Egyptian Jewry and Zionism

Shlomo Erev was sent by the Va'ad Haleumi in Eretz Yisrael to teach Hebrew and Jewish studies in Alexandria at the request of the Jewish community. He knew Arabic and also had relatives in Alexandria. His appointment was approved by Rav Ben-Zion Meir Uziel. He took a ship to Port Said, where he visited two sisters who were teachers there. The Jews there were fairly fluent in Hebrew. The Jewish community was made up mainly of Jews from Yemen, some of them rich and influential. In Alexandria he met the headmaster Azran, originally from Jaffa. The "Agion" school in a tall building held classes for girls and Talmud-Torah classes for boys. The children wore uniforms, looked pale; many were from poor families and received meals and clothing in school. Classes were crammed - 16 classes of about 60 pupils, a total of about 1000; some pupils stayed several years in the same class - like in the French system. The teaching was in French, except for Hebrew lessons. Teachers were mostly Jews, 2 female teachers had come from the Balkan states. Hebrew was taught for religious purposes; the community as such was not Zionist, but there were Zionist activities in which he participated. Most of the books from which he taught were very old and out of date, but Mr. Palombo printed material written or assembled by Mr. Taragan, originally from Jerusalem, and an assistant to Eliezer Ben Yehuda. He was a true Zionist and dealt with subjects such as return to Eretz Israel, etc. ; Slomo himself wrote a book of poems. There was a Hebrew "newspaper" called Itonenu, its editor Amitai Shamgar, a friend of Even Shoshan. On Jewish festivals there were theatre performances in Hebrew, on biblical subjects, written by the Hebrew teachers. There were also Israeli music and songs played by an orchestra. Shlomo describes in detail the transition from French to Arabic as the main language, the "pharaonic period" during the reign of king Farouk, when Egypt wanted to be part of Europe rather than of Africa. Arabic replaced French, and Hebrew became more important, maybe because of its closeness to Arabic. There were more Jewish schools in Alexandria, one of them headed by De la Pergola. The authorities did not interfere. In 1929 Zionists could act openly, there was a large active Zionist club. In 1946/7 the situation changed. Shlomo talks in detail about the teachers of De la Pergola's school, especially about Rav Parto, a gifted speaker in Italian whom even Muslim Egyptians came to hear. ; At that time many Italian Jews had moved to Alexandria. In addition, some prominent Jews passed through Alexandria, for example Meir Dizengoff, Itamar Ben Avi, Chaim Weizmann who addressed the community, Rav Isaac Herzog from Dublin. They all visited Rav Parto. Parto sent some students to Rhodes to a rabbinical seminary, mainly to learn Hebrew and return as Hebrew teachers to Alexandria. Ventura founded the Rambam school for training Hebrew teachers, since it was difficult to find Hebrew teachers. Rav Parto managed to introduce the teaching of Hebrew into non-Jewish schools which had also Jewish pupils, such as Victoria College or British Boy School, where "divinity" classes were held for pupils of different religions. The Hebrew teachers, male and female, were either secular Israelis, or teachers of religion. They met frequently, exchanged opinions and coordinated their activities. Shlomo mentions the bad relations between Rav Parto and the Chief Rabbi of Egypt, Haim Nachum Effendi, a member of the Egyptian Academy, who was installed by the authorities, knew only Arabic, and was not a Zionist. ; During World War II, Yosef Sprinzak, Zalman Shazar, Yitzchak Ben Zvi and Moshe Sharett visited the Zionist Centre, which was led by Ben Asher. Shlomo returned to Eretz Yisrael in 1946 after 17 years in Alexandria. He wrote articles for Davar, had his poems published. He is proud of the fact that when his pupils made aliyah, they were able to integrate quickly, and found good jobs. This he partly attributes to his efforts in Egypt to teach them Hebrew, and Jewish history and values.