24 | NOVEMBER 24 • 2022

A

fter 56 years, Joe Salama
stood in the bedroom
of his childhood home,
surrounded by his three children
and four of his seven grandchil-
dren. He marveled that he, his
parents and his three siblings had
lived comfortably in the modest
apartment at 224 Shatby St., with
its three small bedrooms, single
bathroom and galley kitchen.
Finally, he was able to share
some of the physical aspects of his
Egyptian heritage with his fami-
ly. Salama had not been back in
Egypt since he left in 1966 at the
age of 19.
For the October trip, Salama,
75, an orthopedic surgeon at
Ascension Providence Hospital,
was accompanied by his children,
David Salama, M.D., 45, of West
Bloomfield, and Evan Salama,
42, and Jill Handman, 37, both
of whom live in the Los Angeles
area. Rounding out their group
of eight were David’s two older
children, Elliot, 16, and Ari, 13,
and Evan’s two older children,
Molly, 10 and Benji, 8. Joe’s wife,
Rita, has Alzheimer’s disease and
was unable to make the trip, and
his children’s spouses stayed home
with their younger children.
Joe, of Farmington Hills,
recalled an Alexandria of 500,000
residents that was very cosmo-
politan; one would hear French,
English, Italian and Greek spoken
in the streets along with Arabic.
The women dressed fashionably
and hardly any covered their
hair. Muslims, Christians and

Jews lived, worked and socialized
together. Joe recalled a few years
when Muslim neighbors helped
his family prepare meals to break
the Yom Kippur fast.
Today, says Joe, the essence
of the city is still there, but
Alexandria now has 7 million
residents, and so it is much more
crowded, dirty and noisy. Arabic
is pretty much the only language
used, and almost all the women
wear the hijab.
The Eliyahu Hanavi Syna-
gogue — the largest in all of
Africa — has been restored, but
primarily to attract Jewish tour-
ists. It is open only by appoint-
ment; there are no Jews living in
Alexandria who would attend
regular services. The synagogue’s
ark contains 13 Torah scrolls,
most of which came from other
synagogues, now closed. When
the Salamas visited, Joe thought
he recognized some of the scrolls
from the synagogue his family
used to attend.
David Salama said Egypt is in
the process of renovating another
synagogue in Alexandria. Several
Cairo synagogues have also been
restored.
The Eliyahu Hanavi caretak-
er had erected and decorated a
sukkah in the synagogue’s court-
yard — the first sukkah built in
Alexandria since 2008 — and
served the Salama family a festive
meal there, including Egyptian
guaffa (guava), which Joe hadn’t
tasted since he was a teenager.
“Taking a bite of this fruit in a

OUR COMMUNITY

One-time refugee returns to Egypt.

BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER

An
Exodus
inReverse

COURTESY OF THE SALAMA FAMILY

TOP: 1960 restored photo of the Salama family in front of the
Sphinx of Giza: Mayer Salama, Gabriel Salama, Edna Ravitz, Joseph
Salama, Regina Salama
ABOVE: David Salama, Ari Salama, Jason Handman, Evan Salama,
Melissa Salama, Joseph Salama, Jill Salama Handman and Elliot
Salama in front of the Sphinx at Giza

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