2 Friday, September 2, 1983

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS

Purely. Commentary

By Philip
Slomovitz

Welcoming a New Year with Lessons Learned
from a Lengthy Continuity of Experiences

Continuity — Even in the Experience of the Past and Accumulating Lessons for 5744

What can be new in the approach of a new twelvemonth? Isn't continuity the
landmark in Jewish experience? Has there ever been an age without menacing threats,
free from dangers, filled only with the joys that are prescribed for Rosh Hashana?
It is a principle in Jewish life, in the lessons taught by the savants in history, that
Rosh Hashana should be observed with joy, with confidence, eliminating worry and
despair. Then there is the Shofar, blasting for peace and for a secure life. But in the offing
there is always the admonition to hope for the best while being prepared for the worst:
and the worst is always conquerable. There are always losses "in the worst," but they are
sustained in the knowledge that the Jew is destined for survival and his spirit may be
frailed but is not conquerable.
This is commonplace thought. Yet it remains part of the continuity of Jewish
experience, when the views of Jewish dignitaries, expressed in welcoming a new year, are
taken into consideration.
Indeed, many of the attitudes are like echoes of the past. The experiences have been
duplicated, the hopes are repeated echoes, the needs are not new inventions.
Everybody talks about peace and the need for it. This is understandable. When,
however, nearly every important message sounded for the approaching period expresses
concern over basic threats to continuing the necessary respect for Jewish legacies: the
perpetuating of learning, the assurance of knowledgeability of the past as it relates to the
present, respect for and adherence to Torah and traditions.
Concerned leadership worries about the lessening of the Jewish educational pro-
grams and the weakening of the cultural values. In the process, there is the worry over
increasing intermarriages, the low birth rate, the effects of which are already evident in
the reduced school enrollments and a growing indifference to Jewish needs among the
youth.
If the latter is true, then it is the most serious of the problems. Because an indif-
ference and failure to identify leads more drastically to mixed marriages than any other
factor — even more than the closeness that bring Jews to non-Jews, leading often to
intermarriages — in the universities.
These are things that are repeated in the concerned viewpoints proclaimed on Rosh

Hashana. That's part of the continuity that emphasizes there is nothing new in life's
lessons.
It is the repetition that should emphasize the needs and lead to a determined desire
to provide solutions where and when they are attainable.
* * *
There is much on the agenda that is positive and hopeful.
The Lebanese agonies will surely end— very soon — and there will be relief from the
sufferings in the approaching months.
The spirit of Jewish unity is not dead, and the disruptive forces which stand in the
way of unified efforts are so few numerically that the Am Ehad, One People, aim in
Jewish ranks is real and effective.
Then there are the improvements on the international scene that are heartening. A
major example is the renewal of diplomatic ties between Israel and Liberia. Because it is
a symbol of renewal, of cooperative tasks for Israel with many African nations, and the
signaling of a reduction of the hatreds that stemmed from the animosities inspired by
Israel's enemies, it is an element of improvement in international affairs.
There are many factors that give encouragement in the hopes for a progressive
continuity in Jewish and Israeli activities. In Israel's schools of higher learning and
laboratories, scientists continue to search for solutions to human ills, many attainments
are a source of pride. In the Diaspora there is evidence of literary and cultural achieve-
ments with an assurance that research is respected in the devotion displayed in cultural
ranks.
The past year has been an enriching one in the Jewish literary spheres and many
forthcoming literary treasures, already in the making, have been announced by the
leading publishing houses. They point to an expansion of valuable library shelves with
topically Jewish themes.
Perhaps it is necessary to state that the crimes of the Holocaust are being exposed
more vigorously than ever, with an assurance that "never again" is more than a slogan.
Need it be added that there are encouraging factors even while recognizing the
negatives of the past?
Life is therefore not without hope, and the New Year must always be with blessings.

The Jewish Community of Egypt Is Facing Extinction

By MOSHE RON

The Jewish News Special
Israel Correspondent

TEL AVIV — A group of
journalists recently visited
the remnants of the Jewish
communities in Cairo and
Alexandria. They reported
on their visit to the
synagogue in the noisy Adli
Pasha Street in Cairo. Two
armed Egyptian soldiers
stood at the entrance to the
synagogue.
On Friday evening there
were eight men and eight
women in the entire
synagogue, including
tourists. The Leha Dodi
hymn was hardly audible in
the large, empty hall.
One of the worshipers
sadly said, "A few years
from now the doors of the
synagogue and the commu-
nity will close forever." The
Arab caretaker, living in-
side the building for more
than 25 years, is already
worried about his future.
There are hardly any Jews
left in Cairo.
In Alexandria, it was
not easy to find the keys
to the synagogue named
"Eliahu Hanavi." The
keys are kept by one of
the neighbors. There are
70 Jews left in Alexan-
dria, 15 of them are in an
old peoples' home. There
is no community ' life
anymore.
After the peace treaty
was signed, some of the wor-
shipers who used to go to
synagogue left Egypt. In the
wake of the Lebanon war,
no more official Israeli dele-
gations visit Egypt and this
is felt in the synagogues in
Cairo and Alexandria. Even
officials of the Israeli Em-
bassy in Cairo, located quite
a distance away, rarely
come to the synagogue.
The president of the
World Federation of
Sephardi Jews, Nessim
Gaon,
_ during one of his vis-

MOSHE RON

its, donated a large sum for
the restoration of this
synagogue. One of the
guardians of the synagogue,
Robert Neeman, said that
his entire family had left
Egypt and are now living in
Italy, Canad'a, America,
Uruguay, France and Is-
rael.
The good relations be-
tween the Egyptian
authorities and the tiny
Jewish community have not
changed since the signing of
the peace agreement be-
tween Israel and Egypt.
Until the time when Sadat
took over the power after
Abdel Nasser's death, Jews
in Egypt suffered very
much. Many Jews were
interned in special camps
after the establishment of
the state of Israel. Sadat
abolished these . persecu-
tions and once even
attended the Kol Nidrei
prayers on Yom Kippur eve
in the Adli Pasha
Synagogue.
When President Sadat
was assassinated, the
Jews in Egypt were sad
and worried. However,
today they enjoy the
same good relations with
the authorities under
President Mubarak.
Robert Neeman is a hous-

ing agent. According to him,
the remaining few Egyptian
Jews are living modestly,
some of them supported by
relatives abroad. In 1967,
during the Six-Day War,
there were 5,000 Jews in
Cairo. After the war they
were persecuted and inter-
ned in camps. Some man-
aged to escape from Egypt.
Nobody then even dreamed
of better times or of a peace
with Israel.
Neeman has visited Is-
rael with a group of young
Jews who are helping in the
upkeep of buildings belong-
ing to the Jewish commu-
nity. Egyptian Jews, now
living abroad, sent money
for the restoration of the
second synagogue in Cairo.
Neeman himself does not
intend to leave Egypt and
he hopes that the remaining
Jewish families will stay.
However, there is no hope
that those who went abroad
would come back. It looks as
if after not too many years,
no Jews will be left in
Egypt. Then the Egyptians
and Copts will take over the
property of the Jewish
community.
Jews have been living
in Cairo since the city
was established in the
Ninth Century. In the
10th Century, many Jews
came from Babylon and
so there existed two
Jewish communities. In
the Ninth Century, a
small synagogue was
built named Eliahu
Hanavi.

Since the end of the 10th
Century, Cairo was the
spiritual center of the
Jewish communities in
Egypt. Yeshivot were estab-
lished and many great
scholars came out of them,
and they had permanent
contacts with fellow schol-
ars in Eretz Yisrael and
Babylon. The Rambam

served as the personal
physician at the royal court
and his son lived in Cairo.
At the beginning of the
16th Century, many Jews
who had been expelled from
Spain arrived in Cairo. The
Jews who came from Spain
distinguished themselves
by their deep knowledge of
the Torah and they were ac-
cepted, as the rabbis in the
Cairo community.
When the Turks ruled
Egypt, relations with the
Jews were good, but there
were clashes with the ex-
treme Egyptian Muslims.
In 1545, the Jewish school
in Cairo was closed for three
years. During the 17th and
18th Centuries, Jews were
persecuted by the Turkish
authorities to extort ransom
payments.
A new era began dur-
ing the rule of Mohamed
Ali. In 1840, Moses Mon-
tefiore, Adolf Kraemer
and Shlomo Tunk visited
Egypt and established
Jewish schools. Due to
the economic develop-
ments in Egypt, many
Jews from Mediterra-
nean countries were at-
tracted to settle in Cairo.
In 1917 there were 25,000
Jews in Cairo, among them
Ashkenazi immigrants
from Eastern Europe. They
established a special com-
munity.
The Jews took part in
Egyptian social life and
some of them were ap-
pointed government advis-
ers and advisers to Cabinet
members. In 1923, Josef
Katawi, a Jew, was ap-
pointed to the post of fi-
nance-ininister in the Egyp-
tian government. During
the 1920s, Zionist organiza-
tions came into being and
they published their own
newspapers.
In 1947, the Jewish popu-
lation in Cairo amounted

to 42,000, 65 percent of all
the Jews living in Egypt.
When the state of Israel
was established in 1948,
pogroms broke out in
Cairo. One hundred fifty
Jews were killed. Jewish
property was confis-
cated. In 1954, arrests of
Jews were made.
Thousands of Jews emi-
grated to Israel, Europe,
Canada and the U.S.
The Jewish community in
Alexandria existed as a
flourishing community in
the time of the Second Tem-
ple. They settled there in
the reign of Alexander the
Macedonian. They had their
own quarters, built
synagogues and created a
rich cultural and spiritual
life until the Arab conquest

in the Seventh Century put
an end to this development.
Only in the 13th Century
did the community rise
again. The Jews dealt with
international commerce,
mainly with France and
Spain.
During World War II, the
Jews in Cairo and Alexan-
dria opened their hearts to
the Jewish soldiers serving
with the British armed
forces stationed in Egypt,
especially to soldiers who
came from Eretz Yisrael
(Palestine). They opened
service clubs for them and
received them in their
homes like brothers.
Now, the synagogue and
the Jewish community are
facing the danger of extinc-
tion.

$100,000 Annual Award
Established for Aiding Jews

NEW YORK — A
$100,000 annual cash prize
has been established by the
Jabotinsky Foundation to
honor the person who has
"done the most for the de-
fense of the rights of the
Jewish people."
The award, to be called
the Jabotinsky Prize: Shield
of Jerusalem, is named for
Vladimir Jabotinsky, the
Zionist leader who died in
1940. Both Jews and Gen-
tiles will be eligible to re-
ceive the award.
The first recipient, to
be named Nov. 14, will be
selected by a jury of intel-
lectuals and civic leaders
including two Nobel
Prize winners: economist
Milton Friedman and
physicist I. I. Rabi.
Other members of the
panel are Morris B. Abram,
an attorney and President
Reagan's nominee to fill a
vacant post on the Civil
Rights Commission; Jewish
National Fund President

Charlotte Jacobson; Reuben
Hecht, a prominent Israeli
industrialist; philan-
thropist. Milton Petrie;
Simon Rifkind, a lawyer;
British publisher Lord
Weidenfeld; Henry
Rosovsky, dean of the fa-
culty of Arts and Sciences at
Harvard University; and
New York businessman
Eryk Spektor.

Financial barons Hyman,
Samuel and William
Belzberg of Vancouver,
B.C., are worth about $100
to $150 million. They are
joined in that category by
U.S. Jews including-
Raymond and Sidney Eps-
tein, construction and
engineering; Sol Goldman,
real estate; Katharine
Graham, Washington Post
Co.; Joseph Hirshhorn, min-
ing; Meyer Lansky, or-
ganized crime; and the
Sulzberger family, New
York Times Co.
—The Jewish Almanac

