Dear Carmen,

On behalf of our entire family, please accept my heartfelt thanks for all of your efforts in making Brandt's Bar Mitzvah a joyous, memorable, and historical event.

I am sure Meyr Biton would have been proud. Politics and personal prejudices were put "on hold" in Cairo for a brief moment. On the day of Brandt's Bar Mitzvah, the synagogue bearing his name was filled to capacity with onlookers from a myriad of religious, cultural, and ethnic backgrounds all joined together in prayer.

I have taken the liberty of attaching to this e-mail an article Rabbi Samuel Stahl has submitted for publication in the San Antonio Jewish Journal. This Journal reaches all Jews in a large American community regardless of congregation affiliation. In it he says, "When I welcomed the worshippers at that Shabbat morning service at the Maadi Synagogue, I announced that perhaps marking this Bar Mitzvah was God's sign that God wants the Jewish community of Egypt to continue to flourish. I earnestly hope that it may be so.

I echo Rabbi Stahl's wishes.

With deepest thanks and warmest regards,

Will Lanzet

A WEEK LATER.... Ruben's Bar-Mitzvah at Meyr Biton...

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR

Subject: Bar Mitzvah in Maadi
Date: Mon, 23 Jun 2003 08:56:49 -0400
From: Wahba.Leon

It was so nice to see that beautiful Temple being used for such an important life cycle event. I had many cousins that lived in Maadi (families Romano and Jabes). My father's cousin, Oncle Jacques Romano to me, was - in the late 50s and early 60s - very active in trying to keep the remaining small community of Jewish Maadites "together"! Your pictorial brought back many pleasant memories. Best wishes,
Leon Wahba