to support the Zionists in Eretz Israel/Palestine. In 1918, Chaim Weizmann led a big delegation from Palestine/Eretz Israel to Cairo. He was welcomed with great pomp and circumstance and celebrated as the “king of Jews”—including by Gentiles.1002 Founded in 1918, the Pro-Palestine Committee was active in Alexandria from 1920 to 1927. Even though its members were neither Zionists nor politically active, it aimed at reestablishing a Jewish State in Palestine.1003 As a result, it helped 12,000 European Jews immigrate to Eretz Israel/Palestine.1004 In 1925, the Association of Friends of Hebrew University in Jerusalem was founded.1005 For generations, Egypt had been home to many Jews who had lived well in the country in spite of times of discrimination.1006 Many Jews opposed Zionism because they saw their life in Egypt threatened by it. “The security and material comfort enjoyed by the broad middle and upper classes of Egyptian Jewry, and the absence of anti-Jewish or anti-Semitic feelings in the general Egyptian public enabled a relatively comfortable Jewish life, and so unlike the Jews in Europe, there was no necessity for a special self-definition as Zionists. They were always Egyptian or Arab Jews,”1007 notes Krämer. In subsequent years, it became clear that this peace was not to last. All those who wanted to immigrate to Palestine/Eretz Israel were often refused “certificates”1008 by the government of the British Mandate. It was more urgent to facilitate an escape for as many European Jews as possible.1009 Kimhi thinks that Egyptian Jews were a heterogeneous community because of their diverse roots, education, traditions, and social status. Mostly focused on economic success and personal safety, they did not pay heed to the collective.1010 The fact that community leaders considered themselves “Egyptian patriots” also contributed to this aversion towards Zionism.1011 As early as the 1920s, rumors spread that Ashkenazi Jews discriminated against Sephardim in Palestine/Eretz Israel.1012 Many of my interviewees in the United States confirmed that this was one of the reasons why they decided not to immigrate to Israel.1013

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Jews Are Philanthropists As early as World War I, the Jewish communities of Cairo and Alexandria received 11,277 Jewish refugees from Palestine/Eretz Israel,1014 mostly Zionists.1015 These “Israelis” spread Zionist ideas in Egypt, slowly sparking interest among Egypt’s Jewish youth. After the Balfour Declaration1016 was issued in 1917, this interest intensified. In 1933, a Jewish group in Alexandria collected 15,000 Egyptian Pounds to purchase a big plot of land in Israel. In 1935, it was donated to refugees from Germany. These refugees founded the Kfar Yedidya settlement, which has been thriving to this day.1017 From 1934 to 1945, Egyptian Jews actively participated in organizing illegal aliya to Eretz Israel/Palestine. Thousands of Jews, also from Europe,1018 reached Israel from Egypt on small fishing boats or on camels through the Sinai Desert.1019 After the German army was defeated in El-Alamein in 1942 and left behind loads of weapons, a group of Egyptian Jews purchased this stockpile to covertly supply it to Hagana in Israel.1020 In 1944, Egyptian Jews sent a donation of 100,000 Egyptian Pounds to United Jewish Appeal1021 to help integrate Jews from Europe. This was the biggest donation among all the funds received from Mediterranean countries.1022

Nazis in the Middle East The British ruled over large parts of the Middle East until the mid-20th century. Palestine/Eretz Israel was a British Mandate. When the Nazi Party ascended to power in Germany in 1933, more and more European Jews started to immigrate to Palestine/Eretz Israel.1023 This movement became stronger as European Jews were experiencing greater reprisals and “no country in the world wanted to take in Jewish refugees.”1024 As a matter of fact, very few Jews received visas to go to the United States and Great Britain. As the British Mandate imposed restrictions on immigration, the hands of the Yishuv were tied. Quite a few European Jews made it to Egypt because they were not able to reach Eretz Israel/Palestine without a visa. As a result of the Nazi ascent to power, Leon Castro founded the International League against Anti-Semitism (LICA) in Egypt in 1933. This organization called for a boycott of German products, in which Muslim, Coptic, and Christian business people also participated.1025 The only problem was that most of the representatives of foreign companies—among them also German ones—were Jews who suffered the consequences of the boycott.1026

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Palestine/ Eretz Israel Until 1936, immigration to Palestine/Eretz Israel proceeded relatively smoothly1027 even though the Arab population in the region felt more and more uneasy as the demographic balance started to shift in 1933. In 1936, the Arab Revolt in Palestine/Eretz Israel took place. It involved strikes and bloody clashes. The Arabs demanded that the British put an end to Jewish immigration and impose further restrictions on the Jews. From an ideological point of view, this revolt was directed against the Jews. For all intents and purposes, the Arabs in Palestine turned against the British for having facilitated Jewish immigration. These clashes continued until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.1028 The Revolt succeeded at creating Arab unity,1029 which had not existed until that point. The Palestine issue had previously not played a role in Egypt—neither in politics nor among the population. Both the press and the ruling parties continued to distinguish between Jews and Zionists.1030 By the mid-1930s Egyptian politicians realized that the Palestinian problem would impact Arab unity decisively, not least in the fight against foreign rule in the Middle East.1031

The 1930s Even though among all the countries in the Arab world, Egypt was most strongly oriented towards Europe, this attitude was controversial among some parts of the Egyptian society as well as among Jews.1032 By mid-1936, Islamists and nationalists1033 accused Jews of being Zionist spies and called for a boycott of their businesses.1034 The Peel Commission’s1035 proposal of 1937 to partition Palestine fell on deaf ears, as the Balfour Declaration of 1917 had. By the late 1930s, Arabs living in Palestine had declared a Holy War. In view of the ascent of an Arab-Islamic national consciousness, Zionist ideas became relevant again. Youth organizations such as Hashomer Hatzair, Betar, Macabi, Hehalutz, and Habonim started to become active in Cairo and Alexandria. When the National Socialists1036 rose to power in Germany, some European Jews were able to flee to Egypt. Wealthy local members of Egypt’s Jewish community helped integrate Ashkenazi refugees, some of whom became active in various Zionist organizations.1037 In 1938,1038 the situation in Egypt escalated. Jews were attacked in the streets. Students and other groups demonstrated with slogans such as “Let’s get rid of the Jews.” During the

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Congress for the Defense of Palestine in October of 1938 in Cairo, anti-Semitic materials were published.1039 For the first time, Jewish institutions and homes were bombed. Wealthy Jews received hate mail. They contacted Egyptian politicians, foreign diplomats, and the press to help them. They also bribed officials with large sums of money. For the most part, they tried to remain invisible in the hopes that these hate-fuelled activities would come to an end soon and they could go back to their old lives.1040

World War II, 1939-1945 World War II not only changed Europe, but also Egypt, an active participant in the war. Led by Field Marshall Rommel, the German army marched into Egypt and threatened the Middle East. Close to European theaters of war, Egypt became an indispensible strategic and logistic base for the Allied armies.1041 In 1942, Arabic became the official language for all business in Egypt. All those who did not know the language had to have Egyptian business partners. The new law also stipulated that 75 percent of all employees had to be Egyptian nationals—affecting Greeks, Maltese, Levantines, and Jews. The time during the war was still relatively calm for foreigners.1042

The Post-War Period Egypt had to orient itself anew after the war ended in 1945. The old order had lost its validity. Old and new political powers strove to end British occupation and create an independent identity. In this new political landscape, the Arab League was founded in Cairo with British support in 1945. According to Har’el, the “Jewish Golden Age” in Egypt had come to an end.1043 Only people of Muslim faith with Arabic as a mother tongue were considered Egyptian. Foreigners were increasingly discriminated against.1044 Stillman does not consider World War II and the foundation of the State of Israel as the main reason for the Jews’ changed position in the Arab world.1045 His view is representative of a Eurocentric attitude that many historians do not share.1046 These other historians are of the opinion that World War II and especially the Holocaust1047 were the main reasons for the necessity of founding a “Jewish State.”1048

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“As a child in Alexandria, I felt the increasing anti-Semitism of the Arabs surrounding me. I also lived through the terror of the advance of German troops to El-Alamein where Jews in particular were not sure where to escape to. Many suffered in labor camps, work gangs, and prisons or under house arrest. If American and British troops had not driven the Germans from the African Continent in 1942, the 2,000-year-old Jewish communities of North Africa and the Middle East would almost certainly have met the fate of their brethren in Europe.”1049 Until the mid-1940s the Jewish community enjoyed social recognition and safety. Jews played an important role in Egypt’s economy. They had a rich cultural, social, and religious life, and even engaged in athletic activities organized by Zionist associations. Sephardim constituted the Jewish elite. Because of their businesses, tens of thousands of Egyptians found jobs and a secure income.1050 By the mid-1940s, the situation seemed to have calmed down again. “The anti-Zionist campaign of militant nationalist and Islamic groups with its anti-Jewish overtones did not seem to affect the general public.” The Egyptian government did nothing to harm Jews either. The press, however, began to accuse Jews of being Zionists, spies, capitalists, Communists, and traffickers in women.1051

The Exodus Starting in 1945, Jews needed to emigrate from Europe, especially if they were poor. 4,000 Jews who had applied for a Certificate were sent to Israel, mostly on boats. Both the Egyptian authorities as well as the British tolerated this type of aliya, which was not completely legal. Many refugees traveled illegally to Israel with forged tourist visas or with the help of private middlemen who charged them dearly for their services.1052 In 1946, 600 new olim1053 from Egypt arrived in Palestine/Eretz Israel. The Yishuv did not welcome them with open arms, however. As Sephardim from an Arab country, they were discriminated against and often despised. The few Sephardim who were active Zionists also experienced this disappointing and incomprehensible treatment. On top of everything, they were hardly offered any help with starting their new lives.1054 When they had lost all hope that their situation would improve, many of them went back to Egypt. Word about this treatment spread fast among Egyptian Jews and did not serve the cause of aliya.1055 The Yishuv in Palestine/Eretz Israel sent very few shelihim1056 (emissaries) to Egypt during World War II1057 because it had to concentrate on saving European Jews.

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The Zionist Federation of Egypt In 1944, the Zionist Federation of Egypt was founded. Its leader was in close contact with the Sochnut1058 in Israel and with the Egyptian authorities.1059 Important figures from Eretz Israel traveled to Egypt to provide moral support to local Zionists. Strong cultural contacts with Israel developed. The Palestine Symphony Orchestra1060 and Israeli actors performed at the Cairo Opera. In 1945, the number of shelihim in Egypt increased. These emissaries tried to prepare Jewish youth for a future in Israel through mental and physical training. They were also trained in different methods of self-defense.1061 The Egyptian authorities tolerated their activities until November 1947.1062 Shelihim also collected money to advance the Zionist project—by purchasing land in Eretz Israel, for example.1063

Sephardim and Ashkenazim Sephardic Jews were increasingly convinced that the “Ashkenazi-Zionist Organization” only considered them potential donors,1064 instead of active participants in the “Israel project.” They offered their knowledge of Arab mentality, culture, language, and traditions to find a peaceful solution to the Jewish-Arabic conflict, but were always turned down.1065 In several letters, the leaders of Egypt’s Jewish community warned about disregarding Arab concerns. They predicted that Jews in the Arab world would suffer a fate similar to that of Jews in Europe during World War II.1066 Egyptian Jews did not share the fighting spirit European Jews had developed during persecutions.1067 When the Egyptian-Jewish newspaper Israe’l asked Chaim Weizmann1068 to write an article encouraging Jews to emigrate to Israel, he answered, “Who is asking [Egyptian Jews] to emigrate? I do not want [them] to go to Israel. I have a big pool of people from Poland who should come to Israel. Egyptian Jews are just there to foot the bill.”1069 David Ben Gurion was one of the few people who saw the Jewish catastrophe in the Arab world coming. As early as 1943, he warned that Zionism would inevitably bring disaster upon Jews in the Arab world. “They are they only Jews who could fall victim to Zionism and we will be to blame for it.”1070 It was not until the disastrous evidence of the Holocaust surfaced after the end of World War II that the Zionist leadership started to look for new “human resources.” Jews from the Arab world therefore constituted an important pool for the settlement of Israel.1071

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1947 The Egyptian government prohibited all anti-Jewish and anti-British demonstrations in connection with the UN Palestine Resolution. It did not interfere with any type of unrest between December 1947 and September 1948, however. Greeks, Copts, Europeans, and Jews were harmed and their businesses were destroyed.1072 In December, a jihad—a holy war—was declared on behalf of Palestine.1073 The Al-Ahram newspaper wrote1074 that the Coptic leadership had defended its “Jewish brothers.” When efforts were made to partition Palestine/Eretz Israel and create a Jewish State by mid1947, persecution of Jews in the Islamic world took on a different dimension. In Egypt, students at Al-Azhar University, the Muslim Brotherhood, and Misr al-Fatat incited mobs to attack Jews and Jewish institutions. The regime imprisoned, interned, and tortured Jews and staged show trials. “There were raids on Jewish flats. The owners were forced to sell their furniture, jewels and pictures for derisory prices … And they left with twenty Egyptian Pounds1075 per person.”1076 And subsequently: “They saw the dream turn into a nightmare as they were forced to leave the land of their ancestors ... They had become foreigners in their own land.”1077 In a speech at the United Nations on November 14, 1947, Muhammad Husayn Haykal Pasha1078 warned that a disaster would happen if the State of Israel were founded. “The UN should not lose sight of the fact that the proposed solution1079 might endanger a million Jews living in the Muslim countries. If the UN decides to partition Palestine, it might be responsible for the massacre of a large number of Jews.”1080 In her book Zionism in the Shade of the Pyramids, Ruth Kimhi writes that nobody in Eretz Israel was interested in welcoming Jews from Arab countries. One of the organizers in Egypt1081 wrote quite arrogantly, “The human material is very bad. We do not understand what they intend on doing with these people in Israel.” She thinks that hundreds of Jews were imprisoned on May 14, 1948 because the Israeli authorities failed to get people out of Egypt.1082

November 29, 19471083 On November 29, 1947, the United Nations decided to partition Palestine1084 and to found a Jewish State. This decision thus sounded the death knell for Jewish life in the Islamic world. The Palestine/Eretz Israel problem became a main concern in Egypt. Jews were exposed to increasing pressure from the authorities. They were harassed and thrown into jail. The press

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attacked Zionism daily and Jews came to feel that the diplomatic game could have a pogromlike epilogue. After the UN resolution was passed, thousands of anti-Jewish demonstrations filled the streets. Muslims attacked Jews and other foreigners and destroyed their businesses. The press demanded that Jewish wealth be nationalized and called for all Jews to be imprisoned. In addition, the Arab League and other nationalist organizations published fake news about planned Jewish assassination attempts on important persons from the Arab world.1085 As all shelihim were recalled to Israel, the Yishuv abandoned Egypt’s Jewish community, which was left to its own devices, without preparation. Egyptian Jews had not seen this coming and suddenly lacked a cadre of advisors.1086 At least by November 29, 1947, it had become clear that Jews in the Arab world would face greater and greater threats. They were expelled from Egypt and other Arab countries. Their property was confiscated or nationalized. They faced physical threats and were exposed to the authorities’ and the mob’s violence. Jews were attacked in the streets in broad daylight. Their businesses were looted and their homes set on fire.1087 The authorities did not help them in any way. The last stage of the British Mandate in Palestine was marked by illegal aliya. Thousands of Jews from the Arab world arrived in Eretz Israel with forged passports. Starting in February 1948, the British and Egyptian authorities imposed further restrictions on immigration to Israel.1088 In 1948, there were sixteen Jewish schools, two world-class hospitals, geriatric homes, charitable organizations for orphans and the poor, and sixty synagogues in Egypt.1089

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7. The Exodus from Egypt - 1948-1967

Egypt’s Jewish Communities Far from homogeneous, Egypt’s Jewish community was marked by major social and cultural differences.1090 East and West came together to form an extraordinary conglomerate of different cultures and languages. European traditions mixed with Mediterranean and Arabic ones. Greek, Spanish, Italian, Turkish, Eastern and Western European Jews made up these multinational, multicultural Jewish communities in Alexandria and Cairo.1091,1092 “The Jews of Egypt were educated and they possessed a rich cross-cultural heritage.” Even though Jews enjoyed a nice life in Egypt and many of them were able to acquire wealth, they were still considered ahl el-dima—foreigners—by Egyptians.1093 Most of them even cultivated this designation, however. The jury therefore is still out on whether Jews turned to European culture because they were treated as foreigners in Egypt or because they wanted to be a part of the European elite themselves. Both reasons might be true. Gormezano-Goren1094 refutes the accusation that the Egyptian authorities refused citizenship to Jews. “My father acquired Egyptian citizenship because he wanted to be an Egyptian. Other people wanted to obtain citizenship from a European country rather than from Egypt. That’s why so few of them were Egyptian by nationality.” When it became urgent to obtain Egyptian citizenship after 1948, it was too late for many. Other interviewees, however, assert that even in the 1930s it was very difficult to obtain Egyptian citizenship.1095 There is no scholarly evidence that either one of the statements is absolutely right. Like Jews from other countries in the Arab world, Jews from Egypt lost their home forever after the State of Israel was founded in 1948. “We are paying the highest price,1096 because in all other parts of the world, Jews continue to live or are allowed to live even though Israel exists. Only we are not allowed [to stay in Egypt],”1097 Aharoni writes.

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Demographic and Statistical Data In 1947, between 800,000 and one million Jews lived in the Middle East. By 1980, this number had dwindled to 300—400 people.1098 In 1947, between 85,000 and 100,000 Jews lived in Egypt, almost exclusively in Cairo and Alexandria.1099 According to Professor Gershoni, Alexandria had a total population of 500,000 in 1941, Cairo about 1 million.1100 In 1897, 25,000 Jews lived in Egypt.1101 By 1910, their number had increased to 30,000, with 500 Ashkenazi families moving to the region as well. In 1927, Egypt’s Jewish population ranged between 80,000 and 85,000.1102 According to statistical data from 1947, 90.2 percent of Jewish men and 80.4 percent of Jewish women were educated.1103 In 1900, 20 percent of the Jewish population was well-to-do, 8 percent of them millionaires, 60 percent of them successful in business, and 20 percent of them poor or indigent.1104 The exodus from Egypt proceeded in four main waves after the Egyptian Revolution and the four lost wars against Israel. It is very hard to ascertain numbers for the time after 1952, however. In 1973 only a few hundred Jews lived in Egypt: 1105 1948: First Arab–Israeli War1106 1952: Officers’ Revolution 1956: Second Arab–Israeli War 1967: Six–Day War 1973: Yom Kippur War By 1973, the exodus from Egypt was completed. Only about 150 Jews remained in the country.1107 A few remaining synagogues, schools, hospitals and similar institution attest to the cultural richness and splendor of Egypt’s former Jewish community.1108 We can also imagine this rich cultural heritage on the basis of documents such as the Cairo Geniza,1109 as well as other stories, interviews and photographs.1110

Statistical Information on Escape and Emigration, 1948-19671111 1948–1950: 35,000 Jews left Egypt 1956–1966: 30,000 Jews left Egypt 1967: 2,500 remained in Egypt after the war 126

1970: an estimated number of 600 Jews lived in Egypt. Since then, their number has decreased, according to Ehrlich.1112 1973: at the beginning of the Yom Kippur War, between 2,000 and 2,5000 Jews lived in Egypt. 2009: about 150 Jews lived in Cairo and Alexandria.1113 In a generously humanitarian action, the Spanish ambassador to Egypt issued passports to all Jews with Spanish sounding names in 1973, arguing that they were Spanish by origin. Since the Egyptian authorities were happy to get rid of the Jews, they did not oppose this measure. These newly minted Spaniards were sent to other parts of Europe on boats directly from jail, mostly still in handcuffs.1114 As a result of an international intervention mediated by the French ambassador to Egypt, almost all remaining Egyptian Jews were airlifted to Europe in a night-and-fog directive organized by Jewish organizations and the Red Cross in 1971. From there, they immigrated to various other countries.1115 Egyptian Jews were dispersed into all four corners of the earth. About 35,000 went to Israel; 15,000 to Brazil; 10,000 to France; 9,000 to the United States; 9,000 to Australia; and 4,000 to Great Britain.1116 According to Beinin, except for a small minority of Zionists and religious people, lowerincome people were more likely to immigrate to Israel. People with greater financial resources often immigrated to other countries. Since Sephardim mostly had deeper roots in Egypt, they tended to stay in the country longer than Ashkenazim, but there are no exact numbers on how many did not immigrate to Israel.1117 According to Krämer, in a population of 600,000 to 750,000 people in Alexandria, 30,000 were Jewish. In Cairo the percentage was much smaller: i.e., 40,000 Jews in a total population of 1.5 million people. 1118

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Who is Who in Egypt A survey of Egypt’s Who is Who almanacs revealed the following: In 1947, the almanac listed 892 Jewish names. In 1952, it listed 504 Jewish names, even though many Jews had left the country in 1948. In 1954, 715 Jewish names were among a total of 4,632 names.1119 Before the War of 1956, 37 percent of the Jewish names listed in 1947 reappeared. During the 1950s, 170 new Jewish names were added. After the War of 1956, the almanac listed 472 Jewish names. In 1959, a remainder of 251 Jewish names was to be found. The small difference in numbers between 1947 and 1956 demonstrates that members of the Jewish elite did not leave Egypt until 1956 or later.1120 “After the arrests of Cairo Jews from 1948 to 1949 and the deportations from 1956 to 1957, only 5,587 Jews remained according to the census of 1960. In 1968, after the Six– Day War, the population numbered only about 1,500 and by 1970 dwindled to a few hundred. At the beginning of the 21st century, fewer than 200 remained.”1121 “Jews were interned in camps and prisons during the Wars of 1948, 1956, and 1967. The living conditions became harsher and harsher.”1122

The Foundation of Israel, May 15, 1948 When the State of Israel was founded in 1948, a new era dawned in the Arab world. A war against Israel broke out immediately. In the night from May 14 to 15, 1948, one day before the official proclamation of the foundation of the State of Israel,1123 the situation of Egyptian Jews worsened drastically.1124 They were officially declared as “enemies of Egypt” and accused of being American spies.1125 The Egyptian secret police service Mukhabarat imprisoned Jewish men aged 16 to 60 in a first wave of arrests. Subsequent waves followed in June, July, and September of 1948. Most of these men were in jail for almost one year.1126 “The Egyptians created four internment camps and on May 15, 1948, they rounded up many Jews, mostly Zionists and dispersed them throughout the four camps.”1127 Egypt was the first Arab country to build detention camps for its Jewish citizens. These were the 128

prisons Hequetaff and Abu-Za’bal1128 near Cairo, Abu-Kir near Alexandria, and El-Tour on the Sinai Peninsula. There also was a separate prison, la prison des étrangères, for Zionist and Communist women.1129 Well-to-do Jews who had nothing to do with Zionism also were imprisoned so that their wealth could be easily confiscated.1130 In the beginning, the situation in the prisons was unbearable, but over time—not least because of hunger strikes—it improved, depending on the news about the war from the Sinai Peninsula.1131 The

inmates

organized

intellectual

and

athletic

activities

in

the

prisons.

“That’s how Abu Kir University was inaugurated. ... Zionist activities were overtly practiced in the camps even though they were prohibited in the outside world and only continued in the underground.” The inmates were not offended, harassed or physically harmed, and overall, the guards treated them in a satisfactory manner. In May of 1948, all Zionist organizations were banned and all their members were arrested. The only ones not to be thrown in jail were Egyptian members of the youth organization Hashomer Hatzair, who were continuing their work from the underground.1132 Another organization that the Egyptian government was not familiar with was Hagana.1133 It made plans for the defense of the Jewish Harat-el-Yahud neighborhood and the mixed districts. Several Egyptian youths had taken classes organized by Hagana in Palestine/Eretz Israel as early as 1946. They returned to Egypt to put these plans into practice. “On May 15, 1948, a state of emergency was declared, and a royal decree forbade Egyptian citizens to leave the country without a special permit. This law applied to all Jews.”1134 Less than 10 percent of all Jews were Egyptian citizens. They faced an absurd conundrum: on the one hand, the Egyptian authorities did not want to have them in the country anymore; on the other hand they prohibited them from emigrating by putting obstacles in their way. “Everything that we knew yesterday all of a sudden bore the seal of incoherence so that none of the heritage cherished as an ideal for generations remained,”1135 Hassoun writes. The author could not overcome his own emigration until his death. “Nineteen years, from 1948 to 1967, were enough to erase the 3000-year-old Jewish history.”1136

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The First Arab–Israeli War of 1948 The First Arab–Israeli War of 1948 has gone down in Israeli history as the War of Independence. After David Ben Gurion officially proclaimed the foundation of the State of Israel in 1948, the Egyptian army invaded the newly founded country during the night leading to May 15, 1948. The Egyptian media spread news about great victories on the Israeli front. Prone to exaggeration, the press reported that the Egyptian armed forces had reached the suburbs of Tel Aviv and that “the Zionists”—i.e., Israelis—had fled.1137 Egypt was not the only country to attack the young Jewish state. Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq sent their armies to the border as well. They were reinforced by units from Yemen, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, and Sudan.1138 The Egyptian army intended to undermine the foundation of the State of Israel and to “save” Palestinian Arabs. Even though they were four regiments strong and had been trained and armed by the British army, they lacked materiel, and—above all—motivation. The Israeli’s motivation was crystal clear, by contrast. “For us, this is a question of life of death,” Ben Gurion said.1139 After the Egyptian generals had sent home their British advisors, the soldiers were left without leadership. Even though the Egyptian air force1140 lacked skilled pilots, it was still able to bombard the Tel Aviv suburbs, severely damaging the area and causing several injuries and casualties.1141 Rodenstock writes that the Egyptian army only half-heartedly fought for the defense of the rights of its Palestine brethren in 1948. The Israeli army, by contrast, crossed the Egyptian border to sink the Prince Farouk flagship, the pride of the Egyptian navy. Even though King Farouk’s lover and several of his poker partners were Jewish, the monarch was fiercely anti-Semitic.1142 Unlike King Abdullah of Jordan, he had an irrational, hate-filled relationship with Israel. Even though Farouk’s army had sustained high losses, he did not want to end the war and rejected any type of armistice deal that did not meet his expectations.1143 As a result, the war dragged on for nine months and did not come to an end until February 13, 1949.1144 Over time, it became clearer and clearer that the Arab armed forces could not coordinate a common strategy. Starting in July 1948, several secret armistice deals were negotiated, but were not crowned by success. As Egyptians no longer expected to win the war from midOctober onwards, they lost interest in it.1145 Shortly thereafter, the Egyptian army was 130

shattered.1146 Ben Gurion said that one of the most important reasons for the Israeli victory was the quality of “our people.”1147

The End of the War Between January and July 1949, Israel concluded armistice deals with Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, and Jordan. Lasting from January 13 to February 24 and signed on the Island of Rhodes, talks with Egypt turned out to be very complicated. The conclusion of an armistice deal was necessary for Egypt’s survival, however.1148 Deeply hurt in their pride, several officers who participated in the War of 1948 accused the Egyptian parliament of not doing its job well, reproaching it for its bad strategy and high number of casualties. During the war, there was a severe lack of food and medical supplies. Most weapons had been left over from World War I and were therefore obsolete. Those in command had been incompetent. The officers also accused King Farouk of being corrupt and squandering the Egyptian people’s wealth. The defeat of 1948 gave rise to the formation of the Free Officers’ movement. 1149 In 1948, about 30,000 Jews left the country in a first wave of emigration. Krämer assumes that well-to-do Jews thought that they could get rid of poor Jews in that way.1150 Braha1151 writes that most of the 13,000 olim, for whose emigration he was responsible, were middle class. More than half of them had a foreign passport and paid for their journey themselves. Laskier writes that all those who arrived in Israel were from a lower socio-economic bracket.1152 Beinin is of a similar opinion: except for a few Zionists, only poor people went to Israel in 1948.1153

Post–War Egypt Immediately after the outbreak of the war, Jews were attacked and arrested at random. They were also forbidden to leave Egypt.1154 While Jewish organizations abroad estimated 2,500 to have gone to prison, the Egyptian authorities released official figures of 600. As a result of anti-Jewish propaganda, attacking Jews became fair game because they had lost all their rights and protections.1155 European diplomats in Cairo protested in vain against the arrest of “members of a religious 131

minority that [has] no formal relations to the state of Israel.”1156 The Jewish leadership did everything in its power to convince Egyptians that Jews were loyal to Egypt rather than Israel. Their efforts were fruitless, however. Jews published articles in newspapers1157 denouncing Israel as a “tool of Imperialism,” but this did not help them, either. Most of them remained in prison until their release became part of the armistice agreement of late February 1949.1158 The Hashomer Hatzair Youth Organization1159 immediately intensified its work in the underground. It aimed at facilitating emigration for as many Jews as possible.1160 At the same time, the Israeli secret service1161 opened a cell in Cairo, a city considered one of the world’s most important espionage hubs. Most active agents were Muslim Egyptians. “They often were people without scruples, willing to betray their fatherland,” Har’el writes. He himself was part of the organization until he escaped to Israel.1162 Nationalist, fundamentalist, anti-Semitic and anti-Jewish groups as well as students from Al-Azhar University came to attack poor Jews and their families. Their stores were looted, vandalized, or set on fire. Jewish employees lost their jobs. The Egyptian police did not interfere with these atrocities. “Their reaction was unsatisfactory and hypocritical,” not because they wanted to incite the mobs, but because they were afraid of the Muslim Brotherhood, Beinin writes.1163 In July 1948, unrests reached a new climax. The Cicurel department store was destroyed in a bomb explosion. Several other businesses were looted and destroyed. Over 100 Jews were killed and many others were injured. Israeli institutions abdicated their responsibility for these people even though several of the ones arrested during the unrests were members of Zionist organizations. For the most part, Jewish property was confiscated or nationalized at random. Bank accounts were frozen and Jews removed from all government positions. Even though they had lost their livelihood, they were not allowed to leave the country if they did not have a passport from a foreign country. They became hostages in their own country.1164 It did not matter whether the dispossessed were Zionists. The fact that they were Jewish sufficed.1165 Lacking a systematic plan, the Egyptian government only confiscated a portion of Jewish property. The biggest Jewish corporations were not greatly affected, however. Banks, insurances, the stock exchange, and cotton export companies remained in Jewish hands, probably because 132

the Egyptian economy would have come to a standstill otherwise. Also, the wealthy owners of these corporations had kept at a safe distance from Zionist activities1166 and were able to bribe the authorities. In spite of all the difficulties and dangers, most Jews stayed in Egypt when they had an opportunity to do so. Even though the government officially distinguished between Jews and Zionists, in reality it did not always act this way. In comparison to the time after 1956 and 1967, Jews suffered relatively little.1167 Thousands of low-income and unemployed Jews left Egypt for socio-political reasons between 1948 and 1949. With the exception of a few Zionists, most middle-class and wealthy Jews did not even consider leaving Egypt. Many of them did not want to give up their property, and stayed in the country because they were hoping to reclaim it with the help of their foreign passports. They thought that the danger would be over after the war1168 and this actually was the case, even though the situation was not to last.

1949–1952 When the Egyptian government realized what damage it had done to its economy after disappropriating and nationalizing Jewish property in 1949, it stopped in its tracks. Jews were released from jail and were returned some of their possessions. Some of them wanted to leave Egypt and were allowed to do so. Egypt returned to “business as usual.”1169 In mid-April 1949—after Ben Gurion had said, “Go and get them”—Eliyahu Braha1170 traveled to Egypt to organize the aliya. Ben Gurion had meant that Jews from Islamic countries were to make aliya to Israel. He was afraid that these countries would arrest all their Jewish residents after the foundation of the State of Israel. French Prime Minister Guy Mollet1171 authorized visas for 500 people who had applied for them. The Italian government also issued many visas. Braha and his successors received funds from Sochnut, Hias, Joint1172 and some other Jewish relief organizations in Europe and the United States. Boats were rented and “travel agencies” in Cairo and Alexandria were opened to arrange the departure of thousands of Jews. According to estimates, between 15,000 and 20,000 Jews left the country between 1949 and 1951.1173 According to other estimates, the number was as high as 35,000.

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In spite of resisting the partition of Palestine, the Egyptian government did nothing to stop the huge Jewish emigration wave from Egypt after the War of 1948 even though Egyptians knew that most of these people would go to Israel.1174 The assumption that the Egyptian government indeed wanted to get rid of as many Jews as possible cannot be dismissed, especially when we consider that people from a lower socio-economic group left the country in the first emigration wave, vacating jobs for “real Egyptians.” In 1950, key figures of the Jewish community were ordered to issue a declaration against the State of Israel.1175 In September a law entered into force that every person in contact with a country at war with Egypt would lose his or her Egyptian citizenship. This law primarily affected Jews who had family members in Israel.1176 What had started out as a protest movement against the British in 1950 and 1951 subsequently turned against all foreigners, especially Jews as well as against the Egyptian elite and the royal dynasty—i.e. all the groups that had benefited from and were protected by the British regime.1177 In the early 1950s, the situation calmed down and an estimated number of 50,000 Jews returned to their everyday routines. Schools and other institutions reopened, and life seemed to have gone back to normal.1178

Free Officers’ Coup of 1952 The Free Officers’ Revolution occurred without violence and bloodshed. The officers seemed to be idealists with great plans for Egypt’s future, such as an agrarian reform, the institution of a new parliament, the nationalization of banks, etc. King Farouk had to step down and leave the country.1179 Egypt became a republic on June 18, 1953 and Egyptians greeted this day with euphoria. The big hopes that had inspired this revolution soon turned out to be a sham. Nasser took over a legacy that he could not handle.1180 It was the first time in Egypt’s previous thousand years of history that a person born on Egyptian soil assumed power. Immediately after the 1952 Revolution, the situation improved for Jews for a short while. “The new revolutionary regime in Egypt went out of its way to reassure Jews and other minorities.” To demonstrate his good will, General Ali Muhammad Naguib,1181 the first

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Egyptian president, visited Jewish schools and synagogues. The new government refused to consider Egyptian Jews as “Zionist enemies.”1182 Rafael Zadka told me that all signs with European writings were burned in Cairo in February 1952, among them his father’s grocery-store sign. His father was attacked in the streets. Since he did not think that his family had a viable future in Egypt, they left the country soon thereafter.1183 Like in 1948, the mob was incited again and attacked Jews and Jewish institutions together with students. Synagogues, businesses, and other Jewish real estate was confiscated and nationalized. “Property valued at 10,000,000 Pounds was destroyed and stolen.”1184 In February 1954, Gamal Abdel Nasser deposed General Ali Muhammad Naguib.1185 When the new president assumed power, the situation of Jews changed completely. Many hundreds of them were arrested again and accused of being Zionists or Communists and of smuggling money out of the country.1186 Nasser erased the extraordinary history of the Jews in Egypt from school textbooks and collective memory.1187 He considered Israel a subsidiary of Western Imperialism in the Middle East and therefore thought the only solution was to wipe it off the map,1188 writes Eli Avidar.

The Lavon Affair of 19541189 Even though many young Zionists had left Egypt between 1949 and 1951, Zionist activities continued underground in private “debate clubs.” An Israeli espionage ring emerged from one of these groups. Other secret-service groups had set up shop in Egypt as well. This espionage ring was tasked with attacking British institutions to shatter the relatively sound relations between Great Britain and Egypt and to thwart talks about the take-over of the Suez Canal by Egypt.1190 After an assassination attempt failed in 1954, 100 mostly young Egyptian Jews were arrested, but most of them were soon released. Fourteen members of the cell remained in jail and were put on trial. Two of them were sentenced to death, the rest received prison terms of different durations. Two were declared free of all charges and released.1191 The leader of this plot managed to escape.1192

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The Lavon Affair not only disturbed the good relations between Egypt’s Jewish community and the Egyptian leadership, but also sent ripple waves through Israeli politics. It was a turning point for Jews who still lived in Egypt.1193 All 50,000 Jews were accused of being Zionist spies, an accusation that most of them tried to refute, with varying degrees of success.

The Arab–Israeli War of 1956 In June 1956, Great Britain withdrew its troops from Egypt, as promised. To bring down the last symbol of Imperialism, President Nasser announced the nationalization of the Suez Canal in July. The conflict between Israel and Egypt exacerbated after several Egyptian fedayeen1194 launched attacks on Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. At the same time as the canal was nationalized, Nasser imposed a blockade on the Straits of Tiran and the Gulf of Aqaba,1195 the only access points to the Red Sea. He also imposed a ban on Israeli ships traveling through the Suez Canal.1196 For Nasser, this war served as a “proof” that Imperialism and Zionism were indelibly linked,1197 writes Krämer. It was actually the British and the French governments that started the Arab–Israeli War of 1956, with Israel as their middleman. Israel started to attack Egypt to break through the blockade. According to this plan, Israel would attack Egypt, giving Anglo-French troops a reason to position themselves in the Canal again.1198 The United States and the Soviet Union opposed the war, and outdid each other in voicing their dissent.1199 The Arab–Israeli War of 1956 had much graver consequences for Egypt’s Jews than the War of 1948. Egyptian Jews were never forgiven for the fact that this war occurred. Even during the war, the Italian ambassador in Cairo started a night-and-fog directive to declare thousands of Jews Italian citizens in order to save them from immediate deportation,1200 writes Freund.

The Post-War Period As mass incarcerations occurred, it was no longer relevant whether Jews were Zionists or not. All Jews were declared to be Zionists, which was a criminal act.1201 Thousands of 136

foreigners—among them Jews as well as British and French citizens—were asked to leave the country within a few days. They had to agree to hand their property over to the Egyptian government and sign a declaration that they would never return to Egypt. Aided by international organizations such as the Red Cross, the Jewish Agency and other relief organizations such as Hias and Joint,1202 many Egyptian Jews left the country. Some of them were smuggled to Israel;1203 others left of their own volition.1204 Almost all the remaining Jewish residents of Egypt left the country after the Arab–Israeli War of 1956. Almost 20,000 Jews were declared “enemies of the state” and immediately deported, without any luggage and with only 10 Dollars to their names. Most of them even had foreign passports, which did not protect them from deportation.1205 According to census counts, only 2,760 Jews remained in Alexandria by 1960.1206 Citizens of France and Great Britain as well as Jews were expelled. Of a total of 40,000 to 55,000 Jewish residents, 40,000 to 50,000 had to leave the country voluntarily or involuntarily.1207 All those who did not have Egyptian citizenship had to leave the country within a time span ranging from 48 hours to two weeks.1208 British influence in Egypt had come to an end after the Arab–Israeli War of 1956.1209 Liberal intellectuals with a Western orientation—as well as regular people—“now see it, however romantically, as a lost golden age.”1210 After colonialism had come to an end in Egypt in the Arab–Israeli War of 1956, the prewar status quo was also terminated. The balance of power had shifted and—lacking any alternative—President Nasser turned to the Soviet Union for help. The Middle East therefore became another theater of the Cold War. The Soviet Empire fanned hate towards the former colonial rulers, i.e. Israel’s allies, equating “Imperialism with Zionism.”1211 After the Arab–Israeli War of 1956, the Israeli government issued the outrageous declaration that it was not able to receive thousands of Egyptian refugees. As many Egyptian Jews had heard about the obstacles and discrimination they would face in Israel, they were not really keen on going there anyway. American-Jewish organizations therefore helped approach other countries to receive the refugees. They went to the United States, South America, Canada, Australia, and Europe, where they integrated well into society and obtained citizenship within a short period of time.

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The Interwar Period from 1957 to 1967 In 1957, the Suez Canal was taken into renewed operation.1212 After the war had brought in its wake the biggest Jewish emigration wave and the expulsion of British and French citizens, an estimated 5,000 to 10,000 Jews remained in Egypt.1213 Documents about the interwar period are scarce.1214 No major events happened.1215 Egypt was going through an economic recession, however. As a result of socio-economic changes, the political direction of the country changed as well. In its quest to define a national Egyptian identity, the country quickly turned from liberal, secular nationalism to Islamism and Pan-Arabism. Foreign influence was eradicated almost completely.1216 Egypt fell back economically and culturally by years. The Soviets had more or less taken over Egypt’s military and the economy, but they did not provide great assistance in business and cultural matters. The Egyptian economist Amin Galal1217 deplored the cultural and economic losses and the worsened living conditions in post-revolutionary Egypt, “a country that had previously made its own the best the world had to offer.”1218 Bradley writes, “Here I was, a Jewish boy landlocked in Nasser’s anti-Semitic Egypt. ... As we were losing our fortune, the Egyptian police closed in on us with house inspections, harassing phone calls at night, anonymous letters, secret denunciations.”1219 Lucette Lagnado writes that her father had to sign a last document before he left the country with his family on an aller sans retour ticket, a one-way ticket. Even before leaving the port of Alexandria, he started to shout: “raga’na masr”—“Take us back to Egypt” and did not stop until there was no more land in sight.1220

The Six–Day War of 1967 The Pre–War Period The Egyptian army got involved in Yemen’s civil war by sending 40,000 of its best troops to the country.1221 UN troops were stationed on the Sinai Peninsula but had to withdraw on May 18, 1967, on President Nasser’s orders. Nasser stationed his army on the Sinai Peninsula and blocked the Straits of Tiran for a second time, imposing a blockade on Israeli ships. On May 30, King Hussein concluded a defense pact with Nasser. Led by chief-of-staff 138

Amer, the Egyptian generals were convinced that they should not start another war against Israel because they could not win. The Soviet Union,1222 Nasser’s closest ally, also concluded that the Egyptian army was not yet ready to win a war against Israel and thus opposed the plan.1223 Since 1956, the Egyptian–Israeli border had been calm. There was no indication of a military confrontation until Nasser ordered an immediate withdrawal of UN troops from the Sinai Peninsula. Suzi Eban writes the following in her memoirs:1224 “Until the withdrawal of the UNEF,1225 Egypt was the leading force in Arab opposition to Israel.”1226 When the Israeli government realized that Egypt was about to attack and Israel’s Arab neighbors would probably join the effort, it panicked.

The Six–Day War On June 5, 1967, the war started. Right at the beginning of the war, Israel liquidated the entire Egyptian air force and invaded the Sinai Peninsula. The Egyptian army suffered a total defeat within the first 24 hours of the war. Syria and Jordan were defeated shortly thereafter.1227 The Six–Day War of 1967 was the most atrocious of all for Israel’s neighbors. Hysteric mobs attacked many foreign representations and Western companies in the Arab world. As loudspeakers in the streets continuously broadcasted news about the number of downed Israeli planes and casualties, the masses continued to cheer more and more frenetically.1228 “A friend came, totally shattered about the Suez Canal and the extent of destruction on Egyptian soil,”1229 writes Hilde Zaloscer, who was present in Egypt at the time.

The Result Led by Egypt, the Arab states could never forgive Israel for having defeated them. Egypt did not recover for years, neither militarily nor economically nor morally. The country was deeply hurt in its Arab pride. The Egyptian regime needed another scapegoat and found it: the few Jews and foreigners remaining in Egypt bore the brunt of their vengeance. 139

While cheering Nasser in spite of the defeat,1230 the Egyptian masses asked him to stay in power.1231 “350 Egyptian Jews were interned in Abu Zaabal prison in 1967 due to the Six–Day War.1232 None of them have committed any crime, and none of them have been convicted of a crime except that they were Jews. All were born in Egypt. ... Many served up to three years before being released.” Reports about these unjustified imprisonments were published in the French magazine L’Express.1233 Marc Kheder also wrote an article about the situation.1234 During the Arab Summit in Khartoum in 1967, a resolution received the following “three clear no’s:” No peace treaty with Israel. No negotiations with Israel. No recognition of Israel. The more wars the Egyptian armed forces lost against Israel, the more their hatred of the country grew. Zaloscer writes about being spat at in the streets, which was very hard to bear.1235 “Hardly any Jewish community still functions as a living organism within an Arab state. ... Those remnants find themselves in a position where their only hope is to migrate from a country in which their forefathers had lived from time immemorial,”1236 Goitein writes. His assertion may not have been totally true, as the Jews I met in Alexandria and Cairo claimed the opposite. They told me that they would be able to leave the country anytime they wanted especially because most of them have foreign passports and family members—mostly children—living abroad. Those who can do so visit their families regularly—be it in France, the United States, or Australia. Even though their children want them to stay with them permanently, they prefer returning to Egypt.1237

The Third Exodus from Egypt While European governments thought that the “Jewish problem” was solved after the foundation of the State of Israel,1238 the existence of this very state imperiled the lives of Jews in the Islamic world. After Israel was founded, the rug was literally pulled from underneath their feet. Officially considered Zionists—and by no means adhering to Islamic faith—they had no other option than to leave Arab countries voluntarily or involuntarily.

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They had lost all their rights and their entire property was nationalized. They had neither a secure present nor a future in Egypt. The fact that tens of thousands of them stayed in Egypt until 1956 in spite of the restrictive economic laws of 1947 proves that Jews would have hesitated to leave Egypt without the existence of political Zionism. They remained as long as there was no other option.1239 They escaped to France and Italy almost exclusively on boats because no ship was able to take them directly to Israel. The Jewish Agency and other Jewish organizations outside of Israel rented these boats, mostly from the United States to get Egypt’s Jewish population out of the country without delay.1240 In Israel, the dominant opinion was that these Jews were not needed—an attitude explained by the arrogant, Eurocentric Zionism prevalent in the country. The statistics of the Jewish Agency draw a false picture of Egyptian Jews. All those who were merchants or businessmen answered truthfully that they did not have a profession. Children under 18 made up half of this aliya. Women, for the most part, did not have a job in Egypt. Many of the older women did not start to work outside the home in the new countries, either. These newly arrived immigrants therefore gave the wrong impression at first, which was soon dispelled. Since most men had white-collar jobs, they were able to pursue a higher education. Many refugees would have preferred to stay in France because they spoke the language fluently and were socialized in the French culture. Remaining in France often was not an option, however, because they were not able to receive a work permit. Some of the people I interviewed said that they felt an anti-Semitic sentiment in France and that they did not want their children to grow up in such a climate—nor did they want to be expelled from a country for the second time. As a result, many of them went to Israel.

The Paths of Emigration The percentage of those refugees who went to Israel decreased over time. According to Pergola, this was due to the fact that lower-income groups left the country first. They were without protection, were not allowed to work and had to leave the country as soon as this order was issued. Many among the poor and lesser-educated Jews went to Israel because

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they did not have another alternative. Israel was the only country that would take them in. Even more so: it was constitutionally obliged to receive them. This aliya also brought a number of Zionists to Israel.1241 Protected by their wealth and their connections, most well-to-do Jews remained in Egypt until the last minute possible. Many of the people I interviewed told me that their fathers were still hoping for better times or for an opportunity to reclaim their property and sell it at a reasonable price. They left Egypt between 1956 and 1966,1242 emigrating mostly to Europe, North and South America, South Africa, Australia, and other countries. Half of them chose Israel as a new place of residence.1243 After arriving in France and Italy, the refugees were housed in camps so that they could leave for Israel shortly thereafter. Many of them decided against it. They remained in the camps or were housed in small hotels. The Jewish Agency and other Jewish relief organizations provided for their livelihood until they received the necessary paperwork to travel on. Some of the refugees remained in transit for up to two years.1244 All those who had accounts with the Egyptian subsidiaries of Swiss, French, or British banks had to find out that the Egyptian government had confiscated their money and they no longer had access to their accounts. The Egyptian government also closed down all lifeinsurance policies; i.e., all financial assets that belonged to Jews.1245 Of the 55,000 Jews living in Egypt in 1967, only 2,500 remained in 1973. The Jewish organizations had their work cut out for them with refugees in French and Italian camps unwilling to go to Israel.1246 They had different reasons for not wanting to go to Israel. Some of them wanted to join their families who already lived in other countries. Others had heard rumors from relatives and friends about not feeling welcome in Israel. They had also learned about the difficult living conditions and the discrimination against Jews from Arab countries in Israel. Others still were looking for different alternatives to carve out a better life for themselves.

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Emigration Destinations United States Requirements After a long search for scholarly materials on Egyptian-Jewish refugees in the United States I came to the conclusion that this topic had not been addressed in a comprehensive manner by the academy. While African-American and Native American history is well documented and researched, the history of other migrations is not being explored to such an extent. I could therefore only rely on interviews in the United States as well as on autobiographies written by Egyptian Jews and their descendants. There is a wealth of materials on European Jewish émigrés before, during, and immediately after World War II. There is a strong interest in this war and its consequences, and the demographic changes it brought about in both North and South America, Israel, and other countries. This interest is indelibly linked to Holocaust history and the history of other minorities. The Allied Powers who defeated National Socialism—Great Britain, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union—have made a substantial contribution to research efforts on these topics. European history is taught and researched at most Western universities. Egyptian Jews immigrated to the United States in small groups or as families over a course of almost twenty years. It is not known how many of them there were.1247

Escape to the United States Marcel Ribakoff told me that the United States was willing to receive Hungarian refugees after the Hungarian Revolution of 1956. He wrote a letter to President Eisenhower, describing the situation of Egyptian refugees and asking for help. Shortly thereafter, he received an answer stating that the United States was also willing to receive Egyptian Jews.1248 Some refugees only spent a few months in France. Others had to wait longer, but in the end everybody who wanted to go to the United States was able to do so. The United States became a prime destination after the Arab–Israeli War of 1956, after Egyptian Jews had learned from relatives and friends that they were not very welcome in 143

Israel and had to expect to be discriminated against. To the non-Jewish educated and wellto-do population, this year also seemed to be the “point of no return.”1249 During this emigration wave, only a small number of Zionists, as well as old and sick people immigrated to Israel. The rest dispersed across the globe.1250 Most Egyptian Jews spoke French because this was their lingua franca, in addition to many other languages such as Italian, Greek, Ladino-Spanish, English, Arabic, Yiddish, and Hebrew. They were therefore not identified as Levantines, which helped them integrate into American society. At home, they continued to speak French, even with their American-born children. That is how the second generation also came to learn French.1251

Integration in the United States The older generation mostly socializes with other Egyptian-Jewish refugees, be it for linguistic reasons or to uphold other traditions involving the typically warm hospitality of the Mediterranean. Their French is interspersed with Arab, Greek, or Italian words. Nobody but them can understand this language that binds them together. In their gettogethers, they talk about the old days. The younger generation includes all those who were born in Egypt, but had to escape as children. Most of the younger people attended American schools, colleges, and universities. Their life-style and circle of friends is American. They and their children learn about their roots only from stories that their parents tell them. Egyptian Jews were exposed to cultural influences both from the Middle East and from Europe. Their multicultural nature and multilingual abilities played a very important role during their integration, wherever they went. They often said that they were French. All those who were born after World War I received a European education in an Egyptian setting. They attended foreign or Jewish schools where French was the language of instruction. Even in Egypt, a first layer of a not-clearly-defined identity formed. This layer was preserved in the countries they emigrated to, with the exception of Israel.1252 “In general, the Jews from Egypt do not harbor hard feelings towards Egypt. In our research on the Jews of Egypt in the twentieth century conducted between 1997 and 2001 in Israel at the Technion’s Neeman Institute for Advanced Studies in Science, the majority

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of a small sample of 501 Egyptian-Jewish interviewees did not bear a grudge against the Egyptian people,”1253 Aharoni writes. Since most Jews did not have Egyptian citizenship, they were not allowed to vote. Therefore, they viewed politics as “low, dirty, not for us.” They often maintained this position in exile.1254 They were hard workers and initially accepted any job to provide for their families. “Throughout the years, the Sephardic community was renowned for their wonderful social gatherings, annual Mediterranean night dinners, and holiday parties. The homemade Sephardic delicacies at every event were legendary. However, at the root of it all was the continuation of the Sephardic traditions of religiousness and spirituality,”1255 Behar said in an interview.

Identity in the United States The United States differs from Israel in that people talk about their ethnic roots. If I ask somebody in Israel about his or her identity, I will often get the answer, “I am an Israeli.” In the United States, by contrast, people will define themselves as Jewish even though they don’t practice the religion. In addition, they will refer to their Spanish origin as a Hebrew Sephardi. In the United States, I often heard the sentence “I have no sense of identity.” In the end, however, most people responded by saying “I am a Sephardic Jew,” and some of them added, “I’m from Egypt.” These statements beg the following question: does one’s own identity depend on the country of origin of one’s forebears if those forebears lived outside of Israel? Does it change once several generations of a family have lived in a country? Will one completely “be part of a society” as a Jew at any given point in time? In the United States, I conducted sixteen interviews in Arabic. The majority of those who had gone to Israel were not able to give an interview in Arabic, even though they tried. I assume that this had to do with their identity. When one is Israeli, it is good enough to speak Hebrew, French, and English. If a person identifies as an Egyptian Jew, Arabic forms part and parcel of one’s identity. Or is that fact that one still does not live in one’s own country a reason for preserving Arabic? Liliane S. Demmond wrote about her new country, “From my own life I have seen that it is

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very difficult to maintain one’s culture, language, personal relationships, and even traditional foods after being uprooted.” “I do not want to see the special aspects of Egyptian Jewishness fall into oblivion,” she writes,1256 even though she is a perfect example of successful integration. “In New York, I believe we have one of the largest Egyptian Jewish communities in the world. Many of us belong to informal groups or associations that meet annually or semiannually to reminisce about Egypt, and to talk about our memories and lives. I belong to AAHA,1257 which is a worldwide association of Jews from Egypt, with an emphasis on those from Alexandria. I think that the Jews who went to Israel had a much harder time adapting to their new life and new land, and of course, did not have very much in common with the European Jews who ran the government,” Sephardic Heritage Update writes.1258

Israel

Occidental Zionism in the Middle East Before 1948, Egyptian Jews co-existed with foreigners and Muslims. They were one of many minorities in the country. By contrast, Judaism was culturally and politically dominant in Israel because European Jews constituted the majority. Being Jewish was synonymous with being Israeli. If a person had roots in an Arab country, he or she was facing obstacles and was often shamed.1259 A new society and culture was to emerge from socialist, democratic, and collective ideals. Jews who had been socialized in an urban Egyptian context were not prone to “bringing forth workers and warriors,” as European Zionism had envisioned it. They had a “private ethos” that did not align with the ideas of “Eurozionists.” Opposed to the ideals of collectivism, this private ethos was not accepted by the latter, either.1260 Even though most Sephardic Jews were members of the Egyptian elite, they were disregarded and discriminated against by the dominant “Ashkenazi Zionist hegemony” that came to power immediately after the foundation of the State of Israel.1261 Even though the Zionist movement vehemently rejected “the Levantine element” as a part 146

of the prospective Hebrew-Israeli culture, sabre culture1262 internalized many of its characteristics: Middle Eastern food, music, dance, artisan trades, painting, and architecture contain Mediterranean elements that form an integral part of Israeli culture.1263 In contrast to other Jews from the Arab world, Egyptian Jews integrated quite rapidly into Israeli society and had a successful cultural exchange with other minorities, Kimhi writes. They did not stoop to the level of making counter-accusations. Maybe it was due to their pluralistic Levantinism, their multiculturalism, and their bridge-building tolerance that they were able to successfully assimilate and be integrated into Israel.1264 Gershom Scholem posed the “inevitable question:” which expectations did individuals have of Israel and which of them were fulfilled?1265 This minority had few expectations and therefore was often not disappointed that much.

Identity in Israel “The cultural affinity that Arab Jews shared with Arab Muslims—in many respects stronger than that which they shared with European Jews—threatened the Zionist concept of a homogeneous nation modeled on the European nationalist definition of the nationstate. Arab Jews, for the first time in their history, faced the imposed dilemma of choosing between Jewishness and Arabness in a geopolitical context that perpetuated the equation between Arabness, Middle Easternness, and Islam on the one hand and Jewishness, Europeanness and Westernness on the other. Zionist discourse portrayed Levantine Jewish culture prior to Zionism as static and passive and waiting for the impregnating infusion of European dynamism.”1266 Like other Israelis, Egyptian Jews who live in Israel hardly concern themselves with questions of identity. They are Israelis. I will address this question in detail at a later point. Jews not only identified through their religion, but also through their otherness—just like other minorities in Egypt. Because of their different social backgrounds, countries of origin, cultural and religious traditions, they were not a homogenous group. It was not until they left Egypt that their Egyptian background came to play an important role. Unlike Jews from other countries in the Arab world who came as a cohesive group in special relief actions, they came in various stages.1267

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All those who had family members in Israel were able to leave the maabarot (transit camps)1268 regardless of how cramped the living conditions were with their families.1269 As mentioned above, almost all of the Egyptian Jews spoke French in public rather than Arabic. According to those who were in their 20s and 30s at the time and belonged to the middle class, Arabic was considered “antiquated and unfashionable”1270 (Jacqueline Kahanoff).

Mizrahim and Ashkenazim Even if they have lived in Eretz Israel for many years, all Jews from Northern Africa, Iraq, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Uzbekistan, Kurdistan, the Caucasus region, Egypt and Sudan are lumped together as Mizrahim1271 or Edot ha’Mizrah—Eastern communities—in which Sephardim and Mizrahim mixed.1272 According to Shohat, Jews from the Islamic world used to have many names in Israel, which points to the complexity of their identity: “Sephardim; non-Ashkenazi Jews; Jews of Islam; Arab Jews; Middle Eastern, West Asian, or North African Jews; Asian and African Jews; non-European Jews; Third World Jews; Levantine Jews; Jews of the Mediterranean; Maghrebian and Mashreqian Jews; Bnei Edot Ha Mizrah (descendants of the Eastern communities); Yotz’ei artzot arav ve-ha-Islam (those who came from Arab and Muslim countries); Blacks; Israel ha-Shniya (Second Israel); Mizrahiyim, or Mizrahim.” These different terms reflect historical, geographic and political points of view as well as physiognomic characteristics. All of them have a derogatory meaning and were understood as such.1273 The proponents of hegemonic, Eurocentric Zionism considered Jews from Islamic countries inferior even before they had a real encounter with them. The Judeo-Islamic cultural heritage is therefore not recognized. The origins, culture, and traditions of Jews from the Islamic world were disrespected in Israel. Ashkenazim, on the other hand, demand the recognition of their European heritage and origin. They insist on maintaining an image of the “universal Jew” that is modeled on them. Shohat writes that the Sephardim’s Spanish origins are denied.1274 Israel aimed at modernizing “primitive Easterners into civilized Israelis.”1275 Ethnic communities formed shortly after their arrival in the Israeli maabarot camps.1276 It is interesting to note that previous social

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circumstances no longer played a role in the maabarot. Immigrants formed their own microcosm, which often disintegrated when they left the camps.

A Culturally Charged Encounter - The Israeli Zionists’ Mistake In 1948, each new immigrant from Europe cost the Mossad le Aliya Bet1277 US$150. Kimhi raises the question why Mossad le Aliya Bet did not become active on behalf of Egyptian Jews1278 who faced a dangerous situation and who could have been brought to the region much more inexpensively (10 Israeli Pounds per person). “I have not found an answer to this question.”1279 It was not until it became clear after 1945 that European Jews preferred to move to countries other than Israel that the Israeli authorities realized that they needed Jews from the Arab world to populate the land and defend its borders.1280 Golda Meir, Abba Eban, and Ben Gurion repeatedly stressed the following: “We do not want Israelis to become Arabs. We are by duty bound to fight against the spirit of the Levant, which corrupts individuals and societies, and to preserve the authentic Jewish values as they have crystallized in the Diaspora. ... Those Jews ... lived outside the progress of Western civilization.“1281 Ben Gurion put it bluntly: “Those Jews” had come from a “backward society still stuck in the Middle Ages.” Beyond a doubt, Jews from Islamic countries were greatly wronged in Israel by the Ashkenazi attitude. The idea that Jews from the Islamic world originated from primitive, underdeveloped and pre-modern societies led the Israeli government to institute special educational programs so that people from the Arab world could rid themselves of everything that had heretofore given their life meaning. The fact that they hailed from big cities and spoke many languages, had attended excellent schools, had lived in big, elegant homes, and had world-renowned hospitals at their disposal was often ignored in Israel.1282 They had to settle in the ayarot pitu’ah—new developments in the periphery—and were trained to learn a “modern, Eurocentric-Zionistic” way of life. “It sabotaged Mizrahi cultural and political expression.” The Israeli government thought that these people had to unlearn their primitive, backward ways so they could turn into proper, modern EuroIsraelis. A lot was done to offset this “discrepancy” according to Ashkenazi ideas.1283 Ashkenazim therefore treated Jews from the Islamic world quite paternalistically. They

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showed off their supposed intellectual superiority and contempt for everything nonEuropean and for “Levantinism” without an inkling of knowledge of the Jewish culture and traditions of this minority.1284 The cultural traditions of individual communities, especially from the Islamic world, were therefore destroyed, claims Har’el. All attempts to explain this discrimination fail miserably when they are based on the argument that “inferior population groups” immigrated from the Islamic world to Israel. These “inferior population groups” supposedly included people with little financial resources and education who did not bring along any “useful professional experience” for a newly founded country.1285 The people I interviewed have had the following jobs: university professors, doctors, architects, filmmakers—mainly in the United States—accountants, financial experts, business people, merchants, or members of the military. While it is true that, with the exception of Zionists, many educated and well-to-do Jews immigrated to other countries, the Israeli authorities did nothing to provide for the wellbeing of those who came.1286 Jews in the Arab world were labeled with the following terms: Mizrahim, Sephardim, Levantines, neh’shalim (backward people), blacks, and the Second Israel (to name but a few). They had to settle in impoverished areas in Tel Aviv, Haifa or Jerusalem, and in settlements in the periphery in the North and South of Israel, far from the political and economic centers, far from infrastructure and good schools.1287 In comparison to the Ashkenazim, they were at a disadvantage. Their children often did not want to know what their parents’ country of origin was like because it was important to be an “Israeli.” Their parents’ “Arab” tradition was often in the way.1288 According to Shohat, Zionism caused the tragedy of “Arab Jews.” Even though these Jews were expelled from their countries, they were not considered equals in Israel.1289 Very optimistically, Gershom Scholem1290 claimed that the Jewish people were bound together by shared memories and hopes.1291 The fact that these “Orientals” were culturally and linguistically closer to their Arab neighbors than to Ashkenazi Jews contradicted his view of a “homogenous Israeli nation” modeled on Euro-Zionism. “It threatens the Euro-Israeli self-image, which sees itself as an extension of Europe.” It should not be forgotten that the so-called Euro-Israelis “welcomed” Jews from the Islamic world into the country as cheap labor.1292 150

Discrimination in Israel The Eurocentric focus on modernity, science and technology was highly cherished in Israel. European Jews considered themselves as the “intelligentsia,” all others were “raw .

material.”1293 “Arab Jews presented some challenges for Zionist scholarship, precisely because their presence ‘messed up’ its Enlightenment paradigm that had already figured the modern Jew as cleansed from its shtetl past. Central to Zionist thinking was the concept of Kibbutz Galuiot (the Ingathering of the Exiles).”1294 In order for these people to become “new Jews” in the Zionist sense, they were to give up and even deny their Judeo-Arabic culture and roots. The Mizrahi question can only be understood through “its lethal binarisms of savagery versus civilization, tradition versus modernity, East versus West, and Arab versus Jew,”1295 writes Shohat. Aharoni sees a missed opportunity there: “The Jewish community had the opportunity to be exposed both to Oriental and European culture, music, songs, dance, and theater.”1296 Egyptian Jews were doubly victimized not only because they had lost their homeland, but also because they were considered uncivilized in Israel. Their unrecognized multiculturalism still continued to play an important role in the process of integration, however. The main spokespeople of the Ashkenazim still said openly and unashamedly that Sephardim had nothing to offer culturally other than their hospitality.1297 Kimhi writes that various researchers in Israel have investigated this negative attitude. Some Israeli historians write that this attitude has to do with the dichotomous colonial tradition by which Europe is valued more highly than Asia or Africa. This paternalism might also have to do with the Eurocentrism typical of the Zionist movement. What the Israeli authorities did not grasp was that Egyptian Jews were both Levantines and Europeans.1298 People who had belonged to the Sephardi elite in Egypt became secondclass citizens in Israel overnight. “These people never concerned themselves with politics or societal issues. In contrast to other minorities, they integrated [into Egyptian society] as lawyers, accountants, bankers etc. They never thought that they would be discriminated against. They were very hard workers,”1299 Ovadia Jerushalmi said in an interview. “I was a terrible snob and the Israelis seemed very primitive to me. As a child, I thought that Israel was not sufficiently Western ... Cultural oppression does exist in Israel. I never 151

experienced it personally, but there is discrimination and oppression towards Jews from the Arab world,” Yitzhak Gormezano-Goren said in an interview.1300 Frieda Shem-Tov said that she is still affected by the discrimination, which she could hardly bear. Her entire family was multilingual. Her brothers had received their high school diplomas, but nobody cared about that in Israel. Even though her father had managed a big spare-parts plant in Egypt, he had to do low-level work in Israel. The Israeli government did not help them in any way. Her father ended up dying from a broken heart.1301 The destiny of one million Jews from the Islamic world1302 was never addressed in Israeli schools, on memorial days, in the media, or in UN resolutions. Knowledge about it has almost fallen into oblivion. While the history of European Jewry in the 20th century is taught in Israeli schools, the history of Jews from Islamic countries is not a topic of discussion.1303 Most of the scholars I interviewed1304 are of the opinion that the reason for this disregard is that the topic has not been addressed systematically—partly for lack of financial resources, partly because nobody was interested in Jewish minorities from the Arab world for years.1305 Over the last twenty years, things have changed for the better, however, partly because a new generation of researchers has had a different access to history and does not share their Eurocentric professors’ prejudices. This change of mind can also be explained by the emergence of a rich belletristic literature on the subject over the last 20 to 30 years, which sparked interest in these cultures.

A new Israeli generation of scholars and

researchers with roots in Islamic countries has addressed the history of Jews in the Middle East for the past few years.

Mizrahim and Post-Zionists1306 The word mizrah means “East.” The somewhat derogatory word “Mizrahim” was used to denote Jews from the Arab world even if their country of origin was located West of Israel. Most Egyptian Jews are of Spanish origin, which means that they are Sephardim. Jews who lived in the East before the big wave of emigration from Spain were called “Mizrahim.” This very controversial topic is subject to much discussion in Israel.

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“Easternness is an oppressed identity that emerged to place one ethnic group into a certain niche,” writes Alon. Research on the formation of the term has shown that it degrades the Sephardic elite because it creates an opposite to the “high culture” of the Ashkenazim. Israel has oriented it political course towards the West for decades, arrogantly labeling Jews from the Arab world as “second-class citizens.”1307 Most intellectuals, especially professors at Jerusalem University, considered these refugees an “ethnic problem”—an obstacle on Israel’s path to modernity. Karl Frankenstein, for example, wrote how primitive “these people” were. Kalman Katznelson called on all Ashkenazim not to mix with Sephardim/Mizrahim, but to defend the purity of the “Ashkenazim race.” Unfortunately, the list of derogatory remarks is very long.1308 Rooted in colonialism, the Eurocentric ideals turned against Jews from Islamic countries in all aspects of life.1309 The only thing Ashkenazim could accept was Mizrahi folklore—their clothes and jewelry became an integral part of Israeli folklore as well. Above all, Israelis eagerly adopted their cuisine.1310 According to Shohat, discriminatory acts went so far that Jews from Arab countries were forced to eat European bread because that was the only kind to receive government subsidies. Their “desocialization” meant the eradication of a cultural identity. Their “resocialization” entailed an assimilation into Israel according to Ashkenazi-European standards that wanted to prevent another Mediterranean state from forming in the Middle East, as absurd as it sounds.1311 Jews from Egypt were forced into an inferior position and for a long time, they did not reject this designation. Only in the last twenty years has the situation changed as a result of new scholarly insights, new second-generation literature, and mixed marriages. Public opinion held that, unlike European Jews, Arab Jews had assimilated into their Arab neighbors because they were not persecuted in the Arab world. Therefore, they were primitive and underdeveloped. As a result, they were destined to take lower-level jobs that had therefore been done by Arabs in Israel.1312 There was little resistance from Jews from the Arab world. In 1959, a demonstration in Haifa took place. In 1970, the Black Panthers or Black Chayes (black animals) voiced their frustration about being treated as inferiors. All the protesters were labeled as “neurotic” or “motivated by an inferiority complex.” They were accused of wanting to divide the nation.1313 The discussion was continued by an increasing number of Israeli scholars, historians, and 153

Middle Eastern experts, however. Instead of their parents, post-Zionist Mizrahim reexperience what it was like being discriminated against by Ashkenazim, a situation that unfortunately continues to this day (as seen in media reports)1314—even if it does not occur with the same vehemence as in the 1950s, “when Israeli immigration authorities shaved the heads [of Jews from Arab countries] and sprayed their bodies with the pesticide DDT upon arrival in Israel.”1315 Yehouda Shenhav1316 writes that the Mizrahim never really were Zionists. “The Ashkenazi establishment encouraged their immigration less to protect the Mizrahim and more to address its own need for cheap labor. ... Zionism cannot be considered a liberation movement for all Jews.” In 1949, the journalist Arye Gelblum wrote the following about this emigration movement: “This is the immigration of a race we have not yet known in the country. We are dealing with people whose primitivism is at a peak, whose level of knowledge is one of virtually absolute ignorance and, worse, who have little talent for understanding anything intellectual.”1317 Shohat thinks that Jews from the Middle East were too trustful: “Arab Jews, in my view, could never fully foresee what the impossibility of return to their countries of origin would mean. The permission to leave did not allow for a possible return. The expression of nostalgia for an Arab past became taboo (in Israel). The right to return for Palestinians has remained a central political issue, even a factor, while for Arab Jews, the idea of return became a murky issue even when limited to the discursive and cultural sphere. Yet, ... terms such as aliya or immigration have to be reevaluated, since the questions of will, desire, and agency remain extremely complex, contingent, and ambivalent.”1318 Shohat also writes, “The master narrative of unique Jewish victimization has been crucial for legitimizing an anomalous nationalist project of ‘ingathering of the exiles from the four corners of the globe.’ Yet this narrative has also legitimized the engendering of displacements of peoples from such diverse geographies, languages, cultures, and histories—a project in which, in many ways, a state created a nation.”1319

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The Refugee Problem “The displacement of 850,000 to one million Jews from Arab countries, the hardships accompanying their migration and emigration to Israel, constitute an aspect of the Middle East refugee problem which has been neglected. About half of the Jewish citizens of Israel, together with their descendants, are from Arab countries. The uprooted Jews from Arab countries in Israel feel that although the displacement of Palestinians is well documented and relatively well known, their own forced migration from Arab countries has been overlooked.”1320 The question as to why Middle Eastern refugees were handled in this way has not been answered to this day. As early as 1948, the Israeli leadership pointed to the ambivalent character of the refugee problem, alleging that, in reality, a “population exchange” had taken place. According to the government, approximately the same number of Jews and Palestinian Arabs was uprooted and lost their property, so that both humanitarian and material factors offset each other.1321 Starting with the Arab–Israeli War of 1948, and in every additional war between Egypt and Israel, Jews were expelled from Egypt and exposed to physical danger. These refugees were never acknowledged as such by the United Nations. As a result, they did not have the same rights usually accorded to refugees. “Even if the Palestinians’ claims about their expulsion are true, there is a similar number of Jews who were expelled and lost everything.”1322 Since 1948, the United Nations has adopted over 100 resolutions on Palestinian refugees; however, it has not adopted a single resolution on Jewish refugees from the Arab world. Problems relating to Jewish refugees from Europe were solved without UN resolutions. Israel’s population amounted to approximately 700,000 Jewish and 650,000 to 700,000 Palestinian residents in May of 1948. In 1951, the number of Jewish residents had climbed to 1,404,400 residents.1323 Unlike Egyptian Jews, the majority of Jewish refugees from the other Arab countries immigrated to Israel.

1324

Like Jews from the Arab world, Palestinians fled immediately

after the independence declaration of the State of Israel in May of 1948, both voluntarily and involuntarily. Egyptian Jews were hit especially hard because they had to leave behind bigger assets than

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Palestinians in Israel. According to Yadid, Palestinians therefore were not the only victims in the Middle Eastern conflict. Economist Sidney Zabludoff estimates that “there were 50 percent more Jewish than Palestinian Arab refugees, and that they almost certainly lost 50 percent more in assets and property. ... Nobody reproaches Arab states for seizing Jewish land and property in Baghdad, Cairo, Tripoli, and Damascus.”1325

Our Nakhba1326 Yemeni writes that there was another nakhba—the Jewish one. In 1948, a long series of pogroms, dispossessions, and deportations of Jews in Islamic countries took place. In contrast to the Shoa, this issue has been overlooked in Israeli historical textbooks and society. The only difference to the Palestinian nakhba is that Jews did not turn it into the “founding ethos” of a nation.1327 Zvi Gabai wrote in “Our Nakhba”1328 that the Palestinian refugee problem was what remained of the Middle Eastern conflict—that the refugee status of Jews from the Arab world was never acknowledged. “It was a double nakhba: not only of Palestinian-Arab suffering and the creation of a Palestinian refugee problem, but also, with the assault on Israel and on Jews in Arab countries, the creation of a second, much less known, group of refugees—Jewish refugees from Arab countries.“ The official standpoint of the Israeli government was that Jews from the Arab world were refugees and therefore had a right to restitution. The Knesset proposed a motion that this restitution should be part of the peace negotiations between Israel and the Arab countries. Like European Jews, Jews from the Arab world were supposed to receive restitution for what they had lost. Different Israeli governments never pursued this idea seriously, however. “Professor Aharoni, chairwoman of the World Congress of the Jews from Egypt in Israel argues in an article entitled ‘What about the Jewish Nakhba?’ that exposing the truth about the expulsion of the Jews from Arab states could facilitate a genuine peace process, since it would enable Palestinians to realize they were not the only ones who suffered, and thus their sense of ‘victimization and rejectionism’ would decline.”1329

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Homesick for Egypt In conversations with Jewish refugees it becomes apparent that they are affected by “their homelands’ rejection.” Still, they are proud of where they come from even though these countries pushed them out and forced them to flee. This phenomenon is especially strong among Jews from Egypt.1330 In 1975, Hans Koning wrote in his book A New Yorker in Egypt that Alexandria was no longer European because everything European had disappeared when the foreigners left the city.1331 In 1986, Gormezano-Goren wrote the following passage in his autobiographical novel Blanche: “You can fall into a depression and this city would still flash an ironic smile. ... Sometimes I marvel at the fact that this wonderful city succeeded in raising many generations of Jews who are free of all hardships.”1332 In his novel Kayiz Alexandroni, he writes, “It is true that Alexandria was rotten. But it was a rottenness with roots, with a history. That’s why I like the city so much. You could live like a lord without being a millionaire. It sufficed to be a Jew or a European and to have a minimal amount of intelligence.”1333 Hilde Zaloscer witnessed1334 Alexandria’s political awakening of the late 1940s when the city experienced its last international heyday. “Just imagine—newspapers in seven foreign languages were published at the time!” A German, French, British, and Russian cultural institute opened. International artists came to give concerts, lectures, readings, etc. Alexandria’s citizens were educated and had great intellectual interests. Alexandria’s intellectual heritage has been destroyed. It is swarming with faceless masks. At the time of its foundation, it was the intellectual center of the world.1335 “The destiny of Egyptian Jews was not decided by the people, but by the Egyptian leadership. The Egyptian people are sensitive, good-hearted, peace-loving and cannot be held responsible for what happened to us. It is the leaders that carry the blame,”1336 Matalon writes. Hassoun writes about the yearning for a native language that one should not forget because this language accompanies people for their entire lives. Hassoun calls the native language “a smuggled language” because it “smuggles itself” into the use of certain words and the syntaxes of every other language.1337 (He was talking about French in his case.)

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What Life in Egypt Was Like “We have to get rid of a historic lack of knowledge. I have always been disturbed when I heard many Jews say: ‘Oh, we had wonderful times in Arab lands. There was no discrimination until the state of Israel was founded.’ They were able to have a good life financially; they were able to prosper businesswise …, because in places where they prospered, the Muslims and the Middle East prospered too. If they were bankers, everybody was happy. Good doctors—everybody was happy about them, including the Muslims. The success of the Jews in the Arab lands was a good thing also for the Arabs, but the misunderstanding is that until the creation of the State of Israel, the Jews were a happy people and were accepted in the Arab lands—this is not true! They were always considered minorities—sometimes to be protected—but always inferior. The incredible affiliation of the Muslim leadership with the Nazis is something that if we are honest to ourselves and if we want to be honest to world history, we should not forget! We cannot just say that the creation of the State of Israel created an anti-Semitism among Arabs; it was always there. The Jews were doing very well in Arab lands, mostly financially. I don't know why they were—I hate to say it because of stereotypes—but they were smarter, that’s why they got to the top of the elites,” Nina Weiner said. 1338 Samir Raafat writes, “What we are never told in the Western and Israeli press is how, when the ‘civilized’ West was sanctioning the worst kind of anti-Semitism half a century ago, Egypt was a safe haven for its resident Jews and those fleeing the cauldrons of Europe. We never hear about Jews having participated in the country’s economic, political, social and cultural life unimpeded from the discriminations that had denied them a humane existence in Europe. Even after the creation of the State of Israel in 1948, Jews formed an integral part of Egyptian society. Yet, in order to discourage over 50,000 of them from staying on, Israel found it necessary to resort to covert operations in Cairo and Alexandria in order to destabilize the situation and make it untenable for Jews to remain. Up until today the full implications of the 1954 Lavon Affair, also ‘Esek Bish,’ have not come to light.”1339 The two people quoted above represent two different approaches to the analysis of the situation of the Jews in Egypt before the War of 1948. Both of them agree that Jews brought wealth to Egypt and the Egyptian economy and the country’s society benefitted 158

from their presence. The fewer Jews there were in Egypt, the more the living conditions deteriorated for everybody. Even though discrimination was present in Egypt throughout the ages, Jews1340 were used to it because they knew they could buy almost everything and everybody with money. During thousands of years of diaspora, Jews had learned to arrange themselves. After the Arab–Israeli War of 1956, the British protection of foreigners came to an end and nationalist movements gained the upper hand. Foreigners were left without any protection. However, it is true that the Egyptian government did not organize a genocide as it had been the case in Europe for hundreds of years.

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8. The Interviews I conducted all of my interviews in Israel and the United States in 2009 and 2010. In my transcripts, I maintained the language and style of my interviewees and the information they gave me to the extent that was possible. I therefore tried to render what they said as closely as I could. The only thing I added was geographical references. I did not change the contents even if it may not have corresponded exactly to historical facts. These are people’s personal stories that they have recorded in their memory. The interviews are arranged in alphabetical order.

My Personal Interview Style In my experience, interviews work best when they are conducted in a person’s home where they feel at ease and undisturbed by external factors. All but four participants were interviewed at home.1341 After I had answered all of my interviewees’ questions, I set up the camera as quickly as possible. Some interviewees felt a bit irritated by the camera at first, but they usually started to relax as soon as they had answered my first question.1342 I did not conduct any preliminary interviews because I did not want to lose their spontaneous expressions.1343 An autobiographical representation is not a linear description of one’s personal history. People weigh events in their lives differently. That is why every interview is structured around the interviewees’ ideas. If an interviewee did not want to answer a question, I did not press any further. Overall, interviewees lasted for two to three hours. Some of my interviewees wanted to tell me a lot and went into the smallest detail. Others were more tight-lipped and concentrated on factual events; i.e.: “the most important things.” They left some questions unanswered. Their personal perspectives include many different interpretations, memories, and different accounts of one and the same event. Even when I was sure that an account did not correspond to historical facts, I never corrected the interviewee because I did not want to question their personal history. All these aspects are very hard to balance in an interview. The people I spoke with took part in the interviews on a voluntary basis,1344 and were happy that I was interested in their story. They were not just being interviewed, but actively engaged with in a conversation. We should also not forget that each one of my interview partners reviewed his or her past; i.e.,

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they looked back at their lives from a present-day perspective. Wiedemann describes this process very fittingly: “It is not possible to represent feelings, motives, interests, and values as they were at a certain time. Emotional valuations change over time. Past emotions are put into perspective over time, not least because people process their own history. Their story becomes a retrospective.”1345 I conducted interviews in Arabic, Hebrew, English, and French. Initially, I intended to conduct all interviews in Arabic, which was impossible in most cases. In Israel, three women spoke French; all other interviewees spoke Hebrew. In the United States, sixteen people spoke Arabic/Masri, nine spoke French, and the rest English. I did not put any pressures on them on interviewees regarding which language to use, as it seemed most important to me that they should speak the language they felt most comfortable with and—in which they could express themselves best.

An Interview Is Not a Photograph1346 One’s own reality comprises images, knowledge, experiences, and feelings that reflect what one has lived through. Each human being tells his or her own individual story, but constructs it in a communicative manner.1347 These stories refer to a social environment and a person’s socialization. Their stories are not only determined by their contents, but also by their eloquence, vocabulary, use of idioms, and linguistic melody. Based on different living conditions, logic and intellectual approaches, people give insight into their social environment and status, education, sense of self, etc.1348 Their descriptions should be compared to a painting—not to an exact photography. These storytellers have therefore “painted” verbal images for their audience.

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Interviews in Israel

Aharon Benni, born in Cairo in 1929, Sakhanini My father was originally from Romania. His name was Aharonsohn, but he looked like an Egyptian. My mother was from Palestine. Her entire family lived there. We spoke French at home and studied it in school, also a little Ladino. We used Arabic only in the street and with the [servants] at home. In 1942, an order was issued that all schools had to teach all subjects in Arabic. In 1946 I got my high school diploma in Arabic because it was obligatory even in the French school. During the same year we went to visit our family in Palestine. The family from Palestine often visited us in Egypt. Most Jews were civil servants. We celebrated the Jewish holidays together with the Karaites. We did not know Arabs, and they did not interest us. Politic was of no interest to us, either. Sometimes we heard about riots etc. but we did not think they were of any concern to us. When I was 15, I joined a Zionist organization. In 1947 my mother was in Palestine with my younger siblings and I stayed in Cairo with my older brother. They stayed in Israel. In 1950 we joined them. I came to Kibbutz Ein-shemer with my future wife and stayed there until 1953. We had dreamed of joining the kibbutz when we were still in Egypt. It was our ideal. Eighty of us joined this kibbutz. We wanted to create a new kibbutz, not to stay with one that existed already. Some were happy to stay there, but many did not want to live there. There was an election, and 23 of us voted against staying in Ein-shemer. The members wanted to drive us out, and we went on a hunger strike, and at the end we left for ideological reasons. We came to Tel Aviv. Many others also came and they found jobs in banks. As we were Communists, especially my wife, it was very difficult for me to find a job. I served in the army for two and a half years and then studied engineering. I worked in Diyur la-ole, a government company that built the maabarot. We also built the city Kiryat-Gat, which included five houses at the time. I stayed at this job for 35 years, working in the biggest carpentry factory in Israel, but we always lived in Tel Aviv. In 1985, I started to work freelance and founded my own company with a friend. In between, I studied at the university and completed an MBA. Now I’m doing some woodwork and I am painting. One of my sons graduated from the Technion in computer science, the other one is in business.

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We have two children. Both of them graduated from university.

Aharon Neli, born in Alexandria in 1931, Camp Cesar [Benni’s wife.] I was in Jewish Communist youth organization. At home we spoke Italian and French. I remember very little about World War II. After I finished school in 1948, I started to work in a bank because I was an Egyptian citizen. I never wanted to go to Israel. We were middle class, and my parents sent me to a ballet school. One day, “they”–the Muhabarat (the secret police)—came and searched our apartment, and I had one of Benni’s suitcases, full of propaganda material. They did not find it, but after they left, my mother was so scared that she tore up everything and threw it away. Benni was in jail at the time. After his release, we got closer. I married a British man in a marriage blanche—a fake marriage. In 1951, I went to Israel on my own. My parents and two sisters went to France and stayed there. I did not like the kibbutz. In Israel I worked in an export bank. Then I was the secretary of Zalman Shoval for 33 years (He served twice as Israeli ambassador to the United States). I took yoga classes, and now I work as a yoga teacher.

Aharoni Ada, born in Cairo in 1933, Tahrir [Benni’s sister-in-law]. My father had land in Herzliya, which he purchased years before we went there, but when we came to Israel he realized that the railway tracks were crossing his land. The government took the land away and refused to give him new land or compensate him for his loss. It hit him more than it if had happened in Egypt because this was Israel, his homeland. My father’s family came from Spain. My mother’s family had always lived in the Middle East. She was a pianist, but my father stopped her from performing when they got married. I attended an English school; it was my father’s decision. All religions were represented in this school. My best friend was a Muslim. We visited each other’s homes and did everything together. This was not the only Muslim home I visited. Our neighbors adhered to three religions. Every summer we spent three months in Alexandria, even during World War II. My cousin in Alexandria married someone we thought was a Jew from Hamburg, but then he was arrested because he was a German spy. He used to go to the roof and give signs to the German

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planes. All of us were really shocked. I was in a Zionist youth organization. I felt I did not have an identity. I did not know who I was, or where I belonged. I spoke different languages with different people and I looked like a foreigner. I knew I was Jewish, we went to synagogue, but I was not really Egyptian. What was I? So, Zionism was the solution for this problem. At the Macabi, I found out who I was. I had an identity. In 1949 they took away my father’s license, then we left. We went to Marseille together, to a camp. My [Zionist] group was there and I decided to go to Israel on my own. There I met my future husband. We went to a kibbutz, where I worked as a teacher. We were there for three years; we left because of ideological differences (see Aharon’s story). The Ashkenazim who had founded the kibbutz did not want to listen to us, and considered us inferior. In fact, they kicked us out. Our family in Haifa helped us. When Zionism started out as a movement, the Egyptian Zionists wanted to attend the Zionist Congress in Basel in 1917. They wrote to Herzl, but his answer was very unfriendly, in German, so they did not go. My husband founded the Zionist movement Hashomer Hatzair in Egypt. In Egypt he received a scholarship and studied chemistry in Cairo for two years. After we left the kibbutz, my husband continued his studies in Israel. Then we went to England, where he got his PhD. He became professor at the Technion in Haifa. Almost all of my family members live in Paris. I am the only one who came here. So I came, met Haim Aharoni and fell in love with Israel, so I stayed. I got a job as a teacher in Haifa, but a short time later, when they realized I was from Egypt, they fired me. As I had a French passport, we realized that I should tell them I was from France. With this strategy, I got a job in another school. Later I studied at the university of Haifa and got my PhD in Jerusalem, when I already had two children. It took a very long time to get proper housing because we were from Egypt, not from Europe. Since we learned in Egypt that “politics was dirty,” to this day there has not been one member of parliament of Egyptian descent. This is one of the reasons why we don’t have political power, so it is very difficult for us to gain political momentum in Israel. I have two children. Both of them graduated from university.

Bar-Av Bentata Avraham, born in Cairo in 1941 My mother’s family came from Bulgaria, but she was born in Egypt. My father’s family came

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from Morocco. We are Sephardic Jews. My father was also born in Egypt. Cairo was a very cosmopolitan city: you could hear English, Turkish, Italian, Greek and above all French spoken in addition to Arabic. My parents were Zionists and were members of a Zionist club, but we felt good in Egypt, it was our home. At home we spoke French and I studied in an Egyptian school in French where we learned Arabic as a foreign language. We learned the history of France and wore European clothes. We did not learn “literary Arabic.” We had a good life until 1948 when Israel was founded. We were not protected anymore and became the “Zionist enemy.” My father was arrested and spent about 18 months in jail. In 1949 we left Egypt via Italy. We were brought to a maabara, but my father found a job at the Shell Corporation and we moved to a house with another family. Soon thereafter, I turned into a real sabra and an active member of the youth organization Hanoar haoved. During my military service from 1960 to 1963, I started to write for magazines. Later I studied theater and English literature at the university. When I realized that I could not support a family with my writing, I was sent to England and Belgium by IBM to do computer courses and I became a systems engineer. Later we spent six years in a kibbutz. After we left, I founded my own company. This company provides computer services all over the country. Two of my sons are senior managers in the company. Jews from the Levant were exposed to prejudice because in the mid-20th century their countries of origin were inferior to western countries in many respects. The inferiority of their countries of origin marked them as inferiors. It took decades to get rid of this stigma. I have four children. All of them have a university education.

Bohana Fortune, born 1936 in Alexandria, Harat-el-Yahud We lived in Alexandria, Harat el-Yahud, which used to be Suq es-Samak; we were eight children. In school we learned Hebrew, Arabic and French. My father was a merchant and my mother worked as a cook. At home we spoke Arabic. We went to the synagogue only for the Jewish holidays. I never joined a Zionist organization. At home we followed Moroccan traditions, not Egyptian. In 1949 we left Egypt. In 1950 we came to Israel, where we lived in a maabara for one year. Then we went to Beer-Sheva. My family made me marry a man when I was not even 15 years old. When we came to Israel we did not get anything. It was a poor, young country, and there

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was only one school in Beer-Sheva. There was no food or housing and we lived in tents. When I went to Egypt in 1981, I met my neighbor in the street, and she was crying with joy. One of my aunts married an Arab and stayed in Egypt. Later she divorced him and married a Christian. She was a seamstress. I found her on my visit. I have three children. One is at Technion. One has his baccalaureate degree, the third is ill.

Brakha Eliyahu, born in Alexandria in 1926, Ibrahimiya Both of my parents were born in Alexandria. During World War II, I was in Alexandria. We went to Cairo and after a few months we came back. My father worked in an American printing company. He died when I was eight years old. My mother did embroidery work for the best shops in Alexandria and was therefore able to support all three of us. We were French citizens, so I went to a French school where I got my high school diploma. Most students were Jews and some were Christians. I also had Muslim friends. After school, I started to work. In our house there were mostly Jews, but also Muslims and Christians. One day I felt like somebody was following me, and decided to leave Egypt. Dina went to France and waited there for me. I came after four months and was told to marry her by the Yishuv and go to Algeria straight away. In 1946 I went to Israel with Ha-shomer with another 168 men my age. There were many British soldiers in Alexandria. They left Palestine to take a vacation. They left us their uniforms and identity papers, and we went to Rehovot on the train – south of Tel Aviv, via Ghaza. We therefore had new identities and new clothes. The next day I went to the kibbutz. We were there for one year. Then we left the kibbutz as an independent group. I started to work on a farm nearby and my whole situation changed. The owners were very good to me. After one year, in 1948, I was recruited to work for the government and left. We went to the south, the Negev. I did investigations with Egyptians. Then they trained me to go on a mission outside of the country. Many of us were sent to Arab countries to help Jews get to Israel. On May 15, 1948, I attended the declaration ceremony for the foundation of the state of Israel where Ben Gurion said, “These people—the Jews from Arab countries—are very good Jews, and their children will be the splendor of Israel one day. A million Jews live in Arab countries. Let’s bring them to Israel!” He was afraid that the Jews would suffer, be arrested and sentenced. Later I went to Egypt. People in the Jewish community could not leave because they had a “one-way” paper. I

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wrote to Guy Mollet, the French minister of foreign affairs, and he instructed the consulate in Egypt to give them French visas, so they could leave Egypt and go to Israel via France or Italy. The Italian government did the same for us, and we started to send Jews on boats to Israel that we purchased with funds from Jewish communities and international organizations such as the Joint or Hias. All together, we sent 13,500 people to Israel. Most of them paid for their tickets out of their own pockets. I was doing this work incognito. When you think of Jews from Arab countries, you should not forget that they took a lot of trouble upon themselves to come to Israel, to their ancient homeland, and they were very upset about the way the Jewish-Israeli population received them. I kept working for the Israeli secret service until they asked me to be in charge of the maabara in Kefar-Sababe, North-East of Tel Aviv, where 8,000 people lived. I took the best possible care of them. It is true that housing was given to European immigrants first, but I cannot say there was a real discrimination. It was a country in the making. Later they were moved to proper housing. After I finished, I worked for ZIM, the Israeli governmental shipping company. I changed to a private shipping company and stayed there until I retired. I estimate that about 50,000 Egyptian Jews came to Israel.

Brakha-Rosenthal Dina, born in Cairo, Tahrir, in 1927 [Eliyahu Brakha’s wife]. My parents were from Jerusalem. My father left for Egypt because he wanted to study and his parents wanted him to become a rabbi. So he studied pharmaceutics at the University of Cairo. We had Egyptian citizenship. He needed it for his pharmaceutics business. He owned the biggest pharmacy in Cairo. My mother is from Rosh-Pina, north of Israel. She was a teacher, and was sent to Egypt to teach. When she met my father, she decided to stay. My family was very wealthy, and we had a very nice apartment. We spoke French at home; my mother spoke to her mother in Yiddish. I had piano lessons. I attended French schools first, but the last two years of my schooling I went to an English school. I had many friends, also Muslim girls, and we visited each other at home. Later I went to the American University, and studied psychology. I was in the Macabi youth organization. We were a group of intellectuals who wanted to become cadres to lead the Egyptian-Jewish youth and prepare them for the aliya to Israel. In February of 1948, we were arrested in Alexandria and charged with espionage. I was

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released soon thereafter and went back to the university in Cairo. I was again arrested in 1948 and jailed for 444 days—“prison des étrangères”. We were Zionist and Communist women. The ones that had foreign citizenship were released soon thereafter. In August of 1949 I was released but they did not let me go back to university. I left Egypt in 1949 with about thirty children with whom I made aliya to Israel, and during my farewell party I met Eliyahu. We have two children; one graduated from university, the other one is a professional soldier.

Braunstein-Piccioto Ninett, born in Cairo in 1930, Heliopolis My parents were born in Egypt. My father’s family came from Tyrol, Austria. One of my ancestors was the Austrian consul in Damascus. My father was an Austrian citizen, but during World War II he bought an Egyptian passport, so he would not be arrested as an enemy alien. We became Egyptians. We were nine children and we spoke French at home. I went to a French primary school, then to a British school. My father worked for the Singer sewing machine company. We were not religious at all. We had neighbors of all religions. I also had Muslim friends, but after World War II the atmosphere changed and life was not the same anymore. I was in the Hashomer Hatsa’ir Zionist youth organization, and was also in jail for two months. I joined this organization not only because of its ideology, but also because it was a social network for us Jews. My parents were not Zionists. My sisters went to Israel with Aliyat HaNoar—youth aliya. My parents came to Israel in 1950. Since I had been arrested, I did not arrive until 1951. All of us came to Israel, but not all of us have remained in Israel. I came to the kibbutz, was kicked out (see story of Aharon), and left after almost two years. My husband was also born in Egypt; his mother was born in Austria. They loved Egypt very much and they had a very good life there. The Egyptians wanted to throw us out because we exploited them. We were privileged; but not all Jews belonged to this social class. In Israel we spoke only Hebrew with our children because we were Zionist. Today I regret this decision. Many people have asserted that they were rich in Egypt; we were not rich. There were many prejudices against Jews from the Arab world in Israel. There were also very low-level Jews in Egypt that even we despised.

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Calamarov- Belbel Lucy, born in Cairo in 1944, Daher My parents were born in Harat-el-Yahud, but after they married, my father started his own business and with time passing, in 1941/42, he changed to a big business with matches, candles and more products, which he sold mostly to the British. He also started to import fashion goods. He became the biggest merchant in Musky, the big market in Cairo. Later, they moved from Harat-el-Yahud. In 1950 we moved again, and I went to a French school. I knew I was not supposed to tell that I was Jewish. We had an Italian passport. We went to synagogue every Saturday and kept kosher at home, but we were “religiously light.” Every Sunday we went out of town to have a good time. In 1952 I remember the unrest and demonstrations in the streets in front of our apartment. There was a lot of fire, shop windows were broken and we heard explosions. We were scared, because we knew, no matter what happened, the Jews would be the first to suffer. The Muslim Brotherhood had started the unrest. Later in the year, I remember the “Young Officers’ Revolution.” We were scared again, but General Muhammad Naguib promised that nothing would happen to us and he kept his promise. Unfortunately, when Nasser took power, everything changed for us. In 1956, they came, searched the apartment and took my uncle. After a few months he was released but had to leave Egypt on the same day. My grandmother also had to leave because she had French citizenship. For us, it was a big trauma. Then life became relatively normal again. I attended school without any problems until 1962, but then the nationalizations started. They took our cars and the business. My father was supposed to work in his company as a regular worker. They even took the keys to our apartment and said that nothing belonged to us any more. The schoolbooks were anti-Semitic and anti-Israel. In 1963, I enrolled at the American University, but I was harassed and had to stop after nine months. My father did not lose hope that he would get everything back; this is why we stayed so long. We were constantly terrorized, and in 1965 we had to leave. My parents did not want to come to Israel, but I knew I did not want to raise my children under threats of hatred and antiSemitism. My father wanted to go to the United States, but I convinced him to go to Israel. My father came as a tourist. We went from Haifa to our family in Tel Aviv. I love Israel, but I am very upset about the way they—the Israeli-Ashkenazim—treated us, and our problems. They forgot about us. They always put us last and never appreciated us. They were stepping

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upon us, and don’t forget that we made up half of the Israeli population. The Jews from Arab countries were a great gift to Israel, and I find the discrimination should have stopped a long time ago. My brother and I started to work immediately. I never visited Egypt after we left. I am only interested in our possessions that they stole from us. My children never suffered discrimination. I always told them they were the same as all the others and they believed me. Unfortunately, we are well-educated, but we never learned how to stand up for our rights. One of my sons is a doctor of physics and the second one is an electrical engineer. My daughters also graduated from university.

Cohen Sami Samuel, born in Cairo in 1943, Harat-el-Yahud My father was born in Aden. My mother was born in Alexandria. My parents spoke Arabic at home, and my father was illiterate. I went to school in Harat-el-Yahud, where we lived. Then I went to a boarding school in Helu’an. Later I studied at French schools. The Jews in Harat-el-Yahud belonged to the middle class and lower middle class. Many spoke Arabic at home. We never had any Muslim friends. Zionism was never a subject, and we hardly went to synagogue. Our home was kosher. As my father had British citizenship, they took his shop in 1956. We went to Athens, then to Marseille, from there we were supposed to go to England, but we ended up going directly to the maabara. It was a mixed place, people from Europe and from Arab countries. There was nothing there. The houses were made out of metal sheets, and the toilets were outside. It was a big shock. The whole family came to Israel. Later we moved to the center, to Ramat-Gan near Tel Aviv. They tested me and sent me to the Neve-Ilan boarding school. Most children came with AliyatHano’ar to Israel alone. Their parents stayed in the Arab countries. It was a very good experience that shaped my whole life. My father died very young, so my mother took me out of the school. Later I went to a technical school of the Israeli post office in Jerusalem and obtained my high school diploma there. I then went on to serve in the army. Later I started to work for the post office. I subsequently obtained a special scholarship to study French literature and history of the Middle East at university. My mother always told me to study, it was very important to her. Later I went to Germany as a student, where I met my future wife.

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After the Yom Kippur War I left the post office and was in charge of technology in a big bank. I subsequently started my own company, which I left to my son. When we came to Israel, we did not dare to speak Arabic outside of our home, or listen to Arabic music. It was a “shame”, but I never felt discriminated against. The moment my girlfriends’ parents realized that I was from Egypt, they didn’t let their daughters see me again. I have visited Egypt many times. I love the country and I feel very good there. I have three children. My son is at Technion, my daughter graduated from university, the third one is ill.

Cohenca Nisim Edi, born in Alexandria in 1922, Heliopolis My father was born in Thessaloniki, my mother in Alexandria. We are all Sephardim. We were seven siblings, and I’m the youngest. We often went to two synagogues. I went to Harush Jewish school, then to Menash Jewish high school. We studied French, Arabic, English and Hebrew. My parents spoke Ladino at home. My father worked as a customs specialist. My siblings got married or left home to go elsewhere. In 1940 I started to work in Cairo as an accountant, later I changed and worked for the Philips corporation. I got married in Cairo in 1948, but my first wife died very soon. Until 1948, life was very good in Egypt. I had Christian and Muslim friends. The situation changed after the war, but it became even worse when Nasser came to power in 1954. Like all other Jews, I was fired. I wanted to go to Brazil, but it did not work out and in the end I decided to go to Israel. We came to Israel in 1957, directly to the maabara and all five of us lived in one room. My father died in the hospital after two months. My mother died shortly thereafter. I received money from Philips and bought an apartment in Holon, near Tel Aviv. I had worked for El Al when my wife died. Later I got married again. Then El Al sent me to Canada and London with the family where we stayed for a few years. I was never discriminated against in Israel, probably because of the many languages I speak. I have three children. Two of them graduated from university, one is a merchant.

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Dahan David, born in Alexandria in 1935, Hadara We are five siblings and all of us live in Israel. I went to a Jewish school and we studied in Arabic. Later I went to the Maimonides School. In 1948 many Jews left for Israel, so there were very few students. We were seven in the class, so we were moved to the Arabic department of the Lycée Français. I got my high school diploma in 1953. We were a mixed school—Jews, Christians and Muslims—and we were friends, but only in school. At home we spoke Arabic. The Jews in Egypt had developed their own language, which was Arabic mixed with Hebrew words. My grandfather often went to the synagogue and I frequently joined him. My grandfather was religious; my father was less religious. In our neighborhood there were many synagogues and we attended different ones, among them the Eliyahu ha-Navi Synagogue. I even sang in the choir. My mother’s family had lived in Egypt for many generations. My father’s family came from Tiberias, Israel. When World War I started in 1914, they were evacuated from Palestine to Alexandria because they were French citizens. My father was a tailor and had his own shop with many workers, but the situation changed little by little, and became very anti-Jewish. Many of my school friends protected me, but some were rude to me. The Egyptians stopped shopping in Jewish shops, so the situation got very hard; my father could not support the family anymore. We had French citizenship. We were not Zionists at all, but I went to Macabi until 1948 because of the sport activities. Later it became dangerous. In 1951, I was recruited to Hashomer Hatzair, which was active in the underground. Then I started to understand the meaning of Zionism; we were also told about the Holocaust, about which we had known nothing, and the necessity of a Jewish state of our own. I wanted to keep studying at the university, but as a Jew and Frenchman I was not accepted. We left Egypt in 1954. We went to France first. The Sochnut paid for our journey and I went to Hachshara with my brother for six months to prepare for life in a kibbutz. Then the whole family went to Israel. From Haifa we were brought directly to the kibbutz. The rest of my family lived in a tent in the maabara near Haifa and we had to help them, so we left the kibbutz. As it was very hard to find work, we decided to do our military service first. I continued as a professional soldier. I studied aeronautical electronics in the army, and it became my profession. I worked for the Technion, the Technical University in Haifa, and kept on studying there. Afterwards we left for Tyra near Haifa and got a wooden barrack. Later I married and moved

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to Haifa. The Egyptian Jews were not discriminated against, we never thought about what the country should do for us and we were never outgoing. I have three children. Two of them graduated from university, one is an artist.

Dahan-Dan Gil, born in Israel in 1969 [David Dahan’s son]. Most of my Egyptian heritage can be found in the kitchen. My mother cooks Jewish-Egyptian cuisine although she is not from Egypt. My father’s family is a big, warm family that meets for family vacations and the holidays.

Dassa Clement, born in Alexandria in 1936, Manshiya We were six siblings and our entire family immigrated to Israel. Both of my parents’ families had lived in Egypt for many generations. In the last years of school, the war started and I could not finish school properly. My father was a customs expert and worked in the harbor. My parents spoke Arabic. We also spoke French. It was the same language we spoke in school. During World War II, we were bombarded and left for Cairo to stay with my aunt. In 1948, I remember being harassed. In our house we were mixed, all three religions; it worked out very well for a long time, but after 1948 it was bad. We were neither religious nor Zionists at home, but we went to the synagogue. In 1957 we all left Egypt, except for my father. He did not emigrate until 1961 with one of my brothers. I knew I would only go to Israel, because I thought that it was the only possibility for me as a Jew, a country from which I could never be thrown out again, so my entire family came with me. We went to Genoa, then to Israel, and from Haifa directly to Jerusalem. We got half an Asbeston, an asbestos house for the whole family. We all had to do menial work in the beginning. Then we bought a house in Tyra. Later we moved to a better place. In 1958 I was recruited for the army and became a clerk. Later I moved to Discount Bank. I have no complaints about Israel. They gave us housing and food; we learned Hebrew and had the same conditions as all other olim. We never had Egyptian citizenship. We have three children. All of them graduated from university.

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Dassa Eveline, born in Port Said in 1946 [Clement’s wife]. In 1949 we left Egypt and came to Israel, so I have very few memories of Egypt. My parents were born in Egypt. My mother’s mother was from Poland, her father from England. They met in Egypt. I was born in Port Said, and I don’t know much about Jewish life there. My parents spoke French at home, but my mother spoke Ladino with her parents. We had British citizenship. We had to disappear because the police was looking for my father. We first came to the maabara, then we moved to Kiryat-Yam near Haifa in 1951. My mother was very unhappy. In her home in Egypt she had servants, and here she had to work as a cleaning woman. My father was a worker. We Egyptians never complain, it is not in our character, so I cannot tell you about discrimination. My parents never talked about it and I was too young. I worked in the same bank as my husband.

Dassa Givoni Orit, born in Israel Daughter of Clement and Eveline Dassa. I’m proud to be a Sephardic Jew of Egyptian descent.

Dubek (Douek) Efrayim Frederic, born in Cairo in 1930, Tahrir My mother was from Italy, my father from Halab, Syria. My father was the British consul in Halab; then he moved to Egypt. He was a merchant. We were three brothers. We lived directly in Midan-el-Tahrir, which had another name at that time. At home we spoke French, Italian and English. I attended French schools where all three religions were represented. I got my high school diploma in Arabic so I could go to university. I studied at Cairo University for one year, then we left Egypt. In 1948 about 50,000 Jews lived in Cairo and about 30,000 in Alexandria. There were some, very few though, who lived outside of those two cities. During World War II we left Egypt, went to Lebanon via Israel and after about one and a half years, when Rommel was defeated, we came back. Our family was a little traditional, but we were atheists and Zionists. I had a very big family in Alexandria and Cairo. We were British citizens. Until 1947, everything was good for us, the youth organizations were openly active. In 1948,

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they started to search for and arrest Jews. I started in the Communist organization together with my brother, who was arrested. They did not take me. In 1949 my brother went to Israel with the youth organization he-Halutz. I was left in Egypt as the manager of the organization, which was in the underground. We learned about Zionism and also to protect ourselves as well as the Jewish community of Cairo. Then they discovered me and I had to leave Egypt. In Israel it became clear to me that all the Jews had to leave Egypt. A big part of my family went to France and did not want to come to Israel. I first went to a kibbutz, but after a short time it was divided politically. I joined the army and we were the first generation of soldiers that served as Nahal, i.e. we were placed in diverse kibbutzim to protect them and work the same as the regular members. In 1953 I left the kibbutz and went to Bet-She’an. It was a very small town then. I was elected mayor of the city. The town had twenty-four inhabitants then. In 1960, I changed to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and was sent as the Israeli Ambassador to Chad straight away. I was thirty years old. I spent a total of seven years in Africa, then came back to Israel and completed a B.A. and M.A. in international relations. I was sent to many other countries as an ambassador. Later I became the vice mayor of Jerusalem under Teddy Kollek, but after two years the ministry called me back. I was the first official Israeli in Cairo, where we opened the embassy in 1980 and I also opened the Israeli Academic Center there. The people were very nice to us, but the press was against us. In 1990 I went back to Egypt as an ambassador for three years. The atmosphere was very anti-Israel and anti-Semitic. They always wanted to keep a distance from Israel because the elite subscribed to Nasser’s ideology. I wrote a book about my time there. Egyptian Jews were different from other Jews. Many were well-educated and worked for the ministry like myself, some were lawyers. One of my classmates, a Muslim, was a good friend. When I visited Egypt for the first time, we met again. Later he told me that they forbade him to see me, so we did not see each other again. Today there are 120 registered Jews in Egypt, but the number might be much higher. They are afraid to identify as Jews. Others converted to Islam or are married to non-Jews. I have three children. Two of them are managers, one graduated from university.

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Elimelech Clement Ran, born in Tanta in 1931 I was born in Tanta. As my father died before I was born, my mother went back to her family who was well-off. They had a cigarette factory there. After two years my mother remarried and we moved to Cairo, where her husband worked as an interpreter and managed a big law firm. I did not get along with him. At home we spoke only French, at school we had only one hour of Arabic every day. It attended a French school. My mother was born in Egypt, of Turkish origin. My father’s family came from Algeria. I was in the youth organization Hashomer Hatzair. In 1951, the French wanted to recruit me to the French army to serve in Algeria, so I went to Rome and had a good month. Then I came to Israel and went to the kibbutz where my friends were. For five years I was in charge of all the young people that came to the kibbutz from Arab countries and from Europe. I did not want to study. I wanted to work with my hands. Then almost all of us left. I went to Tel Aviv and started to work with a tractor and I earned a lot of money. In 1960 I married and started to work in an insurance company until I retired. Now I volunteer at a hospital and go to the university, one day a week. My mother stayed in Egypt with one of my sisters and two of my brothers. I did not see her again until 1967. After my brother was arrested, they got Spanish passports and left. After one year in France, they also came to Israel. I was never discriminated against in Israel; the kibbutz was where they did not want us because we were from an Arab country. I have three children. All of them graduated from university. One is a professor in the United States.

Ezra Sasson Odet, born in Cairo in 1933 We were seven siblings. My mother was born in Tiberias, my father was from Halab. My oldest brother graduated from university cum laude. The other brothers also studied at university. I had a very good friend, the only one to marry a Muslim and to stay in Egypt. She has had a very good life there. I met her during my visit to Egypt and we had a fantastic time. My mother made many of our clothes herself and my father had a small business. He went to synagogue every morning but we were not very religious. In the French school all three religions were represented. We were good friends, but only in

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school. We were not Zionists but I was in Hashomer Hatzair. One of the reasons most Jewish children were in Zionist organizations was to be in Jewish company, do sports and avoid contact with the other religions. We had good relations with our neighbors of all religions, but never went to their homes. We spoke Arabic and French at home, but many Jews were such snobs, they did not want to speak Arabic, only French. I love this language. In 1957 I left Egypt with my husband and my son. As we were French, they gave us fourteen days to leave and we went to Paris. Later we went to Israel. They sent us to Ashdod, to a maabara. Our family was near Tel Aviv and they told us it was five minutes from where we were (it takes about one hour in fact). The family took us to them. My husband had a good job in a laboratory and I studied to become a beautician. My husband took part in three wars in Israel and was called to the army reserves all the time. As his whole family was in France and life was very hard in Israel, we joined them. We stayed there for thirty years and had a big clothing business. I came back to Israel about six years ago after my husband passed away and both my children decided to come back to Israel. I always spoke to my two children in Arabic, telling them that this language would be necessary, when and if peace came. My son studied Arabic at the university. I feel that Egypt belongs to me and I belong to her. I belong to the Pharaos. When I went to visit it was like home. I have two children. My son is a businessman, my daughter is raising her children.

Gabei Ellen, born in Alexandria in 1940, Camp Cesar My father was born in Halab. His family had come to Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. My mother was born in Egypt. Her family had come from Spain. We were three siblings and spoke French at home. We were not even traditional. We had nothing to do with religion, although we went to the synagogue for the high holidays and we fasted on Yom Kippur. We visited the French School, which had mostly Christian and Jewish students, very few Muslims. We were all friends, we went out together, threw parties and visited each other at home. Our neighbors were Muslim, but we had a good relationship with them. My father served in the British navy during World War II so we had British passports. He had

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a big importing business. After the 1952 riots Alexandria changed. There were many soldiers in the city. In 1957 we had to leave, as we were British citizens. They nationalized everything, also my father’s business. Four weeks later we were expelled. France was our first stop, and we wanted to go to England, as we had the citizenship and family there, but my mother did not want to go to another country from which we could be expelled again. This is why we came to Israel after one month in France. My mother’s brothers were already there. They wanted to send us to Yeruham in the Negev. They told us it was a suburb of Beer Sheva, which was a lie, but my uncle said, “You are not going there.” He took us to his place. Later we bought a small house. I wanted to finish school and go to university, but the good people told my father, “Why should he study? He should learn a trade like plumbing.” I did not like this, and at the same time I met somebody from the Workers’ Party, and he told me, “You are my project.” I learned Hebrew in the street and when I was fluent in Hebrew I worked at an international bank. I changed to the biggest insurance company in Israel. During the Yom Kippur War I was recruited for nine months and I decided that I did not want to live in Israel. We had three children then. I went to the United States to prepare for my family to come, but in the end I decided to go back to Israel. I opened an insurance office with a friend. The Jews from Egypt are different from other Jews. We never complain. This is our snobbism. Since we made peace with Egypt I have spent many vacations there. The Egyptians are remarkable and a great people. I have three children. One is a manager, one a secretary, one is a pilates instructor.

Gormezano-Goren Itzhak Robert, born in Alexandria in 1941, Sporting We lived in Sporting. I was the youngest of four siblings. My brother lives in Los Angeles. Both of my parents came from the European part of Turkey. They are cousins. My father became an intellectual out of his own efforts and was fluent in seven languages including German, which helped him when they came to Israel because of the German immigrants. He was bookkeeper at the Ford Motor Company. I was at a French-Jewish lycée where we had one hour of Hebrew and one hour of Arabic every week. At home we spoke French. There was no need to speak Arabic because we lived in a French speaking bubble. I know that there were about 40,000 Jews in Alexandria in the 1940s.

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The years 1947 and 1948 have etched themselves into my memory. My father had an Egyptian passport, was an atheist and not Zionist at all, but in 1948 he said, “There is a Jewish country and it is only logical that we should go there.” Nothing could have persuaded him otherwise. About Egyptian citizenship: I must tell you that the stories that Jews did not get it are wrong. Most Jews did not want Egyptian citizenship. They tried to get other foreign citizenships. The Sochnut said that the two children had to go first, than the rest of the family would come afterwards. My brother was offered French citizenship because he was really good at basketball; he played for the Macabi in Alexandria. The French would have given it to the whole family, but my father did not want it and told him to continue to Israel although he was generally very liberal. So my brother went to the kibbutz. Again my brother was offered a job in Holon near Tel Aviv. Then the Egyptians sent my father, mother and the two of us. My grandmother had to stay on for another year. After that, she was allowed to join us. In 1952 we arrived in Israel. We came to a maabara in the north. We had a house made out of wood, and stayed there for four years. My father had a job at Ford, my sister started to work in an office. So we were almost rich because we did not have to pay for housing etc. Life was very good there. We had parties and a very good social life, sort of a copy of the Egyptian life, so many did not want to leave the maabara. After four years we could afford to buy an apartment; afterwards we did not have much money left. I was at school first, than I did my service in the army. When I finished I went to study at the University of Jerusalem, English and French culture. My B.A. is from Tel Aviv University. Then I went to New York and studied theater directing. I obtained my M.A. there. I’m not only an author but I have my own theater, Bimat Kedem, where I’m the cultural director. I’m also active in Mizrahi issues, which publishes a newsletter called Ha’kivun Mizrah, “Towards the East” on a regular basis. About discrimination: I saw myself as somebody that came from a European-orientated country to the Middle East. The fact that most of us have fair skin and that we spoke French also helped. Later I started to occupy myself with the Jews from the Arab World. There was and is definitely cultural discrimination and oppression. I never felt personally discriminated against, but I am not in the majority. We don’t have an Ashkenazi majority here but a sabra culture. The sabres think that they are Europeans culturally. This is not true. I would have loved to have the European culture here, but it is Israeli culture that tries to be European. The ideals of Zionism developed out of

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European antisemitism, connecting to the idea of Nietzsche about the “Übermensch.” According to this idea, these “white people” (The Ashkenazim) are the only real Israelis. The society here is very masculine: feelings are not to be shown, and this is the absolute anti-thesis to the Mizrahi Jews. We need more emotions and sensitivity, more feminism, and we try to fight for it. We call ourselves “Mizrahim”, not “edot hamizrah” - “mizrahi communities,” which to me do not exist. I’m the first one to use the term “Mizrahi Ascolla”—“Mizrahi school of thought”—in literature. There are at least 200 creative writers that belong to this genre and see themselves as Mizrahim. Especially because I never felt discriminated against on a private level—and I’m one of the only intellectuals in Israel that is not married to an Ashkenazi woman—I keep investigating these ideas. We have three children. One became religious. One writes for and directs theater. My daughter studies at university.

Har’el Wahba David, born in Tanta in 1928 I have four sisters. One of them lives in Paris, the rest are in Israel, still in the kibbutz that they joined when they left Egypt. My mother was born in Izmir. When she was three years old, her family came to live in Tanta. They were eight children. The three boys graduated from

university, the daughters only finished high school. My father was born in Cairo to a wealthy family. We lived in a small place near Tanta, where I was born and lived until I was six years old. Then we moved to Cairo. They spoke French and Arabic at home and the children were all raised as Egyptians in Tanta. There were hardly any Jews there. Tanta was at the time a very important city. I went to kindergarten there. My father opened an import-export business and was very prosperous. In 1945 his partner, a member of the royal family who got all permissions, left him, and business almost stopped. My father died soon thereafter of a heart attack. I went to a French school. In 1943, we founded ACA, an American-Jewish organization. Later, in 1944, after I read about Zionism and Mein Kampf in French at the library, I understood that a Jew had to be an active Zionist and that’s why I joined Hashomer hatzair. In 1948 I finished school but did not take my exams because according to the ideology of Hashomer hatzair it was bourgeois and was not needed in the kibbutzim. I had many nonJewish friends in school. We went to the Boy Scouts together and were very active.

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I left Egypt before the War of Independence of 1948. There were about 80,000 Jews in Egypt. There were a quarter of a million Europeans in Egypt. It was a cultural and economic center. 30,000 of the Egyptian Jews came to Israel in 1948. The rest of them are spread all over the world. One of the shelihim that were sent from Israel started to teach us self-protection. As the Muhabarat closed our club, we had to continue underground despite of the fact that the Zionistic Federation was legal after Israel was founded. Many of the other members of youth organizations were arrested, but only a few of them were our people. In 1948 all of my family went to Israel, directly to various kibbutzim, which was possible because of my activity in the organization. I arrived in Israel in 1950, after spending several months in Paris for Hashomer hatzair. I went to the kibbutz. In 1953 I left for Tel Aviv, did my army service, then graduated from

university in finance, economics and banking. In 1957, I got married. My uncles were “parlor Zionists,” i.e. people who talked rather than practicing, and they did not come to Israel. Most of them have live in Canada since 1956. One of the problems of Jews of the Arab countries is that most Jews who had money or education did not come to Israel but went elsewhere, and so we have a “weak population” here. One of the reasons was that the Israeli government made a lot of mistakes with their integration. They were moved outside of centers in development areas, but Israel had to do so because there were 600,000 newcomers and there was no other possibility. I never felt discriminated against in Israel. I have two children. Both of them graduated from university. Mrs. Har’el: I blame the state of Israel for distinguishing between Ashkenazi Jews and Jews from the Arab countries. The Europeans got housing straight away and planted gardens that supplied them with vegetables. The Sephardim said that they were not used to this kind of task and had no idea how to do it. The Jews from Egypt are another, special case. I have two sons. One is a professor of physics at Machon Weitzman for one year; he lives in Britain. My other son graduated from university with two degrees in economics and one in law. He is a lawyer.

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Henson Joefry, born in Alexandria in 1931, Smohha My father was born in Yemen and came to Egypt in 1910. A group of Jews gathered in Yemen to walk to Israel. Some of them, my family among them, stayed in Egypt. He had British citizenship. His name originally was Hassoun, but he changed it in Egypt. My mother is also of Yemenite descent but was born in Alexandria. We were three siblings. My father died when I was three years old, so my mother put me in the Jewish orphanage until the age of fourteen. Then the children from the orphanage were sent to learn a trade. This school was founded by a very rich Jew named Menas. My mother remarried and left Egypt. In school we studied in Arabic. I remember World War II in Alexandria, the curfew, and that we children had to collect cartridges. I then went to high school, at the same time I started working in a hotel where I had a room, received pocket money and was therefore able to pay the high school tuition for the French school. In 1949 I finished school and kept my job at the hotel in Alexandria during the summer. In the winter, I worked in Luxor and Aswan. From 1952 to 1956, many people in high government positions practically moved to Alexandria during the summer, and many of them lived in my hotel. I would go abroad during my vacations, even to Israel sometimes. Once I was arrested, but the people who owned the hotel helped me get a release. In 1954, during the Lavon Affair, they investigated me because some of the accused were from my school. Later I moved to London and kept working at a hotel that belonged to the same people. When they reopened a hotel in Cairo in 1961, they sent me back to Egypt as the hotel manager. I never had any problems, I knew how to handle things with bakshish and the like. In 1964 I got married and we went to London, where I had a very good job, but my wife could not stand the weather, so we moved to Israel where I worked at the Sheraton Hotel until 1980. After the peace agreement between Israel and Egypt I went back to Egypt and opened a travel agency in Cairo with the help of one of my old acquaintances, an Arab who had served in the Egyptian army. I’m a partner in this company until this very day. I was not in Egypt permanently, but was coming and going. One day, when I visited the Ministry of Tourism, another acquaintance told me that it would be good if there were more Jewish tourists, otherwise the government might decide to close the synagogues, as they were not being used. I started to advertise travel to Egypt among Jewish tourists in the United States and Canada. In 2007 the Egyptian police told me that I was not supposed to go to Egypt anymore because I

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was a threat to the country. Later I realized that the Jewish community in Cairo had spoken to the police. I never realized why, but I have not come back since. I have two children. Both graduated from university. My daughter is a professor of biology.

Jerushalmi Ovadia, born in Cairo in 1945, Abasiyya My family is from Jerusalem, as you can tell from my name. My father was a goldsmith. We are Karaites, spoke Arabic at home and went to the synagogue off and on. We had our own community and synagogues. We were four siblings. I’m the oldest. I went to a French school. After a few years, it was around 1952, it changed and we had to study all of the subjects in Arabic. It was a big change for us children. I obtained my high school diploma and wanted to study economics at the university, but they did not accept me because I was Jewish. I went to the American private university. It was in 1963. Many of the students were from the Egyptian elite, Jews and Palestinians. In 1956 there were riots against Israel. They closed my father’s shop and he planned to go to Brazil, but we stayed in Egypt. I won the chess championship for Egypt in 1966 and was supposed to go to attend the AUB, the American University in Beirut. Because I was Jewish, they did not let me go; the Palestinian student that placed second went instead of me. When the Six-Day War began in 1967, I had a tennis lesson. When I returned home, the Muhabarat came searching for me and took me to the police station. They said I did not need to take anything with me because I was supposed to be back within a few minutes. In fact I saw many Jews there and was thrown into a room crowded with other Jews. We were able to use the toilets and they threw some dry bread at us. It continued for three days. Then we were put on trucks and were told that they would take us to the Suez Canal to be cannon fodder in the war against the Israelis. Instead, they took us to the worst jail, Abu-Za’ber. We were beaten up and discriminated against in every possible manner. They threw broken glass on the floor and forced us to crawl on our hands and knees. Even today, forty years later, I am terrified when I talk about it. We had to stay on the ground all the time because the cells were so small. We hardly were given any food and had to scream to drown out the antisemitic and anti-Israeli slogans. I spent six months in jail. During all that time, nobody—not the Red Cross nor any other human right organization—came to see us. There were many more discriminations there. Soon we realized what a big defeat Egypt had suffered. In 1967 there were only 2,500 Jews in Egypt. At the beginning of 1968, the Israelis

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exchanged prisoners of war with Egypt. 5,000 Egyptians for eleven Israeli soldiers, but our hope that they would let us go with them did not materialize. We did not have any citizenship, but the Spanish embassy declared that all Egyptian Jews came from Spain, and therefore were entitled to obtain a Spanish passport, which was an unbelievable, fantastic move. They gave a Spanish passport to all the Jews that wanted it. At the beginning of 1969, we were brought to the airport in handcuffs and sent to France. We were about 130 Jews. As most Jews did not have Egyptian citizenship, we had to renew our residency permit every five years. It was like this for about a third of the Egyptian Jews. My family was still in Egypt because the Egyptian authorities did not let them go until 1970. When I left, my father wanted me to go to the United States, but when I read and heard about Israel, I decided to go there and my family followed me. My father did not manage to go to Israel and died very soon thereafter. The Jews that came from Egypt were mixed, Ashkenazim and Sephardim. They were never involved in politics etc., but mostly interested in their families. They also never complained like the other olim. In 1969, I came to Israel and started my second year at university right away. I wrote my M.A. thesis about the Jewish press in Egypt in the 1940s. It was published as a book in Hebrew, French and English. After my studies I headed the Arabic department at the Israeli radio and television station. In 1980 I went back to Egypt the first time, but we did not leave the airport. Later I went again, and I was very proud to go on an official visit to the country from which I was expelled. I have two children. Both graduated from university.

Kimhi Ruth, born in Cairo in 1944, Center I had one brother. My father’s name was Liskovitsh. He was one of the founders of Hashomer hatzair in Cairo in 1932. He immigrated to Israel in 1934, to the kibbutz. In 1939, as the situation became dangerous because of the Palestinian riots, his father came and took him back to Egypt. In 1948 he was told that the Muhabarat was looking for him, and since my mother had an Italian passport they went to Italy within hours. I was four years old. In 1949 we came to Israel.

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My father’s father was born in Russia, came to Israel and was sent to Cairo because of his illness and the need for a change in climate. He had a very big printing house where, among other publications, he produced a Yiddish newspaper and became a member of the Ashkenazi community. Little by little, he brought his whole family from Russia to Egypt. Later he went to Israel where he met my grandmother and they went to Egypt together. My mother’s family came to Cairo from Halab in the 1920s and they did not like the fact that my father was Ashkenazi. My father studied printing in the Lehr und Versuchsanstalt in Vienna before he went to Israel in 1934. This was my grandfather’s condition; later he could choose what he wanted to do. My family was not religious at all but they all were real Zionists and this was the reason why we went to Israel. My grandfather went to synagogue only for the three holidays. My mother’s father was a Kabbalah specialist. During all those years in Egypt my grandfather was buying land in Israel and a big house was built for him in Ramat Gan, near Tel Aviv. We did not go to a maabara because my family had enough money to rent an apartment in Tel Aviv until the house was ready for us to move in. It was a soft landing. At home we spoke French, but in school I felt I was different. After I obtained my high school diploma. I did my military service and started to work for the Mossad, the Israeli intelligence service, because of the many languages I spoke. My husband was also with the Mossad and we were abroad on missions a few times. I retired as a brigadier general. I studied political science at the university while I was still on duty and pursuing an M.A. When I was 52 I retired—which is normal for the army—and started my PhD at the Zionist Research Institute at Haifa University. I wanted to research the story of my father. How somebody from a wealthy family founded the Hashomer hatzair in Cairo, and the whole history of Zionism. Later it was published as a book Zionism in the Shadow of the Pyramids: the Zionist Movement in Egypt, 1918-1948. The Jews from Egypt are not an “Egyptian society” but Jews from Egypt in Israel. They belonged to different congregations in Egypt, each with their own heritage and traditions. Only in Israel they became a kind of community, out of nostalgia for Egypt. We are not “Egyptian Jews” but “Jews from Egypt.” My father was more Russian than Egyptian. Many of them worked for the Discount Bank because they already knew the owners from Egypt. I found out in a research project that only 30 percent of the Jews that left Egypt in 1948 came to Israel. A few came not because they were Zionist, but because they belonged to a lower socio-economic class. Most of the people that could afford it went elsewhere. Zionism was not a big thing in the Arab world, and the record number of members in Zionist youth organizations was 2000 in

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1947. Only some of them came to Israel, but the Jews from Egypt donated a lot of money to Israel. Kfar Yedidya—it was one of the names of Philon of Alexandria—was founded with their money for Jews that came from Germany in the 1930s. I have three children. All of them graduated from university.

Lagziel Kibritt Lea, born in Israel in 1956 My sisters were born in Egypt. My father was born in Cairo. His mother came from Manchester, England, of Syrian descent, his father from Halab. My mother was born in Zagazig, Egypt. Her parents came from Morocco. My grandfather had a cigarette factory in Zagazig and the family had Egyptian citizenship. My mother’s mother tongue was Arabic. She studied Arabic to become a teacher, but did not work in Egypt. My father had a leather workshop. His first language was French. From the 1940s onwards, the atmosphere in Egypt was threatening and became even worse after Israel became a state. My parents came to Israel in 1951 because some of my mother’s family was already here. They were traditional. My mother loved Israel but was not a Zionist in the conventional way. They were put in a maabara where they stayed for three months. Then we moved to Lod, South-East of Tel Aviv, where I grew up among Jews and Arabs. At home we spoke Arabic and French. My father became sick with tuberculosis and was in a hospital for a very long time. I never said in public that my parents were from Egypt or that they spoke Arabic. It was shameful in Israel at the time. Compared to the Ashkenzim, we were definitely discriminated against in terms of housing, employment, etc. We lived in Lod for thirty years. I’m very upset about the way that Israeli authorities handled our heritage. Nobody has really documented our way of life because it was not in the interest of the Israel at that time. My Egyptian heritage is language and food. I married very early, worked as a teacher, finished high school, then started to study social sciences at the university. My wish is to build a museum of the history of the Egyptian Jews. I have recently turned to religion. Out of my four children, two are very religious, one is a little religious and one is in a kibbutz, which is the complete opposite.

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Levy Itzhak, born in Cairo in 1922, Center My father was born in Ottoman Greece. My mother’s family had lived in Egypt for a few generations. At the beginning he was an accountant for the public transportation system. Later he was the director. When the transportation network was nationalized, he became an accountant in the same company again. We were four siblings. At home we spoke French and we had Egyptian passports. As a matter of fact, the Sochnut, the Jewish Agency, was not interested in Egypt and the Egyptian Jews as long as there was aliya from Europe. When World War II started and the Western world closed its borders, they also began to send shelihim to the Arab world. We were a very big family and often gathered in our apartment. I had an Italian governess. Then I went to French school and graduated with a high school diploma from there. I hardly learned Arabic after school, like most so-called foreigners. There were children of all religions in school. We were friendly but did not get together after school. There was a definite partition between the different communities. We were not religious but went to synagogue mostly to meet friends. Then I worked a few years until I went to Israel. First I was at the Macabi Cairo mostly because I was interested in sports. Later I changed to the Haganah, which was newly founded in Egypt. The Zionist Federation supported our activities. I was sent to Israel as a tourist with my Egyptian passport. In 1947, I went to Israel, but my sisters came later with my father and their families. My mother died in Egypt. I joined my Egyptian group in the kibbutz, and worked there as a farmer. Later we were moved to the Negev where we worked and stood guard at night and built a new kibbutz of which I was the secretary. In 1950 I left and became an agriculture teacher in Beer Sheva. After one year I left and went to France where I studied social work. When I came back to Israel I started to work with new olim in the north. Later I was a probation officer in Beer Sheva, responsible for the whole southern half of Israel. In 1959, I continued my studies at New Orleans University in the United States, where I met my wife. I have one son. He is a specialist for cardiological instruments and a journalist.

Loeventhal Jaques, born in Alexandria in 1936, Cleopatra At home we spoke Italian. My father’s origin is Russian or Ukrainian but he was born in Egypt. He studied in Italy and after finishing school, he came back and opened a workshop that

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produced brass sign posts and stamps. He owned a stationary shop in Alexandria. He was entitled to write that he was the official “supplier of the Royal Palace.” My mother’s family came from Greece, and as they were from Corfu they spoke Italian. She was born in Egypt as well. We are three brothers. I was in an Italian kindergarten, then in a French-Jewish school. We were neither religious nor Zionists, but we went to the synagogue for the high holidays. It was a social occasion. We socialized with Greeks and Italian, but not with Muslims. We had no citizenship.

My cousin Georges Moustaki, the French-Greek singer, received Greek

citizenship. The Egyptian Jews did not suffer discrimination because they had a higher level of education than many others from the Arab world. We were a mixed society of Ashkenazim and Sephardim. In 1951, I came to Israel to join a group of friends that went to a kibbutz. My father was against it but he allowed me to join them. First I was in France with Aliyat hanoar—Youth Aliya—then I met my friends that came to pick me up from the ship in Haifa. We worked half a day, and in the afternoon we studied, until 1953 when we had to join the army in the Nahal unit, which was founded to support the young kibbutzim and help against Arab attacks. I was alone in Israel, and my family was in Egypt. After the military service I wanted to go back to the kibbutz, but all my friends had left by that time, so I also left. I had many inferior jobs in the building industry. In 1956, my parents had to leave Egypt after the war. They came to Israel, were put in a maabara and I lived with them in awful conditions. As they could not stand the conditions in the maabara, they left to join my brothers in France. One day I met one of the officers from my army unit, and he helped me find work with a tourist agency, until they opened a course for stewards at El Al. I went there with my friend and thanks to the many languages we spoke, we were able to get into this course. I never worked as a steward but I soon became head of El Al’s reservations department. I spent eleven years in the United States, in New York and Philadelphia, as the manager of El Al. It was difficult to come back to Israel. I left the company and opened a tourism agency. It was not what I thought it would be, so I closed the office and started to work for a company that helped Eastern European countries start their own airlines like in Kazakhstan etc. I became honorary consul of Mongolia in Israel, and when it came to an end I opened a company that organizes mass transportation. We work for the UN peace-keeping forces and make the logistics for big movements of forces and goods. My family is spread all over England and France. Most of them live in Australia. I have two children. My son graduated from university. My daughter is an artist.

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Muskato Roberto Reuven, born in Alexandria in 1942, Camp Cesar My father’s family: My grandfather was a rabbi in Livorno, and my father was born there. My grandmother was Ashkenazi. When my father was three years old, they went to Egypt. Since we were and still are a traditional family, my grandfather was an active freemason and helped many poor Jews to send their children to a school of which he was the director, as my father later on. My mother’s family is from Greece. They were very well-off, in the textile industry, but after the New York stock exchange crashed in 1929, her father lost everything and committed suicide. She was educated as a teacher, so she started to work. Then she met my father. They fell in love and got married against the wish of his rich family. They did not want her because she was poor. During the war, my father was arrested as an Italian citizen. I was treated like a prince in my family. I was allowed to do whatever I pleased. I went to a Jewish school until we left. My father worked for the British as chief of all artistic activities in Alexandria. He also worked for big import-export companies. My uncles held high positions. One was in charge of the stock exchange, the other in charge of the cotton businesses. My father was member of the Lehi, a paramilitry right-wing organization, before 1948. I have a younger sister and we had a governess. We had Italian passports. At home we spoke French, Italian and some Greek. In 1951 my father got a call from a high officer, a freemason brother, who said that my father would be arrested the next day. We left the country with two small suitcases and my father told the neighbors that we were going to Italy on a vacation. We came to Israel, and although my father had been active for this country in Egypt, we received no help. We were in a maabara near Tel Aviv. When we arrived, my mother said that she did not want to live like an (American) “Indian”, but we children had a good time there. We stayed there for two years. We went to school, where we were told on the very first day, “We are going to build a new country with new Jews. From now on, you call your parents by their first names.” When I was home and called my father Luciano, I got the first slap of my life. He then put me in the Lassal French school. My father worked at the Discount Bank. My mother worked as a teacher in a French school until she was 70, when she retired. Later I went to the army and was sent to study electronics at the Technion, the technical university in Haifa, on „Atuda academa’it“ - on behalf of the army, but I wanted to become a pilot and left; as I was wounded soon, I had to quit the course. Later I started to work for El Al. I was assistant director of the computer department but they ran out of money and stopped the work of this department. I then worked in Bank Leumi until my retirement. They sent me to university where I graduated with an M.A. I learned Masri-Arabic in Israel. I met my wife in

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the army. Her parents did not want me because I was a “Frenk”—Sephardi—or somebody from an Arab country. Later they really learned to love me. My family— among them 139 cousins—is spread all over the world. The Egyptians are lovely people, happy and friendly, peace loving, and I love this country. I have two children. My daughter went to university and is manager at Bank Leumi. My son is a construction specialist.

Oppenheim Dan, born in Alexandria in 1945, Sporting My father was born in Egypt. His ancestors came from Austria at the beginning of the 20th century. My mother’s family came from Greece. She was born in Egypt. We did not have any passports because our Egyptian passports were taken away when my father was in jail. He was a very active Zionist with Macabi and helped get Jews out of Egypt. He had a glue factory and was painting and building sculptures. In 1948 he was arrested for 18 months and put in a camp. We visited him many times. His factory was nationalized when he was in jail. As we did not have any nationality, we could not leave the country, so he started an import of cosmetics in Egypt. During the Lavon Affair in 1954, he was not active for the Zionists. The Jewish communities in Egypt were snobbish towards the Egyptians and had no contact with them. We were not religious and never went to synagogue. I am an only child. At home we spoke French. I was in a French school, but we studied in Arabic. I was a very sheltered child. My friends were Jews or other minorities but not Muslims. After the revolution of 1952, we, as all the other foreigners, liked President Naguib much more than his successor Nasser, who came to power in 1954. He used to give speeches about Pan-Arabism, anti-Israel etc. and we feared him. I remember the War of 1956. My father was arrested again for two and a half months. We would listen to foreign radio stations. Then they came to him and said we could leave the country if we did not take anything with us. In 1957 we were driven out of Egypt and left to Paris, where my aunt lived. My mother did not want to go to Israel. After one month in France I came back from school badly hurt because I was a Jew. This was the moment my father decided to go to Israel. First we lived in Haifa in a hotel. Then we went to an Ulpan to learn Hebrew. Later on we moved to Tel Aviv. My father worked as a clerk. We moved back to Haifa because my father found a job in the shipping business and our economic situation was very good. I grew up as a normal Israeli boy. I was never confronted with discrimination,

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probably because people never believed me that I was from Egypt. My biggest wish was to erase my Egyptian past. The Egyptian Jews came to Israel at different times, not all together as it was the case with many Jews from other Arab countries. So it was a kind of individual aliya. Besides, most of the people had white-collar occupations, which they mostly kept in Israel. I completed an M.A. in Arabic and Oriental Studies at the university. I work as an insurance agent. I completed my army service in a kibbutz in the south. After 1980 I went to visit Egypt with my father and we met my cousin Jean-Marc from New York, who was in Alexandria to do research for his PhD (see interview in the United States). Alexandria was three times as big as when we left in the 1950s. My cousin told us that the intelligentsia hated Israel and did not want peace with Israel, but the common people were different. I have four children; one graduated from university, two still study.

Ozon Julia, born in Cairo in 1941 My father was born in Jerusalem; my mother was born in Syria. They got married in Jerusalem. Then they were expelled by the British and went to Egypt. We were eight siblings and I am the youngest; all of us attended French schools. My parents spoke French, Arabic and Ladino. My father spoke seven languages. He had a liquor store in Cairo. We also had a house in Alexandria where we spent two months every summer. In 1949 we came to Israel because we were expelled from Egypt. They took all our possessions and drove us out of the country. We all came to Israel first. Later some of us left for Brazil and Canada. The moment when Israel was founded, everything changed for us in Egypt. We were afraid to go out in the streets. Every Egyptian became our enemy. The Christians, they were good to us. I was never discriminated against in Israel. It was simple then: If you worked you could eat. I never thought that somebody owed me anything. I have worked all my life. I worked with the Israeli security for many years because of the many languages I speak. I can’t tell you more about this. Fifteen years ago I retired and opened my first restaurant. Now I have a restaurant that serves typical Egyptian food at the Carmel Market in Tel Aviv. I have four children; they are all self-employed.

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Rofe Avraham Roje, born in Cairo in 1927, Heliopolis My father was born in Halab, Syria. His family came to Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. My mother was born in Egypt. She does not know from where her family came, either Tunisia or Morocco. We are three siblings. In 1945 my father worked for Shell and we all went to British schools. From a very young age I did not want to stay in Egypt, but my father did not want to leave. He used to say, “We have lived here for 1000 years and will stay for another 1000 years.” But when Israel started to become a reality he saw that this idea would not work out. After World War II he went to the United States and I went after him to stay with my aunt in New York, as my mother was against my going to Israel. The moment I arrived, I started to search for possibilities to go to Israel. I always wanted to go to Israel as I was in a Jewish youth organization, and in the end I left the United States to come here. I came as a sailor on the ship Exodus. It was the only possibility. I told my father I was working on the ship. The Sochnut, the Jewish Agency, helped me to stay. In 1946 I arrived in Israel, alone, and I stole myself away from the ship. The other Jews were not allowed to stay in Israel and 5,000 people were taken back to Europe on British ships. I went to the kibbutz straight away where people from Egypt were. When my friends arrived, I moved to another kibbutz with them. We were 80 people from Egypt. My wife came some time later and we got married. In 1956 the kibbutz society was divided. Many left, so we did the same. I bought a tractor with a friend and worked on the roads until 1960. I started to work at El Al, but as I was wearing glasses, I could not be a steward; I still had a good life. We went abroad every year. My father stayed in the United States and as he was member of the freemasons in Egypt, the lodge helped him. Later my mother joined him with my two brothers. They stayed there and my brothers took part in the Korean War. I was the only one in my family who was a Zionist. We had two children; one died, the other one graduated from university.

Rofe Joya Jehudit, born in Cairo in 1929, Heliopolis [Avraham Rofe’s wife.] My mother was born in Turkey, my father in Greece, but he grew up in Turkey. After he studied to be a teacher in Paris, he was teaching in Morocco for a short while. Then he came to Egypt and was a teacher for the rest of his life there. At home we only

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spoke French. Both my parents studied in France and taught French, so it was their native language. We are three siblings. We lived in Heliopolis where I went to a French school, but my mother forced me to take the baccalauréat in English. She said that in the modern world English would be the most important language, and she was right. It was a church school. Our neighbors were not only Jews, there were Armenians, Greeks and others. We were friendly with everybody but we socialized only with Jews. We had no citizenship. From a very young age, I was active in the Hashomer hatzair youth organization. My parents were neither Zionist nor religious, but for us young people it was a kind of a “Jewish frame” with social activities and it gave us an identity. When I wanted to go to Israel, as I had no passport, I was married in a “marriage blanche”—a fake marriage—with someone who had a French passport. I never saw him again, but we are still married. In 1949 I came to Israel and went to the kibbutz where we stayed for seven years. I loved the life there. I worked in the garden, played guitar in the orchestra, gave birth to both of my daughters and was very happy, but we left because my husband did not want to stay. Obviously there was discrimination in the kibbutzim. The ones who were born there got more than we in terms of housing, furniture and other privileges. I took it as normal, but most people experienced it as discrimination because it was against the principals of the kibbutz where everybody was supposed to “give to society what you are able to, and get what you need.” In Tel Aviv life was difficult and the children wanted to go back to the kibbutz. I taught English at home. Later on I became a secretary. In 1952 my parents came to Israel, my brother and sister were already here. Each one of them had come separately to another kibbutz with her or his youth group. My parents were sent to learn Hebrew in Jerusalem. My father worked as a teacher in a youth prison for a short while, then they came to the kibbutz. He worked in the laundry and they were very happy there. They stayed there after we left and are buried there. My identity is Israeli with a French background.

Rosenthal Lazar, born in Cairo in 1942, Heliopolis My father was born in Egypt. His father was born in Jerusalem. The Rosenthal family house became an ethnological museum of life in Jerusalem around 1900. The family came originally from Vilna, Lithuania. My mother also was born in Egypt. Her father had come from Halab, Syria, her mother from Tiberias. My father’s family had a drugstore and he worked in the business. At home we spoke French. My grandparents Rosenthal, with whom we lived, spoke

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only Yiddish, so I learned some Yiddish as well. I have one sister and we attended French schools. At school and in the neighborhood we were friends with everybody, also Muslims. We used to go out together and visit each other at home, eat and play together. I used to go to the synagogue with my mother’s father on Saturdays. We celebrated the high Jewish holidays with the whole family. I remember my “Bar-mitzva” in the synagogue and the big party. My father was a convinced Zionist. I was, too, although I never was in any Zionist organization. For us it was always clear that we would go to Israel and not to any other place. In 1949 we made aliya to Israel, but as it was very hard here and my father could not find a job, so after seven months, in 1950, we went back to Egypt. We never had any citizenship only a laissez-passer and as the Egyptian thought we had been to Italy (not to Israel), they let us return. My parents separated me from my sister so we would not speak Hebrew. My father worked for a pharmaceutical company until 1956. At that time my mother put me in an Arab class, so I learned Arabic. In 1957 we came to Israel for good. We left everything behind. In Israel they took us to a new settlement called “Bet-shemesh” in the Jerusalem Mountains, where they had built some twenty wooden huts. We arrived at night, so we did not see anything, but when we got up in the morning we had the shock of our life. We stayed there for a few months. My sister and I were put in a kibbutz nearby. When I was sixteen, I started to work. After one year in the kibbutz, all three of us worked and saved money to buy an apartment. I never felt discrimination, apparently because of my looks and my name. After two years we bought an apartment and I went to serve in the army. Than I studied hotel management and worked in this branch all over Israel until I retired. I have one daughter who lives in New York and works as a filmmaker.

Salama Daniel Dorit, born in Cairo in 1949, Heliopolis My father was born in Egypt but his parents came from Syria. My mother was also born in Egypt. Her mother came from Greece, her father from Yugoslavia. My father was an accountant and worked for his father. We are four siblings. At home we spoke only French. We attended a French school at first where we had Muslim and Christian friends and I was the best in my class in Arabic. Then we were moved to a Hebrew school in Heliopolis. We had a governess. Most of our neighbors were European Jews from Poland, Romania and other countries. My parents were religious and we often went to the synagogue and celebrated the

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Jewish holidays. In the summer the whole family moved to Abu-Kir on the sea for two months. My father had business with Muslims, so my parents also had Muslim friends, but they met only in cafés or restaurants, never at each other’s homes. In 1950 the entire family went to Israel, but we stayed in Egypt until 1957. In 1956 everybody left, most of our neighbors had foreign citizenships and were forced to leave. As we were Egyptian citizens we stayed but we were the only Jewish family among Arabs, which my mother did not like. My father did not want to leave but we left because the whole family on both sides was in Israel. In 1957 we came to Israel via Greece. We were not forced to leave, but my parents decided it was time. In Israel they sent us to a maabara, but after one night we moved to my grandparents in Holon near Tel Aviv. My father had a workshop with his cousins, which was not a big success. My mother was very happy here with her parents. They always used to watch Arabic TV. Most of our neighbors were from Poland and they looked down on us because we were from Egypt, but we managed. The children offended us and called us Arabs. I studied to become a secretary and worked from the age of 17 until I retired. As my husband is from Bukhara, my children say that they are Bukharan—foodwise—but are proud to be of Egyptian origin. I have three children. One daughter is a medical aid, the other one works for a sports organization. My son is an optometrist.

Salama Hirschberg Mazal, born in Cairo in 1948, Heliopolis [Dorit Daniel Salama’s sister.] You have heard about my parents and the schools from my sister Dorit. My mother used to work as a seamstress and made embroidery for the royal palace before she got married. At school we never made friends with Muslims. My parents were Zionist and religious, but not strictly observant. We never used the word Israel, we said “Eretz,” country. My parents loved to go out, also with us. We went to the zoo in carriage almost every weekend. I sat on top near the coachman and looked around. We loved it. We went on boats on the Nile and we often went to the movies with our maid. We had a really good life in Egypt until 1948. At that time my mother’s brother and my father’s cousins were attacked in the streets and beaten with sticks and chains. They were real pogroms against the Jews. My mother wanted to

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go to Israel but my father postponed our leave many times until it was not possible to stay any longer. As we spoke French at home, it was very difficult for me to learn Arabic in school. I got the main parts in the theater performances at school and I was a very good student. I remember that during the War of 1956 many shops ran an announcement that the shop was now nationalized. We children did not have other information because our parents did not talk about problems in front of us. When we left in 1957, we took very few things with us. They tore up the family photographs that my mother took with her. On the way to Israel I suffered on the ship. In Israel they called us “Aravim,” Arabs, “Yahfanim,” barefoot. “Mitzrim,” Easterners; Egyptians and other names. We were very well educated. We spoke to adults in the third person, which was not common in Israel. My father could not adapt to Israel. I had three children; one died, the other two graduated from university.

Shem-Tov Frieda, born in Cairo in 1946, Samalek We were five siblings. My father was born in Egypt; his family came from Iraq. They were rich, and my father had a very good job with a car business. My mother’s parents came from Algeria. She was born in Egypt. She was an only child. I attended the French school for two years before we left for Israel. My parents had not only Jewish friends, and after we left they exchanged letters via France. We lived in Zamalek, which is a very distinguished area, and I remember when Naguib passed by our house in 1952, we stood outside to greet him. We were French citizens, and every New Year we went to the French embassy and got presents from Papa Noël. Every summer the whole family went with friends to Abu-Kir for two months. We had a big family. Most of them went to France, Italy and the United States. In 1954 we left for Israel. We were not forced to leave. My father could not find work in Israel and died of a broken hard very soon thereafter. The authorities wanted to take us children to different kibbutzim and boarding schools, but my mother would not listen. After one year my mother had a stroke and so I could not keep on studying although I was very good at school. I had to start working after my fourteenth birthday, and took evening classes. I am very angry about the way the authorities treated us in Israel. I felt the discrimination very badly when we came to this country. My father could not find work even though he spoke

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seven languages. My brothers were educated, but nobody wanted to see the potential we brought with us. The Egyptian people are very good people, kind and friendly, and so are the Egyptian Jews. My children love Egyptian food, but they are all married with Ashkenazim, and so the high holidays are mixed events. We have two children; both graduated from university.

Shem-Tov Shimon, born in Alexandria in 1942 [Frieda’s husband.] We were three siblings. My father used to tell me that I was born during World War II. My father was born in Egypt, but his parents came from Saffed, Palestine. They had French citizenship. He was a welder—a very unusual profession for a Jew—and worked with the electric tram company in Alexandria. My mother was born in Cairo; she was of the Moreno family. My father used to take us to the synagogue for the holiday of Sukkot—the feast of gathering, and especially for Simhat Torah—rejoicing of the Torah. I was in school in Egypt only for one year before we left. We all had French citizenship. Until 1948 everything was fine, we had a very good life. At the onset of the war with Israel, the situation changed immediately. Soon after the war broke out, the Muhabarat “visited” us at home and took my father. A short time later, he was brought to the French embassy. The rest of the family was also brought to Paris and they gave us a visa so we could leave. It was in 1949. We could have stayed in France. The French authorities offered to find a job and housing for us, but my father did not want to stay. He thought that Israel would be good for us. We came to the Sha’ar Aliya Maabara near Haifa, where we lived in tents. Later we were sent to Benyamina between Tel Aviv and Haifa. They showed us a field and some folded tents and said, “This is your new home, assemble the tents.” My father started to work very soon at Vulkan, the biggest factory for batteries near Haifa, so later we moved back to Haifa. Again we lived in tents. Then we got a wooden hut with no water, electricity or any facilities. Later we got a house. As I arrived in Israel at a very young age, I hardly have any memories of Egypt. I was not very good at school, so I apprenticed to become an electrician, and I worked as an electrician until I retired.

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We have two children. Our daughter graduated in literature and history, our son graduated in engineering in Israel and Budapest.

Silvermann Rubinstein Shmuel, born in Alexandria in 1943, Camp Cesar My father was born in Turkey, but his family came from Odessa. My mother was born in Kishinev, Russia; she was a cousin of my father and was sent to Egypt by her family during World War I. In Egypt she met my father and they got married. We were six siblings. I was the youngest. When I was four years old my father died. We had no citizenship at all. My father had a taxi. Later on he worked as a driver for a very rich Jewish family. He was very unreliable. My mother was a seamstress and did embroidery work for the Royal Palace to support her six children on her own. We had Coptic neighbors. Their baby was born the same day I was born. The two mothers were good friends, and when one had to go out, the other one would breastfeed the two babies. We were good friends, and when I visited Egypt I was the boy’s guest. We were friendly also with our Muslim neighbors and visited each other in our apartments. Our neighbors were a mixture of all religions. My parents spoke Yiddish at home. My siblings all spoke the language, but I was too young when my father died. My mother spoke to us only in French. I attended the Jewish school near the Eliyahu ha’Navi Synagogue, which housed the Torah book of the Rambam—Maimonides. I remember the bombardments of 1956, and people started to offend us in the streets. Once I was even wounded by a stone that somebody had thrown at me on my way back from school. They yelled “Za’yuni”—Zionist—after us. After many Jews left, the Jewish community closed the school because there were very few students left. We then had to leave Egypt as well. In 1957 I left Egypt with my mother, my sister and her family. We first went to France with the International Red Cross, where we lived in tents in the terrible French winter. They took us children to a castle in Montpellier. Then they sent us to Israel on our own. They selected some of us to go to Neve Ilan boarding school, and I was among those children. The rest came to Israel two months later and they were put in a house in Acco. After one year in school I left and went back to my mother. In 1959, the two of us went to stay with my sister in Venezuela. It was a very good place to live and life was very good. There were many Egyptian Jews in Venezuela. Today only a few of them are left there. A few years ago we decided to come back to Israel and I am working in the hotel industry. I have two sisters in the USA, two sisters and one brother in Israel, but first they all went to Venezuela. I have three children from my both marriages.

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Yadgard Rodrigues Jeane, born in Cairo in 1926, Abbasiya The Egyptian Jews always studied and had good manners. My grandfather on my father’s side came from Italy. His mother was born in Egypt. Her family came from Iraq. My father was born in Egypt. My mother was born in Egypt to an Italian family. Both my parents had Italian passports and we did, too. We were three siblings. I used to kiss my father’s hand on the Jewish holidays, and he would put his hand on my head to bless me. My father worked at the Barclays Bank, which had foreigners as its clients. At home we spoke French and Arabic. I was in a French school, just like most Jews. We studied in French, but soon we started with Italian and English, and also some Arabic. I attended school until I was 14. Then I was ill and had to stop. After 1948 people used to offend us and throw stones into our windows. We were very frightened, so my parents decided to send us children to Israel where we had family. I got married in Egypt in 1946 and my first daughter was born there. The second was born in Israel. I came to Israel with my family and my brothers in 1950. My parents stayed in Egypt. In Israel they put us in a maabara where we lived in tents for three years. There was not enough food so we were very thin. Our stay there was much longer than usual because we were Sephardim from an Arab country. We were told to become members of the Progressive Party. Then we got an apartment. My husband was an agent for rubber products in Egypt, and when he was called to serve in the army. He paid some money and was released. In Israel he worked as an accountant for the police, then he worked in a prison. As he was very good, he later became the administrator of the prison. He died very young. I wanted to work at the Italian embassy, and they wanted me, but as my second daughter had to have many medical treatments, and so I worked at home as a dressmaker. I have two daughters. One is doctor of sociology and a university professor, the other one is ill.

Yarhi Kissus Alegra, born in Alexandria in 1925 My parents were not born in Egypt. Both came to Egypt from Morocco during World War I. My father was a butcher. We were three sisters. I was in the Jewish school until 1942. It was a very good and happy time for us. We learned French, Arabic and English. We did not have any citizenship. We only spoke French at home. We had neighbors of all religions, but we had only

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Jewish friends. [Zipi, the daughter who was present at the interview, asked, “Are you sure? I am in shock. I always thought I had Egyptian citizenship.”] There were very rich and very poor Jews in Egypt. We were not religious but traditional and went to synagogue. My father did not open his shop on Saturdays. When World War II reached Alexandria in 1942, my father sent me to my sister who lived in Cairo. She was much older than me and was already married. I was 17 years old and got married in Cairo. I remember when Nasser came to power in 1954 and toppled King Farouk. He took very hard measures against the Muslim Brotherhood and sentenced and killed many and made them outlaws. The mob burned shops and houses, even shops that belonged to Muslims. We were very scared. My husband was also born in Egypt, and he had a textile shop with his father. The family was well-off. They had many houses and other possessions. In 1956 they expelled the French and British foreigners. My sister had a French passport and could have stayed in France, but she wanted to go to Israel. In 1957 we went to Israel. We were not expelled. The situation was very hard here in Israel, but we had no other choice. Besides, my sister was in Beer Sheva, so it was natural for me to go there. I did not feel any discrimination in Israel. My husband was very spoiled in Egypt and did not want to do any physical labor, but he ended up getting a job at a ceramics factory. He did not want me to work because of the children. We always had to be very careful with money, but the education of the children was a priority for us. At home we spoke Arabic because my husband did not speak French very well. I always cooked like in Egypt, it was a mixture of Egyptian and Moroccan food, like my mother’s. I have seven children. All of them either graduated from university or went into business. My grandchildren study either architecture or economics at the university.

Yarhi Davidovich Zipi, born in Cairo in 1949, Daher [Alegra Yarhi’s daughter]. My mother’s family came to Egypt from Morocco at the beginning of the 19th century. My father’s family had been in Egypt for several generations. They came from Haleb, Syria. When my parents had three children they moved to one of my grandfather’s houses. As far as I know, my father had a successful textile business and the family was well-

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off. Until the War of 1956 my father also used to work with Arabs and got on very well with them. When the war started, our Muslim neighbors protected us from the mob. I was six years old when we left Egypt. We are seven siblings. We had a Muslim nanny, and when we left she wanted to come to Israel with us. My parents spoke Arabic at home, but my mother only spoke French with her sisters. We were not religious but traditional. My siblings have partners from all over the world. My mother’s brother-in-law worked to get Jews out of Egypt illegally, partly with false passports. A big part of my father’s family as well as my mother’s parents and sisters had already lived in Israel since 1948. In 1957 we came to Israel. My mother could have gone to France because her sister lived in France. When we came to Beer Sheva as my mother wanted, everybody thought we were crazy because most people wanted to go to Tel Aviv. We immediately got an apartment. I studied and did an M.A. One of my sisters did a B.A. One is a dressmaker. One brother is a telephone technician. One brother is a high-tension electrician. Two sisters work in a bank. One of the most important facts in our family was that my parents never spoke about being discriminated against. There were many new immigrants in Beer Sheva; the ones of European origin were better off financially, but it was because both parents worked and my mother did not. I never had the feeling that I missed anything. My father saved from his mouth to keep us in school. One day, his boss asked him how he managed to have this big family and a son in high school in Jerusalem. When the boss heard how it was, he decided to pay for my brother’s tuition. We were very excited because my father would have never asked for help. As I said, my father would not let my mother get a job, but with us, his daughters, he insisted that we kept working after we got married. He had obviously learned. I have three children; all graduated from university.

Zadka Raphael, born in Cairo in 1938, Daher I was very young when World War II reached Egypt, but I could understand that something bad was going on. It was the beginning of my life. My father was born in Iraq and came to Egypt as a very young child. My mother was born in Egypt. Her family had lived there for many generations. We did not have any citizenship although my father made big efforts to get one. We were stateless. My father had a grocery shop and he was able support the family. We were middle class. We were four siblings. I was in the French school and finished with a baccalauréat in 1956. We used to go to the Kenissa Kebira Synagogue near our house on Saturdays. The Karaites

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were non-Jews for us because they prayed differently. This is what we were told by our rabbis who were an authority to us, and we believed them. In the house where we lived there were neighbors of all three religions, but before 1952 we had good relations. During the riots of 1952, however, they would not let us enter the shelter. The 1952 revolution had two parts. Even before it really started, they were burning all shops whose names were written in English or French, like the “Cinema Metro,” whatever was written in Latin letters. Then came the real revolution. Everybody that had fair skin and did not look like an Arab was attacked in the streets. Between 1952 and 1956 we were not chased as far as I remember. Life was normal again. We went out to the movies and other places in the evenings, we were all together: Muslims, Christians and Jews. In 1956 we had problems again. All people with French or British citizenship were expelled, and people like us—with no citizenship—were left alone. I was already registered at the university to study medicine. When I went there at the beginning of the semester they said that we were not desired there. I was attacked very often. We saw that there were no possibilities for us to stay in Egypt. No schools, no work and danger awaiting us at every corner. We started to prepare our leave and got an aller sans retour to leave the country. We could take some 20 dollars each and left our apartment and everything we possessed there. The moment we left, we saw them already quarreling who would get in. The same happened with the shop. It was left as it was. My mother swallowed her diamond wedding ring so she could take it with her. In 1957, shortly after the Sinai War, we went to Alexandria, directly to the ship, and we left for Israel. We were expelled and had to leave. My brother had already been living in Israel since 1949 so it was natural for my parents to follow him. We came via Greece, were the JOINT was active and supported us. I wanted to go to the USA at first and the JOINT was ready to help me, but I had to go with my parents to Israel, as they were old and not very healthy. One of my sisters went to Uruguay and the rest of us came to Israel. After we arrived, we went to a maabara close to Haifa. We got a wooden hut that was populated with cows. We had to get them out and clean the place before we could live in it. We got electricity, but we had to carry water from about 200 meters away. The facilities were a hole in the ground with something around it. The next day I started to look for work and they sent me to the refinery in Haifa. Then, one year after we arrived, I had to start the military service. I was a paramedic in the army instead of becoming a doctor of medicine. After I finished my army service, I started to work in a beer factory near Tel Aviv. Later I got a job at Barclays Bank, where I worked until my retirement. As I don’t have a pension—

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because there was no pension law in Israel until a few years ago—I am still working as an accountant for an airplane company. In 1966 we got married. I do not want to visit Egypt because I took part in the Wars of 1967, the Six-Day-War in the Sinai Peninsula, in the 1972 War of Attrition, the 1973 Yom Kippur War, and in Lebanon in 1982. I saw them. They don’t want us and don’t like us. I can’t tell if it was good or bad to come to Israel instead of the United States. We have three children; two are clerks in a bank. One works for the ministry of foreign affairs.

Zadka Rina, born in Sudan in 1943, Chartum [Raphael’s wife.] Both my parents were born in Egypt. My father’s family came from Iraq. My mother’s family had lived in Egypt for generations. My grandfather on my mother’s side had a big business in Khartoum, and my parents joined him in about 1936. We are five siblings. All of us were born in Sudan. I visited a convent school with Americans and other foreigners but not Muslims. There were about 500 Jews in Khartoum. There was a big synagogue, a Jewish club where we spent our evenings together playing and throwing parties. Life was very good and comfortable. My father had a shop of household goods and he was also active in the synagogue, got people married, was a slaughterer etc. The family feared that Sudan would also expel the Jews like it happened in Egypt, so we left for Israel in 1959. We only took a few clothes with us and came to Israel via Greece. We got an asbestos house with a bathroom and electricity; we were not put in a maabara. I was in an Ulpan to learn Hebrew. Then I started to work in a tourism office. Later I worked for El Al as a secretary. After my second child was born I stopped working. When my youngest daughter was seven, I started working for El Al again. When I came to Israel I never felt discriminated against; it was different in 1959 than in the years before.

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Interviews in the USA Abemayor Gracia, born in Cairo in 1940, Abasiyya We were stateless, because even if you were born in Egypt, as a Jew you did not get citizenship. We first went to Paris, but Italy and France were not prosperous. It was after World War II, so everybody went to other places. We had a very good life in Egypt until 1939. It started during the war, because the Egyptians were friendly with the Germans, and after Al-Alamein many thought that the Germans would take over Egypt, but as the English were there it was not so bad. Shortly after the war, Israel was created, and then there was no place left for us there. They put the men in jail, so many people left. The more people left the worse it became. One morning at five, the Muhabart came looking for us. A neighbor saw them and told us to leave immediately. So we took a taxi and went to my uncle in Heliopolis. I was eleven years old and we were always afraid. But they did not do much harm to us. They took all our money away, but they did not kill us like in Europe. Here, in America, there was a problem at the beginning because we were Sephardim, but it disappeared with time. The schools are mixed and also the Yeshivot. Before, they used to teach Yiddish in the schools, but now they teach Hebrew. In 1982, after the peace agreement, I went to Egypt. I said that I would only go to Egypt directly from Israel with El-Al. It was a great moment for me when El Al landed in Cairo. It was not the same Egypt when we came back. The streets were so dirty, not like it used to be when we lived there. I have two children; both graduated from university.

Aciman André, born in Alexandria in 1951 I can’t stand the Sephardic Jews. The Ashkenazim are much better. I am married to an Ashkenazi woman. If it had depended on the Sephardim, the state of Israel would have never been created. Although the Jews in the Arabic countries also suffered, they would have never left, they would have stayed there forever. I agree with you, that they did not suffer as much as the Jews in Europe did for centuries, but there were harassments there as well. [This was a short interview; it was meant just to make establish as first contact and was

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supposed to be followed by a more in-depth interview. Mr. Aciman decided later that he was not interested in giving me an interview. I never found out the reasons why.] Behar Marcel Nissim, born in Alexandria in 1924 My grandfather came from Bulgaria to Turkey as a child; he was a teacher in Jerusalem. My father went to an agriculture school in Israel and then was sent to Paris to study. When he came back, he thought that there was no future in Palestine and decided to leave with a Turkish ship to Alexandria. He did very well as an agronomist. In 1914 the Ottomans gave him a job as keeper of their property; and he lived like a king in a palace. Then he brought his whole family from Palestine. We lived in Sporting. I visited the elite Victoria College, and graduated with the Oxford certificate. We were members of the Smoha Club. I had only one Muslim friend, al-Naquib, and some Armenian friends. We were not religious, but I went to synagogue on Yom Kippur, Rosh Hashanah and Pesach. My father was an Italian citizen. My mother and we children had Egyptian citizenship. There were no bombardments or curfews in Alexandria during the war, only blackouts. When the Germans approached Alexandria we decided to drive to Palestine, but the Brits would not let anybody go there. Soon there were many British troops on their way and life became normal again, but I was not admitted to an Egyptian high school. In 1943 I was admitted to MIT, the American University in Beirut and went there straight away with a military train going to Haifa. After many inconveniences, we arrived in Haifa. From there I went with a taxi to the far north of Israel, continuing to Beirut, directly to the university. They had many rules, which I was not used to from the college in Alexandria and I did not like it. In 1944 I went to England to continue my studies; I started the class in Birmingham and during my vacation I went all over Europe. In 1949 I graduated and started to work for the Rover Car Company, but I got homesick, so I went back to Egypt in 1951. There I worked for a Belgian engineering company. Soon they sent me away, but through private contacts I got a job in Canada and went there with my sister. My parents came to visit us in Canada a few times and went back to Egypt. It was not a problem for them with their Egyptian passport. In 1955, I married Shirley from Detroit and was allowed to go to the United States and stay. In 1956 my parents came to the Brith-Mila, the circumcision ceremony for my first son, and were not allowed to go back to Egypt. After spending some time in Spain they came to the United States where my sister and I lived. I have four children; they all studied at universities.

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Behar Ricky Richard, born in the USA in 1961 I was born in Detroit. My father came from Egypt. My mother was born in Detroit. Her family came from Izmir, Turkey in 1916. My grandfather told me that he worked as an agronomist in Upper Egypt for the Ghali family, whose son Boutrus Boutrus-Ghali became Secretary-

General of the United Nations. My grandfather did very well financially and they lived on a beautiful estate in Alexandria, which I was fortunate to visit with my parents in 1979. Since my childhood it was evident to me that I grew up within the Sephardic community of greater Detroit. I went to a Hebrew school and had my Bar-Mitzvah. My grandfather on my mother’s side, Jacob Sicourell, was a hatzan. He started the Sephardic community of greater Detroit and was its leader for 47 years. I was an American kid, but I had a father that was not American. My education was strict. We always had Egyptian food, which was different than in other houses. We learned a lot of values from my father. He was not a warm person, maybe because he left home at a very early age to go to boarding school, where his fellow students were King Hussein, Omar Sharif, all the royalty of the Middle East and other important people. I have three young children. They all go to school.

Ben Ezra Albert, born in Cairo in 1944, Center My father was a shoe designer. We lived in Ataba near Harat-el-Yahud, where I went to the Atawi Jewish School. We were poor, my father had to work hard for living. I was a kid in 1956, I did not realize much of the revolution. The Muhabarat arrested a few of my family members. We spoke French, Ladino and Spanish at home. I speak Greek as well. My mother was from Greece. Her father had come to Greece from Poland, where he met my grandmother and they went to Egypt together. We were a big family. We all had Egyptian passports except for my mother, who had Greek citizenship. They used to send me to a Jewish summer camp in Alexandria. We left Egypt in1957. As we were poor, we had to go to Israel because we did not have any other opportunity to go elsewhere. The Israelis offered to send my brother and me to Israel for adoption, but my mother refused. “All or none of us would go,” she said, so we went together via Greece. It took three weeks on sea to get there.

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They took us to Ashdod in the south and gave us a very poor place Pahonim, tin housing without even a roof. My aunt who already lived in Israel came the next day and took us to the Sochnut. The person there liked one of my sisters and said if he could marry her he would arrange everything for us. Two weeks later we had a house in Holon near Tel Aviv. I went to an agricultural boarding school. Then I went to work as a mechanic. Later I served in the army. I was a tank driver. I fought in the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. I used to work for the government as a road builder in spite the fact that I speak Arabic, Hebrew, French, Ladino, Spanish and Greek. In 1977 my brother, who lived in the USA, called and asked me to come. I went, one year later I brought my family. I have always wanted to live here. People are nice and polite in comparison with the naughty average Israeli. We managed to have a good life. My four children graduated from university.

Castro Salomone, born in Alexandria in 1935, Muharam Bay My mother was born in Jerusalem, but because of the problems there they went to Egypt where she later met my father. He had many movie-theaters as well as some buildings; we had our own apartment in one of them. During World War II my father was denied work as an Italian, but as a Jew he was not arrested. After 1948 things were good again in Egypt. I took my baccalauréat exam and studied engineering at the University of Alexandria. I finished in 1959. There were no problems for me as a Jew at the university; later I started to work for a Greek company, which was also nationalized, but I could not leave the company because I was told that they needed me and would not let me go. I wanted to go away abroad but I could not. In 1961 everything was nationalized. They even forced us to pay rent for our apartment, our own property. We were middle class. Life was difficult. The old Egyptians were nice and good, but the young ones that were told the Jews were bad gave us troubles. In 1967, I was arrested and beaten; we were twenty people in a very small room, so we could not even sit down. It took six days; I was fortunate to be an Italian citizen and they deported me to Italy on June 11, 1967. Later my father also left and went to Paris to be with my sister. I spent a few months in a refugee camp. I wanted to go to Israel at first, but they did not offer me a decent job, so when I got a good job offer from the United States and came here. My wife is also from Egypt. I first met her in Paris, and we were married here. Honestly, my heart is not

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here, it is in Israel. My son is a doctor.

El-Wahid Joseph, born in Cairo in 1936, Heliopolis For twelve centuries we lived under Islamic rule and like everybody that was not Muslim we were often treated like slaves. We were Dhimis, foreigners. My mother’s family is from Jerusalem, her grandfather came from the Crimea; they moved to Egypt at the beginning of the 19th century and she was born there. My father was also born in Egypt. My father, like the other men, used to wear galabiya and tarboush and they looked like every other Arab. The myth that the Jews were equal citizens and had a good life in the Arab world is an academic illusion. There were torturing and killing us; they practiced all kinds of discrimination. The Jews lived in ghettos. When the British came to the Middle East, we were emancipated. We were free and did not have to put on these kinds of clothes any more, and little by little we became Europeanized. During the Orabi Rebellion in the late 19th century my great-grandfather became scared because Orabi was xenophobic, so he changed his name to Abd el-Wahid to protect his family; we kept that name. My father was the largest bullion dealer in the Middle East. He was buying and selling gold, silver and platinum. I am a Karaite Jew. I grew up in Heliopolis and attended British schools because my father figured out that the future language of the world would be English, not French. We were educated in a Western way although we were in the East. Every summer we went to Rus el-Bar near Alexandria. My school friends were Muslims, Christians and Jews. Until 1940 life was very good and harmonious in Egypt. Then came the Arab League, the Muslim Brotherhood, and with that came xenophobia. In 1948 the state of Israel was founded; for the Egyptians it meant that every Jew became a Zionist spy and a criminal. Many were put into jails and we were really scared. In 1952, one month after the revolution, the government nationalized my father’s business. Luckily he was abroad at that time and never came back. Shortly thereafter we all left. We needed an exit visa, which was very complicated to obtain, so we had a facilitator, someone who made the arrangements. We had to give him money, so we could leave. We as Jews could not have Egyptian nationality. My father bought a French passport with Tunisian nationality at the French embassy in Cairo. We had money abroad because my father used to bring some out of the country, so we flew to Paris, where he bought an apartment. He sent me to Britain, where I studied economics. When I finished I came back to Paris and continued my studies at the Sorbonne.

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Later I went into business, but I knew that there was no future for me in France. The French took my passport and I got the status of a refugee. In 1962, after ten years in France, Hias purchased us with visas to go to the United States. I went to San Francisco straight away, where I got a good job at the Bank of America. After a few years I became the chief economist of West Cargo Bank. My father died in Paris in 1969 and my mother came to the United States with my younger sister. In 1999 I went to visit Egypt for a school reunion. The Jews there were totally brainwashed by the propaganda and I did not like it. Most Karaite Jews went to Israel and had a very hard time there, because for a long time the orthodox did not want to recognize them as Jews. In the end they had to recognize them. There are about 12,000 Karaites in Israel. Israel was a cultural shock between the European Jews and the ones from the Arab world. There was big discrimination in getting good housing or jobs. Jews from the Arab world were put in bad housing in the periphery and suffered other disadvantages like bad schools etc. They felt very insulted because they were not used to such as behavior. Many used to be on the top echelons of society. I have two children. Both of them graduated from university.

Farhi Alain, born in Cairo in 1944, Garden City At my school, the lycée français, we had Arabic as a foreign language two to three hours a week. Every summer we went to the Eastern part of Alexandria, where there were nice villas. Here in the United States, I belong to the Nabi-Daniel Society. Not like the pogroms in Europe, there were in Arab countries periods of discrimination but it never affected the majority, only the ones who seemed to be dangerous for the political rulers. There was never anti-Semitism in Egypt, except by the secret service, the Muhabarat. Once the Jews from the Middle East came to the United States, they did not develop their own educational system, they were absorbed by the Ashkenazi Jewish system. Many of the American synagogues are Ashkenazi. There are very few history books about the Jews from the Arab countries in contrast to the big amount of publications on European Jews. I don’t know the reason. Most Jews were industrialists, bankers, traders in the bazaar, some were doctors, lawyers, engineers etc. in Egypt. They were part of the bourgeoisie; some were very rich or even royal.

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They belonged to the Egyptian elite like the Suares, the Qarawies and others. There were also very poor Jews in Egypt but there were never Jewish beggars. They were taken care of by the rich members of the Jewish community. Most Cairo Jews started out in Harat-el-Yahud, but as they developed and got financially better off, they moved out of this quarter. My grandfather on my father’s side, who was a doctor, came to Egypt because he had tuberculosis and was advised to go live in the desert for a certain time because of its dry climate. He then met my mother who belonged to the very wealthy Satten family and decided to stay. He worked for the Egyptian government first in Aswan then as the official doctor for the railroad. We had Egyptian citizenship. I have my Egyptian passport to this day. Nasser never hurt the Jews. He nationalized and took everybody’s money, not only from the Jews, but he never killed or imprisoned Jews except for the periods during the war. He never allowed anybody to take any possessions with them when they left Egypt. My father was a lawyer, but he then built a factory in Cairo. In 1956 it was nationalized because of his partner, who had French citizenship, but he got it back because he had Egyptian citizenship. After the War of 1967, he left Egypt out of his free will. I was in France at the university, was able to visit my parents in Egypt and they were allowed to send me money to support me as I was officially an Egyptian student. In 1966 I graduated in engineering. In 1967 my parents had to leave Egypt. In 1968 we went to America, which opened its doors to all refugees during this period. We were provided with a green card and a work permit straight away. It was easy to get the Italian citizenship because, after a big fire in Livorno, the Italians declared that everyone who said he was Italian before would get his citizenship “back.” In fact their purpose was to help the Jews get out of Egypt. Many Jews got the citizenship automatically just by saying they had it before, although this building in Livorno never burned down. There were three types of emigrations: The first wave left Egypt between 1948 and 1956, mostly Zionists who often went to Israel. The second wave left after the Sinai War of 1956. All those who had foreign passports, a big majority among the Jews, were expelled, especially the ones with French or British passports. The stateless Jews were scared and convinced they had to leave. Many went to Australia; the rich went to Switzerland. The poor went to Israel and Brazil. Very few went to Israel out of religious convictions or Zionism. They knew they were going to the desert, to kibbuzim etc. and many did not want to do that. There were also Karaite Jews, a congregation that split from the Rabbinic mainstream probably

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in the 8th century. They believe that only the bible counts, not the books that were written later, as the Rabbinic Jews believe. Most of the Karaites originally came from Iraq and settled in Lithuania and Egypt. After the exodus, there are Karaite communities in Israel and in the United States. I have gone back to Egypt and France as a tourist. It was a pleasure and I enjoyed it. I still have school friends in Egypt. I have two children. Both of them are doctors.

Farhi Piccioto Sarin, born in Cairo in 1945, Garden City [Alain Farhi’s sister.] My grandfather was born in Damascus and was a doctor of medicine. When he became ill with pneumonia he was sent to the desert of Heluan in Egypt for recuperation, which was very fashionable at that time. There he met my grandmother and decided to stay in Egypt and open his practice there. My father had a factory and was an honorable businessman. That is why he stayed in Egypt. In 1957 during the Sinai-War, we were sent home from school and for us children it was a good time, although many members of our family came to stay with us. It was not a scary time. Only one of my uncles was deported to the Abu-Za’abal prison. After that, he was sent to Israel. In 1963 the police came to my father and told him to hand over the keys to his factory. A few weeks later the head of the nationalized industries called and asked him to come and take care of the nationalized factories and businesses because they did not have anybody who could do it. He was actually happy to go back to work and he stayed in this job until 1967. We left Egypt in 1967 after the Six Day War. We were very few left in Egypt by that time. Many people were picked up from their homes and put into jails, and we were worried that my father would also be taken away. Strangely they took at least one man of each Jewish family but not one Farhi was taken, but my father decided it was time to leave. We left very quickly and did not take anything with us. We had the Egyptian citizenship but it was taken away from us. Within a very short time we came to the New York. It was my father’s decision. I studied at the university in Egypt and when we came to the United States, my credits were recognized. After one year in college, I got my degree in chemistry and physics. I have three children. All of them graduated from university.

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Fiorentino Jacques, born in Cairo in 1945, Center After 1948 the Jews had fallen out of favor in Egypt. When the British army started to leave after 1945, there was a lot of equipment that they sold, so my father bought lorries with an Egyptian partner. He had to flee within twenty-four hours in 1952 because his business-partner denounced him and he was to be arrested. My mother and I stayed at her parents’ house until 1958. We were not religious and went to synagogue only for the high holidays; we also kept kosher. In 1956 there were bombardments in Cairo, but the British and French did not bomb civilian targets, only military places, so we saw the bombing, but war was something abstract and for us children it was like a firework. It was interesting more than frightening. In school I also had Muslim friends. These were the children of the elite of Muslim society, but after 1948 they behaved differently towards us Jewish children. I personally did not suffer, but I felt the difference. We were in Alexandria for vacation every summer, and in 1956 I was attacked and they broke my nose. The writing was on the wall. We knew that people were leaving in a systematic way. I am not aware of priorities of the Egyptian authorities in choosing the people, but I know that they started with the rich whose property was nationalized; many were denounced. Some of the factory owners suggested that they stay and train workers to run the business because they cared for their employees with whom they had worked for years. In 1958 my mother and I left Egypt. By the time we arrived in Paris my father was not there anymore, he had gone to Israel already. But my parents’ marriage was on the rocks even before he left Egypt. Later on I met my father in New York. We stayed in Paris until 1961, when my mother remarried an American and we moved to the United States. I studied political science but soon lost interest in getting a job in this field; I am still interested in the political arena. I decided that I want to go into the visual arts, so I moved to Los Angeles, studied filmmaking and script writing and became a writer and producer. My identity is very difficult to define. It is a mixture. Culturally it is definitely French, which was my mother tongue; I’m also very American, more than many that were born here and do not appreciate what they have here. In the way that America is a society of immigrants, I’m typical of that. There is a lot of Jewish culture in me, and a lot of immigrant culture. Being Egyptian is part of my identity, but not an important part. I was never discriminated against. Maybe because they take me for a French person, with my

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name being Jacques.

Lambez Rita, born in Alexandria in 1925 [Jacques Fiorentino’s mother.] My mother was born in Lebanon when her family came from Odessa on the way to Egypt. I went to school, got my baccalauréat, then got married. Before 1948 we lived like everybody else. We were middle class and our Muslim friends were mostly rich people; we were always together because we were all brought up in a French or English way, so we had the same background. Every summer we rented a place in Mandara, Alexandria, near the palace. Many Jews played cards in the Automobile Club with King Farouk. One of my brothers-in-law was arrested and tortured. Then, after the War of 1956, all of a sudden people on the streets would say, “The Jews are the dogs of the Arabs.” I had an Italian and an Egyptian passport. Two of my sisters and my grandmother went to Israel, where they had a hard life. I talked Arabic very well before. I loved Egypt very much and I feel like I am a part of it. I have many books about Egypt and I cook Sephardi food like my mother did. I am very Jewish, I am a Sephardi Jew and I like my Jewishness very much. I like the Ashkenazi Jews here as well; they speak Yiddish and they are colorful, but I’m a Sephardi although my mother was Ashkenazi from Russia. I have one son. He graduated from university and is a film director.

Hazan George Rose, born in Alexandria in 1950, Cleopatra [Toby’s brother.] My grandfather on my mother’s side was the a representative for Singer sewing machines in Egypt. In 1962 we went to France and after six months we came to Detroit. My parents worked very hard here. They had to struggle a lot, but they were happy to be here. I am an Egyptian Jew, mainly Sephardic.

Hazan Toby, born in Alexandria in 1945, Cleopatra My parents spoke Ladino at home. They were originally from Turkey. My mother is half Egyptian, half Palestinian. My father was born in Alexandria. His parents came from Izmir, Turkey. My grandfather’s family on my mother’s side had lived in Egypt for many

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generations. Her mother was born in Haifa, her parents came either from Algeria or Morocco. My father worked with his father in the shop, later he inherited the business. My father’s parents spoke Ladino. We lived in Cleopatra, Alexandria. When I was five, my mother sent me to a Catholic girls’ school and they took me in for two years. Then I went to a Jewish school, where we were taught in Arabic, but we also had French; it was the school near the Nabi Daniel Synagogue. I remember that we always had to speak softly inside the house so our Muslim neighbors would not understand what we were talking about. That was always a concern. From the mid-fifties onwards we were upper middle class and had a good life. My father went to Montaza to the gambling club on a daily basis. I graduated from the Lycée el-Horeya when I was fifteen, and went to the University of Alexandria to study medicine. At that time I was the only Jew at the university, because of the question of religion I wrote Masri. In 1956 I lost all of my friends. They closed the school for three months, and when they reopened it, half of the children were gone. My friends were only Christians and Jews of Italian, Greek, French, and British origin. I went to synagogue alone, just to meet my friends and stay in a safe place. I also sang in the choir. We had contacts only with Jews. We had no passports; we were stateless. In 1961, the Egyptian government confiscated all Jewish possessions, even our furniture; then we had to leave. Officially we were allowed to take with us five Egyptian pounds per person, but my father was able to take some extra money with him. In 1962 we went to France and after six months we came to Detroit with a refugee visa and with no possessions. When we arrived in Detroit with HIAS they gave us an apartment. My father started working in a factory, getting up at three in the morning to go to work. I convinced them by quoting President Kennedy that “we all have to be educated to be able to defeat the Russians”. So I went to State University here, studied medicine and worked part time during my studies. My sister also went to university and studied arts. I never felt that I was Egyptian. I never had Egyptian citizenship, they did not want me there, and when we left they just erased our names as if we never existed. I have never visited the country. My wife is of a Middle Eastern background, and after we were married she converted to Judaism out of her own will. It was very difficult for my parents, and it took them a long time to accept her although we always kept the Jewish traditions and holidays at home. Our children grew up with Ashkenazi tradition in school and Sephardi tradition at home. I have one son. He also is a medical doctor. And three daughters who are married to Jews.

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None of us are religious.

Kleinman Dassa Aimee, born in Alexandria in 1951, Cleopatra My sister was very much favored by my mom. I was hit and screamed at a lot. I was very insecure and not an easy child. I educated my daughter in the opposite way. I never screamed at her or hit her. When we lived in Egypt, my father would order a cab every week and we would go to Montaza, the royal gardens of King Farouk on the beach of Alexandria, for the whole day. We lived very comfortably in Egypt. In summer we had a cabana on the sea like many other families, and we had a very good time there. We never had the Egyptian nationality because we were Jewish, although my family on both sides had lived in Egypt for generations. My father was in the paper import business. He was a very educated person, multilingual, but he was also very patriarchal, so we hardly engaged with my father as long as my mother lived. After 1956, they closed the Jewish school and I went to a Catholic school. My sister and I were the only Jewish pupils in this school. They nationalized everything in 1961, so we left Egypt in 1962. When the doorman saw us leaving he started to cry and told my mother, “Please, don’t go.” I understood it and was very sad. My sister lives in Israel. The family is spread all over the world; we have relatives in Israel, South America and other places. I wish to go back and visit Egypt. I’m yearning to do it. And everybody should know that the Jews left Egypt not because they wanted to, but because they were forced to leave the country. When I lived in Egypt I used to speak Arabic, but I forgot most of it, although I dream of speaking it again. I have one daughter. She graduated from university and is an attorney.

Kleinman Michele, born in the USA in 1980 [Aimee Dassa Kleinman’s daughter.] As a child I realized that we were not Ashkenazim. My mother’s food was different; it had a Middle Eastern touch. My father was Ashkenazi. My mother was not born here and there were cultural differences. She had a Mediterranean and French touch. I am an attorney and an American Jew. I never felt or feel any prejudice from other Jews. Most of the Jews I know here in Queens, New York, are Ashkenazim. I have no personal connection to Egypt, but I have a cultural

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connection to the Sephardi Jews. I have one baby daughter.

Lagnado Clare, born in Cairo in 1935, Abasiyya Our whole family came to Egypt from Syria and we were very orthodox. I had only one Muslim friend, I went also to her house, but I was scared. We belonged to the orthodox group, so we were not allowed to talk even to Christians. The Muslims in Egypt respected the Jews, unless they belonged to a Zionist organization. I was in the Habonim only as a child, later in Bnei-Akiva; both were religious Jewish youth organizations. I wanted to go to Israel to a kibbutz, but my mother would not let me go. My sister had gone to Dimona in the south of Israel at that time, which was a terrible place, and she also told me not to go. I always wanted to go there, but life has kept me here. We went to synagogue every week; we had a kosher home. Every summer we used to go to Camp Cesar Sporting or to Abu Kir in Alexandria for two months. I got married in 1956 and there were only ten people in our wedding because at that time it was not allowed for more than ten Jews to gather in Egypt. When we needed advice or court services, everything was handled by the rabbinate; we never went to an Egyptian court. My brother went to Israel first. Then he came back and went to the United States. He told us not to go to Israel because life was too hard there, so we also came to America. I had an Iranian passport that we bought but I ended up not using it. We came to the States in 1958 and there were very few families from Egypt here in San Diego; the Ashkenazi Jews from Europe called us names like Arabs and other unpleasant things. We have four children; my son is a rabbi in New York. One of my daughters is married to a Lubavitch. My other two daughters are also religious.

Lagnado Eduard, born in Cairo in 1926, Abasiyya [Clare’s husband.] After Nasser became president in 1954 and the Six-Day War in 1967, life became very difficult. Before, with King Farouk, life was very nice; my uncle Lagnado used to play cards with the King. Then they took our company away, our money and everything else. I was forced to stay in the company and teach the Egyptians, who had no idea, how to run the business. There was no future for Jews in Egypt. We left in 1958. Egypt is overpopulated and is not as it used to be, so I’m happy we left.

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Levy Renee, born in Cairo in 1921, Bab-el-Look [Gracia and Alegra Abemayor’s sister-in-law.] My father dealt in Egyptian antiques. He had

his shop directly across the street from the Shepheard's, Cairo's fanciest hotel. He spoke both English and French. He was born in Egypt, but his ancestry was Turkish. When he visited Turkey, he came to Smyrna, where he met my mother and where I was born. My husband was a relative. We met, fell in love, and he brought me to Egypt, where we got married in the Shaar ha’Shamayim Synagogue in Cairo in 1952. I left Egypt with my husband and children in 1957. As he was working for a Jewish company, which was nationalized, we had to leave, but we were able to take a lot of things with us, even carpets and jewelry. We had Italian passports. At the beginning it was terrible for me because I used to have people to take care of the house and somebody for the children, but we managed. My husband was an engineer and soon he got a very good job. We had a beautiful house and as we both spoke English, we did not have any problems to adopt and to integrate. I used to speak Arabic, but I forgot a lot because I do not use it any more. In my family we have always spoken French, until today. My mother did not speak Arabic at all. Everything was in French. My husband went to an Arabic school, so he was fluent in Arabic. I suffered, because contrary to Egypt there was no social life here at all. Both my children graduated from college.

Levy Joseph, born in Cairo in 1957, Bab-el-look [Renee Levy’s son.] We all came to the States together. I was six months old. My father knew that there was no future for my sister and me in Egypt. That is why he decided that we leave. Because my parents were used to the Egyptian way of life, which they also practiced here in America. I was different from other children. I can’t tell you in which way, but I felt that I was different. And although my parents spoke very good English, they always spoke French between themselves as well as with us. I realize that when you look at the people from Egypt, most were well educated and well-to-do. They valued education and spoke many languages. This is, I think, the reason why they integrated so well wherever they went. I am an attorney.

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I have a cousin in Israel, in Bat-Yam near Tel Aviv, and family in Brazil and in other places.

I have three children; my older son goes to Yeshiva University. My two daughters are in Israel in school.

Levy Marc, born in Alexandria in 1939 My father was born in Palestine. My mother’s family came from Turkey. They spoke French with each other. Most of my memories from Egypt are pretty good. The worst was during World War II, when we had to rush to the shelters. Other than that, life was very good. We had mostly Jewish, but also some Greek and Italian friends. I don’t remember going to Muslim friends’ homes although we were friends at school. I visited the British School of St. Andrew’s. My father saw the writing on the wall and knew we had to leave, so he decided to go. We left at the end of 1949 and went to Israel first. We arrived in Israel in 1950 and lived in Bet-She’an in Galilee, in a maabara. The housing was a tent. After a few years we moved to Tyra near Haifa. Later we moved to Kiryat Eli’ezer, also near Haifa. I went to school in Haifa, then I did my military service; after the service I came to the United States to go to school in Berkeley. I studied both political science and economics and got an MBA. For a long time I was planning to go back to Israel, but life has kept me here. I gave my children some values I got from home. I think of myself as an Israeli Sephardic Jew. Sometimes I regret I did not go back to Israel, because I feel that I do not belong anywhere, not even here, where I have lived for so many years. My siblings followed me and all three graduated from university here.

Maier Alice, born in Alexandria in 1931 We Jews of Arab countries did not have the pioneering spirit of the European Jews. Both my parents’ families came from Syria. We were a family of seven children. My father had a big store. Most of my friends were Jewish, but there were also a few Muslims. During World War II everything changed in school and we started to study in Arabic instead of French, as it used to be. French was taught as a foreign language then, but it was always our natural language. My father died in 1945. Then we stopped going to school. Everything was

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nationalized during that time and I was running the books of the business. We went to Nabi Daniel Eliyahu ha’Navi Synagogue mostly for the high holidays. We were observant but not fanatic. We had a good life. I always wanted to be a nurse, so I studied in the Jewish hospital in Alexandria. There were only Jews there, as in the Greek, Italian or British hospitals there were only people from these countries. Animosities had existed in Egypt already before 1948, not only against the Jews, but against all foreigners. My brother and sister went to Israel in 1947. I left Alexandria in 1950, after I graduated, to go to Israel. My mother did not want to go but she ended up going with me. One of my sisters remained in Egypt until 1956. Egyptian people took over the apartments of the Jews even before they left. During the last few nights that my sister was in Egypt, the Muslim families that were to take it over the apartments stay with them. Then my sister left. We went to Israel because we did not have any other place to go to. I found a job in a hospital in Haifa straight away. We stayed in the maabara for about a year and then got a blockhouse in Tyra near Haifa. In the beginning I was very unhappy, but on the Independence Day of 1950, when I was in the streets and saw all the people dancing and chanting, something in me switched. Since that moment I have been the biggest Zionist. This was when I discovered Israel. This miracle of many people from different countries and cultures coming to the newly founded state and mixing, this was a miracle. Soon I married a man from Germany. His dream was to leave Israel. In 1954 he got a letter from his cousin in America, who he thought was dead, and within six months we got a visa to the United States and left. In 1978 I could not cope anymore. I packed everything and went back to Israel, alone, but it was not the same country I had left years before, and I had also changed. I came back to the States after three months. I raised my children with a strong feeling for our Jewish heritage and I always told them how life was in Egypt, but they are Americans. To leave Egypt was a big loss of a whole way of life, which does not exist anymore. I think that there is a big difference between Jews that grew up in Arab countries and the ones who grew up in Germany. The European Jews grew up with an inferiority complex; the whole world was against them. We grew up in the top echelons of Egyptian society; we were “European.” We have a very different culture than they, the Ashkenazi, so everything was very difficult for us in Israel. I have two children. Both of them graduated from university.

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Mayo Joyce, born in Paris in 1957 I was born in France. My parents had come to France from Egypt a few weeks before, after they were given eighty-four hours to leave the country. My mother had French, my father Italian citizenship. My father was an English teacher. He worked with the British and helped to send Jews away from Egypt. I was educated in France. In the seventies I came to the States. I’m the youngest and was brought up in two cultures: Sephardic-Nile and French. I always felt different, in France as well as here. I feel much more comfortable with an Arab than with an Ashkenazi Jew. I’m closer to their mentality. My affinity is a Middle Eastern one. I started an association for Sephardic and Mizrahi artists in New York. I wanted to bring them closer to the mainstream and make American society aware of them. I was soon disappointed with the Sephardim because they are not interested in culture. Most of them are assimilated with the Ashkenazim, also culturally. They are not interested in arts and letters, what makes a life civilized. I’m not talking about education. Many went to universities and studied, but most of them became doctors or engineers. The Ashkenazim appreciate the value of the arts and culture much more today than the Sephardim do. Education was very important to our parents, and all three of us studied. For a long time I could not accept American culture. I ended up working with the arts to express myself. We have cousins in Egypt even now.

Mayo Philips Juliana, born in Cairo in 1953, Heliopolis [Joyce’s sister.] I graduated from university and I am an attorney and work in the film industry. My parents spoke French and Italian, and I never had a real connection to Arabic although both my parents were born in Egypt. One of my grandfathers on my mother’s side was born in Jerusalem, and I understand that we also have some Austrian blood as my mother had blue eyes, but I consider myself a Sephardic Jew. We left Egypt in 1956; we were expelled not only for being Jewish, but also because my mother was French. This is probably why I don’t have much of a memory of Egypt. My parents were not really religious, and did not go to synagogue very often. When I grew up in France, I knew nothing about problems between the Sephardic and the Ashkenazi Jews. I can’t believe they felt superior to us; but the Sephardim on their side did not like the Ashkenazim. I feel proud to be a Sephardic Jew from Egypt. I am ashamed to admit it,

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but my mother always looked down on Jews from other Arab counties. She said they were less educated, which they indeed were; they did not have good manners like the Egyptian Jews, and their socio-economic background was lower. I have one daughter. She graduated from university.

Mayo Lee, born in Cairo in 1953, Heliopolis Cousin of Joyce and Juliana, nephew of Clare Lagnado. Since we left in 1957, I do not have many memories of Egypt or our journey out of the country. The Egyptian Jews were mostly entrepreneurs and businessmen; they did not need education in order to survive in the olden days, not even here in America. It was the mentality of the Middle East. Later they realized that education was important if you wanted to have a better life. My family is very pro-Israel, but I don’t think that any of them would want to live there. A big part of them is religious but I am not, although I celebrate the Jewish holidays and Shabbat, but only in a traditional way. I am a Sephardic Jew from Egypt and I am proud of it. All we have as an Egyptian tradition is our special food. I studied architecture in Berkeley and have worked all my life. My daughters went to Jewish academies and it is up to them to be what they want to. Many, especially from the Jewish Syrian community in this country, bring their sons into their businesses, while the daughters are supposed to marry, not to have an education or a profession; I can’t understand this attitude. Many of my female cousins, who were also brought up like this, are going back to college and insist that all of their children must have a college education. I have two daughters. One graduated from university, the other still is a student.

Mayo Dover Helen, born in Cairo in 1927, Heliopolis [Lee’s aunt.] Life was easy, we had all our families and friends there and it was a very good life. Both my parents were born in Halab, Syria and came to Egypt at the beginning of the 20th century. After I finished my baccalauréat, my parents did not want me to go to school anymore. I had one Muslim girlfriend. I went to her house even though our parents always warned us, “Don’t trust them. Don’t socialize with them.” In the Jewish school, there were

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some Muslim teachers. Here we are afraid of them because we feel like they want to harm us. In 1956 the situation completely changed and they did not want us in Egypt anymore. So it was time for us to leave. We were not expelled because we were stateless. Only the French and the British were expelled. We got a visa to leave within twenty-four hours. It was an aller sans retour, like for everybody with no citizenship. We were allowed to take only twenty pounds per person with us. We went to Israel and it was very hard. We were sent to Dimona in the south, which was only a pile of sand at the time. We soon moved to she’hunat ha-Tiqua, a poor neighborhood of Tel Aviv, and my husband got a job with the post office. It was a poor life. The four of us lived in one room, with no hope of getting out. At the Sochnut, the person who was supposed to help us told me that I had no chance of getting out of the place. He said, “You are Sephardi. The Ashkenazi come before you, so give up.“ When we left Israel, we went to live in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After five years a family reunion was possible, as my family—my brothers and sisters— were there, so we applied and soon came to America. I have three children. All of them graduated from university.

Merdinger Mayo Sophie, born in Cairo in 1929, Heliopolis Mother of Lee, sister of Helen. All Jews lived in Alexandria and Cairo. The rest of the country was backwards like 1000 years ago. Before World War II, Jews lived in Fayoum, Damanhour and some other places. My husband was a contractor. In 1957 there was an exodus from Egypt. We got a visa and went to Greece with my two children. I got a letter from my sister who was in Israel, saying, “Don’t come to Israel,” although we were Zionists. As we had Italian passports, we went to Rome. I carried a mattress all the way to Rome because people told me I might have to sleep in the streets. We spent one year in Rome as my husband got a good job there. My sister who was in Brazil told us to go there. My husband’s brother was in Paris and told us to go there. His second brother was in America and said we should go there. So we went to Paris. My husband got a very good job, but he could never have his own business or become French, so we ended up getting a visa and going to America. We came straight to San Diego. At home we spoke French, but we also spoke Arabic. My Egyptian heritage is diminishing. We did not have any problems with the Ashkenazim here. As we were very few Sephardim, my children went to Ashkenazi schools. We went for a visit to Egypt fifteen years ago and I was shocked. Most of the city is in a very

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bad condition, except for some suburbs. I did not feel well in the streets. I got scared. I had Arab friends at school, but you don’t go out or socialize with them. I don’t trust them. I have one child. He graduated from university.

Menashe Joe Joseph, born in Cairo in 1955, Center/Daher My grandmother was born in Egypt. She was of Turkish origin. My grandparents came from Latvia. In Daher, which is the center of Cairo, there were many synagogues, and my father had his business there. We were a very prosperous community, but it was falling apart. The Copts were the most anti-Semitic of all, more than the Muslims. The average Egyptian is not fanatic, but very kind. They are very nice people, but there are some groups of lunatics, fanaticreligious-Muslims. I went to a Jewish school in French, with Arabic as a foreign language. After I finished school, I went to the Cairo University to study engineering. I was sixteen, and I was the youngest student at the time. We left Egypt in 1973. My father was the only one in the family who was not put in jail. He had a factory that produced cigarette paper, and he had good contacts. I grew up in an Egypt that hated Jews. There were writings on the walls like “kill the Jews,” but it did not really affect me. With the War of 1973 I realized what the situation was. Most Jews had left Egypt before already. In the Shaar-ha-Shamyim Synagogue we were hardly ten to twelve people, surrounded by a lot of Egyptian secret service, which knew everything about every Jew. They listened to our phone conversations and we were completely monitored. My mother went to the Italian embassy and told them that we needed to go away, and we needed help. We immediately got Italian passports. Others did the same and got Italian, French or Spanish passports. As my father was very ill, we could not leave. When he died, I left with my mother and two siblings. It is not easy to emigrate, not easy to pack up and go, but this is our Jewish faith, to always pack up and go. We are the “wondering Jews.” We have relatives in Israel, but as my uncle was here and sent us an affidavit, we took the chance and came to America. Fortunately we had the choice. Israel was the place for people who did not have anywhere else to go. It was a desert and life was very hard there. The problem between Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jews also exist in America. When I first came and was looking for a job, I went to a Jewish company first. I told them I was an Egyptian Jew looking for a job. They asked me if I spoke Yiddish, and when I said I did not, they said I

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could not be a Jew and sent me away. The Ashkenazim are better educated than we are and we belong to a different level of society. It is normal that they don’t want to have anything to do with us. All of my aunts went to different places: the Netherlands, San Paulo and Porto Alegre, Brazil. They started out going to Israel, but left because it was too hard for them there. I have three young children who go to school.

Molkho Angele, born in Cairo in 1916, Abasiyya We lived in Abasiyya; my father was a freelance inventor. It was a nice country and nobody bothered us. I went to an Italian school until I was seventeen. Then my father died and I went to Alexandria with my siblings. I was married in Alexandria. In 1948 many Jews left Egypt, but we stayed there with our two children. We left Egypt in 1958. My husband was asked why he wanted to leave, because no harm was done to him, but he said it was for the future of his children. We all had Egyptian passports. I have two children. Both of them graduated from university.

Molkho Lehrer Grace, born in Alexandria in 1941, Center [Angele Molkho’s daughter.] I was born in Alexandria. My father’s family is Sephardic. They settled in Salonica in the 1920s and 1930s. Forty-three members of his family died in the Holocaust. He was the only one who survived because he was in Egypt. We were a big family. It was a very happy life in Alexandria, but sometimes the attitude of the Arabs was scary. In 1952 there were riots in the streets and we were frightened. My father was injured in the streets. After the revolution, Naguib became president, and he was very nice to all minorities. But two years later, when Nasser became president, he poisoned the people with his speeches, especially against Zionism. He was a very good speaker. My mother told us to be very careful and not upset the Arabs. I went to a Catholic school. Those were the best schools, but after they started to try and convert us we went to a normal French school. We had Christian and Muslim friends, from wealthy families, but only in school. In 1956, all the French teachers were expelled overnight. I took the baccalauréat in English and Arabic. After 1956 it was not pleasant at all. We had to

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be very careful. We used to go to school on the tram, and in the summer we were at the beach all the time. Some Arabs were very nice and they even protected us. Every Saturday morning and for the holidays we went to the Nabi Daniel Synagogue with my father. Passover and Rosh-Hashanah eves were always celebrated with the whole family in our place. In 1958 we left. Because my father was in the cotton export business, which was very important for Egypt, his Arab colleagues protected him. He taught one of them to replace him. My father had already applied for a visa to the United States ten years before. The Japanese, with whom he traded for years, were very happy to give him a job in America. We immediately got our green cards. We lived in New York for a long time. I went to university and got my doctorate in biochemistry. My husband was born in America. He is of Ashkenazi origin. He also got his doctoral degree, and we went to live in Cincinnati. We have family in Israel. I have one son. He is a student.

Lehrer Jeremy, born in New York [Grace Molkho Lehrer’s son.] My father’s family is Ashkenazi, but I feel I am a Sephardi; not Egyptian, because my family did not stay in Egypt for a very long time. We are also AfricanAmerican. As a child, the Jewish holidays were always celebrated at my mother’s family, so I learned the Sephardic melodies, culture and tradition. My grandparents also used to tell us stories about Egypt. We were more attached to my mother’s family. Egypt sounds like an adventure to me. I’m a student.

Oppenheim Jean-Marc Ran, born in Cairo in 1947, Zamalek My father was a convinced Zionist. My father’s family came from Vienna, Austria. In 1860, my great-great-grandfather went to Egypt, like many other Europeans. It was the time of the opening of the Suez Canal. My mother’s ancestors were from Syria and Iraq. One of my uncles was a judge in the mixed courts. My father worked for the Lipton Tea Company. We were very bourgeois, members of the Sporting Club etc. In 1948 my father was arrested and taken to

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the Haksted jail as a Zionist. He was released one year later. My father died in 1951. We subsequently moved to Alexandria. I attended a missionary school. I never felt that I did not belong. We had children of all minorities in school, also Arabs. It was a multicultural atmosphere. We were not observant. We seldom went to the synagogue. I also had many Muslim friends. I became aware of being Jewish after the War of 1956, when the word “Israel” was not to be mentioned anymore. We had letters from Chaim Weizman at home. They were burned and thrown into the toilet. We were in Egypt until 1956, when we were forced to leave. We went to France and stayed there for five years. It was the first time in my life I was called a “dirty Jew.” My mother was not a Zionist and she did not want to go to Israel although the majority of our family went there. She did not want her sons to serve in the army. We went to Brooklyn because my uncle lived there. In 1961 we moved to Manhattan. I was practically fluent in English, because I had attended English schools in Egypt. My mother spoke French, Italian and Arabic, and—typical of Jews like her—she would use all three languages in the same sentence. My brother and I worked from the very first moment we arrived in this country. My mother recreated the lifestyle she had in Egypt, here in the United States. After I graduated, I worked full-time and went to college in the evenings. I was always considered French in this country. Later I started to go to college full-time. I worked with horses on the weekends and was kicked out of college. Then my teacher at the horse farm became my mentor and I went back to my studies. When I started, I wanted to become a veterinary, but I got into a doctoral program in history. I wrote my thesis on the Sporting Club of Alexandria. Then I became a professor here. I’m not a scholar of Middle Eastern Studies, but a specialist on imperialism and colonialism. There are some memoires of Egyptian Jews, which give the impression that all Jews belonged to the middle or upper middle class and were very well-off, which was not the case. There were also very poor Jews in Egypt. Tarek Heggy is an Arab intellectual and my very good friend. He lives in Cairo and we talk a lot on the telephone about peace with Israel. The Egyptian government still lets him talk and write to me. My brother lives in the United States and is not involved in the Middle East or Israel whatsoever. I have one son. He graduated from university.

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Paolini Banown Vivian, born in Alexandria in 1939, Cleopatra My parents’ families were both very wealthy. My mother’s family came to Egypt from Italy and had Austrian citizenship. They had been in Egypt since 1700 or so. In my father’s family were merchants and never left the Middle East since leaving Spain in the 15th century. We were members in the Sporting Club. We went to the movies, to restaurants etc. We had a lovely life until 1957, when we had to leave Egypt. I was seventeen. We never had problems until 1956. We never went to the homes of Muslims and they did not come to us, although we were together in school. Nobody wanted to mix. My father had a Muslim partner. He had to do it after 1948, and they got along very well. My father was a freemason, like the chief of police in Alexandria, who protected us, but they confiscated my father’s shop in 1956. We had French citizenship and my mother had British citizenship. My father went to England to pick up his money, but he realized that all Egyptian accounts were frozen, so he could not get his money. The HIAS organization helped us. Three years later we went to England. I married a man from Egypt in 1960. My husband was an engineer, and we were sent all around the world for almost forty years for his work. We came to the USA in 2001. I speak Italian with my family. I forgot my Arabic. I did not want to remember it. One of my brothers lives in Israel and I visited him many times, but although he was in a kibbutz and married the daughter of an Ashkenazi, one of the founders of the kibbutz, they never treated him very well. We never felt that we were Egyptian Jews. We always remained Europeans. I never went to Egypt again because I did not want to.

Ribakoff David, born in Bukhara in 1926 We came to Alexandria, Egypt, in 1928. My father was in the antiques business. We all attended British schools. We also studied Hebrew. Three of my sisters and I were singing in the synagogue choir. I was a member of the Macabi Jewish youth organization. I studied engineering at the university in Egypt. In 1948, anti-Semitism became more intense. In 1955, I was married and worked for the Mobil Oil Company. As I had a very good job, I did not want to leave, but in 1956 we were expelled and everything was confiscated. We went to Brazil. With the exception of Israel, this was the only country that gave us visas. We stayed in Brazil for seven years. As the situation became bad and we had a big family in the United States, we

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left in 1963 and came here. I have brothers in England, Israel and the States. Here in America, I worked for the Exxon Oil Company for many years. About 50 percent of the Egyptian Jews went to Israel, 10 percent are in Europe, 20 percent in Canada and Australia, the rest are here. The majority of Egyptian Jews that came to the States live in New York. We have many synagogues here. I sent my three children to study gemology. One of my sons became one of the best polygraphers in America. We have three children. They all graduated from university.

Ribakoff Elisa, born in Suez in 1931 [David’s wife.] I was born in Suez and grew up in Heliopolis, Cairo. My father had an icecream and soda factory. Later on, he was a school teacher, and he also prepared boys for the Bar-Mitzvah. Both my parents were born in Jerusalem and came to Egypt in 1914. We were ten children. Two of my sisters live in Israel, one in Italy, the other ones died. I graduated in French, then went to a Catholic school to learn English in Cairo, where we were obliged to bring flowers for the Virgin Mary every day although we were not Christians. Later I studied to be a secretary, but I never pursued this line of work. I helped my father with the teaching for the Bar-Mitzvah. I did the same with my children when they turned thirteen. I remembered how to do it from the olden days. Our three children graduated from university.

Salama Joe Joseph, born in Alexandria in 1947, Sporting My grandparents came from Iraq, Syria and Israel. At home we spoke French and Arabic. I was in a Catholic private school in Alexandria. Just before the Bar-Mitzva I changed to a Jewish school. Once I graduated from high school in 1965, I wanted to attend university but was not admitted because I was Jewish. We were stateless. Later I went to Cairo, where they knew I was Jewish because from the age of sixteen you had to carry an ID card that indicated not only your name but also your religion. My father had a printing company in Egypt. Life was great. We had great festivities during the Jewish holidays. After the revolution they created public schools, and everybody had to go to those school and study in Arabic.

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1956 was really scary, but when the war passed, life went on as it had before. We were comfortable. We often went on vacation, but only within Egypt. We could not leave the country because we did not have any passports. As the number of Jews declined and our friends left one after the other, it became more difficult, but I would not trade my adolescence in Egypt for anything in the world. My friends were all Jews, and after we left we lost touch. We are spread all over the world. Nasser was very charismatic and intolerant of Zionist Jews. In 1956 they came at two in the morning, searched the house and took my father with them. He returned after a few days, but it was very scary, and my father decided we had to leave. In 1966 we left Egypt. As my father had applied for a visa to go to the USA in the early 1960s, we got the visa after a few months and left. We had to apply for a laissez passer; it took a while to get it and it was an aller sans retour. We were allowed to take eighteen dollar per person with us. My father was able to take some 1000 dollars and his golden Rolex watch out of Egypt with the help of the captain of the ship, whom he had known before. We never considered going to Israel because of what we heard about the discrimination of the Sephardim there. We went to France with a HIAS guarantee. The government provided us with a place to live, money and a guarantee that we would not stay in France. We all worked there. I sold t-shirts in France. Since leaving Egypt I have worked every day of my life. When we came to the USA, I went to a Jewish social worker with my mother for some advice. She said to my mother, “Your children that are above the age of eighteen so they have to go to work.” My mother answered, “No, my children have to go to college.“ The social worker answered that only rich people went to college in America. My mother said that everybody would work and the children would study. My sister and I applied for a “Hebrew free loan” and got 500 dollar each. So we went to the State University of Detroit, where we were accepted immediately because our credentials from Egypt were very good. After the first semester we both got a four-point average, which was the highest you could get, and for the rest of the time we studied on scholarships. So the lady was wrong. College is not for rich kids only, but for kids of families that want to send them to school. Later we had to pay some back. Studying is not an exclusive Ashkenazi thing. I became an orthopedic surgeon. We have been successful in America and we are paying back to society. I’m a member of the Hessed Project and Physicians Who Care and of another philanthropic society. We treat people who don’t have health insurance for free. We have to pay back for what has been given to us, and this is again another Jewish tradition, philanthropy. It was passed down to me from my father who always helped people in Egypt.

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When the Ashkenazim in Israel say the Sephardim are no good, they are wrong, because they don’t practice tzedakah, charity. My wife is of European origin. Her father is a Holocaust survivor, and there is obviously a clash of cultures such as: a woman has to be more submissive to a man. This is the Middle Eastern tradition we brought with us, Jewish or non-Jewish. This is different in America. A woman is equal. Besides, I should put my wife first instead of putting my parents first. So we have some differences even after thirty-six years of marriage. She is unbelievable. She always has put my education and that of the children first and I appreciate that very much. The problem of the Middle East started with the British who divided the region into states. I have three children. One is a medical doctor like me. One is an author. One still studies.

Salama David, born in the United States in 1977 [Josef Salama’s son.] My mother was born in Michigan like me. My grandparents on my father’s side spoke French and Arabic, those on my mother’s side spoke Yiddish, and I did not understand any one of these languages. Customs were obviously different at my grandparents’ place. Sephardim eat rice and beans during Pesach, Ashkenazim don’t, etc. I went to a Jewish school and got a very Jewish education, and when I had my Bar-Mitzvah I realized that I put he tefillin in the Sephardic tradition, which was different from the Ashkenazi. I still have my Egyptian grandfather in my memory as a very jovial person who always made jokes. My grandmother was always cooking for us. They always had food that we liked in their house. My son is four years old and he is obsessed with Egypt. He asks his grandfather a lot of questions about Egypt, and my father knows everything about Egypt. I visited Israel last year. It was a family reunion with seventy Salamas who had originally come from Egypt, mostly first cousins of my father, and they told us about the difficulties they had in Israel, about which I did not even know. I’m a medical doctor like my father. I have two young children. They go to school.

Sasson Michel, born in Alexandria in 1935, Sporting My father was an electrician. He did all the electrical work for the King Farouk’s entire palace.

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I attended St. Andrew Scottish School for Boys, and as far as I remember there were no Arabs in this school, only Jews and other foreigners. At home we spoke French and Ladino because my parents were from Turkey and Greece. Only my grandparents on my mother’s side went to synagogue. My father was not religious at all. I started to play the violin when I was three years old. I had many teachers. The first one was Italian. I have given concerts since I was seven years old. Many Jewish families sponsored me. It was expensive and my parents would not have been able to pay for my lessons. Another branch of the Sasson family was also among my sponsors. The best thing for me is walking in the sand on the beach, like we used to do all the time in Alexandria. When I graduated at age fourteen, I went to Paris to study at the conservatoire. It was in 1949 and I stayed in Paris until the age of twenty-three. There were a lot of Jewish musicians in Egypt. Most of them went to Paris to study and they did very well. In between, when I was eighteen, I was concertmaster, playing the first violin in the Irish National Orchestra. I earned enough money to bring my parents from Egypt to Dublin. From there they went to Brazil. Then I was in Paris again and never went back to Egypt. It was about 1956. First I was a violinist until 1965. Then I started to conduct in Boston. My wife was born in New York. She is of German Jewish descent. I played and conducted many orchestras all over Europe and the United States. In 1948 we were very proud to have our own country. In 1954, with the Lavon affair, my first cousin, a professor at the university in Egypt, was hanged. I never passed on anything from Egypt to my children although I feel I am very much an Egyptian Jew. [Michel Sasson was the only musician among all the people interviewed in this book.] I have three sons. One is a college professor, one a doctor, one a television producer.

Sasson Ted, born in Boston in 1965 [Michel’s son.] I grew up in a very small family. My father had no siblings and my mother only has one brother. When I went to Israel, my grandmother took her address book out and gave me the addresses of our family there, of whom I had not known anybody until then. They gave me a very warm welcome. Before my grandfather died, I tried to ask him about Egypt, but he could not tell me very much. I have three children. All of them are in school.

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Shem tov Alegra, born in Cairo in 1937, Abasiyya [Gracia Abemayor’s sister.] There were no schools for girls, so the first year that my brother went to school, he taught us whatever he learned there. Then my father went to the director and got a special permission for me to go to the boys’ school. I was the only girl there. It was a public school, so there were Muslims, Christians and Jews. We spoke French and Arabic at home. I learned English in school in Egypt. My mother spoke Ladino to us; it was her mother tongue. Later on, when I went to school, she started to speak French to me. When we came to America, I went to college and got a degree as a tax accountant. I worked for the government until I retired.

Wiener Nina, born in Alexandria in 1933, Sporting My mother was born in Israel. We also had some rabbis in the family. My grandfather was an engineer. He was in charge of the winery of Baron Rothschild in Israel. My father’s family was from Eastern Europe. My father was a pharmacist and a real linguist: He spoke at least ten languages. My parents got married in Israel. On their honeymoon in 1926, they went to Egypt where a part of the family lived. The situation in Israel was not good and one could not anticipate how it would develop. So they decided to stay in Egypt. My father bought a pharmacy in Alexandria. I remember the time of World War II. We were in France and heard that the war had begun. We came back to Alexandria immediately and stayed there during the war. My father did not want to leave. The Nazis had, together with some Arabs, a plan for a Jewish Holocaust in North Africa, the Maghreb, Libya and Egypt. I realized it recently, after reading some materials. We were not wealthy, but we took classes in ballet and played music. We would go to watch ballet performances as well as concerts and foreign plays that used to come to Alexandria. We belonged to the middle class cultural elite. We lived in a very European setting and looked down on Egyptian culture. So, there were very sophisticated and very, very poor Jews. We were a strange implant in Egypt and never felt attached to the country. I spoke Arabic when I lived in Egypt, but I have forgotten it. The poor Jews were much more attached to Egypt. Our house was open to the Jewish soldiers of the British army who were stationed in Alexandria. The house was always full of them. My sister married one of them, and in 1946 they settled in

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Israel. We often traveled to Israel because I come from a very Zionist background. I belonged to a Zionist group in Egypt. There were also some very rich Jews among the Zionists. In 1948 the situation got worse and worse in Egypt, and my father was arrested at six in the morning on the same day that the state of Israel was founded. As he had Polish citizenship, we got a visa to go to Poland via Italy. We left Egypt at the end of 1949. I went to Israel and took my baccalauréat at the Gymnasia Herzlia. Then I realized that I was not going to help build Israel. I studied psychology in Genève with Piaget. I often think that if my mother had not had a rich brother in Israel we would have ended up in a maabara, because we left Egypt with nothing, and I shudder. When I graduated I came back; I worked with the children of Aliyat ha-No’ar who were brought to Israel from Arab countries alone, without parents. I must say that Israel did not treat them well at all. Some of them were illiterate, but the ones who were brilliant were treated in the same bad way. I realized that wherever Jews went in the Middle East, some soon rose to the top in business, industry, banking, and were very productive elements of society. We have to get rid of our lack of historical knowledge of the real history. The Jews were never considered equal even before the state of Israel was established. They were able to have a good life financially, they prospered, became doctors, bankers etc. and the others prospered with them, but it is not true that the Jews were a happy people. The rich were protected. The poor were never protected. The Arabs were always influenced by anti-Jewish ideas. The Muslim leadership was affiliated with the Nazi leadership and influenced by Nazi propaganda. We cannot just say that the creation of the state of Israel created anti-Semitism among Arabs. It is just not true. Many Jews say that they had a very good life in Egypt, but they were always an inferior minority. Jews from Arab countries are kind of romanticizing their history. In 1977, I created, together with the great Jewish philanthropist Edmond Safra, the International Sephardic Education Foundation that gives children with parents came from Arab countries the chances they don’t get in Israel. We bring only children of Sephardic background from the Israeli periphery to the United States and send them to the best universities in America. It is a big success in thousands of cases. Many of them have become doctors and scientists. Ninety percent of them go back to Israel after they graduate from an American

university.

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Zermati Elio, born in Cairo in 1945, Bab-el-look My father’s family came from a various countries. On my mother’s side, the family had been in Egypt forever. We spoke French and Italian at home. In 1956, after the war, my father had to give away his store, and except for him and me everybody of the family left Egypt. We did not get a visa until early 1960. Then we went to France, where we stayed until the midseventies. I went to school in Britain and in France. Culturally we were more French than Italian. I also got married in France. We had a big family there that had survived the Holocaust. I was an only child. When the family left, I lived with my father in a hotel and went to various schools. I was partly in a boarding school with Christian and Muslim students. I had a lot of political discussions at school because I was considered a Zionist and the others got an antiZionist brainwash from the media. It was a very difficult time without my family. I especially missed my grandmother with whom I had grown up. I had a group of friends, Christians, Muslims and Jewish mixed. When I played with Muslim friends and other people told my grandmother I should not, she used to say, “They are all children of God.” 1948 played an important role in my life. There was tension. The word “Israel” was not mentioned in the open, and mail from Israel came via Italy. We had Italian citizenship. My parents were divorced. My mother’s family felt they were Egyptian and nothing else. They thought that nothing would happen to them because they would always be Egyptian. But after 1948 they had to realize that it was not true. The question why we did not go to Israel is a big mystery for me. Most of the family went to Israel, some went to Argentina, some to Brazil, a few of us are in France, Switzerland and Italy. Some converted to Christianity and are monsignores and priests in the Vatican. I studied literature and history at the Sorbonne. Then I started to direct movies. After I visited my mother in the United States a few times and helped a friend with a film, I started liking this country and moved to America. I make films and write film scripts. I do not practice Judaism and I am not involved with the Sephardic Jewish community. I am a Sephardic Jew who grew up with the ideas of liberalism and equality in France, and I don’t have much in common with the Jews of this country. For some Jews, Israel is the devil, but the vast majority is pro-Israel, which can do no wrong. They support Israel without reservations. For them, every Arab is a terrorist. Most American Jews are assimilated, except for a small sectarian hard core. I am more involved in organizations that promote peace in the Middle East.

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I have visited Israel many times to see my family, and I saw the discrimination towards the Sephardim. First I wanted to go to Israel, but after the Six Day War I felt that they would never give back the occupied territories and I decided I did not want to live there.

Zonana Joyce, born in Cairo in 1949, Heliopolis My mother’s parents came from Aleppo and Baghdad; both sets of grandparents on my father’s side came from Aleppo. His younger brother became the leader of a Zionist group in Cairo in the 1940s. In 1945 he left for Israel. He was professor at the Technion in Haifa. My father had a law degree, but he worked as an interpreter, and was the secretary of the chief rabbi. In 1951 we left Egypt. Since I was only two years old, I have no memories, but when I went to Egypt a few years ago it felt very familiar, like home. My father made the decision to leave Egypt in 1946, during the riots in Cairo. It was a signal for him that the safest thing to do was to leave Egypt. He did not want to go to Israel because he felt it would not be safe for his family. He felt that the struggle with the Palestinians would continue forever. They left for Brazil in 1956, but their family was left behind. My parents spoke French and Arabic when they did not want us to understand. They spoke mostly Arabic with my grandmother who lived with us. I grew up in the Egyptian-Jewishtradition. The most important thing was the family, second was food, only Egyptian food, and a specific hospitality which is very Egyptian and very Sephardic. The expectations for girls and women were very traditional—they had to get married early and not pursue and education. My father made very little money in America at first. Later it became better. My mother never worked outside of the house. When I grew up I wanted to leave home and go to college. It was a big struggle. I was very upset, my father was terribly ashamed and my grandmother wanted to sit shiva, a Jewish ritual for the dead. They could not understand or accept that a young girl wanted to live on her own. I really broke their hearts and their expectations. I identify with Egypt, with being Jewish and I read a great deal about Egyptian history and life. I like Um Khultum and I feel very much at home with my Egyptian-Muslim friends here in the States. So, it is a whole complex of things that makes me identify with Egypt.

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Zonana Nely, born in Cairo, Heliopolis Mother of Joyce Zonana. Life was good in Egypt until the first war with Israel. Then we were afraid. We spoke very little Arabic, only with the servants. I went to school until I took my baccalauréat exam. We did not learn Arabic in school, and I never had any Muslim friends. Most of our neighbors also were Jewish, but the servants were Muslim. I was not very religious; I went to the synagogue only for the high holidays. After the bac, my father said it was enough, and I stayed at home until I got married. My mother was very open-minded and allowed me to go out. Then I met my husband. It was a love-marriage. My husband worked in the mixed tribunal as an interpreter for Arabic, French and English. It was a very good job. He went to the synagogue every Saturday, also in America. When we left, we told nobody we were leaving. They all thought we were going on vacation. I have two children. Both of them graduated from university.

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9. Other Voices Scholars in Egypt el-Abadi Mustafa, professor emeritus in Alexandria My name is Mustapha el-Abadi and I was professor of Greco-Roman Studies at the University of Alexandria. I am retired now, but work as a professor emeritus at the university. I was born in Cairo, but my family is from Alexandria. After the war in 1956 many people remained in Egypt, but the majority of foreigners left between 1956 and 1958. There was a climax of departure and emigration out of Egypt. Nobody was forced to leave, never. Nonsense, I’m sorry to say. I know how things happened and I know people. Things had changed. You know in 1961, 1962 there were new regulations like nationalization of most of the industries in Egypt. Not only Jewish property was nationalized. Once I was in Bari, and we wanted to cross over with the ferry from Italy to Greece. I spoke Arabic and the employees—they were Greeks born in Egypt—said, “Nobody forced us to leave, but we felt that our time had come to an end, especially with the nationalizations.” Hilda Zaloscer—an Austrian émigré and professor who lived and worked in Alexandria from 1936 to 1967—immediately left after the Six-Day War, because 1967 was a disaster for Egypt. The Archeological Society is the oldest cultural and civic institution in the city. It was founded in 1893, and a good number of the members were from the European community in Alexandria. You know, Swiss, Greek, Italian, British. And in 1967, but in particular between 1956 and 1967 many people left and conditions were not very stable in this society. Alexandria, 2008.

Nur Shareef, professor emeritus in Alexandria Shareef was head of the English Department at the university. I graduated from Cairo University in 1942 and got an M.A. in Cairo. Then I got a 238

scholarship to study in England and I got my PhD from London University. Then I returned to Egypt. Your origin is important. If you look foreign and you don’t speak the language, you will be foreign. When the British occupied Egypt, they would behave very superior, and they wouldn’t learn the language. So you can understand why these people are always considered foreigners. There are a lot of foreigners and they are friends, you don’t really need the language to be friends. Alexandria, 2008.

Awad Mohamed, architect, project-manager at the Bibliotheka Alexandria I can only tell you that the Jews of Alexandria played an important role in the city. I learned about this from my father who was very upset about the fact that there were no Jews left in Alexandria anymore. More than half of the Italian community was Jewish. They were important on many levels in Alexandrian society: culture, trade, banks and a lot more. They were an integral part of society, and until 1948 there were no problems between Jews and Muslims. Jews were also important patrons. They built hospitals and schools also for non-Jews. They were very international and they were Zionist. From 1948 onwards, their situation declined and they started to leave Egypt. In 1952, it became very complicated for all foreigners, even those who had lived in Egypt for generations. They had to leave the country. This was “thanks” to Nasser. Did you know that Taha Hussein and the dean of the University of Alexandria gave the inaugural speech at the opening of the Tel Aviv University in 1936? We are preparing a book here at the library about people that were important for Alexandria in the time after World War II, no matter what religion they had or where they came from. Alexandria, 2008.

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Scholars in Israel Gershoni Israel, Tel Aviv University, cathedral of Mizrahanut—Middle Eastern Studies I never studied Egyptian Jews. I see a problem if an Israeli who does not know Arabic gets involved in this topic. Gudrun Krämer is a pioneer researcher on this subject, although she never criticizes anything about Jews, which has to do with her being German, I suppose. It is also very important that she is an outsider. She speaks Hebrew and Arabic fluently. Another expert is Joel Beinin. He is a big anti-Zionist and is definitely not objective, always against Israel, not always coming up with evidence as he should have for his arguments. A historian should not judge unless he has all the evidence lined up. He must put things into context and use all the evidence and proofs in order to be trusted. The Jerusalem ascolla, to which I belong, has really emphasized this. The New Historians of 1988 do very good journalistic work, but they are too political. Benny Morris for example is a better journalist than a historian. He uses Israeli, but not any Arab materials. [Partly because he did not get access to them. A.D.] There are some people that think that the situation in the Arab world was always bad for the Jews, even before 1948. Some came to lecture here in the 1980s and students from countries such as Iraq and Egypt stood up and told them that it was not true [no names mentioned], that it was true only for the time after 1948. The Jews from Arab countries in Israel voted mostly for Begin and his right wing party because they were discriminated by the Ashkenazi elite, which mostly voted for the Socialist Party. The biggest different between Ashkenazi and Sephardi Jews is that the latter did not experience a Holocaust. Therefore, the world did not recognize them as refugees as it was the case with the Ashkenazim. As a result, some started to tell stories about their suffering in the Arab countries, but it is not true. It has to do with the “Zionist master narrative” and with the idea that we Jews have always suffered, everywhere in the world. Academics in Israel have provided very good and objective materials for this narrative. In your work you are taking a narrative of memory and putting it into the context of your choice. It removes you from the Zionist narrative. 240

I am happy to you are working on this subject in Vienna because you can write about it in a different way than an Israeli scholar would. Tel Aviv, 2011.

Kupferschmidt Uri, University of Haifa, Social History of the Middle East I conducted some studies, one on the Muslim Brotherhood, one about Belgians in Egypt (I’m from Belgium), and I am still working the topic of foreign industrialists in Egypt, which feels uncomfortable to the Egyptian authorities. According to the population census of 1927, which is considered standard, there were 225,000 foreigners in Egypt. A third of them were Jewish. Many considered themselves Greek, Italian etc., rather than Jewish. An estimated number of 65,000 and 85,000 Jews in Egypt in 1947 calls for further explanation. Scholars such as Gudrun Krämer, Shamir and others study the subject, but it is still under-researched. Samir Raafat, a good friend of mine, knows a lot and wrote many articles about Egyptian Jews. Egyptian Jews have many different memories and opinions about their life there, which makes the subject so interesting. Most of our scholarly attention has been focused on the middle and the higher echelons of Jewish society in Egypt. Not much is known about the lower social strata. In the last few years, new departments for the investigation of the Egyptian Jewish subjects have been created at the universities in Israel. Haifa, 2011.

Meital Yoram, Ben Gurion University, Beer Sheva, chairman of the Chaim Herzog Center I don’t like to use the term “exodus” for the historical event of Jews leaving Egypt because it comes from a different context, which has to do with the history of the European Jews. Many Egyptian Jews left because they saw the writing on the wall before they were 241

forced to leave, so the term has another connotation. For my book about Jewish life in Egypt through the lens of historical and architectural sites in Cairo and Alexandria, I conducted ten interviews to complete the picture. Beer Sheva, 2011.

Bejerano Margalit, Hebrew University Jerusalem, Department of Oral History We don’t call it oral history here, but oral documentation. The interviews are used as regular documents. In historical research, you take the personal stories and weave them into the real history of the time. Even when you use documents such as birth certificates, they might be false, so you can rely on the interviews like on any other document. You can mix the historical facts with the knowledge gained through interviews. You can’t gather statistical data because it is not a representative sample, but you glean a certain truth. You are getting at collective history. In the tfutzot, the diaspora, in all countries where Jews live (except Israel), they keep the tradition of their original countries much more than it is done in Israel. This is easy to explain: when the majority of society is non-Jewish you are an “Egyptian Jew.” When the majority of society is Jewish as it is in Israel, it is not necessary to emphasize it. When you finish your PhD I would like you to add your interviews to our Hebrew University collection so they will be available to other scholars. Jerusalem, 2011.

In the United States Beinin Joel, San Francisco University, Department of Modern History of the Middle East I have interviewed many Egyptian Jews of both the rabbinical and the Karaite communities. I spoke Arabic with my interview partners. I have interviewed people in Egypt, Israel, the United States and France, Jews and non-Jews. Some Jews did not speak Hebrew, others could not express themselves in Arabic. 242

Egyptian Jews who went to Israel were not one uniform group. There are Karaites, Zionists and others. For the most part, the kibbutzim did not want the people from Egypt. They considered them primitive because they came from an Arab country. However, some Egyptian Jews told me that they used to read newspapers in French, and the founders of the kibbutzim were less educated than they were. Most of them ended up leaving the kibbutzim. In Israel, equal opportunity did not exist for Jews from Arab countries as it did elsewhere. The Jews from Halabi and Aleppo consider themselves a Sephardic elite everywhere in the world. Everyone has his or her own stories and interpretations about life in Egypt. Memory has changed in the many years since these people left Egypt, so even the stories about historical facts are different. This is a natural development in the autobiographical genre—people start writing many years after things happened, but even the historical facts are difficult to known in this case. Do you know that nobody even knows how many Jews lived in Egypt in the 1940s? Tel Aviv, 2011.

Bostanian Louise, born in Greece in 1922, lives in Alexandria [Mrs. Bostanian is Armenian. She has lived in Alexandria since 1922.] Her story: My father had a big family in Egypt. He was killed by the Turks. I went to the French school. It was a mixed society of Christians, Jews and some Muslims. During World War II we moved to Cairo, where I got married. We had a rich Jewish community in Alexandria. My husband and I used to have Jewish friends and customers in our shop. They were all very well educated, had good manners and were very polite. Our shop director was a Jew from Greece. Our neighbors were also mixed; we were very good friends with the Cohen family and I am still friendly with Mrs. Cohen. She lives in Alexandria and is Italian. We live near the Nabi Daniel Synagogue, and when she goes there for the Jewish holidays, we meet. Most Jews had foreign nationalities and were very well-off. They were first in commerce, in the cotton business, in banks, and we were proud of them. They were very generous; they had their own hospitals and schools, which were very good. Egyptian patients also

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went to the Jewish hospital and even Muslim children used to go to the Jewish school. It is a big pity they left. It was a loss for the Alexandrian society. Many Jews have come to visit. I have two daughters. One lives in the United States, the other one in Germany. They don’t want to live in Egypt, but we visit each other. [The interview took place in New York in 2010, at a reunion of about eighty Jews from Egypt. Although Mrs. Bostanian is not Jewish, she came to meet some old friends.]

Dr. Said el-Wardani Neil, born in the United States My father studied at the University of Alexandria. Then he was sent to California to complete his studies and he did his PhD there. My mother is American. My parents were married in 1956 and sailed to Alexandria, but the ship was not allowed to enter the harbor because of the Sinai War. They returned to the United States and my father was a professor at the University of California. Not only did he want to go back, he was also obliged because the Egyptian government had paid for his education in the United States. They tried to go back again in 1967—what a timing! Again they could not enter the country, so they came back to the United States and stayed here. My family is spread all over the continents, but I have a big family in Alexandria who I visited many times in my childhood. Then I went and stayed there from 1992 to 2000. My uncle is a very successful businessman. He told me that he used to do business with everybody: Muslims, Christian and Jews. The Jews were first and foremost Egyptians. Religion was not important, only that everybody was Egyptian in the first place, like it is in the United States. Egypt was not divided by religions. The troubles started in 1948 with the founding of the state of Israel. As only about half of the Palestinians are Muslims, they were no Muslim Brothers but Arab Brothers, which caused the problems with the Jews. Another myth is that the Jews left because they were expelled. The truth is that the Jews left because Nasser nationalized their property. So was my uncle’s, and he was a Muslim. He also left Egypt and went to Sudan with his family. There he built a big business, which was again nationalized after fourteen years. After that, he came back to Egypt and started all over again. So it is a question of wealth and not one of religion. The Jews were not targeted any more

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than the others, the non-Jews. They had a place where they could go to, the others did not have this opportunity. The Jews were always welcome not only in Egypt but also in all other Arab countries of the Middle East. The Egyptian Jews had no reason to leave. They were very intelligent, they were good people, they were counted among the elite of society. Philanthropy played an important role for wealthy people in Egypt, and until today the mosques and the churches are the institutions to provide for the poor. So it was not a specifically Jewish concern. I spent eight years in Egypt and did public health work and health education, which I studied at UCLA. When I left, I went to London and did another M.A. and my PhD on the policy process of health reform in Egypt, which unfortunately did not work well. I have both American and Egyptian citizenship and I feel at home in both countries. I am Muslim, but I don’t practice, like most people, Jews and Christians here. Los Angeles, 2010.

Tawill Isabelle, Alexandria [Isabelle Tawill is 94 years old She was born in France and after she married an Egyptian seventy-three years ago, she went to live in Alexandria. She only speaks French.] We used to participate in lectures at the Maison française, the Atelier or the Archeological Society. We were mostly foreigners from many countries of origin, Christian and Jews together, and there was no difference at all, but after 1948 everything changed. First the Jews left, than the other ones. I was able to stay because I got Egyptian citizenship from my husband. Alexandria, 2008.

Sephardic–Mizrahi Voices Na’ama Garshi In New York, you don’t have to be American. You can remain a foreigner for the rest of your life. You can choose your identity. You can be Jewish, an Arab Jew or an Arab245

Jewish Israeli and nobody will question you. It is easier to be a Mizrahi in New York than it is in Israel. It is easier in New York to think about your identity because you are not exposed to the ignorance and discrimination in Israel. Nobody will try to question your identity. You are just what you say you are.1349

Gini Alhadeff The Sephardic Mediterranean is a multilingual world without frontiers. I could not stand the snobbish society in Alexandria although I liked the luxury.1350

Lucette Lagnado Several years ago, a daughter of the wealthy Jewish Castro family from Egypt went to a lecture by Jehan Sadat, Anwar Sadat’s widow, in New York. Afterwards, Mrs. Castro exchanged pleasantries with her. ‘But you must come back to visit [Egypt] and to show it to your children,’ Mrs. Sadat said, adding beti betak – ‘my house is your house.’ Little did Mrs. Sadat appreciate the irony, but her presidential villa had belonged to the Castro family, which was expelled by Nasser in 1956.1351 In 1952 Cairo suddenly was in flames. Arsonists had targeted movie theaters, banks, department stores, foreign travel agencies and cafés—all symbols of foreign wealth. In his hate-filled speeches of 1956, President Nasser swore to bring down colonialism, the monarchy and the state of Israel. The situation got quite uncomfortable for Jews. “Jewish Egypt is a thing of the past. It no longer exists and will never rise again in the future. It was a cultural decimation.”1352

Jean Naggar I did not think it was strange to celebrate the exodus from Egypt in 1540 BC when I sat down for seder dinner in Cairo. It was just a ritual. We were Jews and later we turned into the enemy. When the Suez Canal was nationalized, the life and work of many generations was terminated. In 1957, an Egyptian civil servant came to see us and said, “You have to leave Egypt immediately, with one suitcase per person. It was not until I came to the United States that I started to be defined by my religion. 246

Before I never was a Sephardi, but because I, a Jew, did not speak Yiddish, this was used as an explanation.1353

Yitzhak Gormezano-Goren I believe the professors when they only consider things that their favorite authors write as high culture. They think that the Mizrahim can write folklore at best. But even if our genetic make-up is different, there is no doubt that our country is experiencing a very beneficial levantinization process and that the Levantine element will be another aspect of Israeli identity.1354 When we emigrated to Israel, my father explained his decision in the following way, “If there is a land for Jews, it is only logical that we should go there.” He was a proud Sephardi, just like all other Sephardim. But even if they were poor, they considered themselves the Jewish nobility.1355 At that time, sabras were pretty rough. It came as a shock to the sabras and the teacher that I was the only child in class to know some of the answers to the questions they asked. They never forgave me for that.

Jacqueline Kahanoff Jacqueline Kahanoff lived in Cairo in a colonial English society until she was twenty-four. She attended a French school, spoke French with her parents, English with her nannies and Arabic with the servants. Often called a “Levantine cosmopolitan,” she advocates for a “Mediterranean option,” i.e. a cultural and political dialogue in the Middle East.1356 Jews from the Islamic world only wanted to be heard in Israel, which did not happen. They did not have the verbal clout that European Jews and sabras had because they were neither brash nor insolent. They just were not raised that way.1357

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Ortal ben-Dayyan Born in Kiryat Shmona1358 in 1981, of Moroccan descent. “The relationship between Mizrahim and Ashkenazim manifests itself to me through the lens of racism. My Mizrahi consciousness developed long before I went to university. They called me “freha,”1359 primitive girl. People had low expectations of me and when I got good grades at university, my fellow students were surprised. Being a woman and a Mizrahi is a double burden. I knew I had to finish my studies to get heard.” (…) “The moment Mizrahi history became public knowledge, Zionism lost its legitimacy (…) There is a correlation between social stratum and ethnic identity. The gap between the Mizrahim and the Ashkenazim exists to this day.”1360

Sami Michael Racism is on the rise in Israel because various elements in parliament and in the government stoke racist sentiments, both verbally and by instituting anti-democratic measures against foreigners and human rights organizations. (...) Israel is the most racist country in the Western world. The rupture between European and Mizrahi Jews still exists after 60 years and has taken the shape of social racism.1361 Samy Smooha commented on Michael Sami’s address in the following way, “Many Ashkenazim have a hard time dealing with racism.”1362

Sami Shalom Chetrit In my generation, it was necessary and advisable to hide and erase your identity and to talk like an Ashkenazi. The need to integrate in Israeli society, to be and behave like the Israeli-Ashkenazi, was a life necessity. The moment a Mizrahi talks about equal opportunities and justice, he is considered a whiner. We need to rewrite our history, our narrative and our own truth, which has been brutally erased in Israel. They called our “belly-feelings” an inferiority complex. “Soon I realized that my life takes place between two oppressions: being oppressed as a Mizrahi and being an oppressor towards the 248

Palestinians.” His book The Mizrahi Struggle in Israel: between Oppression and Liberation, between Freedom and Alternative, 1948-2003 was published in Hebrew.1363 Chetrit, Interview, Haaretz, May 16, 2014.

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10. Interview Analysis

General Observations Immigrants to the United States and Israel cannot be compared to “regular” migrants to other countries because they moved to two typical immigration destinations. Many of the people who settled in the United States and Israel were once immigrants themselves and knew what it was like to be an outsider to a community. The image of the “wandering Jew” comes to mind when describing the migration of my interview partners. The parents of many of them had moved to Egypt themselves from Europe, Syria, Iraq, and countries in the Ottoman Empire between 1900 and 1918. These ancestors integrated into Egyptian society, learned the language to the extent that it was necessary, and were able to make a good life for themselves. Even though many of them were foreign nationals and often spoke the language of their country of origin, they still considered themselves Egyptian Jews. My interview partners were able to integrate well into Israel and the United States because of their linguistic skills and excellent abilities to assimilate. After all, they had grown up in the cosmopolitan cities of Alexandria and Cairo before 1948, where many nationalities mingled and did business with each other. In spite of marked differences, they were open towards and accepted other cultures and traditions. They could not easily be labeled as “Arabs”—as was the case with other minorities from the Middle East—because they spoke their lingua franca, French, besides a few other languages. This connection to the language, culture, and traditions of the country and its different communities has remained an essential part of their identities. This is especially true for people who were older when they left Egypt. Frequently, the first generation passed their love to Egypt on to their children,1364 in an abstract, fairy-tale form that was not culled from firsthand experience. Even though many of the children have never visited Egypt and do not have any cultural or linguistic connection to the country, they continually stress that they were proud of being from Egypt.1365 Some of my interview partners told me extensively about their lifestyle, their elegant homes and mansions, their servants, and—not least—about the social status of the “foreign elite,” to whom many of them belonged.1366 Shohat notes that, in addition to being Jewish, Jews also shared a “Judeo-Islamic” heritage.1367 This means that their Jewishness was specific to the Islamic world that influenced it, just as Christianity did with Europe.1368

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Tradition Egyptian Jews brought with them a traditional Egyptian way of cooking and making art.1369 It was not until the 1970s that the first biographical and autobiographical books on this topic were published.1370 They were written by émigrés or by their descendants. Later, these writers1371 also turned to other topics and genres. A love for Egyptian music and film mostly existed among the refugee generation who had left Egypt as adults. Socialized in another culture, younger people do not share this sentiment. What has remained from their culture of origin is often a respect for their parents and other people in general, a sense of hospitality, and a predilection for “mother’s food”1372—just as is the case with Ashkenazi children. Even though immigrants initially founded their own associations, they did not focus so much on their Egyptian cultural heritage in their meetings. They were mostly interested in speaking their language and practicing the customs that were foreign to people around them. Today very few young people come to these gatherings. Integration has obviously worked.1373

Identity Jews from Egypt had traditionally little interest in politics, which remained the case in Israel and the United States. They considered politics “low, dirty, not for us.”1374 All the people I interviewed are a bit reserved, modest, friendly, and well-mannered. Their identity and affiliation manifest in the following ways: 1. Their extended family was their most important backbone while they lived in Egypt. Today they are more rooted in their nuclear family. Because of exile, their families have often been dispersed on various continents, which was very painful for them in the beginning. On the other hand, because of this, they are connected to a worldwide network that they maintain through mutual visits and family gatherings on special occasions. 2. The older generation initially had a compatriot circle of friends, not least because of the shared language and traditions. For those who grew up in the new country, origins and friends from back home did not play as important a role.1375 Their circle of friends included acquaintances from school, university, work, etc. Even though many of their children attend

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Jewish schools in the United States, they make friends with non-Jews after they graduate.1376 3. Through their religion: Egyptian Jews are Jews by origin and affiliation, but they mostly led a secular life in Egypt. For those who live in Israel, faith plays a minimal role because their Jewish identity is congruent with their Israeli nationality. In the United States, secular Jews sometimes go to synagogue. In Israel, this tends not to be case.1377 Jewish holidays such as Passover or Rosh-Hashana are celebrated with the extended family in the United States and in Israel. Among all the people that I interviewed, only Mrs. Lagziel in Israel and Mr. and Mrs. Lagnado in San Diego, California, were strictly observant Jews. They kept kosher, attended synagogue regularly, and observed the Sabbath laws; i.e., they did not drive or turn on the lights in the house. Mr. Lagnado introduced these traditions to the family. Originally raised secular, Mrs. Lagnado accepted her husband’s way of life. All of their children keep the same traditions. Mrs. Lagnado’s two sisters, whom I also interviewed, are non-religious,1378 as are their children. In the United States, religion forms part and parcel of a Jewish identity, but is interpreted differently. All those who have moved to the United States have sent their children to Jewish schools, even—if no Sephardi schools existed—to Ashkenazi ones. Parents have also expressed a desire for their children to marry Jewish partners. Most of them told me proudly that their children had Jewish partners or had married Jews. This is not the case for all of them, however. Some of them keep kosher, but drive their car on the Sabbath. Some of them attend synagogue once or twice a month, others only on Jewish holidays. In most of the interviews, people have expressed a strong connection to Israel, even though they view the country critically. Only one interviewee told me that he regretted not immigrating to Israel.1379 4. Through their origin: The question of one’s origin is important both in Israel and the United States, probably because they are first-generation and second-generation immigrants. This question comes up in many conversations in both countries and is not considered discriminatory.1380 In Israel, people consider themselves Israeli, Sephardim, and sometimes Mizrahim. In the United States, they define as Jews, Sephardim, of Egyptian origin.

Social Aspects Like all other non-Muslims, Jews were always considered foreigners in Egypt. They also

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defined themselves as such, identifying more with other foreigners than with Egyptians. Muslim Egyptians never considered them equals.1381 Harel describes his experience as follows: “[We were] inside and outside, belonging and not belonging, identifying and not identifying with Egypt.”1382 In every Jewish family, European culture mixed with Jewish tradition, and Eastern with Western values. As long as they lived in Egypt, people did not consider themselves Egyptian. In contrast to Jews in Europe, who always identified with the countries in which the lived, Jews in Egypt lived in an environment marked by a long period of colonialism, with a foreign elite. Jews belonged to this elite. For well-to-do Jews, it felt natural to identify with foreigners. After all, their children went to the same educational establishments, i.e. French, British, Italian, and convent schools. What also made Jews an exception was their focus on education. If their parents could not provide themselves with a good education, they would see to it that their children had one. “My father said that I had to go to university because everything could be taken away from me, except for what I had in my head,” one of my interview partners told me. Integral to Jewish culture, this sentence was etched into the memory of Jewish children as a protective measure— be it in Europe, Egypt, or other countries.

Emigration/Escape Many of my interview partners arrived in Israel between 1948 and 1951. Three of them moved on to the United States from there. The table at the end of the book suggests that all people who live in Israel arrived there directly from Egypt (expect for a short transit stay in France or Italy). Only three people immigrated to the United States directly from France. Some of them stayed in France longer while they waited for their American visa. Some of them were undecided, or traveled onward to the United States because they could not obtain a visa or work permit in France. Some people stayed in France for up to sixteen years.1383

Nationalization It is interesting to note that people gave me different accounts of how Jewish property was nationalized. What emerged from the interviews was that property was nationalized at different

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times in 1947/48, 1952, 1954, 1956, 1961, 1965, and 1967. For lack of information from the Egyptian side, I was not able to determine why this process lasted for two decades.

Until this day, confiscated Jewish property has remained in private and public possession. In 1972, the confiscated assets were estimated to amount to US$2 billion.

Schooling and University Education I was not able to determine what opportunities Jews had to pursue a university education in Egypt. Some of my interview partners told me that they either were not admitted to university or that they started out at university, but had to leave at a certain point. These dismissals started in the years 1947 and 1948 when the State of Israel was founded. Others started attending university in the 1950s. Ovadia Jerushalmi told me that he was not admitted to the University until 1963. He was not asked to declare his religious affiliation and told nobody that he was Jewish. Nobody checked over his records either.1384

Language The people I interviewed spoke to each other in French with Greek, Arabic, English, Hebrew and Ladino words and expressions mixed in. The table tells us the following about the diversity of languages spoken: In Israel, I conducted all but three interviews with older women in Hebrew.1385 Most of my interviewees also speak English and French; their other languages have mostly receded to the background. When I asked them to speak Arabic with me, they told me that they thought they could not do it. Five to six people tried to speak Arabic, but failed in their attempt. In the United States, the situation is totally different. French is still a language of communication for most of them, as well as for the generation that left Egypt when they were children. This is due to the fact that they always spoke French at home with their parents and grandparents. Some grandchildren regret deeply that they do not have a common language with their grandparents. When I asked to conduct the interview in Arabic, sixteen people spoke Egyptian Arabic with me. The rest did not think they could do it. I conducted four interviews in French, all others in English.

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A Sense of Belonging In Israel, this question is not an issue because everybody “logically” defines as Israeli and Sephardi.1386 Problems associated with being labeled a Sephardi or a Mizrahi do not lessen this identity. This issue is described in detail in the section on discrimination in Israel. In the USA, the answers are varied: I am Jewish; Sephardi; from Egypt. Some people define themselves as French because French is their native language and because they stayed in France for an extended period of time. Some of them told me that they felt uprooted because they live in the United States and not in Israel.1387 Israel is an issue for all of them.1388 Feelings for Israel range from unconditional love for the country to strong criticism of the country’s politics. Israel does not leave anybody cold. Many of my interview partners have an attachment to Israel because some of their family members live there. It might also have to do with thousands of years of Jewish history and the fact that many people consider Israel the ultimate homeland. Israel can also be an abstract alternative, as was the case with Zionism during World War II. Israel plays an important role in identity-formation as a Jewish homeland. When people support the country financially, they have an easier conscience. I encountered this attitude in many of my conversations even if my interview partners did not address the topic directly. They may consider this support as a form of protection, just in case they need it (even if they are not aware of it).1389

Generations We can assume that certain views on and reactions to the exodus are correlated to the age of a person. Going into exile evokes different reactions. Irrespective of the character, status, and mentality of the person, there are some typical characteristics that people of a certain age group share. Overall, we can assume that the older a person gets, the harder it is for him or her to integrate into a new environment.1390 Both in Israel and the United States—two typical immigration destinations—communication between the older generation and the generation of all those who have grown up in the new countries is hard because of different mindsets. Inevitably, conflicts arise because both older and younger people have assumed distinct identities shaped by the cultural differences between the country of origin and the new country. “Are we dealing with a generational pattern passed

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on through cultural and social norms or with a history of discontinuities?”1391 Or is it both?

The Younger Generation The younger generation comprises unmarried people who were under the age of 25 when they left Egypt. Except for a short period of insecurity and fear in Egypt, the escape was an adventure for them, as is often the case with children keen on learning about new and exciting things.1392 For this generation, especially children under 18, the new countries were an exciting place to go to. In exile, children learned the new language very quickly and soon associated with other children. Most of them studied at university. In Israel, young men had to do their military service; young women often could not serve in the military because their fathers would not allow it.1393

The Middle Generation This generation includes people aged 25 to 45. Most of them had already started a family, and were also responsible for their parents and unmarried sisters. They bore the brunt of responsibility for the financial security of all family members. They had to take care of business in Egypt, had to sell the property—to the extent that this was possible—and had to make sure their family would have a safe passage. They had to immediately find work in the new country so they could continue taking care of the family. At first, they accepted any kind of job, as menial and hard as it was. Still, many of them pursued a university education.1394 Both in Israel and the United States, this generation includes many university graduates. Some of them had already obtained their degrees in Egypt (see table).

The Older Generation Emigrés aged 55 and above had the hardest time in exile, starting with the new language and their lack of professional training, which was due to the fact that most men were merchants and business owners (see table). For lack of resources and language proficiency, they could not pick up where they had left off.

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The situation of women was even more complicated. In Egypt, many of them had not held a job and they also had servants. Most of them had to start making money immediately to take some burden off their husbands and sons. They often had low-level jobs as waitresses, cleaning ladies, etc. A few of them succeeded in finding work as French teachers. The older a person is, the harder it is to adapt to the new country and its values. Refugees initially have a hard time coping with a new language, culture, customs, and climatic conditions.1395

The Children of Emigrés Another generation that is important for this type of research is that of the children of my interview partners, who were born in the United States, Israel, or in transit in France. This generation includes an especially high percentage of university graduates.

Professions The majority of people of an employable age were business people, merchants, and financial experts. None of my interview partners practiced a trade because this was not the norm for Egyptian Jews. Since many of them could not resume their old jobs, they initially worked in construction, as carriers, and in other low-level jobs. Both in the United States and Israel, not one of my interview partners is a blue-collar worker. Most of them are employed in white-collar jobs such as accounting, business, trade, banking, etc. They have held middle to higher management positions. They own companies or are merchants. The rest are university educators. The United States was the only country where I also found doctors, lawyers, architects, and filmmakers among the Egyptian Jews. I found writers in both countries. Apparently, there are many more university graduates in the United States, both in the first and in the second generation. In the United States, this phenomenon can be explained with the typically Jewish diaspora attitude towards education, but also with the fact that equal opportunities are more evenly distributed than in Israel—a topic that I described extensively in my section on discrimination in Israel.1396 In Israel, this diasporic way of thinking no longer applies. On the other hand, the situation in the country is different, as I will describe in one of

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the following sections.

Discrimination in the United States Sephardic Jews have told me that the only ones to discriminate against them in the United States were Ashkenazi Jews. Joseph Menashe, for example, told me that a European Jewish company owner labeled him as a non-Jew. “I was told I was not a Jew because I don’t speak Yiddish,” Menashe told me, “and I was sent away.” Others have hinted at and mentioned similar experiences. Joseph Salama, “Doctor Joe,” told me that he wanted to go to university, but that administrators told him that “only rich children can go to university.” He was told to find a job instead. His mother did not give up and said, “all of us will work and my children will go to university.” He and his sisters received a small loan because of their excellent grades and were thus able to start at university. From the second semester onwards, they received government grants because they had the highest grades.1397

Discrimination in Israel Most people said that they were not discriminated against in Israel, but I could still sense from the conversations that there was some sentiment there. “It was not a discrimination, but the Ashkenazim got apartments more quickly,” said Eliyahu Braha. “They rejected me at school,” Yitzhak Gormezano-Goren said. “They cursed us out in school and called us Arabs,” said Dorit Daniel, Frieda Shem-Tov, and others. All these interviewees tried to find logical explanations for these offenses: Israel had just recently been founded. The country was still poor. Immigrants had to live in the maabarot, etc. The only one to name this problem is Ruth Kimhi, who documented it in detail in her book Im Schatten der Pyramiden. None of the people she interviewed harbor any bitterness towards Israeli society and the authorities, however. “As long as there were immigrants from Europe, nobody cared about us,” said Izak Levy. “Since I was from Egypt, my girl-friends’ [European] parents did not want their daughters to go out with me,” said Sami-Shmuel Cohen. Some of my Israeli interview partners attended universities in the United States, Great Britain, or France, partly with special grants from Israel for children of immigrants from the Arab world.1398 From the mid to late 1950s onwards, such grants were readily available in Israel.

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Sometimes, these grants were literally forced upon them1399 to soothe Israel’s bad conscience about the unacceptable treatment these refugees had initially received.1400 Doctor Salama’s story from the section above is a typically American story. In Israel, it took a long time before people received grants for a university education.

In Israel: Our Nakhba1401 “Our Nakhba” is a term that Israel had taken over from the Palestinians to describe the flight of Jews from the Arab world. People who refer to this term repeatedly point out that Jews had a financially secure life in Egypt, but had to leave the country empty-handed, without an opportunity to sell their assets. Like the Palestinians expelled from Israel, they consider themselves refugees. None of my interview partners in the United States addressed the topic of material loss. Some of my interview partners in Israel expressed concern about the financial loss. Others pointed out the danger of Palestinians coming back to Israel, while Israelis are denied an opportunity to return to the Arab world.

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Statistical Data1402 When one looks for the roots of this community, it becomes clear that a little more than half of the Jews were first and second-generation Egyptian Jews. I interviewed 93 people—48 in Israel, 45 in the United States. * Break-down of 186 parents of the interviewees: 112 were born in Egypt. 18 hailed from Europe. The rest was mixed. * Break-down of the 372 grandparents of the interviewees: 97 were born in Egypt. 57 came from Syria. 86 came from Europe (Italy, Greece, Romania, etc.). 31 came from Eretz Israel/Palestine. 25 came from Turkey. * Fathers’ professions: 49 businesspeople, 5 government officials, 14 university educators, 6 accountants, etc. * 8 were imprisoned. * My interviewees had a total of 180 children: 102 of the children1403 lived in Israel. 78 of the children1404 lived in the United States.

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Final Remarks Israeli prejudices against Jews from the Islamic world do not apply to this group because they do not fit the Mizrahi cliché. Just like the majority of Jews from the Arab world, Egyptian Jews were not Zionists in the European sense. They did not need to be because their situation was different. They did not share Theodor Herzl’s vision of a “new Jew” who farms the land and makes the desert bloom.1405 This makes them by no means second-class citizens who could not live up to Eurocentric social standards. Some of them continued to pursue their university education in the new country. A number of them initially did heavy labor. None of them ever received unemployment benefits or even considered themselves unemployed. None of them relied on charity. Many of my interview partners in the United States told me that their fathers initially wanted to go to Israel, but when they learned about the hard life and discrimination in Israel through the rumor mill and from letters from friends and relatives, they changed their plans, even if they were Zionists. They succeeded at something that other immigrants did not accomplish that easily—they were able to gain a livelihood for their families right from the beginning and to continuously improve their situation, both economically and on an educational level. Many of them are part of Israel’s well-to-do middle and upper-middle class. My interview partners have talented and successful children who have overtaken their parents on an educational and professional level both in Israel and in the United States. Israel can be proud that these children call themselves Israeli.

Conclusion A Jewish minority lived in Egypt for thousands of years. Until its expulsion in 1967, it was the oldest Jewish community outside of Israel. Since Biblical times, Egypt had always been a safe haven for Jews. Together with Christians, Jews experienced a certain freedom of religion in Muslim Egypt. Religious minorities lived together with Muslims quite peacefully. Foreigners were never treated as equals in Egyptian society, however. Egyptians came to identify foreigners with colonialism and foreigners, in turn, considered themselves the elite. Except for the most necessary things in everyday life, there were hardly any points of intersection between Muslims and non-Muslims. The ethnic groups never mixed. Even though Egyptian

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Jews had lived in the country for generations, their lingua franca was French and their children attended foreign or Jewish schools. The Jewish community was not a homogenous society. It consisted of immigrants from many European and especially Mediterranean countries, who differed in their social, cultural, and linguistic socialization. The only thing that identified them as a unit was their affiliation with Judaism even if there were still big differences in religious practices and language. In 1947, an estimated 85,000 to 100,000 Jews lived in Egypt. At least half of them came to Egypt in the first half of the 20th century, often as poor refugees. They were able to integrate well. Their businesses flourished and many of them belonged to the middle class. A number of them were also very wealthy. They were philanthropists and helped finance the construction and maintenance of schools, hospitals, and other institutions. Some districts in Cairo and Alexandria to this day have Jewish names as do some of the major department stores even if they are under a different ownership now. There are two divergent opinions on whether Jews were discriminated against in Egypt. Some of my interview partners told me about having led a wonderful life in Egypt without restrictions. Others told me that they were always oppressed in a certain way even if this discrimination does not compare to European levels. There were good and bad times, times during which people lived in harmony and times when Jews were persecuted. Gudrun Krämer calls this phenomenon, “Toleration within the framework of discrimination.” Their lives were never in as much of a danger in the Islamic world as those of Jews in Europe. “The Sephardi Mediterranean from which I come is a world of many languages and no borders. My father’s family speaks Ladino among themselves; my mother’s speaks French. Most of them have a ‘foreign’ accent in every language they speak, though they speak them very fluently. ... The nature of their identity: belonging everywhere, but not quite. ... Language to us is not natural: it is a place, an identity, and a filter,“ said Gini Alhadeff. Each one of the Arab–Israeli Wars of 1948, 1956, 1967, and 1973 triggered another wave of emigration. Synagogues, businesses, and apartments were locked up and left behind. Some of those who stayed started to speak Arabic and convert to Islam. The Jewish minority in Egypt has shrunk considerably, with only a few of them still practicing Judaism. In 1948, Jews were accused of being Zionist spies even though Zionism was not able to gain a foothold in Egypt before 1947. Most men between the ages of 16 and 60 were arrested. Their assets were confiscated and they were eventually thrown out of the country. These measures occurred on an arbitrary basis and did not affect all Jews. Even though the British occupational powers could no longer protect Jews and other foreigners after 1948, two years later 50,000 to 60,0000

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Jews went back to the same life they had before the war. After Gamal Nasser took over power in 1954 and ended colonialism with the Second Arab–Israeli War of 1956, French, and British citizens as well as Jews were thrown out of the country. After that, only very few foreigners stayed in Egypt. Jews fled in three stages in 1948, 1956, and 1967. They left Egypt on boats headed for Italy and France. From there, they went on to different countries. Today an estimated 100 to 150 Jews still live in Egypt. The rest is dispersed all over the world. Their exact number is not known. It is assumed that about 30,000 of them went to Israel, most of them in 1948. “Based on recent reports emanating from Cairo and Alexandria, we can safely assume that the Jewish community in Egypt is at the crossroads of its final stages of survival. The community reached its demise with the start of the Arab–Israeli Wars,” said Victor Sanua.1406 The situation for refugees in Israel was not rosy. Like all other Jews from the Arab world, they were discriminated against. Eurocentric Zionists did not value their culture and harbored unfounded prejudice against them. They often had to settle in the periphery, far from the metropolitan centers, where they had hardly any opportunity of finding an adequate job and good schools for their children. They still managed to integrate well. In the United States, they were on their own and often moved to places where they had families and friends and they could integrate quickly. Their children are Israelis or Americans and they have succeeded on an educational and professional level. There are many university graduates among them. The fact that they spoke French and many other languages helped them integrate and made the job search easier. What also helped them was that they grew up in big cities—Alexandria and Cairo—where they familiarized themselves with different cultures and languages. I hope that my research will contribute to a greater understanding of and respect for minorities and that it will help eradicate prejudice. The foundation of the State of Israel caused one of the biggest upheavals and migrations in the Middle East. An estimated one million Jews were expelled from the Islamic world. 750,000 to 850,000 Palestinians were driven out of Israel. To this day, confiscated Jewish property is still held in public and private possession. In 1972, the amount of confiscated wealth was estimated to be US$ 2 billion. The Historical Society of Jews From Egypt in New York has appealed to the Egyptian government to hand over religious artifacts from Egypt because they “belong to the Jewish people and are part of their heritage. [For academic purposes], they should be accessible to everybody.” The Egyptian government has classified these artifacts as antiques, which means that they cannot be taken outside of the country.

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References Alon, Shlomo, Hebrew-Arabic-Hebrew Dictionary of Current Usage. Zak Publisher: Jerusalem 2004-2005 Encyclopedia Hebraica/Ha’Enziclopedia ha’Ivrit, Allgemein, Judentum und Erez Israel. Encyclopedia publishing company Ltd.: Printed in Israel, Second Half of the 20th Century Encyclopedia of Islam, New Edition, E. J. Brill: Leiden / London 1965 Encyclopedia Judaica, Second Edition, Macmillan Reference USA, Thomson Gale with Keter Publishers.: Jerusalem/USA 2007 Langenscheidt Wörterbuch Hebräisch-Deutsch/Deutsch-Hebräisch, Langenscheidt KG: Berlin/Munich 1975 Old Testament, Genesis und Exodus, Hebrew Bible, USB-EPF 1988

Websites http://www. Haaretz.co.il (Israeli newspaper) www.al-bab.com/arab/backgrownd/jews.htm, Gruen George E, “The Other Refugees: Jews of the Arab World,” Jerusalem Centre for Public Affairs, 1988 www.jcpa.org/jl/jl102.htm, “Remembering the ‘Second Exodus from Egypt’”, article by: Amiram Barkat, Haaretz (submitted: 16/7/2006) www.lats.com/rights , Los Angeles Times http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protokolle_der_Weisen_von_Zion www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jspwww.encyclopedia.com/doc/1G2-3424602884.html http://books.google.at/books, Shasha, David/Barry Unsworth, New York Times Book Review www.indopedia.org/Immigration_to_Israel_from_Arab_lands www.historisches-lexikon-bayerns.de/artikel/artikel_44547 www.hsje.org/, Historical society of Jews from Egypt, 1998/2002

Expert Interviews 1. Professor Mustafa el-Abadi, Professor Emeritus, Head of the Department of History at Alexandria University; lives in Alexandria 2. Professor Mohamed Awad, Architect and Head of Projects and Exhibitions at Bibliotheca Alexandrina; lives in Alexandria 3. Professor Joel Beinin (interview conducted in March 2011), teaches at Stanford University, formerly headed the Middle Eastern Studies Department at the American University Cairo.

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4. Professorin Margalit Bejerano (interview conducted in March 2011), Oral History/Oral Documentary Project: Jews from the Arab World in Israel; teaches at Hebrew University Jerusalem. 5. Professor Israel Gershoni (interview conducted in February 2011), expert on Egyptian history, teaches at Tel Aviv University. 6. Professor Uri Kupferschmidt (interview conducted in March 2011), conducted research in Egypt for about two years, taught at Haifa University. 7. Professor Yoram Meital (interview conducted in March 2011); taught the subject of Jews in Arab world at Ben Gurion University in Beer Sheva. All of the researchers mentioned above have published books and articles on the subject. See the internet for further references. 8. Professorin Nur Shareef, Professor Emerita, Head of the English Department at Alexandria University; lives in Alexandria

Research at Various Institutions Bibliotheca Alexandrina Maison Française, Alexandria Goethe Institute, Alexandria Graeco-Roman Museum, Alexandria National Library, Cairo German Archeological Institue, Cairo Netherlands-Flemish Institute, Cairo Institut Français d’Archéologie Orientale, Cairo University of Vienna—Main Library, libraries at the departments of Jewish and Oriental Studies, Social Studies, Egyptian Studies, History and German Philology Austrian National Library, Vienna. Libraries at the Universities of Jerusalem, Tel Aviv, Haifa, and Beer Sheva Yad Ben Zvi, Jerusalem Bet Ha’tfutzot, Tel Aviv Zionist Central Archives, Jerusalem The New York Library Columbia University Library, New York Historical Society of Jews from Egypt, New York Getty Library, Los Angeles

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Foot notes 1

Aharoni, Keruv Levavot, p. 127. In my conversations with Jews in Egypt, I have found out that most of them understandably do not advertise being Jewish and some of them have even converted to Islam. That is why the exact number of Jews living in Egypt cannot be ascertained. 3 See historical overview in the text. 4 In 1947, an estimated number of almost one million Jews lived in Islamic countries. There were Jewish minorities in Syria and Lybia, Lebanon, Iraq, Maghreb, Yemen, and Iran. See Krämer, Beinin, Shamir, Encyclopedia Judaica, etc. 5 An overview of the long duration of the exodus can be found in the chapter on the exodus. 6 Exile in their own country because of foreign rule. Goitein 1974, p. 212. 7 Goitein 1974, p. 212. 8 Jews have also lived in Israel/Palestine “forever,” but this settlement never was a diaspora. It should be pointed out that Arabs have also lived in the region “forever;” i.e. from 642 onwards. The concept of “Israelis” and “Palestinians” did not exist until the State of Israel was founded. Cf. Shamir, Shimoni, Siton, Lassner, and others. 9 Those who emigrated from the Ottoman Empire were for the most part descendants of Spanish Jews. 10 In order to maintain textual harmony, I have replaced different source-derived ways of spelling with the common English spelling. 11 Krämer, p. 3, 6-7. 12 Cf. Krämer, Encyclopedia Judaica and other works. 13 This is a possible explanation for why Jews were accepted in the Arab world. 14 Krämer, p. 3. 15 This phenomenon will be explained later in the text. 16 Krämer, p. 4-5, Mizrahi, p. 11, as well as Stillman, Lewis, Bat Yeor. 17 Ashkenazi (singular), Ashkenazim (plural): Hebrew for Eastern European Jews. They mostly spoke Yiddish. 18 A town in Northern Israel. 19 Kimhi, p. 18. 20 Cf. references in the text below. 21 Yishuv is a term used for the European minority in Palestine/Israel before the foundation of the state. AD. Cf. text below. 22 The War of 1956 was the only one in which Egypt fought Israel on its own. All other wars also involved Israel’s neighbors—i.e. Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq. 23 Their countries of origin did not want Jews to resettle on their territory. In addition, many Jews could not envisage living among their torturers and their people’s murderers. 24 Even though many European Jews immigrated to other countries, Israel was the only country that all Jews could go to—even if they were not educated or did not have any property. This principle is enshrined in the Israeli Declaration of Independence. 25 See interviews. 26 On the Jewish side, about one million people had to flee from 1948 to 1967. On the Palestinian side, the number ranges from 400,000 to 700,000. Palestinians also fled in two main waves, one occurring in around 1948 and the other one after 1967. Different historians give different numbers for both sides. For Jewish history, cf. Krämer, Shamir, Beinin; for Palestinian history, cf. Moris, Schleim and others. 27 As far as I know, Demmond’s book is the only one to include interviews, but almost exclusively delves into the time in Egypt. In their works, Kimhi and Beinin interviewed some people who lived in Israel. See Kimhi, Beinin. 28 I gleaned this information from my investigations at Hebrew University in Jerusalem and at the New York Public Library as well as from Professor Bejerano. 29 I conducted close to one hundred interviews with a video camera. See chapter on interviews. 30 Since I am convinced that literature is closely related to oral history and everyday life acquires a personal dimension by way of stories, I also use literary passages in addition to the interview materials. 31 I am referring to enclaves such as Little Italy or Chinatown in the United States. The only 2

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exception is Borough Park, a community of strictly observant Jews in Brooklyn. Transit camps. Egyptian Jews stayed there from four months to six years. A.D. 33 Cf. interview Gormezano-Goren. 34 Sabre: Fruit of the cactus plant; Israeli term to denote people born in Israel. 35 This topic was often addressed in the press and at various symposia in Israel. 36 Some of the new Israeli authors of the last 20 years are of Sephardic origin, including Matalon, Gormezano-Goren, etc. 37 The dates diverge in various sources, but the differences are minimal—about ten years on average. Encyclopedia of Islam, volume VII. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Ancient Egypt,” p. 222-223, Cason, p. 190-191, Modrzejewski, p. 233-236. 38 Geonim, plural of Gaon (Hebrew): genius, sage. This term refers to all of the rabbis who served as the highest Halakhic authorities from the end of the 6th to the middle of the 11th century. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17 “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 13. 39 Abraham had migrated to Egypt for economic reasons at an earlier point in time, but returned to Canaan a few years later. Genesis 42: 2, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 234. 40 Canaan: one of the many Biblical terms referring to the territory of present-day Israel. Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Canaan, Land of...,” p. 391-393. Modrzejewski, p. 8. 41 The Ismaelites were Arab tribes who were on their way northwest from the Arab peninsula. Genesis 37: 24-28. 42 Egypt was called “the Land of Goshen” in the Bible. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Canaan, Land of...,” p. 391-393. 43 According to Biblical calculations of time, this happened in ca. 1600 BCE. Since the 19th century, scholars have questioned these calculations, however. According to Egyptian calculations, this would be the beginning of the New Kingdom, 18th dynasty. See timetable at beginning of chapter. 44 Genesis 46-47. 45 Exodus 1: 8-22. 46 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 225-226. 47 Mansfield, p. 3 48 The translation of the Bible into Greek. See section on Philo. 49 Genesis, 15:13. 50 Exodus, 12:14. 51 Modrzejewski, p. 5-6, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten im Alten Testament,” p. 235. This was the time of the Hycsos. 52 Modrzejewski, p. 14-16. 53 Wilson, p. 338-39 as well as Schiffman, Craig, Bagnoll, Rustow. 54 Schäfer, p. 89, 142. 55 He was a Greek historian who lived in Rome and Egypt in the 1st century BCE. Siculus, p. 34-49 and Yavetz, p. 2, 20. 56 Siculus, p. 34-49 and Yavetz, p. 2, 20. 57 Encyclopedia Hebraica, vol. 24, “Moses,” p. 524-533. 58 Exodus: 2: 1-23, 7: 29, 19: 6, 24: 2, Numeri: 19:6, Deuteronomium 34: 7, 10. 59 The name Moshe is derived from the Hebrew roots M S H and means “to pull from the water.” (Masha). 60 Pharaoh decreed this law because he did not want the Jews to become too numerous and powerful. All first-born sons were to be killed. All daughters were to be kept alive. First Book of Moses. 61 Since this work does not focus on a discussion of this topic, I will not elaborate on it. An Afrocentric criticism of historiography also points to a Euro-centric attitude in research on ancient Egypt. 62 See some examples: Frerichs/Lesko/Dever 1997 or Sivertsen 2009. 63 Cf. Hoffmeier, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, p. 523-530. 64 Neher, p. 46-47. André Neher (1914-1988) was a French-Jewish philosopher. His father, Abraham Neher, also was a Biblical scholar who wrote a few books on the subject. World War II and the murder of six million Jews changed André Neher’s view on life and made him turn to Judaism and Judaic research as well. 65 Assmann, 1997, p. 1-2, 6. 66 Neher, p. 106-107. 67 Assmann, 1997, p. 8-10. 68 Yom Kippur is not a high holiday in the strict sense of the word, but a Day of Atonement. 32

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69

Neher, p. 139, 150-151. Assmann, 1997, p. 3. 71 This event was not recorded in Egyptian sources, probably because it constituted a defeat for the Pharaoh. Exodus 5:2, Kashani, p. 3. 72 Known as “the Exodus from Egypt.” According to Biblical sources, Jews stayed in Egypt for 430 years. Since the generations do not add up, several rabbis revised this time period to 210 years. Cason p. 185, Modrzejewski, p. 14. 73 Late Bronze Age: 1550-1200 BCE. See timetable. Cason, p. 190-191. 74 This story was adopted by and described in detail in the Qu’ran. Moses ranks among the most important prophets of Islam. Qur’an, Sura 20: 9-99. 75 Schäfer, p. 177. 76 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Moses,” p. 526-527. 77 Schäfer, p. 31. 78 Schäfer, p. 87-88. 79 Cf. section on Monotheism/Jewish faith. 80 Schäfer, p. 237-238. 81 The Ipuwer Text notes that Egypt suffered from natural disasters, which caused a breakdown in community infrastructure. The upper class lost its influence and people from the lower social ranks came to hold high positions. The “Leiden 344” Papyrus is located in the Netherlands. 82 C14 dating system: radiometric dating system invented by the American chemical engineer William Frank Libby in 1949. Libby garnered the Nobel Prize for his invention. It is considered the most exact method for dating archeological and geological finds. 83 Cf.: König, Van Seters, Stephen Quirke. 84 Merenptah (also: Merneptah) was a Pharaoh who ruled over Egypt at the end of the 13th century BCE. He was the son of Ramses the Great (Ramses II) and the fourth pharaoh in the 19th dynasty. Cason, p. 190-191. 85 The text of the Merenptah Stele, also known as the Israel Stele, was written in two versions—one expanded version in Karnak and a shorter prose version on the free-standing Merenptah Stele in Western Thebes. Merenptah (19th dynasty, 1207/ 208 BCE) had the inscription written during his fifth year of rule and it mentions the word Israel—probably for the first time in history. Modrzejewski, p. 13-14. 86 Flinders, 1922, S. 21. 87 Hycsos (Hyxos): Cason p. 185, Flinders, 1922, p.15, Grayson, p. 21-26, Assmann, 2003, p. 86-90. 88 According to Kashani, the Israelites came to Egypt during Hycsos rule from 1580 to 1720 BCE, p. 70

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Shortly before the end of the Middle and at the beginning of the New Kingdom. See timetable at the beginning of the first chapter. 90 Flinders, 1922, p. 16-18. 91 Manetho, an Egyptian-Hellenistic historian and priest (3rd century BCE) wrote a history of Egypt in Greek. His writings are based on ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs. Flinders p.15-20, Assmann, 2003, p. 8790, Modrzejewski, p. 7-8. 92 Assmann 2003, p. 90. 93 Neher, p. 64-67, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Ancient Egypt,” p. 224. 94 Flinders, 1922, p. 15. 95 605/634-562 BCE, cf. also Das Buch Daniel, 1-7. 96 Jehuda/Judah (Hebrew): this ancient Jewish kingdom on the Western shore of the Jordan River is located in present-day Israel. 97 The destruction of the Temple, also known as King Solomon’s Temple, occurred during the rule of King Jehoiakim in ca. 598 BCE. The Book of Kings 2, 24:13. 98 The Egyptian army came to the region to help the people of Israel, but was defeated by Nebuchadnezzar. 586 BCE is the official date given for the destruction of the First Temple. See table, Cason, p. 187, Jeremiah 42:14-22. 99 This topic was addressed in the Old Testament Books of Ezra, Nehemiah and Jeremiah. 100 There is no archeological evidence for this displacement. 101 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Egyptian Literature in the Bible,” p. 225. 102 Schmidt, p. 491. 103 Flinders claims that this was the Aramaic language (1922, p. 20-21.). The Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora“ (the five Books of Moses, p. 234-235) says that it was Hebrew.

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The Books of Kings, volume 25: 22-24 and Jeremiah, 40: 6-8 and 11-12. Jews had settled in Egypt even before 597 BCE. Kashani, p. 11. 106 End of the Iron Age. 107 Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 331 BCE. Zaloscer, Wissenschaft, p. 638, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, „Alexandria“, p. 634. 108 Schmidt, p. 491, cf. chapter on Philo. 109 Flinders, 1922, p. 30-32. 110 Siton, p. 66. 111 Also: Apollonius of Alexandria, student of Apion. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6. “The Roman Period,” p. 229. 112 “The Land of Israel,” one of the geographic terms used for the territory of present-day Israel. This term was used at various points in the Old Testament in addition to Canaan, Judah, and Zion. 113 Cherikover, p. 71. 114 Shamir, Bulletin, p. 3. 115 Apion lived in Alexandria in the first century CE during the time of Emperor Caligula. He is known because of his anti-Semitic texts. In his text “Contra Apionem,” Josephus Flavius refuted Apion’s writings. Encyclopedia Judaica volume 6, “Roman Period,” p. 229, Assmann, 2003, p. 84. 116 Ilbert, p. 36, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16, “Hellenistic Jewish Philosophy,” p. 74-76. 117 Cf. Beinin und Kraemer. 118 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (the five Books of Moses), p. 236, Cherikover, p. 71 and 204-209 as well as Rustow, Schiffman, Craig. 119 Goitein 1974, p. 26 120 Papyrus is an ancient plant product used as a writing surface before paper was invented. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Papyri,” p. 619. 121 Goitein, p. 92-4, Bagnoll, p. 484-486. 122 Elephantine was a fort on the Nile island Yibb near Aswan in Upper Egypt, at the border between Egypt and Nubia. The Egyptian kings established a Jewish military colony there. At that time, the island was known as Yeb. Kashani, p. 9, Rustow, Bagnoll, p. 397-398. 123 See timetable. 124 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6 “History of the Jewish Colony at Elephantine,” p. 311. 125 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Elephantine,” p. 311 126 The Elephantine Papyri are housed in museums in Berlin and Brooklyn today. Cf. Goitein, Cherikover as well as Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6 “Egyptian Literature in the Bible,” p. 225. 127 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Elephantine,” p. 311-312, volume 15, “Papyri,” p. 619. 128 Flinders, 1922, S. 22-23, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Elephantine,” p. 311-312, Modrzejewski, p. 74, 140. 129 Schäfer, p. 177-178. 130 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Papyri,” p. 619, Schäfer, p. 179-181. 131 Catalogue of the Brooklyn Museum 1974, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6 “Organization of the Military Colony,” p. 313. 132 Zeno lived in Fayum in the 3rd century BCE. He was the private secretary of Apollonius, Ptolemy III’s minister of finance. The documents include more than 2000 scrolls in Greek and Demotic, the common popular language of the time. p. 19, Orrieux, p. 16-17 as well as Cotton, Schiffman, Begnoll. 133 A big and very fertile oasis north of Cairo and a Jewish center at the beginning of the 20th century. Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15 “Papyri,” p. 619, Rustow, Bagnoll, Cotton. 134 See table, Orrieux, p. 28-40, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 21, “Zeno, Papyri of...,” p. 509. 135 The majority of these papyri are now housed in collections in Cairo, Michigan, Columbia University (New York), and at the British Museum in London. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 21, “Zeno, Papyri of...,” p. 509. 136 Kashani, p. 19 and Schiffman, Craig. 137 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6. “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 228. 138 Leonhardt, p. 2. 139 Rabanites (Hebrew) Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17 “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 13-15. 140 Hebrew, “The Collection of Rabbinic Traditions,” written in the 3rd century CE. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 14, “Mishna,” p. 319-321. 141 Hebrew word for “to learn.” A collection of “opinions and teachings, which disciples acquire from 105

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their predecessors in order to explain them.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 19, “Talmud,” p. 469-470. Karaim: Hebrew, “Karaites,” Mikra: Hebrew, root: K R A, “to read.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16, “Karaites,” p. 79-80, Goitein 1974, p. 51, Meital, p. 78-81, Krämer, p. 22-25. 143 Talmud, Mishna, Kabbalah, Zohar and others are later books: i.e. they were written at a later date than the Bible. Kabbalah: Hebrew word for “to get” or “accept.” “Mystic and Esoteric Doctrine of Judaism“ in Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Kabbalah,” p. 585-586. Zohar: Hebrew word for “splendor.” “The Book of Splendor,” the main work of the Kabbalah. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 21, “Zohar,” p. 647. 144 Cohen/Yehuda, p. 303. 145 Shomer: A Hebrew term for “preserver,” “Samaritan;” a group from Samaria/Shomron (in Israel/Palestine). Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 342-344. 146 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 18, Shomerim, journal, p. 513-518, Shomronim, Nr. 629, no page indications. 147 Kashani, p. 4-5, Modrzejewski, p. 48. In 2014, the Jewish calendar showed the year 5775. 148 Akhenaten, 1390-1338 BCE. Since this Pharaoh invented a monotheistic religion, his name disappeared from the list of kings/pharaohs of the Egyptian dynasties. Kashani, p. 4-5, Assmann, 2003, p. 8692. 149 Amarna is located about 200 kilometers south of Cairo. 150 Assmann, 2003, p. 83-84, 87-89. 151 Schäfer, p. 13. 152 Schäfer, p. 60. 153 Assmann, 2003, p. 59-60. Assmann, 1997, p. 4. 154 Cf. also Goitein 1974, p. 47. 155 There were also other bans: Jews were not allowed to eat meat from ruminant animals and animals with cleft hooves as well as animals from the sea without scales. They had to separate dairy from meat products, etc. 156 Neher, p. 112-113, Kashani, p. 4-5, Modrzejewski, p. 48. 157 Goitein 1974, p. 39. 158 Schäfer, p. 57-58, 71. 159 Quote from a lecture by Professor Benjamin Isaak (Tel Aviv University) about anti-Semitism in the Roman Empire. Vienna, June 22, 2011. 160 Hecataeus of Abdera wrote the oldest non-Jewish version of the genesis of the people of Israel in 320 BCE. It was handed down in history by Diodorus Siculus. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hecataeus of Abdera,” p. 749. 161 Dating from 241 BCE, the Hibeh Papyrus 1.72 is the only document that mentions Manetho as a priest. Papyrus Hibeh 1.72, lines 6-7. 162 Schäfer, p. 239-240, 245. 163 Amarna is located about 200 kilometers south of present-day Cairo. 164 Assmann 2003, p. 84. 165 Assmann 2003, p. 92-95, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Roman Period,” p. 229. 166 Assmann, 2003, p. 22, Modrzejewski, p. 48. 167 In common parlance, anti-Semitism has become synonymous with anti-Judaism. 168 Mansfield, p. 5. 169 Monotheistic religions: Judaism, Christianity, Islam. 170 Goitein, p. 19. 171 Modrzejewski, p. 144, 157. 172 See timetable. 173 The Old Testament. 174 Schimanowski, p. 1, Modrzejewski, p. 65, 106, Schmidt, p. 498. 175 Schimanowski, p. 1. 176 Schmidt, p. 498. 177 Hebrew word for “healing, redemption.” 178 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 3 “Ben Sira, Simeon ben Jesus.” p. 376. 179 Philo was the greatest Jewish philosopher of his time and one of the most prominent philosophers of Judaism. Like most learned Jews in Egypt at the time, he was a Hellenistic Jew. Cf. Kashani, p. 6-9, 1618, Modrzejewski, p. 66, 91, 167-170, 190. 180 Jews also called him “Yedidya ha Alexandroni,” which means “the Alexandrian friend of God.” Kashani, p. 16. 142

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Leonhardt, p. 5. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16, “Philo of Alexandria,” p. 75-76. 183 Hebrew word for “interpretation” or “sermon.” Interpretation of the Scriptures, especially the Exegesis of the laws. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 14 “Midrash,” p. 182-185. 184 Caligula was known to hate the Israelites. When he was in power, some Greek citizens of the Roman Empire tried to erect his statue in Egyptian synagogues. When the Jews refused, they were massacred. Those who did not perish were expelled from the region and their homes were plundered. Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora,” (the Five Books of Moses), p. 236, Kashani, p. 20. 185 Flinders, 1922, p. 34-36 and Flaccus, chapters 6 to 9 (43, 53-56, 62, 66, 68, 71-72); Yonge's translation in the online edition of the Jewish Encyclopedia, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Josephus Flavius,” p. 435-442. 186 Schäfer, p. 210. 187 Klosner: p. 64, Modrzejewski, p. 66, 91, 167-170, 190. 188 Flinders, 1922, p. 26, 34, Cf. Hanebutt-Benz, Leonhard, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16, “Philo of Byblos,” p. 64-65, “Philosophy, Jewish,” p. 67-78, 105-107. 189 Cf. also: Flinders, 1922, p. 34. 190 Also named “Josef Ben Matityahu,” Joseph, the son of Matityahu, and Joseph ben Mathitjahu ha’Cohen. Cf. Kashani, p. 20, Assmann, 2003, p. 84, Modrzejewski, p. 65-66, 74, 140. 191 Schmidt, p. 503. 192 Apion lived in Alexandria in the first century CE during Emperor Caligula’s rule. He was mostly known for his anti-Jewish texts. Josephus Flavius refuted Apion’s opinions in his text “Contra Apionem.”Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Josephus Flavius,” p. 435-442. 193 Schmidt, p. 491. 194 Schimanowski, p. 220. 195 See timetable. 196 Flinders, 1922, p. 27-28. 197 Flinders, 1922, p. 37-39. 198 Flinders, 1922, p. 37-39 as well as Cotton, Rustow, Craig, Bagnoll, and others 199 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6 “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 228. 200 Modrzejewski, p. 77. 201 After the 3rd century BCE, the Greek language and culture proliferated and mostly replaced Hebrew. This situation continued until ca. 400 CE. Almost all papyri were written in Greek during that time. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hellenism,” p. 786-787. 202 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 237. 203 Mansfield, p. 11. 204 Mansfield, p. 11. 205 Encyclopedia Judaica, band 15 “Papyri,” p. 619-620, Raymond, p. 33. 206 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 198. 207 In Arabic, the name of the city is Iskandariya. 208 Zaloscer, Heimkehr, p. 40 209 Kamil, p. 10-12, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 634. 210 Born in Macedonia in 365 BCE, Alexander died during the first campaign against Babylon in 323 BCE. Alexander was a great commander with outstanding military success. Cf. Porat, p. 36-46, Modrzejewski, p. 47-50. 211 Zaloscer, Wissenschaft, p. 638. 212 Forster, p. 10-13. 213 Hölbl, p. 10. 214 Hölbl, p. 9-10 Bagnoll, p. 398. 215 Hölbl, p. 12-13. 216 Ptolemy I (367/66-283/2): One of Alexander’s generals and friends, he later became pharaoh of Egypt. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 226-228. 217 It was not until the reign of Ptolemy II (285-246 BCE) that Alexandria was completed. Between 320 and 311 BCE it became the residence of the Ptolemies and remained so until the end of their reign. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 226-228. 218 A brief historical overview: Ptolemy I Soter (332/306-282 BCE): When he fled from Jerusalem, many Jews went with him to Egypt, not 182

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entirely out of their own volition, but as slaves. Ptolemy II Philadelphus (283-244 BCE) freed the Jews from slavery after a number of them had served in his army as soldiers. He commissioned the translation of the Bible into Greek. This version came to be known as the Septuagint. Ptolemy III Euergetes (246-221 BCE) was known for being sympathetic to the Jews and for respecting their religion. Two facts confirm this theory: 1. Many Jews settled in Fayum. 2. An inscription on a synagogue attests to the right of asylum. Ptolemy IV Philopator (221-203 BCE). Ptolemy VI Philometor (181-145 BCE) allowed Jewish settlements all over Egypt because he trusted Jews more than other population groups. He also accepted additional Jewish immigrants from Palestine/Eretz Israel. Ptolemy IX Lathyros, X and XI (116-80 BCE). Cleopatra III (80 BCE). The Jewish community supported her in her dispute with her son. She allegedly appointed two Jewish brothers as army commanders. Ptolemy XII (80-51 BCE). After his reign, the dynasty came to an end. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 227-228, Hölbl, p. VII-X. Forster, p. 13-25. 219 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hellenism,” p. 784. 220 332-228 BCE. 221 Hölbl, p. 13. 222 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic period,” p. 226. 223 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hellenism,” p. 786. 224 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hellenism,” p. 787. 225 Both names—Eretz Israel and Palestine—were introduced to the region by the Romans in the 2nd century CE. The region was previously known as Judah. Shlomo Sand, Interview in: Haaretz, May 26, 2012. 226 Cf. Cason and Flinders as well as some papyri from the 3rd century BCE. 227 Modrzejewski, p. 69-77, Forster, p. 13-17. 228 Modrzejewski, p. 91. 229 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 632-634. 230 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 227-228, Modrzejewski, p. 88. 231 Schmidt, p. 490 as well as Cotton, Schiffman, Craig, and Bagnoll. 232 Flinders. p. 39. 233 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 226-227. 234 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 226-227, Hölbl p. IV-X. 235 Schimanowski, p. 220. 236 Encyclopedia Judaica volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 632. 237 Kamil, p. 11. 238 Measuring 170 to 180 meters in height, the lighthouse ranked among the Seven World Wonders of Antiquity. Cf. Cohen, p. 185-190. 239 Cohen, p. 185-190. 240 See Ptolemy III, also known as Euergetes, which means “benefactor” in Greek. 241 Hölbl, p. 64-65. 242 Ptolemy III: (246-222 BCE) succeeded his father and became Pharaoh of Egypt. Modrzejewski, p. 85-91. 243 Cohen, p. 185-190. 244 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6 “The Hellenistic Period,” p. 228-229, also Bagnoll, Rustow, and Schiffman. 245 Modrzejewski, p. 65. 246 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hellenism,” p. 788-789. 247 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hellenism,” p. 784-785. 248 Goitein 1974, p. 26. 249 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Roman Period,” p. 229-232. 250 Forster, p. 49-50. 251 Augustus Gaius Julius Caesar Octavius (63 BCE-14 CE). Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 2, “Augustus“, p. 659-660. 252 Modrzejewski, p. 163-164. 253 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Roman Period,” p. 229, Modrzejewski, p. 161-163. 254 Roman Emperor and therefore ruler of Egypt, 37-41 CE.

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Modrzejewski, p. 171-178. Aulus Avillius Flaccus was a Roman knight, prefect of Egypt, and governor of Alexandria (32-38). Philo of Alexandria’s work In Flaccum is one of the most important sources on Flaccus. Flinders 1922, p. 34-36, Yonge's translation in Jewish Encyclopedia online, Flaccus, chapters 6-9. 257 Flinders, 1922, S. 34-36, Yonge's translation in the online version of the Jewish Encyclopedia, Flaccus, chapters 6-9, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11 “Josephus Flavius,” p. 435-442. 258 Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus 37-68. Emperor of the Roman Empire, 54-68. Modrzejewski, p. 185. 259 Modrzejewski, p. 185. 260 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6 “Roman Period,” p. 229. 261 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Roman Period,” p. 229, Bagnoll, p. 193-194. 262 Babylon was a city near latter-day Cairo. Raymond, p. 17. 263 Raymond, p. 17. 264 Marcus Ulpius Nerva Traianus Augustus (53-117 CE), a general in the Roman army, was adopted by Nerva, a childless senator whom he succeeded. During his time, the Roman Empire reached its maximum size. During the last 20 years of his life, he became Roman emperor. Modrzejewski, p. 163-164. 265 Copts: the word is derived from the Arabic term “qubt” or “qibt” (Egypt). The Copts are the oldest Christian denomination in Egypt and the Middle East. During the time of the Islamic Conquest of Egypt, Christianity was the state religion of Egypt. A small minority of Christians who did not convert to Islam continued to use the Coptic language. Their language succeeded Pharaonic Egyptian. To this day, the Copts are the biggest Christian minority in the Middle East. Their community is estimated to include 10 to 13 million people. For a long time, Alexandria was their intellectual and spiritual center, but it has been replaced by Cairo. Zaloscer, Wissenschaftliche..., p. 642, as well as interview in 2009 with Bishop Gabriel of the Coptic community in Austria. 266 Raymond, p. 17. 267 Raymond, p. 9. 268 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4 “Cairo,” p. 342, Meital, p. 17. 269 Goitein 1974, p. 46. 270 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 5, p. 153. 271 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 152. 272 In the meantime, Fustat had become the capital of Egypt. Raymond, p. 10. 273 Zaloscer, Wissenschaft, p. 638 274 Forster, p. 86. 275 Goitein 1974, p. 62. 276 395-642 CE. 277 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Mamluk and Ottoman Period,” p. 634. 278 Beinin, p. 265-269. 279 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 199. 280 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 199. 281 Raymond, p. 12. 282 Raymond, p. 17. 283 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4 “Cairo,” p. 342. 284 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 153. 285 Bet Din: Hebrew term for “court.” Petry, article: Stillman, p. 198. 286 Ibn Tulun, 835-884. 287 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Arab Period,” p. 230. 288 Raymond, p. 22. 289 Umar II, 717-720. 290 Papyri scrolls confirm this fact. Raymond, p. 22-23. 291 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 152. 292 Cf. Cotton, Schiffman, Craig, Rustow, Bagnoll. 293 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 152. 294 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 156. 295 Al-Abbas (565-653) was the Prophet Muhammad’s uncle. 296 Al-Rashid remains a controversial figure among Muslims today because of his brutality and lifestyle. In the West, he is primarily known as a character in Arabian Nights. 297 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume p. 160. 256

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Misr: Arabic name for Egypt. Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 160. 300 Raymond, p. 24. 301 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 428. 302 Raymond, p. 34. 303 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 161. 304 Mansfield, p. 19, Raymond, p. 31. 305 Raymond, p. 69. 306 Meital, p. 17-19. 307 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Arab Period,” p. 230, Meital, p. 19. 308 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Arab Period,” p. 30. 309 Also named Al-Muizz Abu Tamim Maad Ibn Mansur (930-975). During his rule, the Fatimid center of power moved to Egypt. Since the caliph was a very educated man, sciences and the arts flourished. Modrzejewski, p. 233-236. 310 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Arab Period,” p. 222-223, Cason, p. 190-191. 311 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 5. 312 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Mamluk and Ottoman Period,” p. 635 313 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 162. 314 Meital, p. 17-19. 315 Raymond, p. 69-70. 316 Goitein, 1974, p. 116. 317 Flinders, p. 34. 318 Goitein, 1974, p. 67 319 Goitein, 1974, p. 84. 320 Raymond, p. 40-41. 321 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 161. 322 Raymond, p. 33. 323 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 163. 324 Nahem, p. 29-30. 325 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 198. 326 Goitein 1974, p. 113. 327 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6. “The Arab Period,” p. 230. 328 Yeshiva: Hebrew term for “meeting.” The Yeshivot were the higher Torah schools. 329 Ezra, a rabbi and writer, lived in the 11th century. He headed a Jewish group that had left Babylon for Egypt in the 5th century BCE. According to several scholars, Goitein among them, the synagogue was built in 25 CE, destroyed in 1012 and rebuilt in 1039/40. It cannot be clearly ascertained whether the original architecture was preserved in the new building. Meital, p. 20-22. Cohen/Yehuda maintain that it was built in 50 BCE. p. 304. 330 Karaites. Karaim – Hebrew. Mikra: Hebrew K R A root: “to read”. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16, “Karaites,” p. 79-80, Goitein 1974, p. 51, Meital, p. 78-81, Krämer, p. 22-25. 331 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 200, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 342. 332 Meital, p. 20-22. 333 Goitein 1974, p. 113. 334 If I analyze the ancestral origins of my interview partners, it seems as if more than a third of Egyptian Jews trace their ancestors back to Turkey, Greece, and other countries in the Ottoman Empire. A.D. 335 Geonim is the plural of “gaon.” In Hebrew, this term means “genius.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “The Jewish Religion Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 13, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora,” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 237. 336 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 6, p. 231. 337 Goitein, 1974, p. 125-126. 338 In Hebrew, “ganuz” means “sheltered,” “archived,” but also “hidden.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Genizah,” p. 463. 339 Since there is no word for God in Hebrew, there are only acronyms describing God. Nahem, p. 2930, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Geniza,” p. 460-463. 340 The synagogue therefore serves as a temporary shelter until the documents are buried. For reasons unknown, the Cairo Geniza was not buried for centuries, but left in the Ben Ezra Synagogue. It was discovered by accident. 299

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Meital, p. 110. In 616, the synagogue was built on the ruins of a church. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Genizah,” p. 460. 343 During Fatimid rule (969-1171), most Jews lived in this area. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7 “Genizah,” p. 461. 344 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Genizah,” p. 460-463. Cf. also Cotton, Rustow, Craig. 345 The University of Cambridge owns about 150,000 fragments. Other repositories are the British Museum, Columbia University in New York, Philadelphia, Oxford University, and the National Libraries in Vienna, Paris, London, Budapest, and Jerusalem. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Genizah,” p. 461, Meital, p. 31. 346 Meital, p. 30-32. 347 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 429, volume 7, p. 164. 348 Also called Salah al-Din, 1138-1193. Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 164. 349 Raymond, p. 80-82, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 164. 350 Raymond, p. 42. 351 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 207. 352 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “The Arab Period,” p. 231. 353 Raymond, p. 102. 354 Raymond, p. 83, 90. 355 Raymond, p. 104. 356 The Catholic Church in Rome sent armies to the Middle East to conquer Jerusalem. On their way to Jerusalem, these armies also tried to conquer other regions, but their efforts were in vain. Raymond, p. 82. 357 Raymond, p. 82, Rodenbeck, p. 123-124. 358 Raymond, p. 82. 359 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 430, volume 7, p. 165. 360 1250-1382. Petry, article: Stillman, p. 209, Raymond, p. 116. 361 1382-1517. Raymond, p. 116. 362 Also called Adygh, the Circassians are an ancient Caucasian people. Between the 16th and the 19th century, they converted to Islam, after having converted from paganism to Christianity between the second and the fourth centuries. The Russian Empire conquered the Caucasus in the 19th century. The Russian army liquidated almost all of the Circassian inhabitants of the region. The rest were expelled from the region, and primarily fled to the Ottoman Empire. In the end, they settled in various countries of the Middle East. Most Circassians are Sunnis today and primarily live in Lebanon, Syria, Israel, and Egypt. During Mamluk rule, they came to Egypt as slaves. “In fact, the Burji dynasty, which ruled Egypt from 1382 to 1517, was founded by the Mamluks.” http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com; Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 171. 363 Slaves were recruited from the Circassian, Turkmen, and Mongol peoples who came from the Caucasus region or the Russian steppe. Raymond, p. 112. 364 Raymond, p. 111-113. 365 Volney, p. 58-59. 366 Raymond, p. 140-141. 367 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Arab Period,” p. 232. 368 Raymond, p. 121-122. 369 Raymond, p. 115. 370 Hijaz, a region in the Western part of present-day Saudi-Arabia, borders the Red Sea. Mecca and Medina, the holy cities of Islam, are also located in this region. 371 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 175. 372 Raymond, p. 42. 373 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Arab Period,” p. 231-232. 374 Raymond, p. 42. 375 Goitein 1974, p. 125. 376 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “The Arab Period,” p. 232. 377 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 343-344. 378 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “The Arab Period, p. 232. 379 Geonim (plural), Gaon: a Hebrew term for “genius.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 13, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora,” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 237. 380 Saadia Gaon. 342

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Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 9, “Gaon,” p. 146. Exilarch/Reish Galuta/Rosh Galut: “head of the exile” refers to the leaders of the Diaspora Jewish community. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “Gaon,” p. 147. 383 Hebrew verb denoting “to learn:” “A collection of opinions and teachings which disciples acquired from their predecessors in order to explain them.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 19, “Talmud,” p. 469-470. 384 Hebrew term for “interpretation.” “Rabbinic literature containing anthologies and compilations of both biblical exegesis and sermons delivered in public.“ Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 14, “Midrash,” p. 182-185. 385 Sanhedrin (Hebrew): “sitting together”, hence “assembly” or “council” was an assembly of twentythree judges appointed in every city in the Biblical Land of Israel. The “Great Sanhedrin” was the Supreme Court of ancient Israel, which consisted of 71 members. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 9, “Gaon,” p. 147. 386 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “The Geonim of Eretz Israel in Damascus, and the Geonim of Egypt,” p. 386. 387 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 203. 388 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 237, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “Saadia (Ben Joseph) Gaon,” p. 606. 389 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 200. 390 According to Jewish tradition, great scholars go by their acronyms instead of their full names. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Judah Halevi,” p. 492-494. 391 Halevi, p. 13. 392 Peamim No. 54, article by Yerachmiel Brodi, p. 82-92. 393 Halakha is a Hebrew term for “how it should be.” It comes from the part of the Talmud devoted to laws. Langenscheidt, Hebrew-German, p. 134, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Halacha,” p. 164. 394 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “Saadia (Ben Joseph) Gaon,” p. 607. 395 Acronym for Rabbi Jehuda ha-Levy. Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 238, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Judah Halevi,” p. 492-494. 396 Many of his writings were found in the Cairo Geniza. A total of 1,000 of his poems have been preserved in Israel. The Cairo Geniza included documents that proved the connection between the Khazars and Judaism. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “History of Genizah Discoveries,” p. 463, Halevi, p. 10. 397 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Judah Halevi,” p. 492-494, 497-500 and volume 16, “Judah Halevi,” p. 83-84. 398 Scholarly opinion is divided as to whether the Rihal died in Israel or Egypt. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 11, “Judah Halevi,” p. 397-500. 399 The book first came out in Spain in 1140. It was written in Arabic-Jewish and translated into Hebrew several times. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16 “Judah Halevi,” p. 83, Halevi, p. 7-8. 400 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 16 “Judah Halevi,” p. 84. 401 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 239, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 13, “Maimonides, Moses,” p. 382-384, Davidson, p. 5-6, 555-556, Meital, p. 19-20. 402 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 208. 403 Raymond, p. 46, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 13, “Maimonides, Moses,” p. 381-382. 404 Also called Saladin, 1138-1193. Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, p. 164-165. 405 Torah: Genesis, the Five Books of Moses of the Old Testament. 406 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 13, “Maimonides, Moses,” p. 382-384. 407 Krämer, p. 26-29. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 13, “Maimonides, Moses,” p. 380-385. 408 Goitein 1974, p. 145. 409 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 13, “Maimonides, Moses,” p. 383-384, Davidson, p. 28. 33. 410 Nagid: president of the Jewish community. 411 Chasid: Hebrew term for “pious” or “strictly observant” person. “Term used in rabbinic literature to designate those who maintained a higher standard in observing the religious and moral commandments.” It cannot be exactly determined when this movement set it. What is known is that it started in Lithuania and Poland. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 8, “Hasidism,” p. 390, 393, 408. 412 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 208, Meital, p. 19-20. 413 Part of the Talmud devoted to Judeo-religious law. Langenscheidt, Hebrew-German, p. 134, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Halacha,” p. 164. 414 Religious poetry. 415 Writings on atonement. 382

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Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 2, “Anatoli Ben Joseph,” p. 133. Raymond, p. 70, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 3, “Benjamin of Tudela,” p. 362, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 238. 418 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 3, “Benjamin of Tudela,” p. 364. 419 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. 420 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 3, “Benjamin of Tudela,” p. 364. 421 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 3, “Benjamin of Tudela,” p. 362-364. 422 Nagid: President of the Jewish community. Hebrew term for “to say,” or “he who has the say.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 14, “History of the Institution of the Nagid,” p. 730, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 238. 423 Daly, article Winter, p. 30-31. 424 Even though “nasi” means “president,” the “nagid” was the highest authority, a kind of overlord. 425 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 14, “History of the Institution of the Nagid,” p. 730. 426 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Arab Period,” p. 231. 427 Raymond, p. 70. 428 Hakham: Hebrew term for “sage” and “scholar.” 429 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 14, “History of the Institution of the Nagid,” p. 731-733. 430 Flinders, p. 39. 431 Ptolemy, 305-30 BCE. See timetable. 432 Flinders, p. 40. 433 This could mean that between 1500 and 2500 Jews lived in Alexandria. 434 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 634. 435 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 634. 436 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 200. 437 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 13. 438 Mansfield, p. 13. 439 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 237. 440 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 201. 441 Petry, article: Stillman, p. 201. 442 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 634. 443 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 14. 444 The Ottomans were Turkish tribes. As a result of many conquests, they ruled over a giant empire. After losing more and more territories throughout the 19th and the early 20th century, they were forced to retreat by European powers, mostly the British and the French. They ruled Egypt from 1517 to 1882, but stayed in the country until the beginning of World War I in 1914. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 524. 445 Raymond, p. 165. 446 Selim I (1512-1520), the Grim, almost doubled the size of the Ottoman Empire through conquests in Asia. Shamir, Toldot, p. 1-2 447 Suleiman the Magnificent (1520-1566), successor to Selim I. 448 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 524. 449 Shamir, Toldot, p. 1-2. 450 Raymond, p. 169-170. 451 Raymond, p. 185. 452 Petry, article: Winter, p. 503. 453 Petry, article: Winter, p. 503-504. 454 Rodenbeck, p. 142-143. 455 Rodenbeck, p. 142-145. 456 In 1520, 1523 and 1524. Raymond, p. 191. 457 Petry, article: Winter, p. 513, Raymond, p. 191. 458 Shamir, Toldot, p. 2-3, Krämer, p. 167-170. 459 Raymond, p. 207-210, 280. 460 Since censuses were conducted only sporadically, we cannot ascertain who is right in this debate. 417

A.D.

461 462 463

This district is also known as Zawilla. Meital, p. 36-40. Raymond, p. 207-210, 280, Meital, p. 33-34, 36-40. Muhammad al-Makrizi (1364-1442).

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Meital, p. 37. This topic will be further elaborated on in a later chapter. 466 Moorhead, The White Nile. p. 69-70. 467 Krämer, p. 8-9. 468 Fine, p. 19. 469 Mansfield, p. 64. 470 Fine, p. 22-23. 471 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 344. 472 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 29. 473 The position of the nagid had been abolished by the Mamluk rulers. See section on the nagid. 474 Yeshiva: Hebrew for “meeting.” Plural: Yeshivot: “Torah Schools.” 475 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire“, S. 523. 476 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 531. 477 Torah school for children aged 4 to 12. Nahem, article Zohar, p. 83. 478 Secondary Torah school for talented children. This is where adults intensified their studies of the Torah with the help of scholars. Nahem, article Zohar, p. 83. 479 Krämer, p. 44-45. Nahem, article Zohar, p. 83. 480 See section on the Radbaz. 481 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 28. 482 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 28. 483 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 344. 484 See subsequent section on the Kabbalah. 485 Fine, p. 38. 486 See section on Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. 487 Daly, article Winter, p. 30-31 488 Yeshiva: religious academy. 489 “Posek,” Hebrew term for “judge” or “rabbinical judge.” The word is derived from “psak-din,” a term denoting “verdict.” Langenscheidt. 490 Halacha: the Jewish law. 491 Fine, p. 29-30. 492 See section on monotheism/Judaism. 493 See following chapter. 494 Tel Aviv University, Jews of Islamic Countries Archiving Project Pe’amim Nr. 54, p. 82-92, Artikel by Yerachmiel Brodi, 1993, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 523. 495 Rabbi Isaac Luria ben Shlomo Ashkenazi/Ha’Ari ha’kadosh. Hebrew term denoting “the holy lion.” Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 13, “Luria, Isaac Ben Salomon,” p. 262-266. 496 Fine, p. 28. 497 Fine, p. 29. 498 Fine, p. 32-34. 499 According to orthodox Jewish faith, redemption can only be achieved through the coming of the Messiah, at a time when all Jews will live in Israel. Fine, p. 32-34. 500 See section on the Rambam. 501 See section on the Kabbalah. 502 See chapter on Zohar. 503 Fine, p. 29-30, 32. 504 Shabta’ut: Hebrew term for “Sabbathianism.” This movement was based on the idea that Sabbatei Zevi was the Messiah. Cf. Encyclopedia Hebraica, vol. 18, p. 67, 165, 340-348, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 18, “Shabtei Zvi,” p. 340-358. 465

505

Encyclopedia Hebraica. Krämer, p. 16-17. 507 Egypt was under Ottoman rule at the time. 508 Originally from the Iberian Peninsula, Jews were called “Spharadim” or “Sephardim” (“Spharad” is a Hebrew term for Spain.) Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 240, Krämer, p. 13-15. 509 Jews from the Iberian Peninsula. See Sephardim. 510 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 522. 506

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Jews of Central and Eastern European origin. See Ashkenazim, p. 14 Krämer, p. 18-19. 21, Beinin, p. 16. 513 Shamir Shimon, 1987, p. xvi. 514 They spoke Spanish and Portuguese as well as many local dialects. Daly, article Winter, p. 31. 515 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 523. 516 Fine, p. 22-23. 517 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 14. 518 Hakham: Hebrew term for “sage.” 519 Torah teacher. Hebrew term for a “teacher who instructs the Torah to his students.” 520 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 14. 521 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 344. 522 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 29. 523 See section on the Radbaz. 524 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 30. 525 As highlighted in other passage of this text, a dress code for Jews was introduced at various points in history. Cf. Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 32-33. 526 Murad IV (1623-1640) 527 Uthman III (1754-1757) 528 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 525-526. 529 Just like during the National Socialist regime in Europe. 530 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 32-33. 531 Beinin, p. 16. 532 See section on nagid. 533 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 30-31. 534 Purim is a Jewish holiday similar to carnival. It is celebrated in the month of Adar (March) in commemoration of the defeat of Haman the Evil, who wanted to destroy the Persian Jews. Old Testament, Hagiography, the Book of Esther. 535 Sultan Ahmed Pasha, Ottoman ruler during that period. Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 30. 536 Egyptian Purim is a holiday exclusive to the Egyptian Jewry. See several interviews, Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 30. 537 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 536. 538 This aspiration also applies to other countries in the Middle East and to the Eastern European Jewry before the 20th century. The more religious people were and the more strictly they followed Jewish laws, the more seriously they took God’s command, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth.” 539 Halacha: Hebrew expression for “as it should be.” Legal part of the Talmud, the Judeo-religious law. Langenscheidt, Hebräisch- Deutsch, p. 134, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 7, “Halacha,” p. 164. 540 Marriages were arranged for girls between the ages of 13 and 16 and for boys between the ages of 16 and 18. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, p. 539. 541 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 537. 542 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 531. 543 Egyptians called foreigners “malet.” Shamir, Toldot, p. 7. 544 Shamir, Toldot, p. 7. 545 Meital, p. 86, Zamir, p. 71-72. 546 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 3-4. 547 Daly, article Crecelius, p. 59-60. 548 Lapidus, p. 361. 549 Mansfield, p. 39-40. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 525-526, 537-539. 550 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 25. 551 Rodenbeck, p. 145-146. 552 See chapter on Muhammad Ali and his dynasty. 553 Lapidus, p. 544. 554 Shamir, Toldot, p. 4-5. 555 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 525-526. 556 Shamir, Toldot, p. 7-8. 557 Napoleon Bonaparte, 1769-1821, French general and emperor. 558 Daly, article Crecelius, p. 82, article Dykstra, p. 115, 122. 559 At the time, Alexandria counted 5,000 inhabitants. Shamir, Toldot, p. 19. 512

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Raymond, p. 189 Volney, p. 3, 74-75. “Cairo was still steeped in the 12th century. … Its streets were narrow and winding. … According to estimates, Cairo had between 250,000 and 330,000 inhabitants,” writes Volney, a French traveler who visited the Middle East between 1782 and 1785. 562 Shamir, Toldot, p. 19-21. 563 Vivant-Denon, p. 40 564 Moorhead, The Blue Nile, p. 54 565 Shamir, Toldot, p. 23-25. 566 Shamir, Toldot, p. 26-29. 567 Lapidus, p. 592. 568 Mansfield, p. 43-45. (Even so, the French remained in Egypt for three more years and did not leave the country until 1802.) 569 Lapidus, p. 592-593. 570 Shamir, Toldot, p. 31. 571 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, S. 428, 435. 572 Daly, article Michael Winter, p. 6. The opposite was the case with the Mamluks, who considered Egypt their only homeland “where they planned to live, die, and be buried.” 573 Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt. Raymond, p. 189. 574 Raymond, p. 289. Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 7, “Misr,” p. 177. Da’at, Encyclopedia für Geschichte der israelische Kultur. Virtuelle Bibliothek im Herzog College. This encyclopedia has not been completed yet. http://www.daat.ac.il/daat/bibliogr/allbooks. 575 Lapidus, p. 615-616. 576 Goitein, 1974, p. 214-215. 577 Vatikiotis, p. 49-50, Rodenstock, p. 160-163. 578 Shamir, Toldot. p. 37-40, Raymond, p. 299, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Muhammad Ali,” p. 198-199. 579 Bradley, p. 24-26, Shamir, Toldot, p. 35, Vatikiotis, p.49. 580 The following rulers were in power between Muhammad Ali (1805-1841) and his most important successor Ismail: Ibrahim, and for a short time, Abbas I (1848-1854), and Said (1854-1863), who returned land to the peasants after abolishing monopolies and also loosening recruitment rules for the army. Vatikiotis, p. 51, 71-72. 581 Vatikiotis, p. 49-50, 68. 582 After the Young Officers’ Coup of 1952, King Farouk, Muhammad Ali’s last successor, was ousted and Egypt became a republic. Shamir, Toldot. p. 37-40. 583 Since the beginning of Ottoman rule in 1517. 584 Daly, Artikel Fahmy, p. 178-179. 585 Daly, Artikel Ibrahim, p. 198, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, “Muhammad Ali Pasha,” p. 441 586 Shamir, Toldot. p. 41-51. 587 Shamir, Toldot. p. 38-39. 588 Vatikiotis, p. 53-54. 589 Vatikiotis, p. 60. 590 Vatikiotis, p. 60. 591 Shamir, Toldot. p. 51-64 592 Women did not have the right to own or inherit land. Daly, article Toledano, p. 271-272, 277. 593 Daly, article Toledano, p. 271-272, 277, based on Daniel Panzak, “The Population of Egypt in the Nineteenth Century,” March 1987, p. 11-32. 594 Shamir, Toldot. p. 51-64. 595 Vatikiotis, p. 58, 60. 596 Vatikiotis, p. 52. 597 Mansfield, p. 49. 598 Vatikiotis, p. 56. 599 Lapidus, p. 592-593. 600 Daly, article Toledano, p. 253-254, based on Daniel Panzak, “The Population of Egypt in the Nineteenth Century,” March 1987, p. 11-32. 601 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 530. 602 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 530. 603 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 17, “The Jewish Religious Leadership in the Muslim East,” p. 15. 561

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Vatikiotis, p. 80. Exact numbers are not known because they were neither verified scientifically nor in a census. Daly, article Toledano, p. 253-254, based on Daniel Panzak, “The Population of Egypt in the Nineteenth Century,” March 1987, p. 11-32. 606 Special laws for foreigners were called “Capitulations.” 607 Vatikiotis, p. 61, 507. 608 A French engineer founded a Navy Academy in Alexandria in 1829 and served as its commander. Vatikiotis, p. 61. 609 Krämer, p. 38-39. 610 Adolphe Crémieux (1796-1880) was a French-Jewish diplomat and lawyer, member of the French parliament and later minister of justice and the French Senate. He founded the Jewish Kol Israel Haverim organization, which was charged with establishing Jewish schools in countries where there was a need. Crémieux was the president of the school from 1863 to 1866. Nahem, article Zohar, p. 84, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 241. 611 Born in Poland, Salomon Munk (1803-1867) was a French-Jewish Orientalist who specialized in medieval Arab-Jewish literature. In France, he became secretary of the Central Committee of the French Jews, and later on its president. He was elected to the French Legion d’honneur and co-founded Kol Israel Haverim. See footnote on Crémieux. Nahem, article Zohar, p. 84. 612 Nahem, article Zohar, p. 84-85. 613 Since education at non-Jewish schools was more modern, these people thought that the schools would train their children better for the future. A certain snobbism may also have come into play. Nahem, article Zohar, p. 85, 93. 614 Starting with the Islamic invasion of Egypt until the 19th century. 615 His name is not known. 616 Porat, p. 39-40. 617 Vatikiotis, p. 61. 618 At the time, the American author Herman Melville (Moby Dick) visited both cities after a journey to Jerusalem. He extensively described their layout in his travelog from 1856. Melville, p. 112-124. 619 Rodenbeck, p. 165-166. 620 Vatikiotis, p. 61, Shamir, Toldot. p. 102, 133. 621 Raymond, p. 300-301. 622 In high demand for its healthy properties, this oil was produced from the seeds of cotton plants. Porat, p. 41, Rodenbeck, p. 167. 623 Meital, p. 130-133. 624 Raymond, p. 300-301. 625 See section on Benjamin of Tudela. 626 Meital, p. 134-135. 627 Cahanoff, p. 94. 628 Shamir, p. xv. 629 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 441. 630 Shamir, Toldot. p. 65-67, 69, 102. 631 Raymond, p. 300-301. 632 Shamir, Toldot. p. 65-67, 69, 102, Meital, p. 83-86. 633 Ismail Pasha (1830-1895) was awarded the hereditary title of Khedive (viceroy). 634 Shimoni, p. 22, Raymond, p. 307-308. 635 Meital, p. 87-88, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 441, Rodenbeck, p. 170. 636 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345. 637 Kimhi, p. 22. 638 Meital, p. 40-41. 639 Such as Garden City, Maadi, etc. Aufbau 1995, Agstner, p. 12. 640 Clot Bey, vol. I, p. 243, Vol. II, p. 140-141. 641 Meital, p. 33-44. 642 Meital, p. 41-44. 643 This part of the city was located between three districts: el-Gish, el-Dahar, and el-Saccaninni, founded in 1849. Meital, map, p. 62. 644 Meital, p. 62-65. 645 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 344. 605

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Abdülmecid (1839-1861). Zamir, article in History and Culture, p. 115, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 526. 648 Shamir, Toldot. p. 105-106. 649 Shamir, Toldot. p. 67-68, Landau, p. 83. 650 Interview Mizrahi. 651 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 538. 652 James Sanu’a, a Jew from Alexandria, came to Egypt in the mid-19th century. In 1878, he went into exile in Paris. Vatikiotis, p. 106-107. 653 Vatikiotis, p. 106-107. 654 Khedive Ismail Pasha (1867-1879). 655 Sanu’a wrote more than thirty plays, mostly comedies of manner. Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 162. 656 Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 162. 657 Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 162-163. 658 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten in der Tora” (die fünf Bücher Moses), p. 241-242, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. 659 Theodor Herzl (1860 – 1904): Viennese journalist and publisher. After witnessing a rise in antiSemitism in Europe in the 1880s, he thought that the only solution was for the Jews to establish a state of their own. Haas, Theodor Herzl. 660 Hirschberg in: Bat Ye’or, p. 6-7. 661 Bat Ye’or, p. 12. Quote translated by Alisa Douer. 662 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 441. 663 Raymond, p. 307-308, Rodenbeck, p. 167. 664 See section on Muhammad Ali. 665 Said (1854-1863). 666 Ismail (1863-1879). 667 Porat, S. 115. Vatikiotis, S. 73. 668 The country depended primarily on Great Britain and France. Shamir, Toldot, p. 108, 116-121, 140. Vatikiotis, p. 74. 669 Shamir, Toldot, p. 125. 670 Most of the Balkan countries had already gained their independence. Russia, Great Britain, and Austria-Hungary wanted to have direct control of the Ottoman territories. Lapidus, p. 592. 671 Lapidus, p. 592-593. 672 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Orabi,” p. 200, Vatikiotis, p. 143-145, Nahem, p. 179, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume X, p. 872-873. 673 Ahmed Orabi (1841-1911), Nasser, p. 106. 674 Zagazig was located in “the eastern Delta province of Sharqiyya.” Daly, article D. M. Reid, p. 224. 675 These were courts for foreigners who were judged by the laws applicable to the countries of which they were citizens. Cf. Vatikiotis, Goitein, Shamir, Nahem. 676 Evelyn Baring, Earl of Cromer (1841-1917) was the first British governor of Egypt. Nahem, article Kupferschmidt, p. 67, Shimoni, p. 28. 677 Cf. Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Orabi,” p. 200, Vatikiotis, p. 143-145, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume X, p. 872-873, Schölch, Vatikiotis, Shamir, Nahem. 678 Vatikiotis, p. 143. 679 Vatikiotis, p. 143-145. 680 Shimoni, p. 25, Daly, article D. M. Reid, p. 224-227. 681 Daly, article D. M. Reid, p. 217-218, 222, Shamir, p. 136, 138-139. 682 Vatikiotis, p. 158-159. 683 Daly, article D. M. Reid, p. 231-233, 237-239. 684 Vatikiotis, p. 164. 685 Daly, article D. M. Reid, p. 217. 686 Porat, p. 147. 687 Lapidus, p. 615-616, Daly, article D. M. Reid, p. 231-233, 238. 688 Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten,” p. 200-202, Shamir, Toldot. p. 147, Shimoni, p. 26. 689 Orabi “found himself at the head of a military conspiracy against a weak Khedive.” Vatikiotis, p. 647

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155, Encyclopedia of Islam, volume X, p. 872-873. Vatikiotis, p. 170. 691 Daly, article Dykstra, p. 132-133. 692 Shamir, Toldot. p. 143-145. 693 Daly, article Daly, p. 239. 694 Lord Evelyn Baring, Earl of Cromer (1841-1917) was Egypt’s first British governor. Nahem, article Kupferschmidt, p. 67, Shimoni, p. 28. 695 Daly, article Daly, p. 240, Vatikiotis, p. 175. 696 The British were the first non-Islamic power since 642 to occupy Egypt. 697 Shimoni, p. 13-14. 698 Shamir, Toldot. p. 148, Vatikiotis, p. 173-174. 699 At the time, India was still a British colony. 700 Mansfield, p. 149. 701 Shamir, Toldot. p. 152. 702 After Russia, Austria-Hungary, the United States, and Germany. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 530, 543. 703 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 15, “Ottoman Empire,” p. 543. 704 Vatikiotis, p. 192-196, 202. 705 Vatikiotis, p. 211. 706 At the time of his death in 1927, Zaghlul had founded the Wafd Party and was considered the “Father of Egyptians.” Vatikiotis, p. 257, Shimoni, p. 409. Vatikiotis, p. 176-177, Nasser, p. 106. 707 Vatikiotis, p. 211. 708 Vatikiotis, p. 177-178. 709 Douer, master’s thesis, p. 28. 710 Douer, master’s thesis, p. 27. 711 Tzalas, p. 162 712 Tzalas, p. 150. 713 Ilbert, p. 154. 714 Adams, p. 220. 715 Raymond, p. 318-320. 716 Immigrants and refugees entered Egypt through the port of Alexandria before airplanes came into use. 717 Bat Ye’or, p. 111. Douer, master’s thesis, p. 30-32. 718 Jacqelin Kahanoff, Egyptian-born Jewish-American writer and essayist. 719 Kahanoff, p. 38, 94. 720 Zaloscer, Heimat, p.126 721 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. 722 Zamir, article in History and Culture, p. 116. 723 I learned this from Mr. Ga’on, the head of Alexandria’s Jewish community, during my research trip to Egypt in 2009. A.D. 724 Semsek, Stauth, p. 56. 725 Semsek, Stauth, p. 57, 79-80. 726 Semsek, Stauth, p. 59-62. 727 Semsek, Stauth, p. 58. 728 Shamir, Toldot. p. 185-187. 729 Previous attempts at establishing a Jewish press in Cairo in 1657 and 1740 had failed. Kasher, S. 71. 730 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345. 731 The three Cicurel brothers were born to a family from Smyrna, who had emigrated to Egypt in the 19th century. They became one of the richest families in Egypt. In 1956, they were expelled from Egypt. Some of the department stores bear their name to this day. Aufbau 1996, Agstner, p. 6-7, as well as eyewitness reports. 732 Today: Cairo University. 733 Encyclopedia of Islam, volume 4, p. 441. 734 The theater was founded by Ashkenazi Jews from Europe. Aufbau 1997, Agstner, p. 24. 735 Cohen/Jehuda, p. 303. 736 I learned this from Ms. Weinberger, the head of Cairo’s Jewish community, during my research 690

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trip in 2009. Nahem, article Tergen, p. 150. 738 The Matrikelbuch registered birth, deaths, and marriages. Every citizen of the Austro-Hungarian monarchy or person under Austrian protection was able to register these life events with the embassy. Dr. Agstner, Federal Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Interview, 2011. 739 Agstner, p. 14. 740 Agstner, Artikel in Bulletin 1998, p. 21-24, Aufbau, p. 6. The Cattauis were one of the wealthiest Jewish families in Cairo. After his father Yacoub’s death, Moise Cattaui took over as president of the Jewish Community in 1883 and of the Austro-Hungarian Benevolent Society. In 1906, he started to preside over the Austro-Hungarian community. He acquired Austrian citizenship in 1904 and received an aristocratic title from Emperor Francis Joseph in 1911. 741 Born in the Hungarian Banat region in 1856, he studied architecture in Budapest and Vienna; in 1882, he moved to Egypt where he immediately started to work in the Ministry of Culture. He died in Switzerland in 1919. Aufbau, Agstner, p. 24. 742 Aufbau, Agstner, p. 24. 743 Their number was probably much higher. Not everybody chose to register with the consulate. Agstner, p. 19-20. 744 Agstner, p. 37. They were considered Austrians and enjoyed the protection of the Austrian embassy even though they were not Austrian citizens. These people included the Adda, Benarojo, Belilios, Cattaui, Forte, Goldstein, Heffez, Ismalun, Mondolfo, Picciotto, Palacci, Rossano, and Romano families, who ranked among the wealthiest in Egypt. Some of them gave up their protected status during World War I. 745 The last one of the former persons under Austro-Hungarian protection, Rene Yousseff Cattaui, Matrikel No. C 7/3, passed away in Switzerland in 1994. Agstner, p. 21-22, 295. 746 They came from Bulgaria, Libya, Greece, Syria, Lebanon, Rhodes, and Istanbul. Agstner, p. 295. 747 Agstner, p. 315. 748 Agstner, p. 316-318. 749 Lord Evelyn Baring, Earl of Cromer (1841-1917) was the first British governor of Egypt. Nahem, article Kupferschmidt, p. 67, Shimoni, p. 28. 750 Shamir, Toldot. p. 171-172. 751 Shamir, Toldot. p. 176, 179, 181. 752 It was up to the authorities’ to grant citizenship or not. Shamir, Toldot. p. 184-185. 753 Lewis, p. 172. 754 Raymond, p. 318-320, Krämer, p. 86, 114. 755 Porat, p.120. 756 Shamir, Toldot. p. 291-300. 757 Rodenbeck, p. 182. 758 Daly, article Daly, p. 246-247. 759 The Zionist Mule Corps included 600 soldiers, among them 350 fighters from Palestine/Eretz Israel and 150 Egyptian Jews. Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 121-122. 760 Nahem, article Pergola, p. 40. 761 Meital, p. 142, Zamir, p. 24. 762 Lord Arthur James Balfour (1848-1930) was a British politician who became prime minister. From 1916 to 1919, he served as foreign minister. Lord Balfour sent this declaration to Lord Rothschild, the representative of the Zionist Federation. Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 119. Robert John, Behind the Balfour Declaration. Britain's Great War Pledge To Lord Rothschild. Published by the Institute for Historical Review, 1988. 763 Samir Raafat, Egyptian Mail, September 11, 1993, updated 1996, Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 119. 764 This revolt was also caused by the fact that the British had declared Egypt a British protectorate, effectively replacing the Ottoman overlords in 1914. Krämer, p. 119. 765 The Wafd Party was founded as an Egyptian People’s Delegation in 1918 and participated in peace talks between Great Britain and Egypt in London. Sa’ad Zaghlul headed this first Western-style party. It first ran for election in 1924. It was a Social Democratic, secular party—in the European sense—and included several intellectuals among its ranks. This party exists to this day and is known as the New Wafd Party. Krämer, p. 120, 143-144, El-Mahdi, p. 49-50. 766 Daly, Artikel Daly, p. 244-245. 767 Krämer, p. 143-144 737

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Daly, Artikel Beinin, p. 313, Shimoni, p. 29. Rodenbeck, p. 186. 770 Lord Allenby was sent to Egypt to quell unrests in 1919. Vatikiotis, p. 267. 771 Daly, Artikel Daly, p. 248-250. 772 Vatikiotis, p. 257, 266-267 773 Rodenbeck, p. 183. 774 Vatikiotis, p. 274. 775 Mansfield, p. 188-189. 776 Lapidus, p. 623. 777 Daly, article Botman, p. 307-308. 778 The Muslim Brotherhood is a political organization that aims at introducing Shari’a law. The organization was outlawed until 2011, and its illegal members were persecuted and arrested. Meanwhile, the movement has acquired party-status and is represented in all Islamic countries, legally or illegally. Bardley, p. 14, Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 137. 779 Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 137. 780 Shari’a, the strict religious laws of Islam. Encyclopedia of Islam, volume IX, p. 321-328. 781 Mansfield, p. 194. 782 Porat, p. 126, 134-136, Vatikiotis, p. 293. 783 The Montreux Convention also accorded full sovereignty of the Dardanelles, the Sea of Marmara, and the Bosporus to Turkey. It has remained in force to this day. 784 Mansfield, p. 191-192. 785 Krämer, p. 143-144 786 Lapidus, p. 624-625, Krämer, p. 121. After the Free Officer’s Revolution of 1952, Great Britain finally agreed to withdraw fully from Egypt, which did not happen until 1956. 787 Lapidus, p. 618-619. 788 Lapidus, p. 619-620. 789 Taha Hussein (1889-1973), writer, journalist, politician, scholar, was Egyptian minister of education under the Wafd Party. Koplewitz, p. 116-117, Nahem. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 23. 790 Shimoni, p. 30-31, Mansfield, p. 193-194. 791 Jews constituted the biggest population in the Maadi district. Most of the mansions were built by Jewish bankers. Aufbau 1995, Agstner, p. 12. 792 Some of the best-known families were the Suarez, Mosseri, Cicurel, and Cattaui. They were successful in business and banking. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345, Meital, p. 89-93. 793 Meital, p. 68-72. 794 Bnai Brith, also B’nai B’rith: This international Jewish organization was founded in New York in 1843 by a group of twelve German Jews. They wanted to guarantee the safety and continuity of the Jewish people; to help found the State of Israel; to safeguard human rights; and to fight anti-Semitism and xenophobia. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, p. 13-17. 795 Meital, p. 93-95. 827 See interview table, Meital p. 89-93. 796 See interview table. A.D. Meital, p. 89-93. 797 They included the Menase, Rolo, Agion, Qatawi, Kastro, and Salama families, all of Sephardic origin. Meital, p. 136. 798 Meital, p. 134-137. 799 Nahem, article Zohar, p. 100-101. 800 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345. 801 Anderl in: Douer, Neuland, p. 16, Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 20-21. 802 Krämer, p. 141-142. 803 A violent national youth organization. Krämer, p. 130-133, 140, Bat Ye’or, p. 125. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 20. 804 Beinin, p. 72-74. 805 Bat Ye’or, p. 105. 806 Krämer, p. 147-148. 807 Krämer, p. 234-235. 808 Lewis, p. 170-171. 809 Adolf Hitler was German chancellor from 1933 to 1945. Intent on eradicating world Jewry, he started World War II. Because of his orders, six million Jews were murdered in the Shoa. In his book Mein 769

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Kampf, he declared his political and ideological agenda, describing his race theory and the Final Solution as early as 1925. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 9, “Hitler,” p. 286-289. 810 Published in the early 20th century, The Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a hate pamphlet supposedly attesting to a Jewish world complot. This pamphlet is based on the satirical publication Dialogue aux enfers entre Machiavel et Montesquieu by the French writer Maurice Joly published anonymously in Geneva in 1864. Even though the protocols were proved to be fraudulent several times, anti-Semites around the world believe them to be true to this day. One version to receive international distribution was taken from the second edition of the book from 1862 and 1929: The Great within the Small and Antichrist, an Imminent Political Possibility. Notes of an Orthodox Believer was published in Russia in 1905. 811 Krämer, p. 145-148. 812 The Cicurels were Italian Jews who had lived in Egypt since the mid-19th century. They owned the biggest and most fashionable chain of department stores in Egypt. Their stores were set on fire during the War of 1948 and during the Revolution of 1952, but restored. After the Arab-Israeli War of 1956, the stores were nationalized. In 1957, the Cicurel family left Egypt for good. Even though under a different ownership, these stores continue to exists in Egypt under the same name. Daly, article Beinin, p. 331-332. Douer: eyewitness; conversation with Dr. Agstner. 813 Most Jews remained indifferent to questions of identity politics. Krämer, p. 167-168. 814 The war lasted until 1945. Krämer, p. 154-166. 815 The Egyptian economy was dependent on the British because they employed 200,000 Egyptians. Rodenbeck, p. 188-190. 816 Shimoni, p. 31. 817 Zaloscer, Heimkehr, p. 91. 818 Mansfield, p. 221. Douer, master’s thesis, p. 36. 819 Chamberlain, British Prime Minister. 820 This document was a disappointment to both Arabs and Jews. Mansfield, p. 233-235. Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 138. 821 The German Field Marshal Erwin Rommel marched into Egypt during World War II. He was defeated on his way to Alexandria at El-Alamein. Mansfield, p. 219-220, Rodenstock, p. 190-191. 822 Mansfield, p. 219-220, Rodenstock, p. 190-191. 823 Adams, p. 113. 824 Abdel Meguid, p. 304. 825 Zaloscer, Heimkehr, p. 91. 826 Tzalas, p. 51, Douer, master’s thesis, p. 37. 827 Aharoni, Die Frau in Weiß, p. 66-67. 828 This is what the Jewish settlers in Palestine/Eretz Israel were called until the State of Israel was founded. 829 This organization prepared Jews for life in Israel. 830 The word literally means “ascent.” 831 Beinin, p. 76. 832 Taha Hussein established this university as a Free Humanistic University on February 8, 1943. He served as its first president. Kopelevitsch, p. 116-117. 833 Kopelevitsch, p. 116-117. 834 Professor Hilde Zaloscer, a Jewish refugee from Vienna, taught at this university for more than twenty years. Heimat, p. 97. 835 Beinin, p. 74. 836 Siton, p. 27, Shimoni, p. 232. 837 Mansfield, S. 228-229. 838 See footnote 811. 839 A district in Alexandria. 840 Bat Ye’or, p. 113. 841 Shimoni, p. 393. 842 Mansfield, p. 231. 843 Haj Amin el-Husseini (1893-1974) hailed from an Arab family in Jerusalem. A legal scholar and Palestinian nationalist, he was the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem. In World War II, he visited the Third Reich. He was one of Zionism’s fiercest opponents. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 9, p. 642-643. 844 Bradley, p. 49-51. 845 Lord Moyne (1880-1944).

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Rodenbeck, S. 191-192. Mansfield, p. 236-237, Goitein 1974, p. 236-237. 848 Zaloscer, Heimat, p.144. 849 Lord Arthur James Balfour, First Earl of Balfour (1848-1930), British politician and subsequently Prime Minister. Foreign Minister from 1916 to 1919. Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 119. 850 Samir Raafat, Egyptian Mail, September 11, 1993, updated 1996, Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 119. 851 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 21. 852 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Egypt,” p. 234. 853 Krämer, p. 166 854 Mansfield, p. 233-235. Zamir, article in: History and Culture, p. 138. 855 The Free Officers succeeded with the help of “I’huan,” the Muslim Brotherhood and Masr el-Fatat, Young Egypt. Vatikiotis, p. 358, Bat Ye’or, p. 113. 856 Goitein, 1974, p. 240-241. 857 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Egypt,” p. 234. 858 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Egypt,” p. 234. 859 Goitein 1974, p. 242. 860 Pe’amim, No. 70. Jaakov Miron, p. 155. The number of Jews living in Egypt was much smaller at the time than the one indicated. Cf. Beinin, Hasoun, Krämer. 861 Ilbert, p. 52. 862 The sums that Jews were allowed to take with them ranged from 10 Egyptian Pounds to 20 USDollars. Cf. interviews and Ilbert, p. 125. 863 The wars against Israel between 1948 and 1967 will be discussed extensively in a separate chapter. 864 Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 113, 167. 865 Nahem, article Zohar, p. 101-102. 866 Interview Mizrahi. 867 Landau, p. 83. 868 Interview Mizrahi. 869 Krämer, p. 3. 870 Ilbert, p. 105, Bat Ye’or, p. 134. 871 Hassoun 2003, p. 49. 872 In July 1952, a group of young officers staged a revolution against corruption and the royal family, and in favor of a socialist republic. Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Ägypten,” p. 203-205, Nahem, Beitrag Ehrlich, p. 25. 873 Nasser (1918-1970). Adams, p. 273. 874 Goitein, 1974, p. 242-245. 875 Shimoni, p. 414-415. 876 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635, volume 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 877 Siton, p. 84-85. 878 Bradley, S. 13-15, Nasser, 1918-1970. Adams, S. 273. 879 Nasser, p. 7-8, 31-40. 880 Ali Muhammad Naguib (1901-1984) was president from June 18, 1953 to November 14, 1954. An army comrade of Nasser’s and co-revolutionary, he was considered a tolerant person but was overthrown by power-hungry Nasser. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 25, Adams, p. 168. 881 Nasser, p. 42-47. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 25. 882 Nasser, p. 67-69. 883 Goitein, 1974, p. 249. 884 Shimoni, p. 413, Adams, p. 273. 885 Lapidus, p. 627, Porat, p. 160. 886 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 25. 887 I will discuss Egyptian-Israeli war in greater detail at a later point. 888 Porat, p. 160. 889 Lagnado, p. 109. 890 Adams, p. 169 891 Siton, p. 84-85, see p. 892 Zaloscer, Heimat, p. 146. 893 An Israeli spy ring was uncovered and all those involved were arrested. See section on the Lavon 847

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Affair (1954). Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345, volume 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 895 Bat Ye’or, p. 131. 896 All Jews were called Zionists, regardless of their political views. Bat Ye’or, p. 134. 897 Bat Ye’or, p. 134. 898 Barkat in: Haaretz. These numbers have not been verified by scholars. 899 Ilbert, p. 105, Bat Ye’or, p. 134. 900 Tiran is located in the Southern part of the Suez Canal. Suez is located in the Northern part. 901 Goitein, 1974, p. 256-258, Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 25. 902 Goitein, 1974, p. 256-258. 903 Nahme, article Ehrlich, p. 27-28. 904 The number ranges between 85,000 and 100,000. Landau, Die Juden, p. 76, cf. Krämer, Encyclopedia Judaica. 905 Bat Ye’or, p. 120, Nahme, article Ehrlich, p. 27-28. 906 Adams, p. 169. 907 Egypt received the most modern arms, tanks and artillery for its air forces. As a result, Egypt started to depend on the Soviet Union in terms of troop supplies, replacement parts, advisors, and engineers. 5,000 Soviet engineers and workers were employed in the construction of the Asswan Dam. Soviet pilots flew planes by the Egyptian air force and conversed in Russian. Shimoni, p. 397, 403-404. 908 Jacques Hassoun is considered a voice for all Egyptian-born Jews who had to leave the country. Their feelings for Egypt are mostly tinged by nostalgia. Cf. interviews. 909 Hassoun, 2003, p. 26-27. 910 Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 169-170. Nahem, Beitrag Ehrlich, p. 22-23. 911 It should not go without saying that Shimoni published his book in 1976. Today these numbers are no longer publicly available. Shimoni, p. 229. 912 The public is not allowed access to analyze the present-day situation of the Egyptian media. 913 Nagib Mahfuz was the most important Egyptian writer. He won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1988. Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 170. 914 Koplewitz, p. 116-117. 915 Nahem, article Zohar, p. 101-102. 916 Tzalas, p. 55. 917 Landau, p. 83. 918 Meital. p. 62-65. 919 Nahem, article Bornstein-Makovsky, p. 67-68. 920 Meital, p. 62-65. 921 Beinin, p. 16-17 922 Rodenbeck, p. 177. 923 Most trained staff were European and Egyptian Jews. Meital, p. 67. The first nurses were of German-Jewish descent. Over time, they also trained non-Jewish nurses. “Most of them stayed with us from the opening to the violent and sad take-over of the hospital by the Nasser regime in 1960.” The hospital was closed down soon thereafter. This quote is by Nurse Thea, who emigrated to Israel and wrote her memoirs with Ada Aharoni’s help. Aharoni, Die Frau in Weiss, p. 33, 116. 924 Meital, p. 67. 925 Kasher, p. 71. 926 Inteview Awad. 927 Cattaui: Zamir, S. 134. 928 Besides Al-Azhar, a religious university 929 Today: Cairo University. 930 Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 134. 931 Beinin, p. 57-58 und 257. 932 Nahem, article Zohar, p. 86. 933 Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 116. 934 The most important newspapers were Israel, published in three different language editions; L’Aurore, La Voix Juive, El-Shams, and La Tribune Juive. The most important magazines were El-katab elMasri with its editor-in-chief Taha Hussein and the business journal el-Tas’ira. Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 119-123. 935 Table in: Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 127-129. 894

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Two brothers of Jewish descent. The writer, journalist, politician, and scholar Taha Hussein (1889-1973) was the Egyptian minister of finance under the Wafd Party. Koplewitz, p. 116-117, Nahem. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 23 938 Beinin, p. 88 and 90-91. 939 He died in Egypt in 1956. For additional writers see: Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 133. 940 Their names give a clue of the diversity of the Jewish community: Harari, Asher, Rosenthal, Cohen, Mizrahi, Weinstein, Daneno, Vidal. Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 133. 941 Daly, article Starkey, p. 425-426. Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 132. 942 The Lumière brothers went down in history as the inventors of the motion pictures. Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 168. 943 Born in Alexandria in 1901/1905, he studied filmmaking in Italy. Initially active in Alexandria, he went to Cairo to build a big film production site in Giza, where he produced additional movies. After having lost a substantial amount of money, he collapsed financially, physically, and emotionally. He returned to Italy in 1956, where he died in 1987. Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 169-171. 944 Layla Murad (1918-1995) was a Jew from Cairo. Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 169-171, Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 132. 945 Ha Tikva, Hebrew word for “hope.” It is Israel’s national anthem as well as an anthem for Jews around the world. Nahem, article Sagi-Bizani, p. 165-166. 946 1870-1937. Kairo. Nahem, article Shiloa’h, p. 137-138. 947 Nahem, article Shiloa’h, p. 137-138, Beinin, p. 88 and 90-91, Zamir, article in: History and Culture..., p. 133. 948 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 19. 949 Krämer, p. 180. 950 Adams, p. 168. 951 Beinin, p. 268. 952 Hassoun, p. 266. Jacques Hassoun is considered the voice of Egyptian-born Jews who had to leave the country. His feelings towards Egypt are mostly tinged by nostalgia. See interviews. 953 Lewis, p. 3. 954 Lewis, p. 186. 955 Zaloscer, Heimat, p. 144. 956 Samir Raafat, Egyptian Mail, September 11, 1993, updated 1996. 957 Aubrey Eban, later Abba Eban (1915-2002), visited Egypt as an Israeli diplomat and met his wife there. He was an Israeli politician and for years a member of the Knesset, the Israeli parliament. He was Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister and from 1966 to 1974 Minister of Foreign Affairs. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, p. 84-85. 958 It was, temporarily, leased to Queen Farida following her separation from King Farouk. 959 Samir Raafat, Egyptian Mail, September 11, 1993, updated 1996 960 Shamir, The Jews of Egypt. p. XIX. 961 The “other shore” of the Mediterranean is home to a totally different culture. In their book Méditerranée, Stauth and Otto describe two different worlds: one Occidental, one Oriental. 962 Cf. Shamir, Krämer. 963 They also cultivated these traditions in their new home countries and, to the extent possible in this new environment, passed them on to their children. See interviews. 964 Other foreigners from the same region had a decisive influence on making especially Alexandria “the most Mediterranean city of its time.” This description does not apply to the entire Jewish population of Egypt, however. Jews living in the old districts cultivated a more Egyptian way of life and spoke Arabic. The Jewish middle and upper-middle class in the modern districts adopted French culture. Cf. Shamir, The Jews of Egypt, p. XIV. 965 See interviews. 966 Alhadeff, p. 4. 967 Copts constitute Egypt’s biggest minority. 968 As a result of these unrests, Egypt was declared a British Protectorate in 1914, leaving the Ottomans powerless in the region. Krämer, p. 119. 969 See footnote 799, p. 118. 970 Cf. Gershoni, Krämer. 971 In reality, the British remained in Egypt until 1956. Siton, p. 83. 937

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They were no longer tried by the Mixed Courts for foreigners, for example. Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica, Krämer and others. 973 Joseph Aslan Cattaoui and Joseph Cicurel. Krämer, p. 122. 974 Cf. Krämer, p. 116-123. 975 Cf. Zamir, p. 16. 976 See footnote 735, p. 108. 977 See footnote 825, p. 121. 978 Cf. Krämer, p. 124-130. 979 They often acquired it through their networks or by paying for it. See interviews, Nahem, p. 22. 980 Krämer, p. 32-35, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Egypt,” p. 242. 981 Krämer, p. 233-234. 982 In 1961, the Israeli Central Statistical Office compiled emigration data from Egypt to Eretz Israel/Palestine before 1948. Cf Krämer. 983 For the time after the War of 1948 see the next chapter. Landau, Die Juden, p. 76. 984 Krämer, p. 189. Krämer thinks that “real Egyptian Jews” were all those who had lived in the country for generations or who had come to Egypt from the Ottoman Empire at the beginning of the 20th century. 985 See special chapter. 986 Landau, Die Juden, p. 76. The situation of Egyptian Jews was similar to that of European Jews during the 1930s. They could also not imagine that they would fall victim to the mass murders of the Holocaust. A.D. 987 Krämer, p. 3, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Egypt,” p. 242. 988 One of the many geographical terms for the country. Others are Israel, Canaan, Palestine, and Judea. 989 The Viennese Jewish writer and journalist Nathan Birnbaum (1864-1937) coined this term in his magazine Selbstemanzipation. Bein, p. 271, 281. 990 Theodor Herzl (1860-1904) was the founder of political Zionism. A secular Jew, he studied law at Vienna University. He was a journalist, publisher, and writer and worked for the newspaper Neue Freie Presse in Vienna. Herzl coined the term “the Jewish State.” One of his prophetic visions was that Jews would not realize his ideas until a disaster had befallen them. He did not foresee that the foundation of the State of Israel would bring about another disaster for Jews in the Arab world, however. “The Jewish state is a world necessity. That’s why it will come into being.” See: Herzl, Tagebücher, Bein, Shuraqui, Pawel, BrudeFirnau, Douer, “Herzl.” 991 Cf. Krämer, Bein, Laqueur, Nahem and others. 992 Cf. Bein, p. 274. 993 Shohat 2003, p. 70. 994 Religious Jews were Zionism’s fiercest enemies. Still, nobody questioned that Eretz Israel was the home of the Jews. Bein, p. 275, 281-282, Laqueur, p. 597-598. 995 Shohat 2003, p. 57-58. 996 Even in Europe, only a relatively small minority of young Jews was active in Zionist organizations in the 1930s. Until World War II, most European Jews considered Zionism only a theoretical alternative, in spite of Zionist efforts to convince them otherwise. Many Jews in Islamic countries were not even aware of the movement. Cf. Bein, Krämer, Laqueur. El-Mahdi, p. 130-131 writes that Zionism is an AshkenaziEurocentric ideology. According to him, emigration to Israel and social fusion in the country were a result of the Holocaust. 997 El-Mahdi, p. 133. 998 Shohat 2003, p. 61-62, 70. 999 Cf. Krämer, Beinin, Encyclopedia Judaica, Goitein and others 1000 Cf. Kimhi, p. 12-13. 1001 Ashkenazim were a small minority. Stillman, p. 69-70. 1002 Aharoni, Keruv Levavot, p. 18-19. 1003 The following youth organizations were active in this group: Macabi, Hashomer Hatzair, Hehalutz, Bnei Akiva, and a few more. Cf. interview Wiener. Most interviewees said that the majority of Jewish children joined the organizations because this allowed them to do sports. 1004 Cf. Zamir, p. 25-26, Krämer, p. 185. 1005 Krämer, p. 100, 186, Zamir, p. 25. 1006 There were never any pogroms as had been the case in Eastern Europe for centuries.

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Krämer, p. 188-190. Immigrants to Palestine/Eretz Israel needed to obtain a certificate, an immigration authorization, from the British authorities. A maximum of 15 certificates per year was issued to Egyptian Jews even though more members from Jewish youth organizations applied. Krämer, p. 189. 1009 Krämer, p. 189. 1010 Most of my interview partners almost unanimously agreed that their identity was conditioned by their families and that most social contacts occurred within families. See interviews. 1011 Cf. Kimhi, p. 110, 121. 1012 As pointed out in the section on Zionism, the movement was a Eurocentric one. The State of Israel was modeled on European principles. See section on Israel after 1948. 1013 Kimhi, p. 122-124, see interviews. 1014 Zamir, p. 24. See section on World War I. 1015 Meital, p. 142. They escaped from the Ottomans, who still ruled over Israel. 1016 Lord Arthur James Balfour, first Earl of Balfour (1848-1930), British politician. Prime minister from 1902 to 1905 and foreign secretary from 1916 to 1919. Nahem, article Jerushalmi, p. 119. 1017 Zamir, p. 25-26. 1018 These were Jews who fled from Nazi Germany and landed in Egypt. 1019 Cf. Zamir, p. 25. 1020 Zamir, p. 26. 1021 This Jewish philanthropic organization was founded in the United States in 1939. It also included the Joint, which helped Jewish refugees from Europe and indigent Jews around the world. These organizations also helped Jews from Egypt leave the country. Its annual collection was mostly geared towards American Jews. In 1999, a few similar organizations including the Joint formed United Jewish Communities. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 10, p. 366-368. 1022 Cf. Zamir, p. 26. 1023 From the moment he came to power in Germany, Adolf Hitler did not conceal his intentions to “rid Germany of Jews.” Even though no physical danger was discernible at first, all those with some political savvy felt that something awful was going to happen. European Jews were not able to imagine the Final Solution, however. 1024 Quote by writer and professor Lore Segal, who was born in Vienna and escaped Austria in 1938. From the documentary Wien 1938 – Heimkehr in ein fernes Land, Alisa Douer, Vienna, 1992. 1025 Cf. Zamir, p. 25. This solidarity with Jews in Egypt shows that many Egyptians could empathize with them, even though many of them considered Germany an ally against the British. 1026 Solé, Birds, p. 192. 1027 People applied for a British Certificate and obtained an authorization to travel relatively easily. 1028 Krämer, p. 144-147, Beinin, p. 71-72, 188, Douer, “Neuland.” Article Anderl, p. 16. Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica, Encyclopedia Hebraica, Shamir, Porat, Goitein. 1029 This Arab unity existed among Islamic states in the Middle East: i.e. Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, and Iraq. 1030 Jankowski, p. 314-331. 1031 I.e. in the fight against Great Britain and France, which ruled over Syria and parts of Lebanon. 1032 Kimhi, p. 21. 1033 Among them, the Muslim Brotherhood and Misr el-Fatat. Krämer, p. 130-133, 140, Bat Ye’or, p. 125. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 20. 1034 Cf. Krämer, p. 145-148. Beinin, Shamir. 1035 After the Big Arab Revolt in Palestine in 1936, a British Commission led by Baron Peel was sent to Palestine/Eretz Israel to investigate the causes of the uprising and to propose solutions to the problem. The Commission published its report in 1937. One of its recommendations was to partition the region into two countries: i.e. an Arab and a Jewish State. If the Arabs had accepted this plan, Israel would have extended from Tel Aviv to the North. According to Laqueur, European countries accepted this partition and have not questioned it to this day. p. 596, Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 15, p. 712. 1036 In the early 1930s, German Jews started to view Zionism as a real alternative. Cf. Bein, Shuraqui, Pawel, Brude-Firnau, and Haas. 1037 We do not know the exact number of refugees who came to Egypt. Nahem, p. 23, Encyclopedia Judaica, Krämer, Beinin, and others. 1038 The situation escalated in spite of the 1937 Montreux Convention between Great Britain and Egypt and the long process of Egyptianization. Zamir, p. 34, Mansfield, p. 191-192. 1008

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They included Arabic translations of Hitler’s book Mein Kampf and the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. Cf. footnotes 845-847, p. 124. 1040 Krämer, p. 144-154. 1041 The Allied Forces included the United States, the Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France. 1042 Cf. Krämer, p. 205-206, Kimhi, p. 26-27. Many Egyptians were employed in the wartime effort. Italians, Germans, and Austrians faced problems; many of them were interned as enemy aliens. 1043 Shorashim, article Har’el, p. 1-3. 1044 Laqueur, p. 564-566, Nahem, p. 101-102. 1045 Stillman, preface without page number, Kimhi, p. 31-33. 1046 Cf. Shamir, Nahem, Graez. 1047 The extermination of 6 million Jews from 1939 to 1945. 1048 Discussions about this topic are endless and still continue in scholarly publications to this day. Before World War II, all efforts to found a Jewish State came to naught—not least because most Jews did not consider having an independent state a necessity. I think that apart from a few Zionists, nobody would have voluntarily “moved to the desert.” A.D. 1049 Interview Weiner. 1050 It was not until July 1947 that the situation escalated again because of new laws. Kimhi, p. 26. Krämer, p. 205-208. 1051 Krämer, p. 208. 1052 Wealthy Jews paid for their trips. 1053 Olim: Hebrew word for somebody who makes aliya. Immigrants to Israel are still called “olim” to this day. 1054 Among them were pregnant women, small children, and old people. Kimhi, p. 520. 1055 Kimhi, p. 520-523. 1056 Shelihim: The Yishuv sent some of its members to foreign countries to encourage Jews to immigrate to Palestine. They were also active in Europe and saved many people, especially the young, from National Socialist atrocities. The shelihim prepared young people for a new life in the kibbutz by teaching them a trade and Zionist ideology. Nahem, p. 23, Krämer, p. 182-189. Cf. Encyclopedia Hebraica and other sources. 1057 Starting in the early 1930s, the Yishuv concentrated on Europe because the political situation there required immediate action. In the Islamic world, this necessity did not arise until the mid-1940s. Cf. Encyclopedia Hebraica and other sources. 1058 Also known as Jewish Agency, the Sochnut represented the Yishuv in Eretz Israel as an interim government. Cf. Encyclopedia Hebraica and other sources. 1059 Among them were Zeev Jabotinsky, Chaim Weizmann (Israel’s first president), David Ben Gurion (first and long-time prime minister of Israel), and others. Har’el, article, p. 3, Laqueur, p. 467-468. 1060 Founded by Jewish refugees from Europe, the Palestine Symphony Orchestra was the first classical orchestra in the Middle East. Arte Television: Coming Home, documentary aired on January 18, 2012 on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the orchestra. 1061 They were also trained in handling arms. Interview Har’el. 1062 Cf. Har’el, article, p. 3. 1063 Kimhi, p. 130. 1064 To buy land and arms to defend Jews in Eretz Israel. 1065 Kimhi, p. 130-131, 136. Sephardic Jews were ignored as early as 1921 during the first Zionist Congress in Karlsbad, when Egyptian Jews in particular demanded to be involved. Kimhi writes that this had to do with the fact that most Zionists were arrogant towards Sephardim because of their Eurocentric attitude. 1066 Zionist Central Archives, Jerusalem, No. Z4/17425, J1/7497. 1067 European Jews had developed this fighting spirit after xenophobic incidents, pogroms and eventually genocide. 1068 Dr. Chaim Weizmann, leader of the Zionist Organization and first president of Israel. 1069 Kimhi, p. 141. Quote by Elhanani, 1981. 1070 Kimhi, p. 141, Labor Party Archives, Bet Berl, Ben Gurion, 1957, p. 234. 1071 Kimhi, p. 303. 1072 These unrests were similar to the ones that occurred in 1945. They were led by the same organizations: i.e. Islamists, nationalists, and students. Krämer, p. 210. 1073 Krämer, p. 209-210. 1074 Al-Ahram, December 1 and 7, 1947 and May 5, 1948.

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Specifications about the sums of money they were allowed to take vary from 10 Egyptian Pounds to $20 per person. 1076 Ilbert, p. 125. 1077 Ilbert, p. 52, Porat, S. 140, Miron, Article in Pe’amim No. 70, p. 154-155. 1078 Husayn Haykal (1888-1956), Egyptian journalist and UN delegate in the 1940s. Article in Pe’amim No. 70, p. 154-155. 1079 The partition of Israel and the foundation of the State of Israel. Krämer, p. 208. 1080 Quote from: United Nations, Official Record of the Second Session of the General Assembly, Ad Hoc Committee on the Palestine Question. Summary Records of Meetings, September 25 to November 25, 1947, Lake Success, New York, p. 185. 1081 Levi Avrahami, a shaliah (emissary) of the Jewish Agency. Kimhi, p. 533. 1082 Kimhi, p. 532-533. Quote from The History of the Hagana Archives in Tel Aviv, interview with Levi Avrahami No. 14/9, June 6, 1946. 1083 Laqueur, p. 582-583. 1084 Cf. Ilbert, Kimhi, Krämer, Encyclopedia Judaica. 1085 Stillman, 1991, p. 504-508, Kimhi, p. 558-561, 567. 1086 Kimhi writes that the “Eastern method”—as she calls Zionist activities in the Arab world—ended at the exact moment when pathways to Europe had reopened and Jews could immigrate from there. Only a handful of youth leaders stayed in Egypt until April/May 1948. Kimhi, p. 556-561, 584. 1087 Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica, Shamir, Bat Ye’or and others. 1088 Laqueur, p. 579-582, Kimhi, p. 521-529. Many European Holocaust survivors arrived at that time. 1089 Cf. Zamir, p. 17. 1090 Krämer, p. 222. 1091 “Though they lived in the East, they were exposed to the cultures of both the East and West, and were mostly sent to French, English or Jewish schools” (whose language of instruction was French). Aharoni, Vom Nil zum Jordan, p. 26-27. 1092 Interview quote by Efrayim Dubek. 1093 Aharoni, Vom Nil zum Jordan, p. 26-27, 103, 109, 112 and interview. “I never wanted to be part of a minority.” As a child, she wanted to belong to the country, just like all other children. 1094 Interview with Yitzhak Gormezano-Goren, Israeli writer and director. 1095 Interview quotes by Nina Weiner and others. 1096 For the formation of the State of Israel. 1097 Aharoni, Vom Nil zum Jordan, p. 143. 1098 Krämer’s assessment, p. 3-5. 1099 Encyclopedia Hebraica, vol. 24, “Egypt,” p. 242, Krämer, p. 3. 1100 Interview with Professor Gershoni. 1101 Based on the records of the Alliance Israélite Française (Alliance Israélite Universelle) from 1870. Zamir, p. 20. 1102 Cf. Zamir, p. 20. 1103 That means that they were literate. Krämer, p. 38-39. 1104 Krämer, S. 52-53. 1105 For other Arab countries, see Encyclopedia Judaica, Shamir, Krämer u. a. 1106 Israeli War of Independence. During this first war, the newly founded state of Israel was attacked by armies from five Arab countries: Egypt, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, and Lebanon. Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica, Encyclopedia Hebraica, Shamir, Krämer, etc. 1107 Today only 150 Jews live in Egypt officially. The unofficial population probably amounts to 400 people. Most of them are old people or people who married Muslims and converted to Islam. Information given to me by the staff and leaders of the Jewish communities in Cairo and Alexandria in 2009. A.D. 1108 Except for one synagogue in Alexandria and two in Cairo, all other synagogues are falling into disrepair because they are sealed off. Entry is forbidden by order of the police. A.D. 2009. 1109 See section on the Cairo Geniza. 1110 Bat Ye’or, p. 136, Douer, master’s thesis, p. 67, Naggar, interviews. 1111 Different experts quote different numbers. Cf. Krämer, p. 4: in 1948, 20,000 Jews left Egypt; in 1956, this number ranged between 40,000 and 50,000. From 1961 to 1967, thousands of Jews left Egypt. By 1980, only 300 to 400 Jews lived in Egypt. Nahem, Beinin, Encyclopedia Hebraica give different numbers. 1112 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 28 1113 Information provided to me by both communities in 2009. A.D.

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According to the 1957 census, 8,561 Jews still remained in Egypt. Encyclopedia Hebraica, volume 24, “Egypt,” p. 244, Siton, p. 85, Interviews. 1115 Encyclopedia Hebraica, vol. 24, “Egypt,” p. 244, see also interviews. 1116 Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, “Egypt,” p. 235, Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. 1117 Cf. Beinin, Krämer, Kimhi. 1118 Krämer, p. 74-75 1119 According to these entries, more than 15 percent of all Egyptian intellectuals were Jewish. Beinin, p. 257. 1120 Beinin, p. 57-58, 257, interviews. 1121 After 1956, only a few hundreds of the 3,105 Karaites still living in Cairo in 1947 remained. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345 and vol. 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635 and interview with Abd elWahid and Jerushalmi. 1122 Interview Weiner. 1123 According to the UN Resolution of November 29, 1947. 1124 As well as in all other Islamic countries. Beinin, p. 75-77. 1125 Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, “Egypt,” p. 235, Nahem, p. 23-24, Har’el, interview and article (without indication of page), Shlaim, p. 66. 1126 Beinin writes that there are no records about the numbers of incarcerated Jews. We can only assume that it ranged between 700 and 800. Beinin bases his figures on eyewitness reports from the Zionist Archives in Jerusalem. Beinin, p. 76, Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. Regarded as political prisoners, hundreds of members of the Muslim Brotherhood were also imprisoned until their organization was outlawed in 1948. Krämer, p. 211-212. 1127 Interview Weiner. 1128 In Abu-Za’bal, political prisoners included Jews as well as members of the Muslim Brotherhood and the Baha’i faith. Interview Jerushalmi. 1129 Conference contribution by Professor Schlossberg, p. 29-33, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. 1130 Nahem, p. 23-24, Kimhi, p. 586, Beinin, p. 76, Har’el, articles without page numbers. 1131 Prisoners were treated in a satisfactory manner. Because of the high bribes that members of the Jewish community paid to guards and officials, they were allowed to receive food and visitors. Krämer, p. 211-212. 1132 As noted before, all shelihim were ordered back to Israel in 1947 and 1948, which left the Zionist movement without leaders. Cf. Kimhi, Krämer, Beinin, Nahem, interviews. 1133 Hagana: Hebrew word denoting “defense.” Parent organization to the Israeli army, which was founded in 1948, Zahal. 1134 Even though only very few of them were Egyptian citizens, the law was also applied to stateless Jews (i.e. 35 percent). Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345 1135 Cf.: Hassoun, 2003, p. 26-27. 1136 Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635, Bat, Yeor, p. 120. 1137 Krämer, p. 211, Har’el, interview. 1138 Moris, p. 230-231. 1139 Cf. Moris, p. 383. 1140 Moris, p. 230. The Egyptian air force was the biggest one in the Arab world. It consisted of seven units with several usable airplanes. 1141 Cf. Moris, p. 230-232, 295. According to Hagana estimates, the Arab armed forces counted 165,000 soldiers. Later it turned out that the numbers were smaller. The attacking armies were 68,000 men strong. The Israeli army/Hagana counted 30,000 men at the beginning of the war, a number that had doubled by July. About 4,000 volunteers, among them also European Christians, joined the army as volunteers from abroad. Israel bought weapons and ammunition in July, among them several fighter jets, tanks, and canons. 1142 Rodenbeck, p. 194-195. 1143 Shlaim, p. 91-92. 1144 Porat, p. 140. 1145 Cf. Moris, p. 301-304, 349-50. The High Command of the Egyptian Armed Forces became more and more aware of the weakness and vulnerability of its troops. They suffered from a lack of ammunition. Most of the materiel available to the forces had been left over from World War I. These weapons backfired, imperiling the Egyptian soldiers more than their Israeli enemies. The Israeli air force had 31 aircraft at its disposal. Only 14 of them were fighter jets. Yet it still retained the upper hand.

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Moris, p. 379-381 Exact quote by Ben Gurion. Moris, p. 383. 1148 Porat, p. 140, Miron, Article in Pe’amim No. 70, p. 154-155, Har’el, article without page number, Moris, p. 405-408. A peace treaty was not conceivable. 1149 Goitein, 1974, p. 240-241. 1150 Krämer, p. 218. 1151 Braha, p. 9. 1152 Laskier, p. 179-181. 1153 Beinin, p. 71. 1154 Krämer, p. 211, 1155 Moris, p. 443-445, Siton, p. 84. 1156 Krämer, p. 212-213. 1157 Al-Ahram, May 16, 1948, FO 371/69190, political weekly. 1158 Porat, p. 140, Miron, article in Pe’amim No. 70, p. 154-155, Har’el, article, Krämer, p. 212. 1159 Three young members aged 18 to 20—among them David Har’el—had taken over the leadership of the organization after the Israeli emissaries had left the country. Har’el worked for the organization for two-and-a-half years, during which time he constantly had to change his place of residence. Har’el: article, Beinin. 1160 We should not forget that one third to half of Egyptian Jews were stateless. Only a few thousand of them had assumed Egyptian nationality. Both the first group and the second one were not able to obtain a passport without a visa. Har’el, article without page number. See Krämer, Beinin, Shamir, Kimhi. 1161 At the time the secret service was called Shay and later renamed Mossad. Har’el interview and article without page number. 1162 See interview. 1163 The Muslim Brotherhood was outlawed on December 8, 1948. Beinin, p. 77. 1164 Galim, article Professor A. Yadid, p. 13. 1165 The Perez family, for example, lost all its possessions, among them a major share of the Palestine Hotel Ltd and the King David Hotel in Jerusalem. Beinin, p. 76. 1166 Beinin, p. 76. There is no scholarly evidence for how much bakhshish was paid. 1167 Beinin, p. 208-209, Krämer, p. 217. 1168 Krämer, p. 217. 1169 Cf. Zamir, p. 42 and interview. There is no scholarly evidence for this assertion. 1170 Eliyahu Braha, see interview. 1171 Known to be sympathetic to the Israeli cause, Guy Mollet served as the French Prime Minister from 1956 to 1957. 1172 Founded as a refugee relief organization in the United States in 1939, the Joint helped Jews worldwide. It staged collections, mostly among American Jews, to get Jews out of Egypt. In 1999, the organization was turned into the United Jewish Communities as an umbrella organization for similar structures such as Hias (Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society). Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 10, p. 366-368. 1173 Kimhi, p. 591, Krämer, p. 218-220, El-Mahdi, p. 61, interview and book by Braha. 1174 Krämer, p. 208, 218-219. 1175 Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 1176 It was not until 1956 that these people were defined as Zionists. Until that point, no anti-Jewish law had entered into force. Krämer, p. 216-217. 1177 Krämer, p. 217. 1178 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 23-24, article Zohar, p. 101-102, Har’el interview and article. 1179 Goitein, 1974, p. 242-245, Shimoni, p. 414-415. See section in text above on the revolution. ElMahdi asserts that many of the organizers were secret members of the Muslim Brotherhood who had carried out some of the terrorist attacks themselves. Even Nasser allegedly took part in the attacks. p. 52-53, Nasser, p. 46, Siton, p. 85. 1180 Cf. Zaloscer, p. 146 1181 Ali Muhammad Naguib (1901-1984) became the first prime minister after the revolution, but only stayed in power for two years until he was deposed by Nasser. Cf. Siton, p. 84. Cf. section on Gamal Abdel Nasser (1918-1970). 1182 Cf. Adams, p. 168. 1183 Interview Zadka. 1184 Among them the department store chain Cicurel. Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 4, “Cairo,” p. 345. 1147

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Gamal Abdel Nasser ruled Egypt as president from 1956 until his assassination in 1970. Cf. Krämer, Encyclopedia Judaica, Beinin, Lagnado, p. 109. Cf. section on Gamal Abdel Nasser. 1186 Krämer, p. 220, Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635, vol. 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 1187 Zamir, p. 18. 1188 Muhammad Husayn Haykal, Autumn of Fury: The Assassination of Sadat, London: Cargy Books, 1984, p. 61. in: Avidar, S. 86. Born in Egypt, Avidar founded the organization A Wise Middle East to start a dialogue between Israel and other countries in the Middle East. 1189 Krämer, p. 220-221, Beinin, p. 93, 97. 1190 The British were supposed to believe that Egyptian national extremists had carried out these attacks, thus destroying the good relationship. Krämer, p. 220-221, Beinin, p. 93, 97. 1191 The Israeli government imposed a news blackout on this operation. To this day, it has not announced the name of the instigators. Yeshayahu Leibowitz, one of the editors of Encyclopedia Hebraica, once complained that he was not able to reference this unfortunate affair in detail. Cf. Krämer, Beinin, Encyclopedia Hebraica, Nahem, Shamir. 1192 Evri Gilad was sentenced to 12 years in prison. After serving his term, he left Israel and went to the United States. 1193 To this day, the question of who gave the orders has not been answered satisfactorily. Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 4, “Cairo,” p. 345, Krämer, p. 221. 1194 Fedayeen are members of religious and political groups who are willing to sacrifice their life for a cause. 1195 Straits of Tiran/Gulf of Aqaba, the southern access point to the Suez Canal. 1196 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 25, Shlaim, p. 152-157, 172. 1197 Krämer, p. 221. 1198 Shlaim, p. 170-176, 184-189. 1199 Porat, p. 170-172, 193. 1200 Bulletin, article Professor W. Freund, p. 16-19. 1201 Krämer, p. 221. 1202 See footnote 1249, p. 176 1203 See interview Braha. 1204 Encyclopedia Judaica, volume 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 1205 According to estimates, confiscated private and public property amounted to US$1 billion and also included several valuable sacred texts. Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 27-28, Bat Ye’or, p. 120, Siton, p. 84-85. 1206 Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 1, “Alexandria,” p. 635. I could not find any statistical information on Cairo. A.D. 1207 Krämer, p. 221, Siton, p. 84. 1208 Nahem, article Ehrlich, p. 27-28, Bat Ye’or, p. 120. 1209 Shimoni, p. 397, 403-404, Nahme, article Ehrlich, p. 27-28. 1210 Bradley, p. 16. 1211 Zaloscer, p. 148 1212 Porat, p. 170-172, 193. 1213 Krämer, p. 221. 1214 The time between the Arab–Israeli War of 1956 and the Six–Day War of 1967. 1215 Krämer, p. 225. 1216 Krämer, p. 232-233. 1217 Amin Galal/Jalal, professor, journalist, writer, and economist. Bradley, p. 17-18. 1218 Bradley, p. 17-18. Quote from Amin Galal’s book Whatever Happened to the Egyptians? Changes in Egyptian Society from 1950 to the Present. 1219 Aciman remembers the time shortly before he left Egypt with his parents in 1965. Aciman, 2000, p. 51-52. 1220 Lagnado, p. 152-153, 184, 188. Cf. Stillman, preface without page indication. 1221 Egypt provided military support to a leftist revolution in Yemen. Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 18, “Six–Day War,” p. 650. Encyclopedia Hebraica, vol. 23, “Sechstage Krieg,” p. 721-724. 1222 The Soviets drafted a “shield-and-sword” plan for a military confrontation between Egypt and Israel, but had not concluded the preparations. Cf. Krämer, Beinin. 1223 Since the Soviet Union provided most military support to Egypt, it found that the country was not yet ready for a war and that it would not be able to win it. Mansfield, p. 273- 274. Nasser was hoping that the United States would prevent Israel from waging a war. Cf. Shlaim, Beinin, Shamir.

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Cf. Eban, p. 135, 287-296, Aufbau, Sept. 1994, Agstner, p. 8. In 1945, Suzi Eban married Abba Eban, one of the most prominent Israeli ambassadors to the United States in the 1950s. He served as foreign minister from 1966 to 1988. 1225 A UN contingent stationed on the Sinai Peninsula in 1956 to monitor the armistice between Egypt and Israel. Egypt ordered its withdrawal in 1967. Shlaim, p. 190-195. 1226 Egypt stationed five infantry and two tank divisions on the Sinai Peninsula. Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 1227 10,000 Egyptian soldiers perished. Israel also rendered the Syrian and Jordanian armies defenseless and decimated their air force as well. The Golan Heights, the West Jordan region, the region on the Sinai Peninsula to the Suez Canal, and the Gaza Strip came under Israeli occupation. Diplomatic ties between Egypt and the Western world—primarily the United Stated—were shattered, making the Soviet Union Egypt’s only major ally. The Soviets immediately started rearming the Egyptian forces with new weapons and ammunition, in addition to sending 10,000 officers, pilots, and trainers to the region. During the Cold War in the Middle East, the region was anything but “cold.” Cf. Mansfield, Moris, Encyclopedia Judaica, vol. 6, “Egypt,” p. 235. 1228 Cf. Zaloscer, p. 149. 1229 Zaloscer, p. 150. 1230 Mansfield writes that Nasser was the first ruler born on Egyptian soil in 2000 years. 1231 Mansfield, p. 274-276. 1232 “According to Jacques Douek, son of Rabbi Haiim Douek, the last chief Rabbi of Egypt, there was close to 500 internees in the Abu Zaabal and Tora prison camps.” Historical Society of the Egyptian Jews, 2008. 1233 In “Les Juifs de Nasser,” L'Express, Paris, 25-31 December 1967. 1234 “My Life in Abu Zaabal and Tora,” a personal account published on Oct. 30, 2004 with the Historical Society of the Egyptian Jews, 2008. 1235 Cf. Zaloscer, p. 144. 1236 Goitein, 1999, p. 236. 1237 This was the situation in 2009 when I visited Egypt and interviewed some of the remaining Jewish residents. A.D. 1238 See section on Zionism on the idea of the Jewish State. 1239 Cf. Krämer, Shamir, Beinin, Kimhi, Laqueur, Encyclopedia Judaica. 1240 See interview Braha. 1241 Nahem, article Pergola, p. 38-39. 1242 A big wave of about 25,000 Jews was expelled and left the country immediately after the Arab– Israeli War of 1956. The rest left the country “voluntarily” within a time span of ten years without any help. Encyclopedia Hebraica, vol. 24, “Egypt,” p. 244. 1243 Nahem, article Pergola, p. 38-39. Most of the people I interviewed have relatives in several countries and on several continents. See interviews. 1244 See interviews. 1245 Aharoni, Vom Nil zum Jordan, p. 165-166. Cf. also many interviews. 1246 The refugees were first transported to Italy or France and then to other countries that were willing to receive them. 1247 Interview Ribakoff. 1248 See interview Ribakoff. 1249 As mentioned before, only 2,500 Jews remained in Egypt after 1956. 1250 Cf. Krämer, interview Ribakoff, Beinin. 1251 See interviews. 1252 See interviews as well as Galim, article Aharoni, p. 85-87. I will address the topic of integration in Israel in a subsequent section. 1253 Lecture and publication: Professor Ada Aharoni at the Historical Society of the Egyptian Jews. 1254 “The same attitude was carried to Israel, and that explains why there is not even one member of the Israeli Parliament (the Knesset), who is a Jew from Egypt.” Lecture and publication: Professor Ada Aharoni at the Historical Society of the Egyptian Jews. Aharoni works on this topic. 1255 Interview with Ricky Behar 1256 Demmond, p. 1. 1257 AAHA: Amicale Alexandrie Hier et Aujourd'hui. 1258 Even editor David Shasha could not provide further information on the author of the quote.

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Probably given in August 2011. Shohat 2003, p. 57-58. 1260 Kimhi, p. 602-603. Kimhi has concluded that envy also played a role in the discrimination against Egyptian Jews. When Zionist emissaries went to the Middle East, they encountered a modern, well-to-do community and felt frustrated about their continued state of impoverishment. 1261 Even as early as the 1920s. Kimhi, p. 122-123. Also see section on Zionism. 1262 Sabre is a Hebrew term denoting people born in Israel. In Arabic, it means “fruit of the cactus tree”—spiky on the outside, delicious on the inside. 1263 Levantine cuisine is the most popular one in Israel and is often called “Israeli cuisine.” Beinin, p. 231. Falafel, Humus and tahini are national dishes in Israel. Desert elements appear in Israeli pottery and paintings. The examples are endless. A.D. 1264 Kimhi, p. 607-609. 1265 Cf. Scholem, vol. 2, p. 47. 1266 Cf. Shohat 2003, p. 63-65. 1267 Like the Magic Carpet Operation, a code name for a secret airlift of 49,000 Yemenite Jews to Israel on British and American planes in 1949 and 1950. This operation did not become public knowledge until a few months later. Cf. Encyclopedia Judaica and Encyclopedia Hebraica. 1268 See p. 8. 1269 See interviews. 1270 Kahanoff, p. 116-117. Born in Cairo in 1917, Jacqueline Kahanoff lived there until 1941. She subsequently immigrated to New York where she studied communication and literature. 1271 Mizrah: Hebrew term for “East,” “Orient.” 1272 My proud Sephardi father never let me forget that I was a “real Sephardi.” He would have never given up his identity without a fight. A.D 1273 Cf. Shohat 2003, p. 55-56. 1274 Shohat, p. 5-6. 1275 Shohat, p. 13-14. 1276 Jews from Arab countries stayed in these camps from four months to six years. See interviews. 1277 Mossad le Aliya Bet was the organization responsible for immigrants to Palestine/Eretz Israel and later to Israel. It brought tens of thousands of Jews to Israel after the Holocaust, but focused primarily on European Jews, who were out of danger after 1948. Kimhi, p. 581, 602-603. 1278 Not only in Egypt, but in the entire Islamic world. 1279 Kimhi, p. 581. 1280 Shohat, 2007, p. 10-11. 1281 Quote from Sammy Smooha: Israel, Pluralism and Conflict. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1978 p. 88. Shohat 2007, p. 6-7. 1282 Cf. Shohat 2007, p. 5. 1283 Shohat 2007, p. 5-6. 1284 Kimhi, p. 598. 1285 The majority of European Jews did not know a thing about construction and agriculture, either. 1286 The Israeli government was mainly interested in populating the country with “new Jews,” who were workers and farmers and could build kibbutzim and agricultural villages in the borderlands. They were not supposed to practice typically Jewish “diaspora professions.” Jews from Egypt came from big cities and did not share this vision. As noted before, the Israeli constitution grants every Jew the right to immigrate to Israel. That is why Egyptian Jews had to be taken in by Israel. Har’el, interview and article, Kimhi, p. 602603. 1287 See interview Zamir. 1288 Hakivun Mizrah 22, article Johay Oppenheimer, p. 9, 14-15, 70-71. 1289 Shohat, p. 11-12. 1290 Born in Berlin in 1897, Gershom Scholem died in Israel in 1982. An eminent Jewish philosopher and religious historian, he taught at Hebrew University in Jerusalem from 1933 onwards. 1291 Scholem, p. 51. 1292 Shohat, p. 7, 9-10. 1293 The Eurocentric view did not take into account that the alphabet, algebra, and astronomy were imported from outside the European continent. Shohat 2007, p. 4. 1294 Shohat 2003, p. 2. 1295 Cf. Shohat 2003, p. 50. 1259

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In addition to Egyptian artists such as Umm Kulthum, Abd el-Wahab, or Layla Murad, the Cairo Opera also hosted the Palestine Symphony Orchestra with the famous conductor Arturo Toscanini, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the Royal English Ballet, the ensemble of the Comédie Française from Paris, and the Commedia dell’Arte from Milan. Galim, article Aharoni, p. 86-87. 1297 Beinin, p. 231, Kimhi, p. 597-599. 1298 The native language of most Egyptian Jews was French. They had attended French, British, or Italian schools where they had studied European rather than Egyptian history and culture. Kimhi, p. 601. 1299 Interview Jerushalmi. 1300 Interview quote by Gormezano-Goren. 1301 Interview Shem-Tov. 1302 We have to view this discussion in comparison to the injustice done to European Jews. There is a lot of research out on this subject. There is a Shoa and Auschwitz Liberation Memorial Day, but nothing to memorize the culture and destiny of Jews from the Arab world. 1303 See interviews. 1304 They include Joel Beinin, Stanford University; Israel Gershoni, Tel Aviv University; Margalit Bejerano, Hebrew University Jerusalem; Uri Kupferschmidt, Haifa University; Yoram Meital, Ben-Gurion University Beer Sheva. 1305 Since the beginning of the exodus coincided with the foundation of the State of Israel, it would be hard to settle on a memorial day. A.D. 1306 The term “Post-Zionism” is not an academic one, but refers to an academic discussion of the late 1980s. While Zionism—as expressed in Herzl’s diaries—refers to a Jewish yearning for a homeland (theoretic in nature until World War II), the term “Post-Zionism” is used by the Israeli right to denounce socalled “haters of Israel” such as the New Historians. They include Simcha Flapan, Baruch Kimmerling, Benny Morris, Tom Segev, Avi Shlaim, and Ilan Pappé. Post-Zionismus refers to political positions and intellectual concepts critical of the values and principles of Eurocentric Zionism. There is no clear definition of post-Zionism. © GRA Stiftung gegen Rassismus und Antisemitismus, 2010, Schweiz. http://www.zionismus.info/grundlagentexte. 1307 Hakivun Mizrah 20, article Kzi’a Alon, p. 4-5, 18-19. 1308 Cf. Deborah und Menachem Hacohen: One People: The Story of the Eastern Jews, 1986 or Josef Gross: Ha’Israelim ha’rishonim/Die ersten Israelis, 1949. Shohat, 2007, p. 7. 1309 Colonialists considered their subjects—i.e. people from the so-called Third World—as underdeveloped, childish, and primitive. Shohat, 2007, p. 8. 1310 Shohat 2007, p. 7. 1311 Cf. Shohat 2007, p. 13-15. 1312 This argument was officially presented so convincingly that we young sabres believed it without questioning it. Shohat, 2007, p. 9. 1313 Cf. Shohat, 2007, p. 16. 1314 Article Ortal Ben-Dayyan. 1315 Sami Shalom Chetrit, Professor at Hebrew University Jerusalem. “The Neo Mizrahim,” p. 131– 152, Ortal Ben-Dayyan in Haaretz, June 22, 2012. 1316 Professor for Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. 1317 Sami Shalom Chetrit, Professor at Hebrew University in Jerusalem. The Neo Mizrahim, p. 131– 152. 1318 Shohat 2003, p. 66-67. 1319 Shohat 2003, p. 68. 1320 Quote by Professor Ada Aharoni in a 2002 lecture at a gathering of the Historical Society of Jews from Egypt in Tel Aviv, as well as The Jerusalem Post, article Lyn. 1321 Moris, p. 447. The Israeli government pointed out that Jews in Arab countries had done nothing wrong to suffer such injustice while the Arab population in Israel had fought against the newly founded state. 1322 Beinin, p. 26. 1323 As mentioned before, the remaining Jews are dispersed throughout the world. See section on demographic and statistical data. 1324 Together with their descendants, this group makes up half of the Israeli population today. Cf. Galim, article Prof. A. Yadid, p. 13-15. 1325 The Jerusalem Post, article Lyn. 1326 Nakhba: Arabic word for misfortune. 1327 Article “The Jewish Nakhba: Expulsions, Massacres and Forced Conversions,” by Ben-Dror

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Yemini. Maariv, 15 May 2009. Cf. “Our Nakhba,” article by Zvi Gabai, member of the Wise Middle East Forum, published in February 2012. 1329 Article “The Jewish Nakhba: Expulsions, Massacres and Forced Conversions,” by Ben-Dror Yemini. Maariv, 15 May 2009, Aharoni, Keruv Levavot, p. 187-191. 1330 I have formed this opinion after having conducted dozens of interviews. A.D. 1331 Koning, p.105. 1332 Gormezano, Blanche. 17. 1333 Gormezano, Kayiz Alexandroni, p. 15. 1334 Professor Hilde Zaloscer was a Jewish refugee from Vienna who lived in Alexandria from 1933 to 1968. She taught at the local university for 20 years. 1335 Zaloscer, p. 74, 126-128. 1336 Pe’amim, No. 25, article Ronit Matalon, Israeli writer, born in Egypt. No page number indicated. 1337 Cf. Hassoun, 2003, p. 31-32. 1338 See interview. 1339 Samir Raafat, Egyptian Gazette, 1997. See section on the Lavon Affair. 1340 Eastern European Jews had been robbed, raped, and murdered for centuries and their villages had been burned. They still decided to stay in Europe as long as was possible. That is also one of the reasons why sabres were never able to understand diaspora Jews. 1341 I conducted one interview on the campus of Jerusalem University, one in the Detroit Synagogue. In Los Angeles, one interview took place in a café, another one in an office. 1342 Only a few interviewees asked me not to turn the eye of the camera on them, but they did not mind their voice being recorded. 1343 In previous projects, I tried conducting preliminary interviews, but constantly got to hear the answer, “But I told you that earlier.” 1344 In contrast to interviews with patients, as in the case of Strasser and other researchers. 1345 Wiedemann, p. 65. 1346 Photography is static; an interview is alive. The common denominator is interpretation, which can take place on various levels. 1347 Cf. Waltzer. 1348 Cf. Wiedemann, p. 22. 1349 Cf. HaKivun Mizrah 21, p. 43-44, Biographische Kurzgeschichten. Gedanken über Emigration und Mizrahi-Schreibart. 1350 Alhadeff, p. 3, 63. 1351 Lagnado, p. 74-75. 1352 Lagnado, p. 77-78, 109, 135, 153. 1353 Naggar, p. 49, 261, 264, 271, 323. 1354 Cf. HaKivun Mizrah 21, editorial, p. 6-7. 1355 Cf. Gormezano-Goren, Baderech la-Iztadion, p. 76, 84. 1356 Cf. Kahanoff, preface David Ohana, p. 9-11. 1357 Kahanoff, p. 148. 1358 A mid-size city in Northern Israel. 1359 Freha, originally Pirhah: A Hebrew swearword used for young, mostly pretty women from the Arab world. 1360 Haaretz, June 21, 2012, interview with Ortal ben-Dayyan 1361 Sami Michael, a prominent Israeli writer of Iraqi decent, gave the keynote address at the symposium of the International Association of Israeli Studies at Haifa University on June 24, 2012. Haaretz, June 26, 2012 1362 Samy Smooha is a writer and professor of sociology at Haifa University. Haaretz, June 26, 2012 1363 Sami Shalom Chetrit, born in Morocco in 1960, is professor at Queens College. After he served in the Israeli army, Chetrit studied literature and political science at Hebrew University in Jerusalem where completed his M.A. In 1989, he was invited to become the director of a special school for Mizrahi children in a suburb of Tel Aviv, a short-lived project. He subsequently went on to complete his PhD. “When I realized that I would never get a job at a university in Israel, I left for New York in 2002.” 1328

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The “children” I interviewed often were proud of their Egyptian heritage. A.D. This fact is palpable in many interviews. 1366 See interviews. 1367 Shohat, p. 13-14. 1368 Synagogues and rites in the Islamic world differ from the ones in Europe in terms of architecture, intonation of chants, and the way holidays are celebrated, among other things. 1369 Yemenite Jews, by contrast, were renowned gold and silversmiths; Armenian Jews were famous for their painted ceramics. Except for interviews and my own experience of different immigration waves to Israel, I could not find any written evidence or other references confirming these facts. A.D. 1370 In Israel in Hebrew; in the United States and Australia in English; in France, Belgium and Switzerland in French. A.D. 1371 These writers include Ronit Matalon, Yitzhak Gormezano- Goren, Moshe Skahl and others in Israel. 1372 A predelection for “mother’s food” is not a singular phenomenon among Egyptian Jews. Both in Israel and the United States, I have met grandchildren who told me that one grandmother was serving them gefilte fish and the other one Oriental sweets. What was natural for children was often very painful for grown-ups. A.D. 1373 I attended some of these gatherings in Israel and the United States. A.D. 1374 “They did not enter the political arena, and looked down on politics. They maintained the same attitude in Israel.” To this day, Egyptian Jews are not represented in the Knesset. Lecture and publication by Ada Aharoni at the Historical Society of Jews from Egypt. 1375 All those who emigrated as children and adolescents. A.D. 1376 See interviews. 1377 In my own experience, I was Israeli as long as I lived in Israel, i.e., for the first thirty years of my life. I did not ask myself the question of whether I was a Jew. It was not until I came to Vienna that I realized that I was not only Israeli but also a Jew. This was not because of an anti-Semitic sentiment, but because most Austrian were Catholic. This was an interesting discovery for me. A.D. 1378 Per their own definition in an interview. 1379 He wanted to remain anonymous in this context. 1380 Unlike Australia, where everbody defines as Australian. A.D. 1381 Jews were considered foreigners not only in Egypt, but all over the world. Even though this fact was not recognized for a long time, history has taught us otherwise. A.D. 1382 See interview Harel. 1383 It is not known how many Egyptian Jews stayed in France. A.D. 1384 I could not find any further evidence attesting to the veracity or falsity of this claim. A.D. 1385 I conducted the interview in French with them. A.D. 1386 See my own story in the section on religion. A.D. 1387 This means that they again live in a diaspora country instead of their own country. 1388 I think it is an issue for most Jews around the world. A.D. 1389 Many Jews who do not live in Israel often have pangs of conscience about this topic. This applies to Jews around the world, as I learned during my research for Die Zeit gibt die Bilder. 1390 Of course, people of the same generation necessarily are “imagined communities.” For the history of the term see Roseman, Niethammer, Mannheim, Spitzer, Gillis. 1391 Schmidt, article Mark Roseman, p. 33-34. 1392 Cf. Jakov Lind’s Selbstporträt. The author was 16 at the time of his escape. Cf. Lore Segal’s book Other People’s Houses. The author was six years old at the time of her escape. Both books are autobiographies about escaping from Austria and have a certain “adventure” aspect to them. Douer, Die Zeit... p. 98, 122. 1393 Ruth Kimhi is the only woman among Egyptian to achieve the rank of a deputy general in the Israeli military. She arrived in Egypt when she was four years old and was socialized as an Israeli. 1394 See table and evaluations. 1395 Cf. Douer, Neuland, as well as other books on emigration from Austria that document the initial dispair of refugees. The older a person gets, the harder it is to adapt to new circumstances. Jews from Egypt were fortunate to find jobs quickly even though these jobs were not well-paid enough for the skills and knowledge the refugees had and for them to make a decent living. 1396 I have mentioned the traditionally Jewish saying before, “Nobody can take away what you have in 1365

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your head.” This saying especially applies to Jews who do not live in “their country,” Israel. A.D. To this day, Dr. Salama works for free at a hospital once a week. “I would like to pay back what has been given to me. I think that is a very Jewish thought.” 1398 With a lot of humor, Gormezano-Goren describes the situation in which many of these children, who were excellent students, still had to take part in an haashara progam (Hebrew for “enrichment of knowledge”). These programs were supposed to redress any discrimination Jews from Egypt had experienced. 1399 This was the case with Gormezano-Goren. See interview. 1400 See Gormezano-Goren and other interviews. 1401 “Nakhba” is an Arabic term for “disaster.” See Arabic dictionary. 1402 Cf. the table at the end of this book. 1403 By “children,” I mean the second generation whose descendants were born in Israel. 1404 By “children,” I mean the second generation whose descendants were born in the United States or elsewhere (France, etc.) after the escape. 1405 European Jews traditionally did not work as artisans and tradesmen either, but they had a Zionistic ideal. New arrivals from Egypt were not able to live in the kibbutzim becaues agriculture was foreign to them. 1406 Victor Sanua in: Report on the Inaugural Meeting of the Historical Society of Jews from Egypt. 1397

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In the twentieth century, the political Zionist movement and Egyptian rulers completely uprooted the country’s thriving Jewish community – a goal the Pharaohs tried to realize as early as 3500 years ago. Mostly comprised of descendants of Sephardim from the Iberian Peninsula, the world’s oldest Jewish community totaled 85,000 members in 1948. No more than 100 to 200 Jews live in Egypt today. This book tells the story of Egypt’s Jewish history from Biblical times to 1967, the year of one of the last major Jewish emigration waves from Egypt. It highlights the First Exodus in ca. 1500 BCE and the Second Exodus, which was triggered by the foundation of the State of Israel and three successive wars in 1948, 1956, and 1967. Throughout the narrative, it becomes evident that the Jewish community consistently was subject to the arbitrary will of Egyptian rulers. Starting in 1948, members of this community were forced to leave the country without any of their belongings on short notice. Like other Jews from the Arab world, Egyptian Jews were not Zionists in the Eurocentric, Ashkenazi sense. Their arrival in Israel was met with prejudice and disdain. Even though they were discriminated against in matters of housing and education, they still managed to integrate well into Israeli society and are now members of the country’s upper and middle class. The evidence presented in this book is based on interviews with ninety-six Egyptian Jews in Israel and the United States.

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