Maimonides Synagogue in Cairo re-dedicated in presence of foreign dignitaries

08 March 2010

A 19th-century synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter was re-dedicated in the presence of international Jewish leaders and foreign diplomats, following a two-year restoration effort funded by Egyptian authorities. Around 150 people attended the opening of the synagogue, including Israel’s Ambassador to Egypt, Yitzhak Levanon, and US Ambassador Margaret Scobey. About a dozen rabbis from Israel and abroad were also present at the ceremony.

Egyptian officials were absent from the ceremony, and Culture Minister Faruk Hosni said Sunday's opening was a purely religious ceremony. Zahi Hawass, the head of Egypt’s Antiquities Department, said that a more formal opening next Sunday would be attended by Egyptian officials.

Egypt began restoration of several Jewish sites in the country a few years ago, mainly to attract foreign tourists. The country’s Jewish population, which once numbered up to 80,000, fled Egypt after Cairo and several other Arab governments waged war in 1948 against the newly established state of Israel. Less than 100 Jews still remain in Egypt, and there is currently no active Jewish congregation. The synagogue is named after Rabbi Moses ben Maimon, more widely known as Maimonides or in Egypt as Musa bin Maymun, who was a 12th-century Jewish scholar, philosopher and physician and who died in Egypt in 1204.

The synagogue is built over the site where he was briefly buried before his remains were moved to Tiberias in Israel. Egypt has eleven synagogues. Some of them have already been restored, such as the Ben Ezer synagogue in Old Cairo and the Shaar Hashamayim in downtown Cairo. The restoration of the Maimonides Synagogue cost US$ 2 million and was funded by the Egyptian government.

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