in which i find the jews in cairo

I realized after Yom Kippur that I never really wrote about my experiences here with the High Holidays. (For the non-Jews reading this, that's Rosh Hashannah, the Jewish new year, and Yom Kippur, the day of atonement.) Just a quick historical note: up until the 1950s, Egypt had a large, thriving Jewish population. There were about 60,000 in Alexandria, and a smaller but still substantial number in Cairo. As a result, there are a number of synagogues in Cairo and Alex, though most are just tourist sites now. In the Islamic area of Cairo there are a few, and there is a working one in Alexandria, though it's my understanding that they often have trouble making a minyan. There are around 100 Egyptian Jews left in Alex, and most are over the age of 65. The rest have left for Israel, America (many in New Jersey, actually), and elsewhere.

Anyway, I ended up going to services for both holidays at a working synagogue in Cairo, in an area called Maadi. The neighborhood where I live, Zamalek, is mostly younger expats and people who here for shorter amounts of time. Families of expats tend to live in Maadi, which is where there many international schools, nicer, bigger homes and a more suburban feel. The synagogue looks almost like a mosque from the outside, with a big dome, but if you look closely you can see all the Stars of David in the stained glass windows. The synagogue, called Mal'aab Yehudi, is locked up pretty tight; if you want to use it, you call the head of the Jewish community in Cairo and she comes to unlock it for you. Inside is really pretty -- lots of marble, a huge ark with at least three torahs inside (as far as I could tell, but maybe there were more), and huge chandeliers hanging from the dome. There is no separate women's section, so I guess it was meant to be egalitarian (woo!), but it's easy to have an informal split since there was just one really wide aisle in the middle.

For the holidays, the people asking for it to be unlocked were from the Israeli embassy in Cairo, who also provided security (quite strict, as you might imagine. I was told to bring a passport to get in). The security guards saw my passport, and they were like "oh, Aliza! Of course you're Jewish with a name like that." We chatted in Hebrew, they asked me some security questions (what do I do in Cairo, have I ever been to Israel and do I plan to return, do I carry a weapon, etc.). I didn't really have any problems getting in. Inside there were about 30 people, all Israelis and other temporary expats like me. On several occasions people started off by talking to me in Hebrew, and I must say that it was nice to be mistaken for Israeli instead of Egyptian for a change. Actually, one girl and I spoke to each other in Hebrew for a good 15 minutes before we realized we were both Americans. Whoops!

I first went to this synagogue for Rosh Hashannah. I called the Israeli embassy, they gave me the address, but then the taxi driver didn't know it so I wandered around Maadi for 30 minutes too freaked out to ask someone for directions because I was not sure that I was comfortable asking for directions to something with "yehudi" in the title. Eventually figured it out, but at that point I was stressed and just wanted to go on Eid vacation after a really long week, so I was in a bad mood and I didn't know anyone so I just stayed for a bit and then left. It was underwhelming, to say the least.

But Yom Kippur actually ended up much better. Basically, there was an e-mail on Cairo Scholars saying they were having Yom Kippur services and needed a minyan and e-mail if you wanted to come. I e-mailed, and received much more excellent directions (i.e. get off the Metro at this stop, make a right on this street, go past this store and then turn left, etc.), to a place that I assumed would be a small community service because of the different directions. But once I started walking I recognized the neighborhood and realized it was the same synagogue. Anyway, this time I knew/recognized a few people (a friend's roommate, some AUC students who are friends of friends, etc.), and then stuck around long enough to make friends after. I mean, it was Kol Nidre so none of us were going out that night, and what else did we have to do afterwards?

As for the services, well...that's funny too. The synagogue had no mechitza, but people had kind of loosely segregated themselves into a women's side and men's side, though there was plenty of crossover due to people wanting to chat with each other or chasing children. I don't think women led anything, but then it was Kol Nidre so there's not too much opportunity for that. And then although you might think it would be a Sephardic (i.e. Oriental) service due to there being many Israelis and taking place in Egypt, it was actually Ashkenazic, with tunes I mostly recognized. Such a change from Madrid, when I went to huge Sephardic synagogue with Spanish Jews, with Ashkenazic services led by the local Chabad rabbi in the basement. Most of the siddurim (prayer books) were provided by the embassy and were entirely in Hebrew, which was fine, but I was much more interested by all these really cool old siddurim, machzorim and Tanachs, some with print dates that were more than 100 years old. Those were in Hebrew with some Arabic. I was looking through a few of them, and I think they were pretty awesome.

When services were over people started talking and a lot of us have been having a lot of the same frustrations re: keeping Jewish identity a secret in Egypt. Almost everyone is planning to go to Israel as soon as possible (I have planned a trip for the beginning of November). Everyone tells very few people they are Jewish, and though they generally receive a positive response, they generally don't want to say anything just the same. We have all realized that it's possible to meet another Jew in Cairo but never know it because no one wants to be the first one to say anything.

Anyway, it ended up with a big group of us all saying that we should have some kind of cultural Jewish club so we could all drink and commiserate about being the token Jew in our group of friends and meet other nice Jewish professionals to tell our parents about. There seemed to be a lot of interest in this (a Jewish drinking club? Why not!), so one of the guys from the embassy passed out his card and told us to e-mail and said he would set something up. Am excited to hang out with the Jews!

This left me with two weird thoughts: 1. It's possible that this was my most fun Yom Kippur ever. Not really a holiday big with the fun, but I actually did have a good time in this case. 2. If I do in fact go to meetings of a cultural Jewish club, I will essentially have re-created my life from Northwestern in Egypt. My two major activities in college were Hillel (Jews) and writing for The Daily Northwestern or freelancing (journalism). Let's check Egypt: journalism? (My job, plus freelancing) check. Jews? As of last week, that's a check. Awesome.