History of the Jews in Egypt
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Egyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and youngest Jewish communities in the world. The historic core of the indigenous community consisted mainly of Arabic-speaking Rabbanites and Karaites. After their expulsion from Spain, more Sephardi and Karaite Jews began to emigrate to Egypt and their numbers increased significantly with the growth of trading prospects after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. As a result, Jews from all over the territories of the Ottoman Empire as well as Italy and Greece started to settle in the main cities of Egypt, where they thrived. The Ashkenazi community, mainly confined to Cairo's Darb al-Barabira quarter, began to arrive in the aftermath of the waves of pogroms that hit Europe in the latter part of the 19th century.
In the late 1950s, Egypt began to expel its Jewish population (estimated at between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1948), also sequestering Jewish-owned property at this time.
In 2016, the spiritual leader of the Jews in Egypt, Magda Tania Haroun, stated that there were 6 Jews remaining in the entire country, all women over the age of 65.
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See also
Ancient history
Modern history
- History of the Jews under Muslim rule
- Suez Crisis
- Egypt–Israel Peace Treaty
- Jewish exodus from Arab and Muslim countries
- 1956–57 exodus and expulsions from Egypt
- Operation Goshen
- Mizrahi Jews in Israel
- Jews of Egypt (film)
- Pallache family
Institutions
- List of synagogues in Egypt
- Ben Ezra Synagogue in Cairo
- Eliyahu Hanavi Synagogue in Alexandria
- Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagogue in Cairo
- Tomb of rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira in Damanhur
- Cairo Geniza
