The Remnant

Once-proud
Egyptian Jews
say they're at
hornet but tread
lightly.

Brenda Gazzar
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Alexandria, Egypt

I

t's clear that the fewer than 100 Jews
who remain in Egypt today are well
integrated into society and that many
consider themselves fully Egyptian.
Take Lina Mattatia, who has recorded
births, marriages and deaths for the
Jewish community in Alexandria for the
past three decades. "I was born here and
it's my country;' said Mattatia, 82.
After Mattatia married her second
husband, a Jewish paper salesman, she
had two servants to cook and clean for
her. Today, a widow of more than 30 years,
she stretches her modest income from the
Jewish community to support not only
herself but also a dead Muslim friend's
son, Karim, who has severe diabetes.
The small community of Jews who came
largely from Europe and the Middle East
in various waves of immigration say they
love Egypt, have many non-Jewish friends
and consider this country their home.
Most Jews in Alexandria and Cairo
today are elderly women, mostly widowed
or intermarried long ago with Christian or
Muslim men.
But it's also clear there are some tensions
that go along with being Jewish in an Arab
country that has fought four major wars
with Israel. Growing up Jewish in Egypt
has not been a black-and-white experience,
says an attractive elderly woman who gave

The Eliahou Hanabi synagogue in Alexandria, Egypt

her name only as Mrs. Bilboul.
There are very positive things about
living in Egypt, such as being able to
attend the Eliahou Hanabi synagogue in
Alexandria to celebrate the Jewish holi-
days, Bilboul said.
"We could come every Saturday, but it's
much better to not go around and say I'm
Jewish:' she said. "It's much more clever
not to mention it. But if someone asks me,
I would never say I'm not."
Earlier this year, while playing bridge,
Bilboul — who is married to a Christian
— was asked by a Muslim friend of at least
four years whether she was Jewish. When
Bilboul responded that she was, the sur-
prised woman politely asked how Bilboul
prays and how she raised her children.
Bilboul told her she prays all day and
raised her sons to be loving people, to
have a respectful attitude toward everyone
and to become children that she is very
proud of today.
But some in the community tread
more cautiously. An elderly woman asked
an American visitor living in Israel to
contact two of he friends there, also from
Egypt, to tell them she was doing fine.
She didn't have an international phone
line at home and thus would have to
go to a telephone center and request to
make the call to Israel through a clerk

— something she wanted to avoid.
"With some people who are ignorant,
when they hear the name of Israel, they
think something else:' said the woman, who
asked not to be identified. "Things are not
running very smoothly with the situation in
Israel. They'll think that maybe I'm a spy"
While Jews are well treated and secure in
Egypt, one just has to be careful, she said.
Some choose not to discuss Israeli poli-
tics, but at least two community members
said they have children living in Israel.
Albert Arie, a Jewish-born communist
in Egypt, said he was against Israeli policy
from the beginning but doesn't think the
Jewish state should be destroyed.
"I think it would have been better
from the beginning if there was only one
state for Jews and Arabs in Palestine:'
said Arie, 76, who converted to Islam to
marry a Muslim woman 40 years ago. "I
hope and I think it will be like that after
50 years."
There also are signs that the govern-
ment is concerned about appearances.
An Egyptian Jew, who asked not to be .
identified, said he once was questioned by
Egyptian officials after telling the media
that the number of Jews left in the country
can be counted on one hand. The officials
gently advised him not to make such
statements, he said.

"The government wants people to think
there are Jews here:' he said. They hope
that one day there will indeed be Jews liv-
ing in Egypt again, like in the past, he said.
The head of the Jewish community of
Cairo, Carmen Weinstein, declined to be
interviewed over Rosh Hashanah and
instructed other worshipers in the syna-
gogue not to talk to this reporter.
But several Jews said they feel safe in
Egypt. Mattatia said she is very apprecia-
tive of the Egyptian security forces and
the staff at the Eliahou Hanabi synagogue,
where she works and prays.
Among the staff is an Egyptian Muslim,
Abd El-Naby, who supervises nearly 20
maintenance and housekeeping workers
who tend to the Alexandria synagogue
and its properties. A jovial man of Nubian
descent, El-Naby taught himself Hebrew
through books and tapes so he could con-
verse with visitors from Israel.
A fixture at the community's headquar-
ters for nearly 20 years, El-Naby almost
seems part of the community
"Look at all the people who are here.
They are here to preserve us:' Mattatia
said, gesturing toward several armed
guards nearby. "They are here to protect
us."

Last in a three-part series.

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January 25 • 2007

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