More re preservation of Jewish heritage in Egypt

Egypt Today (Sarah Mishkin)

Fourteen years ago, the American Research Center in Egypt (ARCE) found itself in an enviable position: They had just won a $15 million grant to restore Egyptian antiquities.

Antiquities in Egypt are not hard to find, and the money was split among 50 projects. At the suggestion of the Supreme Council of Antiquities (SCA), two of those projects were drawn from the slew of deteriorating sites that belong to Egypt’s smallest, but perhaps oldest, religious minority: the Jewish community.

An estimated 80,000 Jews lived in Cairo in 1948, and Egypt for a long time was a haven for Arab, Mediterranean and even European Jewish culture. Jews trace their presence in Egypt to biblical times; Judaic tradition maintains that the Hebrews built tombs and temples for the Pharaohs. Pesach, one of the faith’s major holidays, recounts the story of the Jewish sojourn by the Nile. Today, fewer than 100 Jews remain in Egypt, mostly elderly widows.

ARCE sent architects to study the synagogues of Haim Kapucci and Maimonides, two decrepit synagogues in Harat El-Yahud, the one-time Jewish Quarter in the heart of downtown Cairo.

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