Egypt's few remaining Jews celebrate Hanukkah

Culture

Shahira Amin

Magda Shehata Haroun talks during an interview with AFP at the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue. — President of the Egyptian Jewish Community Magda Shehata Haroun talks during an interview with AFP at the Shaar Hashamayim Synagogue, also known as Temple Ismailia or Adly Synagogue, in downtown Cairo on Oct. 3, 2016. Once a flourishing community, only a handful of Egyptian Jews, mostly elderly women, is all that remains in the Arab world's most populous country, aiming at least to preserve their heritage. — KHALED DESOUKI/AFP via Getty Images

CAIRO — Security was tight in and around the Meyr Biton Synagogue in Cairo's leafy neighborhood of Maadi, as around two dozen guests including diplomats and Jewish expats gathered Monday evening to join a handful of Egypt's last Jews in celebrating Hanukkah.

"Today, only three Egyptian Jews, all of them elderly women, remain of Egypt's once sizable Jewish community," Magda Haroun, who was elected head of Egypt’s Jewish community in 2013, told Al-Monitor.

"I don't know if you can call me the caretaker of the Jewish community or its undertaker," Haroun joked. "I've buried many members of the community over the years."

Haroun, who received the guests as they arrived at the synagogue, told Al-Monitor, "I'm really happy to be celebrating Hanukkah with dear friends." She admitted, however, that she found the heavy security presence "disconcerting."

Egypt's few remaining Jews celebrate Hanukkah

Hanukkah was celebrated amid tight security in Cairo's Meyr Biton Synagogue. Yet Magda Haroun, head of Egypt's tiny Jewish community, looks forward to the day when all of Egypt's synagogues will be open for prayer and celebrations.

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