From across the Diaspora, some 180 Jews of Egyptian origin flew to the land of their fathers for a Shabbat dedicated to marking the newly restored 14th-century Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue in Alexandria and the largest Jewish prayer gathering in Egypt for decades.
The weekend was closed to media and organised in part by the Nebi Daniel Association, an organisation that works to preserve Jewish sites in Egypt. Only four or five septuagenarian and octogenarian Jews currently reside in Alexandria. The city used to house 12 synagogues, but most of them were sold over the years to support the Jewish community there, and its infrastructure and institutions.
Once the largest in the Arab world, the Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue was recently reopened in a festive gathering of government officials and Egyptian Jews. In cooperation with the military, Egypt’s antiquities ministry oversaw the 64 million Egyptian pound renovation which lasted over three years after the roof and staircase collapsed in 2016.
The Alexandria Jewish community is not alone in getting an unexpected shot in the arm from Sissi. The Cairo Jewish community, once 80,000 strong and with roots going back to antiquity, stands at less than 20 Jews today. It too has benefited from the Egyptian president’s apparent new tolerance and is planning a much-needed cemetery conservation campaign.
