I must first apologize for the inactivity on my blog for the last few months; I hope it serves as a sign that I have kept myself very busy. Currently, on the 8th day of Passover, I am on the beach at a Bedouin camp in Sinai, preparing for my own Exodus from Egypt. There is an interesting similarity to be drawn. Before the Hebrews fled from slavery to the Promised Land, they prepared to leave their home of the previous 400 years by quickly gathering their belongings and preparing bread. I came to Sinai for a few days of isolation to collect all of my thoughts and notes about Cairo, my home for the last 4 months, and draw conclusions and lessons to be learned from for the rest of my voyage.

A reference to the Jews of Egypt usually conjures up images of the Exodus to which I just referred; however, my intention, while in Egypt, was to learn more about the last 60 years of its Judaic history. The years prior to 1948, and even into the 50s, were considered by many a Golden Age in Egypt; Cairo and Alexandria were brimming with British, French, Italian, Greek and Jewish colonialists, and British and French troops. According to some accounts, it was an era of high civilization and culture that was uniquely Egyptian. So often I heard the phrase “the good old days,” in reference to a time “when nobody cared nor could tell the difference between a Jew, Christian or Muslim.” It was also reported that only wealthy and well-connected Egyprians, and few “real” ones, actually lived in the cities at this time. The Jewish community came from varied origins (Egyptians, Ashkenazi, and Sephardic), and lived at various levels of the rigid Egyptian class structure. The Jews who came with the colonialists from the mother country enjoyed colonial-related privelege, while many Jews still (as had their ancestors) lived in Harat al-Yahud, the Jewish quarter in old, Islamic Cairo- a more “popular” area. However, all Jews, no matter their class or wealth, were cared for by the Jewish community and its services (synagoguess, hospitals, old-age homes).

The following account of the Jewish migration and hitory after 1948 is the result of various interviews with people who lived through these times; they will, as always, remain anonymous, but I would like to thank them for their contributions. The consensus among the Jewish people still living in Cairo and Alexandria is that during the late 1960s and 1970s, changes were underway that rapidly changed Egyptian life heretofore; they implied that these changes rendered Egypt an unsuitable or undesirable home for Jews. Interestingly, the changes were not attributed to leaders or changes in government per se, rather to more anthropological reasons: the migration of throngs of Egyptians from rural villages to the cities, and the migration (and return to Egypt) of some Egyptians to countries like Saudi Arabia for work. The result was the Islamization of the previously-secular cities, influenced both by the religious stringency of the rural Egyptians and the imported Wahhabism (fiery, extreme sect of Islam- think Osama bin Laden). A telling measure of this drastic change is the prevalence of the higab (head scarf) for women; before 1967, only a small percentage of women wore it in the city, and now about 80% of the women in Cairo are covered (15% of Egyptians are Christian Copts.)

A direct correlation between the increasing influence of Islam and the increasing emigration of Jews cannot, however, be drawn because the migration began before these changes had materialized. It would further be faulty to argue that it may have contributed to the treatment of Jews after the 1967 war because the actions taken against Jews (below) were committed by Nasser in the name of pan-Arab nationalism, a particularly secular Arab nationalist ideology that fueled his popularity as the opponent of Israel and the West. It is beyond the scope of my research to determine if an increase in religious devotion correlates to an increased tendency to legitimize an ethnic nationalist policy. I will argue, however, that the families remaining in Cairo after 1967 were certainly influenced by Nasser’s detentions and deportations after 1967, as well as the slow recognition that the Egypt they had known was forever changed.

The migration began in earnest in 1948; the truly Zionist Egyptian Jews (of which there were few) migrated mostly to Israel from 1948 until about 1955. In 1956, all British and French nationals were expelled from Egypt as a result of the Suez Crisis, and some Jews, many of whom had these nationalities or ancestry, emigrated from Egypt to France, the UK, Brazil and America.

The period after the Suez Crisis and before the Six Day War (1967) was difficult for Jews as the vigor in which Nasser propounded his Arab Nationalist movement and the random imprisonment of Jews increased. The father of two women I met, a reknowned Jewish Egyptian Communist, was jailed before 1967 for being Jewish (this was not the only time he would ba arrested, but the others were for political reasons.) She told me that during his incarcaration, their local market owner, an Egyptian Muslim, would not let them pay for their groceries; it was his attempt to help a neighbor during a time of need. The women explained that at this time there were about 5 or 6 other Jews in her class at school, and slowly, one-by-one, they stopped coming to class without an explanation. Another woman’s mother’s boyfriend was also imprisoned during this time. Held without reason or legal recourse, her mother tried to gather information on how to obtain his release. She learned that the Egyptian officials tried to make the Jewish prisoners sign a document in which the prisoner agreed on their release and deportation, usually without knowing. She warned her boyfriend not to sign the paper, and on the day she secured his release through a contact, he signed the paper unknowingly and was deported. These types of detentions became more prevalent as the years progresssed, creating an atmostphere of uneasiness and distresss amongst the Jewish population, anticipating the next arrest of a friend or family member. In the name of being fair and balanced, the official justification for the imprisonment of Jews was the Egyptian government’s fear of Israeli spies in Egypt. After the Lavon Affair, in which Egyptian Jews were involved in Israeli plots to bomb American and British owned targets in Egypt (hoping the blame would be placed elsewhere and prove the instability of Nasser’ regime), their fears may have been warranted.

Then the Six Day War began and the end of thousands of years of Jewish history in Egypt. The Egyptian government, humiliated by a crushing defeat and even more concerned with Israeli espionage, began rounding up all Jewish men. Many were dressed as POWs and paraded through downtown Cairo under the guise of captured Israelis; at the end of the procession, meant to boost Egyptian morale, these men boarded ships and were deported. Other Jewish men were sent to detention camps, and overall the effect on the families was understandably traumatic- it became clear that Egypt was no longer the place they used to call home.

The process of migrating from Egypt during this 20-year period adequtely represents the pain felt by many of the families who decided, whatever their reasons, to migrate. Migrants were only allowed to bring clothes with them, and nothing of real value; ie. Jewelry, cash, bonds etc. Before their departure they were required to sign a document stating that they were leaving voluntarily, and were leaving all of their assets to the Egyptian government, in an attempt to prevent future claims of reparations.

Yet, about 50 Jews currently remain in Egypt, half in Cairo and half in Alexandria and the question begs to be asked- why did they stay? The daughters of the famous Egyptian-Jewish communist are anti-Zionists, to this day, and will only visit Israel if peace is achieved. Like their father, they consider themselves Egyptians of Jewish faith, and they have never wanted to leave their home. Given their father’s steadfast loyalty to the Egyptian Communist cause, the family remained. The daughters eventually married a Muslim and a Christian, and they own a law practice in downtown Cairo. I met one man from Alexandria whose father was Nasser’s tailor. I was therefore not surprised at his non-chalant and pacific version of post-1967 war events: “We were just told to keep our blinds closed and no one would bother us. And no one did. I don’t know about the others.”

Another woman’s parents had divorced, and her fanatically proud-to-be-Jewish father was about to marry a Christian woman. He managed to obtain Lebanese Christian papers, completed the conversion of his daughter’s papers as well, and they were permitted to stay. Her mother married and divorced several non-Jews, securing her continued residence in the country she loved and never wanted to leave. However, the daughter, now 60 years old, and her daughter, now 28, have recently began believing that she made a mistake. She misses the good old days in Egypt, her family, and more importantly for her now than earlier, a Jewish connection. She claims that there is nothing left for her in Egypt. Of the 50 Jews left in Egypt, only two are men because according to Islamic and Egyptian law, a woman can convert to another religion, but not a man. Thus, most of the remaining Egyptian Jewish women married Christians or Muslims and were able to live their lives here.

The differentiation between a Jew and an Israeli from 1948 until about 1967 was better understood, albeit complicated. The Egyptians during that time had always lived among Jews, who were not only accepted, but also assimilated. Therefore, when Israel was created their Egyptian Jews were not associated with the Jewish Zionist cause, especially because early on most Egyptian Jews were anti-Zionists. It was not until the discovery of Israeli espionage inside Egypt by Egyptian Jews and Israelis, as well as the increased migration of Jews from Egypt, that the two spheres began to overlap. As less and less Egyptians personally knew Jewish people (for example, as neighbors or co-workers), the more their opinions on Jews were shaped by the media and reports of Israeli espionage and aggression toward Palestinians.