76 | APRIL 14 • 2022
…“Two vast and trunkless legs
of stone
Stand in the desert …
And on the pedestal, these
words appear:
My name is Ozymandias, King
of Kings;
Look on my Works, ye Mighty,
and despair!
Nothing beside remains. …”
From Ozymanidas by Percy
Bysshe Shelley, 1818
D
avid Schey was
amazed rather than
in despair. He and his
wife, Doris, were in Luxor
during a trip billed as “the
first ever kosher tour of
Egypt through the eyes of the
Tanakh (Jewish Bible)” — and
he was looking at two enor-
mous trunkless legs of stone
that made him immediately
recall Percy Bysshe Shelley’s
ode written more than two
centuries earlier.
He was even more amazed
when their tour guide told
them that Ozymandias was
the Greek name of Ramesses
II, the Egyptian pharaoh at
the time of the Exodus —
the one who enslaved the
Israelites and tried to prevent
them from leaving. For Schey,
it was a highlight of a recent
10-day trip to Egypt.
Inveterate travelers who
need kosher food and
Shabbat-friendly itineraries,
the Scheys, of Huntington
Woods, had taken several
tours and river cruises with
Kesher Tours, which works
with an Israeli company, Shai
Bar-Ilan Geographical Tours.
The Scheys booked the trip
many months ago but weren’t
sure until Jan. 17, the day
they left, that it would actual-
ly happen.
While the tour was con-
ducted in English, only three
couples among the 33 trav-
elers hailed from the United
States. The rest, though orig-
inally from the U.S., Canada
or the U.K., lived in Israel.
The tour was led by Rabbi
Dr. Joshua Berman of Israel’s
Bar-Ilan University and an
Egyptian Coptic Christian
man with a deep knowledge
of Egyptian history, including
the ability to read hieroglyph-
ics.
The group visited Aswan,
Cairo and Luxor; and in each
area, they saw sites related to
Jewish history.
Near Aswan, they visited
Elephantine, an island fortress
in the Nile River and the site
of the oldest known Jewish
diaspora community.
In Cairo, they saw the
synagogue where Moses Ben
Maimon, the Rambam, wor-
shipped, as well as his home
and medical clinic. They saw
the Ben Ezra Synagogue,
where the Cairo Geniza was
found by two Scottish women
in 1896; the documents bur-
ied in the geniza dated back
to the 11th century and pro-
vided great insight into Jewish
life in the area.
The group planned to hold
Shabbat services at the Sha’ar
Hashamayim synagogue, the
only one still functioning in
Egypt, but for security rea-
sons they prayed at their hotel
instead.
In the Cairo Museum,
they saw a stele, an upright,
engraved stone slab, dated
to pre-Exodus times, that
mentions the Israelites. Their
guide pointed out the loca-
tion of the Biblical Land of
Goshen.
In Luxor, a hieroglyph-
ic inscription named sites
conquered by Ramesses II,
including some, like Bet
Shean, in Israel. At a tem-
ple in Luxor, they saw more
inscriptions that related to the
Exodus.
The Scheys also enjoyed
the non-Jewish sights on the
tour, including several pyra-
mids and temples. David was
particularly impressed by a
painted statue of Ramesses II
that he described as “the most
beautiful statue I’ve ever seen.
It was very realistic; the skin
tones were so lifelike!”
While in Cairo, the group
met with Israel’s ambassa-
dor to Egypt, Amira Oron,
whose parents came from
Egypt. She told them that the
relationship between the two
countries is better than it has
been in years, and that Egypt
is interested in Israel’s high-
tech achievements, especially
in water conservation.
Another highlight of the
trip was a hot air balloon ride
over the Valley of the Kings,
the fertile area fed by the Nile.
Though theirs may have
been the first kosher tour to
Egypt, it was obvious that
Israelis were no strangers to
the locals. Wherever they
went, David said, vendors
would shout, “Shalom, sha-
lom! We love Jews. We love
Israel!”
What’s next for David, 81,
a retired social worker, and
Doris, 77, a retired teacher?
They had signed up for a
cruise to Scotland, Norway
and Iceland, originally sched-
uled for last July. It has been
rescheduled for August.
They had also planned a
river cruise to Vietnam and
Cambodia in 2020 that was
canceled. They’re hoping
it might happen this
December.
TRAVEL
Huntington Woods couple visits
Jewish sites in Egypt.
In Search
of the True
Exodus
BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER
David and
Doris Schey
in Egypt