Last Exodus

Whenever we travel to ancient cities that once boasted vibrant, historically-relevant Jewish communities, we usually find some remnant of a kehillah, however small, holding down the mesorah and faithfully clinging to the significance of their position. But in Alexandria, Egypt, the city founded by Alexander the Great and considered one of the great centers of civilization whose once-venerated Jewish community goes back to 332 BCE, the living connections have dwindled to a trickle — in fact, the closest we got to an old-timer was a phone call to a woman who lived in the epicenter of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Over 2,300 years ago, the Great Library of Alexandria, the largest library in the ancient world — cemented the city’s position as a center of knowledge and learning. And that, of course, attracted a Jewish community as well. From far out in the sea one could see the city’s colossal Pharos Lighthouse, considered one of the wonders of the ancient world. In more recent times, during the period of the British Protectorate from the late 19th century until the 1950s, Alexandria had a cosmopolitan European culture and was a popular tourist attraction for upscale Europeans, including writers, poets, and artists. During this period as well, the city attracted Jews who prospered economically and socially, supplemented by an influx of European and Yemenite Jews, and peaked with a Jewish population of approximately 25,000.

Alexandrian Jewry had its ups and downs throughout its long history, but while very few Jews live there today and the community has essentially disintegrated, there are still structures that reminded us of its ancient past and even its more recent glory days. We’ve twice explored this still-majestic city, one of those times as guest speaker on Miriam Schreiber’s Legacy Kosher Tours.

Alexandria, or Alex, as it’s fondly called by the locals, might have fewer historic monuments and tourist attractions than either Cairo or upper Egypt, as the south of the country is called, but it’s still a favorite vacation destination for Egyptians, as well as an important port. Until the murder of two Israeli tourists by an Egyptian policeman on the second day of the current war in Israel, there has been a small but constant stream of Jewish tourists ever since the Camp David Accords.