Dr. Khaled El-Enany, Minister of Tourism and Antiquities, inaugurated, on Friday, Eliyahu Hanbi Synagogue in Alexandria, following the completion of its restoration process which comes within the Egyptian government’s keen on preserving all its antiquities and heritage.
The inauguration was attended by Dr. Muṣṭafa al-Fiqi, the Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Major General Muhammad al-Sharif, the Governor of Alexandria, Egyptian archaeologist Dr. Zahi Hawass and a number of ambassadors of Arab and foreign countries.
Eliyahu Hanbi Synagogue is considered one of the most important Jewish monuments in the governorate in addition to being one of the oldest. It was tarnished over the years due to rainfalls.
The Jewish temple, located in Al Naby Danyal street, is one of the most important religious monumental buildings in Alexandria Governorate and is called the “Eliyahu Hanbi” temple, with a capacity of 700 worshipers.
It was established by the Jewish community in Alexandria in 1881 AD. There are 63 travel books in the temple, i.e 63 ancient copies of the Torah, they have great religious and archaeological value.
Egypt’s Jewish community, which dates back millennia, numbered around 80,000 in the 1940s, but today stands at fewer than 20 people.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El Sisi said in November 2018: “If we have Jews, we will build [synagogues] for them.”
Contributed by Basant Ahmed
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