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| Egypt Flights Home » History of Egypt » Jews in Egypt |
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Jews in Egypt |
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The Jews in Egypt perhaps form the youngest and oldest community of Jews outside Israel. With no exact estimation, the Jewish population in Egypt is, at present, about twenty mostly old people. In 1948 , the Jewish population in Egypt was between seventy five thousand to eighty thousand. The historical core of the Jewish community was mostly composed of Rabbbanites and Karaites who mostly spoke the Arabic language. After they were expelled fro Spain, they came to settle in the Egyptian country, and the number of Jews in Egypt increased with the gradual development of the trade with the opening of the Suez canal. The Ashkenazi community, which mostly concentrated itself in the Darb al-Barabira quarter of Cairo, started arriving as a result of the waves of pogroms that struck Europe in later years of the nineteenth century. The decline of the Egyptian Jews commenced after Gamal Abdel Nasser ascended a coup d'etat in the year of 1952.
In the Biblical book of Genesis, we come across the Jews in the land of Egypt. Again in the Ptolemaic and Roman era that extended from 400 BC to 641 AD, many people people settled in the land of Egypt. These people especially gathered in and around Alexandria in Egypt. It is for this particular reason that the history of Jews in Egypt in the Ptolemaic era in confined in and around Alexandria. History further tells us of the huge settlement of the Jewish people in the Egyptian cities and towns during the third century. In accordance with Josephus's history, it is after the invasion of Judea by first Ptolemy that about one lakh twenty thousand Jewish captives were brought to Egypt from Jerusalem, Mount Gerizim, and Samaria.
Not only the Copts, and Christians , but also the Jews supported the Arab invasion of the Egyptian land. The Egyptian Jews also lived a happy life during the fatimite rule. It is during the Fatimite rule that the Talmudic schools were founded in Egypt. Ya‘qub Ibn Killis was one of the Jewish people who was elevated to a high position in this society.
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The Jews also had a good time in Egypt during the rule of Ba?ri Mamelukes. But it is the Turkish king called Selim I , who made several changes in the Jewish affairs during his rule in Egypt. However, at the time of British rule in Egypt, the Jewish immigrants were denied the Egyptian nationality. But the Jews were allowed to play a significant role in the Egyptian economy. It is this period that the number of Jews in Egypt almost became eighty thousand . But still a distinction between the Rabbanite and Karai groups existed. Intermarriage between these two communities were prohibited during the British rule in Egypt.
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