Maimonides Synagogue
Encyclopedia
The Maimonides Synagogue ( , translit
Transliteration
Transliteration is a subset of the science of hermeneutics. It is a form of translation, and is the practice of converting a text from one script into another...

: Beit Knesset ha-Rambam; ), also known as the Rav Moshe Synagogue, is a historic synagogue
Synagogue
A synagogue is a Jewish house of prayer. This use of the Greek term synagogue originates in the Septuagint where it sometimes translates the Hebrew word for assembly, kahal...

 located in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...

, Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. A synagogue has existed at the site since the 10th century and was subsequently named after the famous Jewish philosopher, rabbi and physician Maimonides
Maimonides
Moses ben-Maimon, called Maimonides and also known as Mūsā ibn Maymūn in Arabic, or Rambam , was a preeminent medieval Jewish philosopher and one of the greatest Torah scholars and physicians of the Middle Ages...

, after his arrival there in around 1168. It is believed that Maimonides' original tomb is contained within the building. In March 2010, the Egyptian government completed the restoration of the current building which dates from the late 19th century.

Early history

A synagogue has existed at the site from around two centuries before Maimonides emigrated to Egypt in around 1168, following his exile from Córdoba, Spain
Córdoba, Spain
-History:The first trace of human presence in the area are remains of a Neanderthal Man, dating to c. 32,000 BC. In the 8th century BC, during the ancient Tartessos period, a pre-urban settlement existed. The population gradually learned copper and silver metallurgy...

 at the hands of the Almohads. The Almohads had conquered Córdoba in 1148 and threatened the Jewish community
History of the Jews in Spain
Spanish Jews once constituted one of the largest and most prosperous Jewish communities under Muslim and Christian rule in Spain, before the majority, together with resident Muslims, were forced to convert to Catholicism, be expelled or be killed when Spain became united under the Catholic Monarchs...

 with the choice of conversion to Islam, death, or exile
Exile
Exile means to be away from one's home , while either being explicitly refused permission to return and/or being threatened with imprisonment or death upon return...

. Maimonides' family, along with most other Jews
Jews
The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

, chose exile. After spending ten years in southern Spain, they moved to Morocco and then eventually settled in Fustat, Egypt in around 1168. In Egypt, he gained widespread recognition and became a court physician to Qadi al-Fadil, Grand Vezier to Saladin
Saladin
Ṣalāḥ ad-Dīn Yūsuf ibn Ayyūb , better known in the Western world as Saladin, was an Arabized Kurdish Muslim, who became the first Sultan of Egypt and Syria, and founded the Ayyubid dynasty. He led Muslim and Arab opposition to the Franks and other European Crusaders in the Levant...

. Maimonides studied and worked in a yeshiva
Yeshiva
Yeshiva is a Jewish educational institution that focuses on the study of traditional religious texts, primarily the Talmud and Torah study. Study is usually done through daily shiurim and in study pairs called chavrutas...

attached to the small synagogue. The synagogue and yeshiva are located in Harat al-Yahud, the Jewish quarter
Jewish quarter (diaspora)
In the Jewish Diaspora, a Jewish quarter is the area of a city traditionally inhabited by Jews. Jewish quarters, like the Jewish ghettos in Europe, were often the outgrowths of segregated ghettos instituted by the surrounding Christian authorities. A Yiddish term for a Jewish quarter or...

 of medieval Cairo
Old Cairo
Old Cairo is a part of Cairo, Egypt, that contains the remnants of those cities which were capitals before Cairo, such as Fustat, as well as some other elements from the city's varied history. For example, it encompasses Coptic Cairo and its many old churches and ruins of Roman fortifications...

, and can only be reached on foot. (In the time of Maimonides, 97% of the inhabitants of Harat al-Yahud were Jews.)

After his death in Fustat on December 12, 1204, it is believed that he was buried for a short while at the synagogue before being reinterred in Tiberias
Tomb of Maimonides
According to Jewish tradition, the Tomb of Maimonides is located in central Tiberias, on the western shore of the Sea of Galilee, Israel. Maimonides died in Fustat, Egypt on 20 December 1204, where it is believed that he was briefly buried before being reinterred in Tiberias.The Tomb of Maimonides...

. According to tradition, his bones were placed for a week in a small shrine
Shrine
A shrine is a holy or sacred place, which is dedicated to a specific deity, ancestor, hero, martyr, saint, daemon or similar figure of awe and respect, at which they are venerated or worshipped. Shrines often contain idols, relics, or other such objects associated with the figure being venerated....

 where he used to study and to heal strangers. (Some believe his bones never left Egypt
Egypt
Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

.)

19th century: Rebuilding

In the 19th century, another synagogue was built on the site and named in his honor.

20th century: Disuse and decay

The situation of Egypt's Jews became increasingly precarious in the middle of the 20th century. Rising Arab nationalism, together with increased tensions between Jews and Arabs following the 1948 Arab-Israeli War
1948 Arab-Israeli War
The 1948 Arab–Israeli War, known to Israelis as the War of Independence or War of Liberation The war commenced after the termination of the British Mandate for Palestine and the creation of an independent Israel at midnight on 14 May 1948 when, following a period of civil war, Arab armies invaded...

 and later, the 1956 Suez War
Suez Crisis
The Suez Crisis, also referred to as the Tripartite Aggression, Suez War was an offensive war fought by France, the United Kingdom, and Israel against Egypt beginning on 29 October 1956. Less than a day after Israel invaded Egypt, Britain and France issued a joint ultimatum to Egypt and Israel,...

, led to government restrictions on foreign economic activity which deeply impacted Egypt's Jewish community. Several thousand Jewish residents were expelled from the country following the 1956 war and thousands more fled the hostile social and economic conditions. Egypt's Jewish population eventually dropped from 80,000 to less than 100.

With only about 30 Jews (mostly elderly women) left in Cairo, the synagogue was closed, and almost collapsed due to underground water and earthquakes. The ceiling of the building collapsed in 1992, and the debris was left on the floor. The slum area in which synagogue was located was littered with garbage.
The head of the Supreme Council of Antiquities
Supreme Council of Antiquities
The Supreme Council of Antiquities is the branch of the Egyptian Ministry of Culture responsible for the conservation, protection and regulation of all antiquities and archaeological excavations in Egypt...

, Zahi Hawass
Zahi Hawass
Zahi Hawass is an Egyptian archaeologist, an Egyptologist, and former Minister of State for Antiquities Affairs. He has also worked at archaeological sites in the Nile Delta, the Western Desert, and the Upper Nile Valley....

, said that the synagogue was used for the last time in 1960, and then was allowed to "crumble". Although it was declared an antiquity in 1986, the condition of the medieval synagogue had deteriorated further by 2005. A holy ark with a broken door was located in the small courtyard, covered with debris. The ark's Star of David
Star of David
The Star of David, known in Hebrew as the Shield of David or Magen David is a generally recognized symbol of Jewish identity and Judaism.Its shape is that of a hexagram, the compound of two equilateral triangles...

 was still present, but was hanging on only by a thread.

21st century: Restoration

In June 2009, the Egyptian government began a year-long restoration project, unveiled in August 2009 by their head of antiquities Zahi Hawass. The $2 million, 18-month restoration project of the Rav Moshe synagogue, in an area of Cairo once called "the neighborhood of the Jews," was financed by the Egyptian government. The restoration work was finished in March 2010. Along with Maimonides tomb, the synagogue contains two areas that were for prayer and rituals, one of which included a section for women.
Among the synagogue's treasures is a Bible that allegedly was written by Maimonides himself. Former Israeli ambassador to Egypt, Zvi Mazel
Zvi Mazel
Zvi Mazel is an Israeli diplomat. He was the Israeli ambassador to Sweden from 2002 to 2004, after serving as ambassador in Egypt from 1996 to 2001 and, later, Romania...

, said "the results were spectacular; the original colors were restored almost perfectly".

Inauguration controversy

As restoration work was nearing completion, the Egyptian authorities agreed that the small Jewish community of Cairo would organize a dedication ceremony on March 7, 2010. The official inauguration was planned for the middle of March. The dedication ceremony was closed to media but attendees said it was an emotional event, especially for the Egyptian-Jewish families invited, many of whom now live in Europe. About 150 people attended, none of them Egyptian officials.

On March 14, 2010 the official inauguration ceremony was canceled. Zahi Hawass explained that the cancellation was due to media reports of Jews "dancing and drinking alcohol in the synagogue" during the private March 7 dedication, which Hawass described as a "provocation to the feelings of hundreds of millions of Muslims in Egypt and around the world". Hawass later added that the decision to scrap the ceremony was made at "a time when Muslim holy sites in occupied Palestine face assaults from Israeli occupation forces and settlers...". Later still, he characterized the cancellation of the ceremony as a "strong slap in the face" to "the Zionist enemy."

Legends and tradition

According to a legend told by Joseph ben Isaac Sambari, (c.1640 - 1703), a Jewish-Egyptian chronicler of the 17th century, the people who carried the body of Maimonides to the Sea of Galilee for permanent burial mistakenly left one of his toes behind in the synagogue, which at that time was called the synagogue of Western (Tunis
Tunis
Tunis is the capital of both the Tunisian Republic and the Tunis Governorate. It is Tunisia's largest city, with a population of 728,453 as of 2004; the greater metropolitan area holds some 2,412,500 inhabitants....

ian) Jews. Later, one of the people who carried the body had a dream, in which a wise man of Egypt reminded him about the forgotten toe. The toe was later recovered and buried next to the body.

The synagogue and accompanying yeshiva have traditionally been considered to have miraculous healing powers. Until the Egyptian government forbade the practice in 1948, the synagogue was used as a place of healing by the local Jewish community. The ailing person was left to sleep in the special underground room in the hope that the sufferer would dream of Maimonides and get better.

External links

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