Egypt
The Jerusalem Post (Renee Levine Melammed)
- New Book: The Elephantine Papyri In English
Society of Biblical Literature The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, Second Revised Edition by Bezalel Porten This important volume contains 175 documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of...
- Egypt To Pay For Restoration Of Synagogues
Google / AFP Egypt will shoulder the costs of restoring the country's Jewish houses of worship said the culture minister Tuesday, two days after a historic synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter was rededicated in a private ceremony. Farouk...
- Restored 19th Century Synagogue Re-opens
Google / AFP The 19th-century synagogue of Maimonides in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter reopened Sunday after a nearly two-year restoration by Egyptian authorities, participants at the opening told AFP. They said some 150 people attended the opening,...
- Conservation
Egyptians conflicted over preserving Jewish past Associated Press / Google The warren of slum alleys is called the Jews' Quarter, but no Jews live there. The ancient synagogue still stands, but its roof is gone. The government is renovating it, but...
- Preservation Of Jewish Heritage In Egypt
American Jewish Committee In Egypt for events marking the centennial of Cairo’s main synagogue, Shaar Hashamayim, an American Jewish Committee delegation met this week with Egyptian officials to discuss efforts to preserve the Jewish heritage in Egypt....
Egypt
From the Elephantine archives, the life of a Jewish woman
The Jerusalem Post (Renee Levine Melammed)
In the sixth century BCE, a large military camp was set up in Elephantine by the Persian rulers who had conquered Egypt. This “city of ivories” was located on a small island in the Nile opposite Syene (Aswan), the site of their civil administrative capital. Persian soldiers and mercenaries served in the army; we know that Jewish regiments comprised part of these mercenary troops needed to protect this southern exposure from foreign attacks and to supervise trade and taxation there. Jewish soldiers were permitted to raise families and to engage in business.
Life for the Jews of Elephantine was quite different from that of their brethren returning to settle in the Land of Israel: They had not been exposed to the ideas being propounded by Ezra and Nehemiah, and they had built their own temple in which two local goddesses were worshiped alongside Yahu, the God of Judah.
In the late 19th century, various archives from Elephantine were discovered, transcribed and translated from the original Aramaic. When property was passed on or decisions were made in court that concerned property, the papyri upon which these legal activities were recorded were retained by the owner. The Jewish woman Mibtahiah’s archive contains 10 documents found in superb condition; they reveal surprising details concerning her life and the options available to Jewish women in this settlement.
- New Book: The Elephantine Papyri In English
Society of Biblical Literature The Elephantine Papyri in English: Three Millennia of Cross-Cultural Continuity and Change, Second Revised Edition by Bezalel Porten This important volume contains 175 documents from the Egyptian border fortresses of...
- Egypt To Pay For Restoration Of Synagogues
Google / AFP Egypt will shoulder the costs of restoring the country's Jewish houses of worship said the culture minister Tuesday, two days after a historic synagogue in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter was rededicated in a private ceremony. Farouk...
- Restored 19th Century Synagogue Re-opens
Google / AFP The 19th-century synagogue of Maimonides in Cairo's ancient Jewish quarter reopened Sunday after a nearly two-year restoration by Egyptian authorities, participants at the opening told AFP. They said some 150 people attended the opening,...
- Conservation
Egyptians conflicted over preserving Jewish past Associated Press / Google The warren of slum alleys is called the Jews' Quarter, but no Jews live there. The ancient synagogue still stands, but its roof is gone. The government is renovating it, but...
- Preservation Of Jewish Heritage In Egypt
American Jewish Committee In Egypt for events marking the centennial of Cairo’s main synagogue, Shaar Hashamayim, an American Jewish Committee delegation met this week with Egyptian officials to discuss efforts to preserve the Jewish heritage in Egypt....