BASSATINE NEWS - Issue 30

BASSATINE NEWS the ONLY Jewish newsletter reporting directly from Egypt

A Community Chronicle put out by the Jewish Community Council (JCC) of Cairo since 1995

For information on religious holidays please call: 011 20 20 4543 or 010 11 07 8583

2012 PASSOVER CELEBRATIONS OFFICIATED BY
RABBI MARK ALFASSI
AT SHAAR HASHAMAIM SYNAGOGUE, CAIRO

call the JCC for information and details

Cairo

12°C

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BASSATINE NEWS ISSUE No. 30

SEDER 6 APRIL 2012

This year we held Seder in Shaar Hashamayim and as is our custom we invited Jewish students, expats and foreign diplomats as well as Jewish tourists and visitors passing through Cairo. In view of circumstances we estimated an attendance of 30 tops including the Jewish Community members and their families and friends. But as more and more attendees appeared at the last minute, we ended about 50. True this is still far less than half the number of previous years but then Egypt had its revolution in January 2011 and things are still volatile to say the least.

Cairo Seder 2012;
below: JCC President Carmen Weinstein, US Ambassador Ann Patterson, Rabbi Mark El Fassi and dependable handyman Metwalli helping out

Seder 6 April 2012

This year's Passover was presided by Rabbi Marc El Fassy. Our fearless white knight arrived from France "envers et malgre tous" who begged him not to come as it might be too dangerous. As though Toulouse was not dangerous, or Jerusalem and Los Angeles for that matter!

Also as is customary in Egypt there was lots of food, drink and fruit provided by the Community. In addition, there were the beautiful flowers brought by some of the guests adding to the festive atmosphere.

This year we also had the pleasure of hosting Maurice Chammah and his young American wife Emily. The 2011- 2012 Fulbright Fellow and sometime violonist in Texas thoughtfully posted an essay on his blog (see below), which made me realize how people see us from the exterior and how mistaken this vision can sometimes be. I am therefore commenting on Chammah's informative blog with regards the JCC in an attempt to give readers a more factual perspective of our tiny community.

1. A Cornell University graduate in Near Eastern studies, Mr. Chammah misguidedly states on his blog that US-AID restored the Synagogue and its adjoining reception halls (where the Seder was held). The Synagogue was indeed restored in 1980 following the Peace Treaty between Egypt and Israel but as already mentioned in Issue No. 12 of Bassatine News, which Chammah did not read, the funds for that landmark enterprise came from the World Sephardic Federation headed at the time by Mr Nessim Gaon of Geneva, Switzerland.

At my request as president of the JCC, the Synagogue was once again restored in 2007 but this time under the supervision of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture's Antiquities Department headed then by Mr Zahi Hawas. It was the year in which we celebrated Shaar Hashamayim's centennial. The Department took it upon itself to paint the entire Synagogue and refurbish the marble Bima which had collapsed. Additionally, the said Department repaved the alley leading to the courtyard. The JCC meanwhile restored the reception rooms and renovated some of the facilities adding a marble fountain in the courtyard at its own expense. US-AID was never involved in ANY of the above.

Mark El Fassi 2. Until about ten years ago, the ambassador of Israel would hold Seder in a Cairo Hotel or in the embassy residence garden in Maadi. Over and above the embassy staff he generously invited the members of the Cairo Jewish Community as well as Jewish expats, tourists and students. When this practice stopped due to a change in ambassadors, the JCC reversed the process so that now it was for the members of the Israeli embassy (not traveling for the High Holiday) to celebrate with the JCC at Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue.

As for the special menu and dishes, these are supplied courtesy of the JOINTand NOT as erroneously mentioned the Israeli Embassy. Likewise, the Joint also subsidizes the JCC with imported medicine and some of the hospital bills.

3. If the rituals are read out and explained in Hebrew, French, Arabic and English, this is to help attendees understand some of our liturgy. This multi-babble is customary with Egyptian Jews who were always adept in many languages. Somehow, any conversation would start with one language and then shift to another and so on.

To our young American blogger the above may sound strange but the same thing can be said about the medley of people who through the decades attended our celebrations. In my own family, in the days when Egypt numbered 70,000 Jews, we always invited Moslem and Christian friends to partake in our celebrations. In return, we were invited to attend Xmas or Easter services in Cairo's many churches. And, as always, the first day of Ramadan, we were breaking the fast with our Moslem friends. Their Bayram (religious holiday) was shared by us. There was never any problem in having a mix of Jews, Christians and Moslems at various religious holidays. So why should it be different now?! Perhaps it was also the same for the late Professor Albert Moise Chammah who hailed from Aleppo, Syria (Maurice's father passed away in Austin, Texas in 2008).

4. Since the Haggada is filled with references about leaving Egypt, the tri-lingual Rabbi finds it incumbent to remind everyone that this happened 6,000 years ago and the Egyptians rulers of the time were the Godlike Pharaohs who naturally rejected any divinity other than their own. This reminds me of an anecdote when I was passing through customs in New York years ago. The employee checking my passport exclaimed laughingly, "Weinstein? I thought all Jews left with Moses." I replied in jest "Well, as you can see some of us decided to stay behind because we love Egypt no matter what!"

One last word before I sign off. Rabbi Mark El Fassi is president of an association in France called "Les Enfants d'Abraham" (chidren of Abraham) whose members represent the three religions: Judaism, Christianity and Islam. The full name of the association is "Esperance des Enfants d'Abraham pour la Paix" or Peace Amongst the Children of Abraham.

Peace is such a divine word that we always pray for it in whatever language.
Carmen Weinstein - JCC President

THE PASSOVER SEDER IN DOWNTOWN CAIRO from the blog Adrift in Cairo BY FULLBRIGHT FELLOW MAURICE CHAMMAH

Maurice Chammah Passover Seder in Cairo is held in a low-ceilinged white room behind the USAID-restored Synagogue downtown. There are easily thirty guards outside. If you're not on the list (RSVP by email or phone) you've got to have your passport copied. Most of the Jews who arrive found out by word of mouth or email list. They don't advertise on the website, because, in community leader Carmen's words, "you don't know who could be reading it."

The Rabbi has been flown in from Paris. He is originally from Marrakesh, Morocco, and leads the Seder in a mixture of languages, English being the fourth tier behind French, Hebrew, and Arabic.

There are Jews at the table from Egypt, of course, as well as France, and the U.S., and lots of Egyptian Muslims who are here either due to intermarriage or friendship and curiosity. The Israeli Embassy used to take charge and provide the ritual foods, but they have drastically downsized their operation and now go back to Israel on the weekends. The U.S. Ambassador is here, sitting next to the Rabbi at the head of the table.

Most of the rituals are familiar but different, and mostly unexplained. Most of the attendees maintain conversations throughout the long, traditional chants by the Rabbi and chomp on matzah as they wait for the food. They don't have haggadot, although the booklets are available in a far corner, stacked in a lonely pile. Wine and matzah have been donated, though the latter is surprisingly available in Cairo's fancier neighborhoods. At one point, we are dipping the parsley in the haroset. Then, we are eating the matzah before washing our hands. I attempt to ask about this, but since I only speak the fourth tier language well, and the third tier language passably, I give up after a lot of confusion.

There is an American Jewish journalist who hopes to write about the dwindling community, and then an American Jewish non-journalist who is assumed to be a journalist because she does not 'appear' Jewish. And then there is Emily. The community’s lawyer seems to think she is Filipino.

The Rabbi, telling the story of Exodus, attempts to address the obvious irony, which had so often led to laughs at our small Seder among friends the night before: the fact that we are celebrating Passover in the country that Passover celebrates having left behind. "Now," he says in broken English, translating from French, and then in Arabic, "Jews, Christians and Muslims all together, no problem. But back then, they did not like the Jews, so we had to leave."

FORMER DER SPEIGEL PHOTOGRAPHER REMEMBERS THE JCC

Norbert Schiller

For several years Norbert Schiller was DER SPEIGEL's photographer of choice in Egypt and the Levant covering landmark political, social and economic events. From Minnesota where he is currently based he recalls with apparent nostalgia his days photographing unique JCC milestones. For more on the subject click on Remembering the last Jews in Egypt.

OBITUARY

Bassatine News and the Jewish Community of Cairo (JCC) regret to announce the death on 23 February 2012 at the Anglo-American Hospital in Zamalek following a short illness of
Anna "Jeanette" Mosseri born Anna Solomon Mercades
of Sri Lanka, Street, Zamalek, Cairo
a private ceremony was held on 27 February at Bassatine Cemetery where she was laid to rest next to her late husband Jacques Mosseri who passed away in 1998

We are looking for relatives of the late Jeanette Mosseri, born MERCADES ANNA SOLOMON or SALOMON. Please contact the Jewish Community of Cairo.

HAIM NAHUM FUNERAL SPECIAL

At a time when relations with Israel were at a record low, the death in Cairo of Egypt's Grand Rabbi on 13 November 1960 received all the honors due to a member of his rank. Haim Nahum's passing was prominently displayed on the front page of Egypt's state-owned daily al-Ahram on November 14 with extensive coverage on page 5. Also on page 5 was an article entitled "Who shall replace the Grand Rabbi?"

The Grand Rabbi's passing was again listed on November 15 where it was announced that President Gamal Abdel Nasser had sent a personal representative to the funeral.

On al-Aham's obituary page many faire parts were also listed on November 14 and 15.

On 12 December 1960 the Grand Rabbinate and the family of the late Grand Rabbi placed separate announcements thanking all those who either took part in the funeral or sent condolence messages. One notes how the entire cabinet, state aparatus and heads of council both seular and religious were duly thanked and acnowledged.

al-Ahram obituary Grand Rabbi

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and by telephone on +20 3 484-6189 or +20 3 486-3974 or by ordinary mail at
No. 69 Nebi Daniel Street, Alexandria, Egypt

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