Jews on the Nile

I was moved by the article written in the Masry El Youm by Writer Nabil Sharaf El Din (nabil@elaph.com) about the Jews of Egypt titled "Jews from our Country". With great respect to the writer and appreciation for people who really value the essence of this country that has always been the basin of all religions and civilizations, I share and support his views totally and I was happy to realize that people are starting to pay attention to a missing part of our history without which we can never be complete.

I was born in 1962 when most of the Egyptian Jews have already left Egypt. Unfortunately, I did not have the pleasure of being at school or university with any of them.

Not until later in life, that I met some of the Egyptian Jews who stayed behind. They were always of certain age and they have either changed religion to continue to live in Egypt and never raised the issue of religion or they never talked about their religion or mentioned their origins. Some of them had a large part of their extended families moving to live in Israel.

It always saddened me not to be able to discuss and learn from these people. This exchange enriches our minds and cultures and teaches us to respect and accept differences and teaches us also tolerance. This exchange makes us grow and develop, respect differences and others.

My mother used to tell me that when her family was living in Daher, their neighbors who were Jews would ask her as a young girl to help them put the lights on on Saturday. It really amazed me and I wanted to learn more. I truly owe it to my mother who always encouraged us to have different friends and religion was never an issue to talk about. During Ramadan, as a Christian family, we always had friends for Iftar and we always went to some of our Muslim friends for Christmas parties. This was the spirit I was raised in.

Years later I was in Bogota, Colombia visiting a friend with my Ex and he was having a problem with his knee. Our friend recommended a young doctor who spoke English and French to be able to communicate. The doctor was advised that we were from Egypt and he received us, treated my husband and refused totally to take any money. He was a young man of 36 years old.... guess what!!!! His parents were Jews from Egypt who moved to South America. When they knew he is seeing an Egyptian Patient, they asked him not to take money and to tell us that they loved Egypt and missed it. It was coming from the heart of true Egyptians......What more can one say.

People who went to schools in the 50 and early 60 would tell you they never knew who is what. All for one and one for all. However, after the revolution most of the foreigners and Jews left Egypt and young students would wonder where did their colleagues go and why.

Years later, through a dear friend of mine, I visited the Synagogue in old Cairo. For the first time in my life I visited a Jewish religious place. I was at awe because of its beauty and the architectural similarities it had with the Egyptian mosques and churches.

It was about culture, not really about religion. We had similar background, grew up in the same country with a common sets of ethics and values. The difference in religion did not make us loving Egypt less or being less patriotic.

It is a pity that all the Egyptian Jewish monuments and burial places are not being seriously maintained with the respect they deserve. This is part of our history and part of our being a great nation.