History of the Jews in Alexandria

Last updated
Egyptian Alexandria Jewish choir of Rabbin Moshe Cohen at Samuel Menashe synagogue. Alexandria. Egyptian Alexandria Jews. Choir of Rabbin Moshe Cohen in Samuel Menashe synagogue. Alexandria.jpg
Egyptian Alexandria Jewish choir of Rabbin Moshe Cohen at Samuel Menashe synagogue. Alexandria.
Jewish girls from Alexandria in 1955 for their Confirmation service, a ritual similar to a Bat Mitzvah. Egyptian Alexandria Jewish girls during BatMitzva.jpg
Jewish girls from Alexandria in 1955 for their Confirmation service, a ritual similar to a Bat Mitzvah.

The history of the Jews in Alexandria dates back to the founding of the city by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. [1] Jews in Alexandria played a crucial role in the political, economic, cultural and religious life of Hellenistic and Roman Alexandria, with Jews comprising about 35% of the city's population during the Roman Era. [2] [3] Alexandrian Jewry were the founders of Hellenistic Judaism and the first to translate the Torah from Hebrew to Koine Greek, a document known as the Septuagint.

Contents

Many important Jewish writers and figures came from or studied in Alexandria, such as Philo, Ben Sira, Tiberius Julius Alexander and Josephus. The position of Alexandria's Jewry began deteriorating during the Roman era, as deep antisemitic sentiment began developing amongst the city's Greek and Egyptian populations. This led to the subsequent Alexandrian pogrom in 38 CE and the Alexandria riot in 66 CE, which was in parallel with the outbreak of the First Jewish–Roman War. Alexandria's Jewry began to diminish, leading to a mass immigration of Alexandrian Jews to Rome, as well as other Mediterranean and North African cities. By the beginning of the Byzantine era, the Jewish population had again increased, but suffered from the persecutions of the Christian Church.

During the subsequent Muslim conquest of Egypt, the number of Jews in Alexandria increased greatly, with some estimates numbering around 400,000. [4] [5] Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and the ensuing Six-Day War in 1967, almost all of Alexandria's Jewish population were expelled from the country and emigrated to Israel. [6]

Hellenistic and early Roman period

According to Josephus, Jews had inhabited Alexandria since its founding, and most historians agree that Jews lived in the city since at least the beginning of the third century BCE. Under Ptolemaic rule, a separate section of the city was assigned to the Jews, so that they might not be hindered in the observance of their laws by continual contact with the pagan population. This Jewish Quarter was one of the five sections of the city, each named after a letter of the Greek alphabet, with the Jewish quarter being named Delta.

During this time, the Jews in Alexandria enjoyed a greater degree of political independence and prominence, serving as the city's moneylenders, premium merchants and alabarchs. The Jewish ethnarchs were also established during this time, along with a council of 71 elders. According to Strabo, the ethnarch was responsible for the general conduct of Jewish affairs in the city, particularly in legal matters and the drawing up of documents. The city also established a large Bet Din known as the "archion". The Great Synagogue of Alexandria (mentioned in the Talmud) [7] was also established during this time. During the period of the Second Temple the Jews of Alexandria were represented in Jerusalem by a sizeable community.

During Herod’s reign several prominent Alexandrian Jewish families lived in Jerusalem, such as Simeon the Just who was appointed high priest by Herod. Alexandria's Jewish population served as secular public officials and as soldiers for the Ptolemaic army. Rich Jews occasionally held the office of alabarch, such as Alexander the Alabarch. However, Ptolemy VII was hostile towards the Jews because when he strove to wrest the throne of Egypt from Cleopatra, the Jews, led by the general Onias, fought on the side of Cleopatra. During the Maccabean Revolt, an Alexandrian Jew probably wrote 2 Maccabees which defends Hellenism and criticizes the Seleucids, as opposed to 1 Maccabees which was written in Judea and criticizes the entire Hellenistic ideology. [4] [5] [8] [9] [10] [11]

Roman period

Following the Roman conquest of Egypt, intense antisemitism became widespread throughout Alexandria's non-Jewish populations. Many viewed Jews as privileged isolationists. This sentiment led to the Alexandrian Pogrom in 38 CE, led by the Roman governor Aulus Avilius Flaccus. Many Jews were murdered, their notables were publicly scourged, synagogues were defiled and closed, and all the Jews were confined to one quarter of the city. Riots again erupted in 40 CE between Jews and Greeks. Jews were accused of not honouring the emperor, and Jews were angered by the erection of a clay altar and destroyed it. In response, Caligula ordered the erection of a statue of himself in the Temple of Jerusalem. Philo wrote that Caligula "regarded the Jews with most especial suspicion, as if they were the only persons who cherished wishes opposed to his." [12] [13] [14]

Following the First Jewish–Roman War, many Romans in Alexandria questioned the loyalty of the city's Jewry. Violence occurred in 66 CE, when the Alexandrines had organized a public assembly to deliberate about an embassy to Nero, and a great number of Jews came flocking to the amphitheater. When the Alexandrines saw the Jews, they attacked them; the majority of Jews were killed, and those who were captured were burned alive. Following this event was the second Alexandrian pogrom. Tiberius Julius Alexander, the governor of Alexandria (who was born Jewish, but left the religion) was able to calm the riots. However, most Jews saw the rising antisemitism and emigrated out of the city, mostly to Rome and other Mediterranean and North African cities. In 115 CE the remaining Jewish population participated in the Kitos War, leading to the economic situation of the community being undermined, and its population diminished. [4] [15] [5]

Byzantine period

By the beginning of the Byzantine era, the Jewish population had again increased, but in 414 Cyril expelled the Jews from the city. According to contemporary Christian historian Socrates Scholasticus, the expulsion was a response to a Jewish-led massacre against some Christians. Historians are divided on whether the expulsion was wholesale or just against those who had perpetrated the violence. [8] [16]

Arab period

Following the Muslim conquest of Egypt starting in 641, Jews were allowed to return to the city; according to some Arab sources, the city had some 400,000 around the time of the conquest. [4] However, Benjamin of Tudela who visited the town in about 1170, speaks of only 3,000 Jews living in Alexandria. Nevertheless, throughout the Middle Ages, Alexandria had a small but significant community of Jewish rabbis and scholars. The community is mentioned in several documents in the Cairo Genizah, some of which relate to Alexandrian Jews' reaction to the controversial Sar Shalom ben Moses.

During the 12th century, Aaron He-Haver ben Yeshuah Alamani served as the community's spiritual leader. During the Arab period, Alexandrian Jewry kept a close relationship with other Egyptian communities in Cairo, Bilbeis, El Mahalla El Kubra as well as several others. It was during this time that Alexandria had two synagogues, one of which was called "the Small Synagogue of Alexandria". The Jews of Alexandria were engaged in the international trade centered in their city, and some even held government posts. [4] [8]

Mamluk and Ottoman periods

Under Mamluk rule, the Jewish population of Alexandria began to decline. Meshullam of Volterra, who visited it in 1481, states that he found only 60 Jewish families, but reported that the old men remembered the time when the community numbered 4,000. In 1488, Obadiah of Bertinoro found 25 Jewish families in Alexandria. Following the Alhambra Decree of 1492, a large number of Sephardic Jews immigrated to Alexandria. The historian Joseph Sambari mentions an active Jewish community in Alexandria during the 17th century. After the Chmielnicki massacres, some Ukrainian Jews settled in Alexandria.

In the 1660s some members of the community began to follow the Jewish mystic Shabbetai Zvi, while the majority adamantly opposed him. In 1700, some Jewish fishermen from Rosetta moved to Alexandria in hopes of better economic opportunities. During the French conquest of Egypt, Napoleon imposed heavy fines on the Jews and ordered the ancient synagogue, associated with the prophet Elijah, to be destroyed. Under the rule of Muhammad Ali of Egypt, Jews began to experience great social and economic development. [4] [5] [17]

Modern era

During World War I, many Jews living in Ottoman Palestine were exiled to Alexandria under Ottoman rule. In 1937, 24,690 Jews lived in Alexandria. Following the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, and the ensuing Six-Day War, almost all of Egypt's Jewish population were expelled from the country and immigrated to Israel. As of 2017, only 12 Jews currently live in Alexandria. [4] [17] In February 2020, 180 Jews from Europe, Israel and the United States arrived in Alexandria to attend religious ceremonies at the historic Eliyahu Hanavi synagogue, which was renovated by the Egyptian government as part of a program to protect Jewish heritage sites. [18]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Synagogue</span> Place of worship for Jews and Samaritans

A synagogue, also called a shul or a temple, is a place of worship for Jews and Samaritans. It has a place for prayer where Jews attend religious services or special ceremonies such as weddings, bar and bat mitzvahs, choir performances, and children's plays. They also have rooms for study, social halls, administrative and charitable offices, classrooms for religious and Hebrew studies, and many places to sit and congregate. They often display commemorative, historic, or modern artwork alongside items of Jewish historical significance or history about the synagogue itself.

This is a list of notable events in the development of Jewish history. All dates are given according to the Common Era, not the Hebrew calendar.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Philo</span> Hellenistic Jewish philosopher (c. 20 BCE – c. 50 CE)

Philo of Alexandria, also called Philō Judæus, was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher who lived in Alexandria, in the Roman province of Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish history</span> History of the Jews, their nation, religion and culture

Jewish history is the history of the Jews, their nation, religion, and culture, as it developed and interacted with other peoples, religions, and cultures.

This article lists expulsions, refugee crises and other forms of displacement that have affected Jews.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish diaspora</span> Dispersion of Jews around the globe

The Jewish diaspora or exile is the dispersion of Israelites or Jews out of their ancient ancestral homeland and their subsequent settlement in other parts of the globe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">First Jewish–Roman War</span> Rebellion against Roman rule (66–73 CE)

The First Jewish–Roman War, sometimes called the Great Jewish Revolt, or The Jewish War, was the first of three major rebellions by the Jews against the Roman Empire fought in Roman-controlled Judea, resulting in the destruction of Jewish towns, the displacement of its people and the appropriation of land for Roman military use, as well as the destruction of the Jewish Temple and polity.

Tiberius Julius Alexander was an equestrian governor and general in the Roman Empire. Born into a wealthy Jewish family of Alexandria but abandoning or neglecting the Jewish religion, he rose to become the 2nd procurator of Judea under Claudius. While Prefect of Egypt (66–69), he employed his legions against the Alexandrian Jews in a brutal response to ethnic violence, and was instrumental in the Emperor Vespasian's rise to power. In 70, he participated in the Siege of Jerusalem as Titus' second-in-command. He became the most powerful Jew of his age, and is ranked as one of the most prominent Jews in military history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish–Roman wars</span> Series of revolts by the Jews against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE

The Jewish–Roman wars were a series of large-scale revolts by the Jews of Judaea and the Eastern Mediterranean against the Roman Empire between 66 and 135 CE. The First Jewish–Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt were nationalist rebellions, striving to restore an independent Judean state, while the Kitos War was more of an ethno-religious conflict, mostly fought outside the province of Judaea. As a result, there is variation in the use of the term "Jewish-Roman wars." Some sources exclusively apply it to the First Jewish-Roman War and the Bar Kokhba revolt, while others include the Kitos War as well.

Jewish population centers have shifted tremendously over time, due in modern times to large scale population movements, and in earlier times due to a combination of population movements, religious conversions and religious assimilation. Population movements have been caused by both push and pull factors, with the most notable push factors being expulsions and persecutions, in particular the pogroms in the Russian Empire and the Holocaust.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jewish identity</span> Perceiving oneself as a Jew

Jewish identity is the objective or subjective state of perceiving oneself as a Jew and as relating to being Jewish. Under a broader definition, Jewish identity does not depend on whether a person is regarded as a Jew by others, or by an external set of religious, legal, or sociological norms. Jewish identity does not need to imply religious orthodoxy. Accordingly, Jewish identity can be cultural in nature. Jewish identity can involve ties to the Jewish community. Orthodox Judaism bases Jewishness on matrilineal descent. According to Jewish law (halacha), all those born of a Jewish mother are considered Jewish, regardless of personal beliefs or level of observance of Jewish law. Progressive Judaism and Haymanot Judaism in general base Jewishness on having at least one Jewish parent, while Karaite Judaism bases Jewishness only on paternal lineage. These differences between the major Jewish movements are the source of the disagreement and debate about who is a Jew.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Judaea (Roman province)</span> Province of the Roman Empire (6–135 CE)

Judaea was a Roman province from 6 to 132 CE, which incorporated the Levantine regions of Judea, Samaria and Idumea, extending over parts of the former regions of the Hasmonean and Herodian kingdoms of Judea. The name Judaea was derived from the Iron Age Kingdom of Judah.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Egypt</span>

Egyptian Jews constitute both one of the oldest and one of the youngest Jewish communities in the world. The historic core of the Jewish community in Egypt mainly consisted of Egyptian Arabic speaking Rabbanites and Karaites. Though Egypt had its own community of Egyptian Jews, after the Jewish expulsion from Spain more Sephardi and Karaite Jews began to migrate to Egypt, and then their numbers increased significantly with the growth of trading prospects after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. As a result, Jews from many territories of the Ottoman Empire as well as Italy and Greece started to settle in the main cities of Egypt, where they thrived. The Ashkenazi community, mainly confined to Cairo's Darb al-Barabira quarter, began to arrive in the aftermath of the waves of pogroms that hit Europe in the latter part of the 19th century.

An alabarch was a traditionally Jewish official in Alexandria during the Hellenistic and Roman periods, seemingly responsible for taxation and especially customs at the harbor.

The Alexandrian pogrom, or Alexandrian riots were attacks directed against Jews in 38 CE in Roman Alexandria, Egypt.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in Europe</span> Aspect of world history

The history of the Jews in Europe spans a period of over two thousand years. Jews, an Israelite tribe from Judea in the Levant, began migrating to Europe just before the rise of the Roman Empire. Although Alexandrian Jews had already migrated to Rome, a notable early event in the history of the Jews in the Roman Empire was the 63 BCE siege of Jerusalem.

Hellenistic Judaism was a form of Judaism in classical antiquity that combined Jewish religious tradition with elements of Hellenistic culture. Until the early Muslim conquests of the eastern Mediterranean, the main centers of Hellenistic Judaism were Alexandria in Egypt and Antioch in Turkey, the two main Greek urban settlements of the Middle East and North Africa, both founded in the end of the fourth century BCE in the wake of the conquests of Alexander the Great. Hellenistic Judaism also existed in Jerusalem during the Second Temple Period, where there was a conflict between Hellenizers and traditionalists.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Second Temple period</span> Period in Jewish history, c. 516 BCE–70 CE

The Second Temple period or post-exilic period in Jewish history denotes the approximately 600 years during which the Second Temple stood in the city of Jerusalem. It began with the return to Zion and subsequent reconstruction of the Temple in Jerusalem, and ended with the First Jewish–Roman War and the Roman siege of Jerusalem.

Alexander the Alabarch was an Alexandrian Jewish aristocrat. His brother was the exegete and philosopher Philo of Alexandria.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of the Jews in the Roman Empire</span> History of Jews and Judaism under the Roman Empire

The history of the Jews in the Roman Empire traces the interaction of Jews and Romans during the period of the Roman Empire. A Jewish diaspora had migrated to Rome and to the territories of Roman Europe from the land of Israel, Anatolia, Babylon and Alexandria in response to economic hardship and incessant warfare over the land of Israel between the Ptolemaic and Seleucid empires from the 4th to the 1st centuries BCE. In Rome, Jewish communities thrived economically. Jews became a significant part of the Roman Empire's population in the first century CE, with some estimates as high as 7 million people; however, this estimation has been questioned.

References

  1. ↑ Josephus, " Against Apion " II. 4
  2. ↑ Donaldson, Terence L. (2000-05-11). "Chapter 12: The Conflict over Isopoliteia: An Alexandian Perspective, pp. 2". Religious Rivalries and the Struggle for Success in Caesarea Maritima. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. ISBN   978-1-55458-670-7.
  3. ↑ Redies, Michael (Berlin) (2006-10-01). "Acta Alexandrinorum". Brill's New Pauly.
  4. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "Alexandria, Egypt". www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  5. 1 2 3 4 "ALEXANDRIA, Egypt—Ancient - JewishEncyclopedia.com". www.jewishencyclopedia.com. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  6. ↑ "The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry". publishing.cdlib.org. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  7. ↑ Brand, Ezra. "Basilica, Stoa, and Cathedra: A Historical and Linguistic Analysis of the Talmudic Passage on the Synagogue of Alexandria (Sukkah 51b)". www.ezrabrand.com. Retrieved 2023-12-28.
  8. 1 2 3 "The Jews in Alexandria". Museum of the Jewish People at Beit Hatfutsot. Archived from the original on 2021-07-14. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  9. ↑ Shavit, Yaacov (October 1997). Athens in Jerusalem: classical antiquity and Hellenism in the making of the modern secular Jew. ISBN   1-909821-76-4. OCLC   1045466410.
  10. ↑ Harker, Andrew (2012-06-21). Riggs, Christina (ed.). "The Jews in Roman Egypt". The Oxford Handbook of Roman Egypt. doi:10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199571451.001.0001. ISBN   9780199571451 . Retrieved 2020-06-27.
  11. ↑ Goldhill, Simon (2016). "What Has Alexandria to do with Jerusalem? Writing the History of the Jews in the Nineteenth Century". The Historical Journal. 59 (1): 125–151. doi:10.1017/S0018246X15000047. ISSN   0018-246X. S2CID   162485754.
  12. ↑ Josephus, Antiquities of the Jews XVIII.8.1.
  13. ↑ Philo of Alexandria, On the Embassy to Gaius XXX.201.
  14. ↑ Gambetti, Sandra, "Alexandrian Pogrom", in Levy, Richard S. (2005). Antisemitism: A Historical Encyclopedia of Prejudice and Persecution, Volume 1. ABC-CLIO. ISBN   1-85109-439-3
  15. ↑ "Pogrom in Alexandria - Livius". www.Livius.org. Retrieved 31 July 2017.
  16. ↑ Seaver, James Everett (1952). Persecution of the Jews in the Roman Empire (300-438). Lawrence, University of Kansas Publications, 1952.
  17. 1 2 Miccoli, Dario (2011). "Moving Histories. The Jews and Modernity in Alexandria 1881-1919". Quest: Issues in Contemporary Jewish History. hdl:1814/22574. ISSN   2037-741X.
  18. ↑ Bosscher, Floris. "Homecoming: Alexandria synagogue hosts Egypt's largest Jewish prayers in decades". www.timesofisrael.com. Retrieved 2020-06-27.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.