After decades of decline that saw Egyptian Jewry nearly disappear, there are today just 100 Jews living in Egypt, from a population that reached 80,000 in 1948.
There is currently no Jewish representative body in Egypt, though the community is formally affiliated with the World Jewish Congress.
The history of the Jews in Egypt traces back to Biblical times. The Israelite tribes first moved to the Land of Goshen (the northeastern edge of the Nile Delta) during the reign of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep IV, or Akhenaten (1375-1358 BC). During the reign of Ramses II (1298-1232 BC), the Jews were enslaved for the Pharaoh’s building projects. Ramses' successor, Merneptah, continued the same anti-Jewish policies, and around the year 1220 BC, the Jews revolted and escaped across the Sinai to Canaan. This is the biblical Exodus commemorated on the holiday of Passover.
Over the years, many Jews in the land of Israel, who were not deported to Babylon, sought shelter in Egypt; among them the prophet Jeremiah. A Jewish population in Alexandria emerged during the Ptolemaic Era (third century BC) but was largely diminished by the Roman emperor Trajan’s army during a revolt.
Jews played a more important role in Egyptian society following the country’s conquest by the Fatimids in 969. Based on information recorded by Benjamin of Tudela during his visit to Egypt around 1171, the number of Egyptian Jews at that time is estimated at between 12,000 and 20,000, and there was a noted academy in the city of Fustat, today part of Cairo. Moses ben Maimon, one of the most influential Sephardic rabbis and philosophers of the Middle Ages, commonly known as 'Maimonides' and also referred to by the Hebrew acronym Rambam, settled in Fustat around 1168 and was named the Nagid, or leader, of Fustat in 1171.
Throughout the late 19th century and the first part of the 20th century, Egyptian Jewry enjoyed a period of prosperity, with substantial numbers of immigrant European Jews settling in Cairo and Alexandria. According to the 1897 census, 25,200 Jews lived in Egypt; by 1917, the number had increased to 59,581. In 1937, there were 63,550 Jews, with 34,103 in Cairo and 24,829 in Alexandria. One notable Jew was Joseph Cattaui, who served as minister of finances and communications in 1923.
British rule saw Jews being treated as important members of society, with little to no instances of antisemitism. However, the effects of British imperialism during the post-World War I years of the Mandates, throughout the events of World War II, saw a rise in Egyptian nationalism. A cultivation of anti-Western and anti-Jewish sentiment became linked to the Egyptian struggle for self-determination, and in 1945, riots erupted. Amidst the violence, 10 Jews were killed, 350 were injured, and a synagogue, a Jewish hospital, and an old-age home were burned down.
The establishment of the State of Israel in 1948 exacerbated local anti-Jewish sentiments: 2,000 Jews were arrested and the state began confiscating Jewish property. Several Jews were killed during months of rioting, leading to an exodus of Egyptian Jews. The Egyptian Jewish population continued to decline in the wake of the Sinai Campaign of 1956, which resulted in more riots and arrests. By the following year, only 15,000 Jews were left in the country.
The Six-Day War of 1967 saw a further wave of persecution, and as a result, the population dropped to only 2,500 people. By the 1970s, after the remaining Jews were permitted to leave Egypt, the community dwindled to a few families. Jewish rights were finally restored in 1979 after President Anwar Sadat signed the Camp David Accords with Israel. Only then was the Egyptian Jewish community allowed to establish ties with both Israel and with world Jewry.
Today, the Egyptian Jewish community is incredibly small and almost entirely concentrated in Cairo, with about 100 of them residing in Alexandria. Nearly all the Jews are elderly, and the community is on the verge of extinction. There are a few community members left in Cairo, but outside of those two cities, Jewish life in Egypt is entirely non-existent.
Due to the small and rapidly aging status of the Egyptian Jewish community, there is no official communal representative organization. The community is represented by dedicated individual members who help facilitate some form of Jewish life in the country. Magda Shehata Haroun is the president of the Jewish community in Egypt, while Youssef Gaon leads the Egyptian Jews residing in Alexandria. Jewish life in Egypt is almost entirely conducted out of the two active synagogues in Egypt: Sha’ar Hashamayim in Cairo and Eliahu Hanabi in Alexandria.
Both synagogues in Egypt, Sha’ar Hashamayim and Eliahu Hanabi are Sephardic Orthodox. Due to the small size of the Egyptian Jewish community, there is no official rabbi in the country; instead, the community has a rabbi brought in to conduct various religious services. The community’s synagogues are seldom used.
Kosher food is now extremely scarce, if not non-existent in Egypt. This is due to companies refusing to export kosher food to Egypt. However, there are a few kosher restaurants in Cairo.
There are many Jewish historical sites throughout Egypt. The Maimonides Synagogue in Cairo, named after the famous rabbi and philosopher, stands as one of the more prominent Jewish attractions in the capital. The Bassatine Cemetery in Cairo is considered one of the oldest Jewish cemeteries in the world.
Egypt and Israel officially have diplomatic ties (per the Camp David Accords in 1980), but relations between the two countries have been tense since Israel’s founding in 1948. Security concerns have recently seen the withdrawal of the Israeli ambassador to Egypt, though there have been discussions between the countries about the Israeli ambassador returning.
Embassy of Israeli in Egypt
6, Sharia Ibn-El Maleck
Cairo
Egypt
Telephone: (+20) 2 333 21500
Fax: (+20) 2 333 21555
Email: info@cairo.mfa.gov.il
