A somber New Year but a much anticipated visit

Hello all!

I have returned from my trip to America and it was a mighty fine trip indeed. I stuffed my belly with cookies, Chinese, Thai food and other American goodies, got some much needed snuggle time in with my family and friends (and puppy) and came back feeling rejuvenated, remotivated, and ready to go!

Unfortunately, my city of Alexandria did not experience the same New Years as I did. As you all probably know, a few minutes after midnight on New Years, a suicide bomber blew himself up in the Coptic Two Saints Church in the neighborhood of Sidi Bisher, just about a half hour west of my apartment, tragically murdering 24 people, wounding 100, and shattering any illusion of total religious freedom, equity, or tolerance in Egypt. A week later, in a train in the south of Egypt, a police officer shot 6 people, killing 1, apparently making sure that his victims had the coptic cross tattooed on their arms before pulling the trigger.

The news was shocking, horrifying, and scary. I had not fully realized the extent of my relationship to this city and this country until I found myself crying for the victims and for the state of the country as a whole. I found it difficult being at home, reading article after article on the bombing and feeling like I needed to talk to people here and gauge the situation for myself, completely estranged and helpless while the city that I care so deeply about went into mourning.

I came back on Coptic Christmas Eve (Jan. 6). Driving by churches in my taxi, I noticed a severe increase in security. But besides from that, there is really no visible difference in the life of the city right now. Many Egyptians have started solidarity campaigns both on facebook and throughout the city, with billboards carrying a picture of the cross and crescent bound together and underneath written, "Ana Masri dud al-irhab," "I am Egyptian against terrorism." There were several solidarity prayer services scheduled for Coptic Christmas, but many were canceled due to security concerns. Many citizens of this country, both Christian and Muslim, feel unified and intent on addressing its sectarian issues, and I hope that these acts have opened up the doors for honest dialogue. I also sincerely hope that these feelings of solidarity and unity are not just an initial reaction from shock but can continue in the coming months and years and can be directed towards actually passing legislation that ensure the safety of Copts and religious tolerance, helping to establish a national identity based on citizenship and not religious identification as per the Egyptian constitution.

However, the past few weeks give me little hope. During investigations of this crime, policemen tortured a Muslim man to death, claiming him to be a suspect in the bombing just on the basis that he had a long beard, a crime just a vicious and motivated by religious intolerance as the acts that proceeded it. It seems like no progress has been made during investigations and that the real culprits will not be brought to justice, and just like the shootings of Copts that left 7 dead last New Years, these crimes will go unpunished and ultimately forgotten, filed away among the other atrocities committed on the basis of religious intolerance towards the country's Muslims, Jews, and Christians.

But despite this crime, life must go on! And it has indeed! Classes have begun and stories swapped from all of our winter break adventures and misadventures!

This week also brought me my first visitor, Talia Orencel, a friend from Maryland who is taking a tour of the Middle East on her winter break! So we've gone eating and wandering, and this morning, visited a sight I've been trying to get into since last summer, the synagogue.



Every time I had tried to visit the synagogue, it had been closed. They told me to come back Thursday at 2, Friday at 9, Monday at 10, Tuesday at 4:30, and every time there was a new excuse. But this time, I did it and it was amazing.

After going through security we were let in the Eliyahu ha- navi synagogue on Nabi Daniel Street. Once one of the biggest congregations in the Middle East, the shul held up to 1000 congregants, 700 men and 300 women. There used to be 12 synagogues in Alexandria, one actually in Sporting, the neighborhood I currently live in, and 2 in Moharem Bey, my old neighborhood. Now, we were told, there are 20 Jews left in Alexandria, 3 men and 17 women, not enough to make a minyan and that all of the other synagogues have been sold. Most of the Jews left between 1948 and 1956 because of the various wars and also the 1952 Egyptian Revolution that saw the exodus of most of the country's foreigners. However, we were told that on the high holidays, on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur, they fly some Jews in from Tunisia so that they can make a minyan and hold services, but for the rest of the year, the synagogue is basically closed except for tourists.





It happened that Talia's great grandparents were from Alexandria and all we knew was that their last name was "Mizrahi." As we wandered through the seats, looking at the name plates drilled into the pews, we found a whole row of Mizrahi's. Although she is not sure which Mizrahi is her ancestor, she is going to find out from her parents and find out if any of those nameplates belonged to her great grandparents. She also found out that they used to live in a neighborhood called, "Heliopolis" in Alex and that they lived right near a racetrack. Although that neighborhood no longer exists, we did some prying and found out that Heliopolis is now most likely Sporting and Ibrahimiya and that the racetrack is now, most likely, the Sporting Club in which I have my internship. What a small and crazy world we live in!

I got the number of the man in charge of the workers at the synagogue and was told that through him, I can make an appointment with the president of the community. So hopefully, I will be able to set up a meeting with him, do a little poking and prying and find out a little more about the Jews here, and maybe find a seat at a Passover sader!