History of the Jews in Egypt
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Egyptian Jews constitute perhaps the oldest Jewish community in the world. The Jewish population of Egypt is now somewhere from 100-1000 people, down from between 75,000 and 100,000 in 1948.
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[edit] Ancient and Biblical
- See also: The Exodus
The ancient Hebrew name (land of) "Mitzrayim," or (in more poetic style) "Maẓor," is Semitic ("Miṣri" is the earliest Babylonian form) and may have some connection with that of the neighboring Muṣri (see above).The Bible calls Egypt also "land of Ham" (Ps. cv. 23, 27; comp. Ps. lxxviii. 51, cvi. 22), or contemptuously "Rahab," i.e., "boasting monster." The fertility of the country is mentioned in Gen. xiii. 10; Ex. xvi. 3; and Num. xi. 5 (see Deut. xi. 10 on the necessity of laborious irrigation).
Egypt became home to large numbers of fugitive or starving Semites who settled in the land. Thus, according to biblical accounts, after 1700 BC Egypt had constantly a large Semitic element of population, especially along the eastern frontier of the Delta. The Egyptian cities mentioned in the Bible all belong to this part of the country. The Jews settled in Egypt, because Joseph, Israel's son, requested that they move to Egypt during a famine that covered all the surrounding lands(Gen.41:57). Joseph told his brothers that the Lord sent him to Egypt before them to preserve their lives (Gen.45:5-11).
The Elephantine papyri are caches of legal documents and letters written in Aramaic, which document the community of Jewish soldiers stationed here during the Persian occupation of Egypt. They maintained their own temple to their God, functioning alongside that of Chnum. The Jewish community at Elephantine was probably founded as a military installation in about 650 BC during Manasseh's reign, to assist Pharaoh Psammetichus I in his Nubian campaign. The documents cover the period 495 to 399 BC.
[edit] Ptolemaic and Roman (400 BC to 641 AD)
- See also: Leontopolis, Alabarch, Philo, and Elephantine
Although Jewish populations existed in Egypt before, many Jews immigrated to Egypt in the Ptolemaic era, settling especially around Alexandria. Thus, the history of the Jews in Egypt during the Greek and Ptolemaic periods centers almost completely in the city of Alexandria. As early as the third century B.C. there was a widespread Jewish diaspora in Egypt. In addition to those in Alexandria Jews lived in a number of other cities.
The history of the Jews of Alexandria dates from the foundation of the city by Alexander the Great, 332 B.C., at which they were present. From the very beginning their numbers seem to have been considerable; at all events, they formed a very large portion of the population under the successors of Alexander. A separate section of the city was assigned to them by the first Ptolemies, so that they might not be hindered in the observance of their laws by continual contact with the pagan population. Moreover, the whole city was divided into five districts, which were named after the first five letters of the Greek alphabet. Of these five districts two were denominated Jewish districts, because the majority of their inhabitants were Jews. As regards number and position, the Jews in Alexandria enjoyed a greater degree of political independence there than elsewhere. While the Jewish inhabitants of other cities of the Roman empire, without any political separation, formed private societies for religious purposes, or else became a corporation of foreigners like the Egyptian and Phenician merchants in the large commercial centers, those of Alexandria constituted an independent political community, side by side with that of the heathen population.
For the Roman period there is evidence that at Oxyrynchus (Behneseh), on the east side of the Nile, there was a Jewish community of some importance. It even had a Jews' street. Many of the Jews there must have become Christians, though they retained their Biblical names (e.g., "David" and "Elisabeth," occurring in a litigation concerning an inheritance). There is even found a certain Jacob, son of Achilles (c. 300 AD), as beadle of an Egyptian temple.
[edit] Arab rule (641 to 1250)
The part taken by the Jews in the Arab invasion of Egypt is not clear. In addition to the Jews settled there from early times, some must have come from the Arabian peninsula. The letter sent by Mohammed to the Jewish Banu Janba in Maḳna near Aila in the year 630 is said by Al-Baladhuri to have been seen in Egypt; and a copy, written in Hebrew characters, has been found in the Cairo genizah. Hebrew papyri are found in the Theodore Graf collection covering the period 487-909. The Jews had no reason to feel kindly toward the former masters of Egypt. In 629 the emperor Heraclius I. had driven the Jews from Jerusalem this was followed by a massacre of Jews throughout the empire—in Egypt, aided by the Copts, who had old scores to settle with the Jews , dating from the Persian conquest of Alexandria at the time of Emperor Anastasius I (502) and of the Persian general Shahin (617), when the Jews assisted the conquerors in fighting against the Christians. The Treaty of Alexandria (Nov. 8, 641), which sealed the Arab conquest of Egypt, expressly stipulates that the Jews are to be allowed to remain in that city; and at the time of the capture of that city, Amr, in his letter to the caliph, relates that he found there 40,000 Jews.
Of the fortunes of the Jews in Egypt under the Ommiad and Abbassid caliphs (641-868), the Tulunids (863-905), and the Ikhshidids, next to nothing is known.
[edit] Rule of the Fatimite Caliphs (909 to 1169)
The Fatimite rule was in general a favorable one for the Jews, except the latter portion of Al-Ḥakim's reign. The foundation of Talmudic schools in Egypt is usually placed at this period.
The mad caliph Al-Ḥakim (996-1020) vigorously applied the Pact of Omar, and compelled the Jews to wear bells and to carry in public the wooden image of a calf. A street in the city, Al-Jaudariyyah, was inhabited by Jews. Al-Ḥakim, hearing that they were accustomed to mock him in verses, had the whole quarter burned down.
By the beginning of the twelfth century a Jew, Abu al-Munajja ibn Sha'yah, was at the head of the Department of Agriculture. He is especially known as the constructor of a Nile sluice (1112), which was called after him "Baḥr Abi al-Munajja". He fell into disfavor because of the heavy expenses connected with the work, and was incarcerated in Alexandria, but was soon able to free himself. A document concerning a transaction of his with a banker has been preserved. Under the vizier Al-Malik al-Afḍal (1137) there was a Jewish master of finances, whose name, however, is unknown. His enemies succeeded in procuring his downfall, and he lost all his property. He was succeeded by a brother of the Christian patriarch, who tried to drive the Jews out of the kingdom. Four leading Jews worked and conspired against the Christian, with what result is not known. There has been preserved a letter from this ex-minister to the Jews of Constantinople, begging for aid in a remarkably intricate poetical style (J. Q. R. ix. 29, x. 430; Z. D. M. G. li. 444). One of the physicians of the caliph Al-Ḥafiẓ (1131-49) was a Jew, Abu Manṣur (Wüstenfeld, p. 306). Abu al-Faḍa'il ibn al-Nakid (died 1189) was a celebrated oculist.
In this century a little more light is thrown upon the communities in Egypt through the reports of certain Jewish scholars and travelers who visited the country. Judah ha-Levi was in Alexandria in 1141, and dedicated some beautiful verses to his friend Aaron Ben-Zion ibn Alamani and his five sons who were residents of that city. At Damietta Ha-Levi met his friend, the Spaniard Abu Sa'id ibn Ḥalfon ha-Levi. About 1160 Benjamin of Tudela was in Egypt; he gives a general account of the Jewish communities which he found there. At Cairo there were 2,000 Jews; at Alexandria 3,000, with a Jew named R. Phineas b. Meshullam, who had come from France, at their head; in the Fayum there were 20 families; at Damietta 200; at Bilbais, east of the Nile, 300 persons; and at Damira 700.
[edit] From Saladin and Maimonides (1169 to 1250)
The rigid orthodoxy of Saladin (1169-93) does not seem to have affected the Jews in his kingdom. A Karaite doctor, Abu al-Bayyan al-Mudawwar (d. 1184), who had been physician to the last Fatimite, treated Saladin also (B.A. § 153); while Abu al-Ma'ali, brother-in-law of Maimonides, was likewise in his service (ib. § 155). In 1166 Maimonides went to Egypt and settled in Fostat, where he gained much renown as a physician, practising in the family of Saladin and in that of his vizier Ḳaḍi al-Faḍil al-Baisami. The title "Ra'is al-Umma" or "al-Millah" (Head of the Nation, or of the Faith), was bestowed upon him. In Fostat, he wrote his "Mishneh Torah" (1180) and the "Moreh Nebukim," both of which evoked opposition from Jewish scholars who commented on them. From this place he sent many letters and responsa; and in 1173 he forwarded a request to the North-African communities to aid in releasing a number of captives. The original of the last document has been preserved (M. xliv. 8). He caused the Karaites to be removed from the court (J. Q. R. xiii. 104). He also served Saladin's successors as physician.
[edit] Mamelukes (1250 to 1517)
Under the Baḥri Mamelukes (1250-1390) the Jews led a comparatively quiet existence; though they had at times to contribute heavily toward the maintenance of the vast military equipment, and were harassed by the cadis and ulemas of these strict Moslems. Al-Maqrizi relates that the first great Mameluke, Sultan Baibars (Al-Malik al-Thahir, 1260-77), doubled the tribute paid by the "ahl al-dhimmah." At one time he had resolved to burn all the Jews, a ditch having been dug for that purpose; but at the last moment he repented, and instead exacted a heavy tribute, during the collection of which many perished.
An account is given in Sambari (135, 22) of the strictness with which the provisions of the Pact of Omar were carried out. The sultan had just returned from a victorious campaign against the Mongols in Syria (1305). A fanatical convert from Judaism, Sa'id ibn Ḥasan of Alexandria, was incensed at the arrogance of the non-Moslem population, particularly at the open manner in which services were conducted in churches and synagogues. He tried to form a synod of ten rabbis, ten priests, and the ulemas. Failing in this, he endeavored to have the churches and synagogues closed. Some of the churches were demolished by Alexandrian mobs; but most of the synagogues were allowed to stand, as it was shown that they had existed at the time of Omar, and were by the pact exempted from interference. Sambari (137, 20) says that a new pact was made at the instance of letters from a Moorish king of Barcelona (1309), and the synagogues were reopened; but this probably refers only to the reissuing of the Pact of Omar. There are extant several notable fet was (responsa) of Moslem doctors touching this subject; e.g., those of Aḥmad ibn 'Abd al-Ḥaḳḳ, who speaks especially of the synagogues at Cairo, which on the outside appeared like ordinary dwelling-houses—a fact which had occasioned other legal writers to permit their presence. According to Taki al-Din ibn Taimiyyah (b. 1263), the synagogues and churches in Cairo had once before been closed. This fanatical Moslem fills his fet was with invectives against the Jews, holding that all their religious edifices ought to be destroyed, since they had been constructed during a period when Cairo was in the hands of heterodox Moslems, Ismailians, Karmatians, and Nusairis (R. E. J. xxx. 1, xxxi. 212; Z. D. M. G. liii. 51). The synagogues were, however, allowed to stand (Weil, l.c. iv. 270). Under the same sultan (1324) the Jews were accused of incendiarism at Fostat and Cairo; they had to exculpate themselves by a payment of 50,000 gold pieces.
Under the Burji Mamelukes the Franks again attacked Alexandria (1416), and the laws against the Jews were once more strictly enforced by Sheik al-Mu'ayyid (1412-21); by Ashraf Bars Bey (1422-38), because of a plague which decimated the population in 1438; by Al-Ẓahir Jaḳmaḳ (1438-53); and by Ḳa'iṭ-Bey (1468-95). The lastnamed is referred to by Obadiah of Bertinoro (O. p. 53). The Jews of Cairo were compelled to pay 75,000 gold pieces.
[edit] Turkish rule (1517 to 1922)
On January 22, 1517, the Turkish sultan, Selim I, defeated Tuman Bey, the last of the Mamelukes. He made radical changes in the affairs of the Jews, abolishing the office of nagid, making each community independent, and placing David ibn Abi Zimra, at the head of that of Cairo. He also appointed Abraham de Castro to be master of the mint. It was during the reign of Salim's successor, Suleiman II, that Aḥmad Pasha, Viceroy of Egypt, revenged himself upon the Jews because De Castro had revealed (1524) to the sultan his designs for independence (see Aḥmad Pasha; Abraham de Castro). The "Cairo Purim," in commemoration of their escape, is still celebrated on Adar 28.
Toward the end of the sixteenth century Talmudic studies in Egypt were greatly fostered by Bezaleel Ashkenazi, author of the "Shiṭṭah Meḳubbeẓet." Among his pupils were Isaac Luria, who as a young man had gone to Egypt to visit a rich uncle, the tax-farmer Mordecai Francis (Azulai, "Shem ha-Gedolim," No. 332); and Abraham Monson (1594). Ishmael Kohen Tanuji finished his "Sefer ha-Zikkaron" in Egypt in 1543. Joseph ben Moses di Trani was in Egypt for a time (Frumkin, l.c. p. 69), as well as Ḥayyim Vital Aaron ibn Ḥayyim, the Biblical and Talmudical commentator (1609; Frumkin, l.c. pp. 71, 72). Of Isaac Luria's pupils, a Joseph Ṭabul is mentioned, whose son Jacob, a prominent man, was put to death by the authorities.
According to Manasseh b. Israel (1656), "The viceroy of Egypt has always at his side a Jew with the title 'zaraf bashi,' or 'treasurer,' who gathers the taxes of the land. At present Abraham Alkula [] holds the position." He was succeeded by Raphael Joseph Tshelebi, the rich friend and protector of Shabbatai Zevi. Shabbetai was twice in Cairo, the second time in 1660. It was there that he married the ill-famed Sarah, who had been brought from Leghorn. The Shabbethaian movement naturally created a great stir in Egypt. It was in Cairo that Miguel (Abraham) Cardoso, the Shabbethaian prophet and physician, settled (1703), becoming physician to the pasha Kara Mohammed. In 1641 Samuel b. David, the Karaite, visited Egypt. The account of his journey (G. i. 1) supplies special information in regard to his fellow sectaries. He describes three synagogues of the Rabbinites at Alexandria, and two at Rashid (G. i. 4). A second Karaite, Moses b. Elijah ha-Levi, has left a similar account of the year 1654; but it contains only a few points of special interest to the Karaites (ib).
Sambari mentions a severe trial which came upon the Jews, due to a certain "ḳadi al-'asakir" (="generalissimo," not a proper name) sent from Constantinople to Egypt, who robbed and oppressed them, and whose death was in a certain measure occasioned by the graveyard invocation of one Moses of Damwah. This may have occurred in the seventeenth century (S. 120, 21). David Conforte was dayyan in Egypt in 1671. Blood libels occurred at Alexandria in 1844, in 1881, and in Jan., 1902. In consequence of the Damascus Affair, Montefiore, Crémieux, and Solomon Munk visited Egypt in 1840; and the last two did much to raise the intellectual status of their Egyptian brethren by the founding, in connection with Rabbi Moses Joseph Algazi, of schools in Cairo.
According to the official census published in 1898 (i., xviii.), there were in Egypt 25,200 Jews in a total population of 9,734,405.
[edit] Modern times (since 1922)
- See also: Jewish exodus from Arab lands
During British rule, and under King Fuad, Egypt was friendly towards its Jewish population, although many of them were not allowed to claim Egyptian nationality as they were recent immigrants. Jews played important roles in the economy, and the Jewish population climbed to nearly 100,000 as Jews settled in Egypt while fleeing increasing persecution in Eastern Europe. One of the most famous Jews of this period was Yaqub Sanu, an Egyptian Jew of Italian heritage. Despite his Italian roots and his religion, he was a patriotic Egyptian nationalist who advocated the removal of the British, and he edited the nationalist publication Abu Nazara 'Azra from exile. This was one of the first magazines written in Egyptian Arabic, and it consisted of mostly satire, poking fun at the British as well as the Monarchy which was a puppet of the British.
By the 1940s, the situation worsened, as a number of pogroms were launched against the Jewish population, incited by Amin al-Husayni, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem, starting in 1942. Egypt became an increasingly hostile location for Jews as the partition of Palestine and the founding of Israel drew closer, and rising nationalism led to attacks against all "foreigners". In 1947, the Company Laws placed quotas on the number of Jews (and foreigners) allowed to work at any one company.
After the foundation of Israel in 1948, all Egyptian Jews became suspect, and the situation of the community became untenable. That year, bombings of Jewish areas killed 70 Jews and wounded nearly 200, while riots claimed many more lives. The Lavon Affair, in which some Egyptian Jews working as Israeli agents attacked Western targets exacerbated a general distrust of the indigenous Jewish communities by other Egyptians. In 1956 Egypt expelled almost 25,000 indigenous Jews and confiscated their property as part of the Sinai campaign, and 1,000 more Jews were imprisoned. On November 23, 1956, a proclamation was issued stating that "all Jews are Zionists and enemies of the state," and it promised that they would be soon expelled. Thousands of Jews left, forced to sign declarations that they were doing so voluntarily, and allowing their property to be confiscated. Foreign observers reported the taking of hostages. After 1967, more confiscations took place.
The result was the almost complete disappearance of the Jewish community in Egypt, only a hundred or so remain. Most Egyptian Jews fled to Israel (35,000), Brazil (15,000), France (10,000), the US (9,000) or Argentina (9,000). Today, anti-Zionism is common in the media, and the Jewish population is minimal -- the last Jewish wedding took place in 1984.
[edit] References
- This article incorporates text from the 1901–1906 Jewish Encyclopedia, a publication now in the public domain.
[edit] External links
- Bassatine News: The only Jewish newsletter reporting directly from Egypt
- Jewish Virtual Library
- Historical Society of Jews from Egypt
- The International Association of Jews from Egypt
- Jews expelled from Egypt left behind a piece of their hearts
- Egyptian Jews look back with anger, love
- Guernica Magazine (guernica.com) on the last Jews of Cairo
- Beinin, Joel: The Dispersion Of Egyptian Jewry Culture, Politics, And The Formation Of A Modern Diaspora Berkeley: University of California Press, c1998. Amer Univ in Cairo Pr, 2005, ISBN 9774248902
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