Rosh Hashanah Cario Style

Intrigued by the prospect of attending a Rosh Hashanah service in Cairo, last Wednesday I boarded a bus with a few other CASA students and the last few remaining members of Cairo’s Jewish community and headed off to a temple in Maadi. Today, Cairo’s Jewish population consists of only a handful of elderly widows. Sitting on the bus listening to these women “kvetch” about the long walk to the bus stop and praise their children’s accomplishments in Egyptian dialect, it became clear that Jewish grandmothers—whether from Long Island or Cairo— have a lot in common.

 We quickly struck up a conversation with Goldina, a woman in her late sixties of Ukranian, Russian, and Iraqi Jewish descent who grew up speaking French at home and attending English school in Cairo. She told us of the virulent anti-Semitism and dramatic transformation of the lives of Jews in Egypt following the Arab defeat in the 1967 war as most of Egypt’s Jews left for Israel, Europe, or the US. She explained that her mother had polio and had been unable to move so Goldina hadn’t wanted to leave her. While she still wants to leave Egypt today, she told us that she could never leave her three dogs. Interestingly, she has no desire to go to Israel where she feels that the security situation means that no one can truly “live” or “have a life.” Chatting with Goldina about everything from recipes to her favorite youtube videos, the bus ride flew by.

Arriving at the temple in Maadi, we passed a huge crowd of police officers in military uniform. While we thought they were providing security for the service—especially in light of the recent attack on the Israeli embassy—we later learned that they were simply striking for higher wages. As we entered the temple (after showing our passports) we walked into a small crowd of expats that included the American and Austrian ambassadors to Egypt.

Apparently the Israeli ambassador usually leads the service, but because of the recent attack on the embassy he was unable to attend. Realizing that there was no one available to perform the service, a few CASA students who read Hebrew got up with their prayer books and led a rather impromptu abridged Rosh Hashanah service that reminded me of a combination of Arabic class and a bar-Mitzvah. I tried to follow along in an English copy that was actually a 1941 British army Jewish prayer book that included “the prayer to go into battle” and “the prayer for going abroad” in addition to the regular holiday prayers. While it was slightly awkward as an Egyptian man kept coming by to tell the CASA boys to read/sing louder, the American ambassador seemed quite taken with them as she admired them over her pink reading glasses. She actually invited my friend Andrew to eat dinner at her table after the service and gave him her contact information on a napkin!

The service was followed by apples and honey and a delicious pot luck style meal at tables set up in the courtyard outside the temple. Overall, a very sweet—if not bizarre— start to the new year!   

Other happenings:

1)      I started tutoring at St. Andrews Refugee services this week and met some really interesting South Sudanese and Eritrean refugees

2)      Celebrated my 22^nd birthday with a CASA potluck, my friend’s housewarming party at an amazing 2 story apartment that has wrap around balconies overlooking the Nile and  a delicious trip to Lucille’s (an American diner style restaurant)

3)      I’m planning on going to an AUC trip to the North coast next weekend for the long weekend (October 6^th is Armed Forces Day celebrating Egypt’s 1973 “victory”) so that should be fun!