The Jewish Quarter...the secret behind its name and its most famous residents?

The Jewish Quarter was established during the time of the establishment of the Al-Muski neighborhood in 1848. The Jewish Quarter is located next to Al-Muski Street in Cairo, and the neighborhood belongs to the administrative division of Al-Gamaleya District. The Jewish Quarter includes an entire neighborhood that includes approximately 360 alleys and alleys, and the neighborhood was divided in a sectarian manner into two sheikhs, one For the Rabbinic Jews and one for the Karaite Jews.

The neighborhood included thirteen Jewish synagogues, of which only three synagogues remain: the “Moses Ben Maimon Synagogue,” the second synagogue, “Bar Yohai,” located on Saqalba Street, while the third is in Darb Nusair, which is the “Abu Haim Kaposi” Synagogue.

According to the opinions of some historians, the secret behind calling the neighborhood the Jewish Quarters is that the Jews themselves are the ones who tended to gather in a place that would include them and contain their rituals. The Jewish character always tends toward isolation, according to biblical beliefs, in order to be able to practice their rituals, rituals of worship, food, and drink. The Jew He only eats the sacrifices that are slaughtered according to Jewish law, and the Jew is committing a grave sin if he performs the Sabbath prayer alone, but he must perform it in a group.

 

Many celebrities, artists, geniuses, and scholars came out of the Jewish Quarter, such as Qatawi Pasha, the Egyptian Minister of Finance, who later became the Minister of Transportation and a member of the House of Representatives. The Egyptian theater pioneer, Yaqoub Sanoua, who was known by the nickname “Abu Naddara,” also came out of it. A satirical Egyptian journal that caused him to be exiled from the country, because of his mockery of Khedive Ismail.

Among the residents of this neighborhood are also the director “Togo Mizrahi,” the actress “Lillian Levy Cohen,” known as “Camelia,” the artist “Rachel Abraham Levy,” known as “Raqia Ibrahim,” and the actress “Najma Ibrahim,” who donated her income from the theater to the benefit of the Egyptian army. As well as the artist "Nazira Musa Shehata", who was known as Najwa Salem, and she is the only Egyptian artist who received the "Holy Jihad" shield for her national role in the War of Attrition, and the famous singer "Leila Murad", and it was also said that "Moshe Dayan", the former chief of staff of the Israeli army, and others. a lot .