Nervana

It has been a while since I wrote a piece here, but I am trying to start again. As we say goodbye to 2024 and welcome 2025, I decided to write this post and share a story that I consider it personal, sad, yet inspiring. I hope you enjoy reading it.

Nervana

Worshippers listen to a guest rabbi speak during Hanukkah celebrations at Ben Ezra synagogue in Old Cairo

According to many studies, most Jews in Egypt left at some stage after the 1956 Suez crisis. About 50,000 Egyptian Jews – around half of the Egyptian Jewish community  immigrated to Israel, while the remainder moved to France, the US, or elsewhere around the world. Most of the Egyptian Jewish community never returned to Egypt, especially before the 1979 Camp David Peace Accords between Egypt and Israel. One Jewish woman, Miss M, however, was brave, or perhaps foolish enough to revisit her native neighbourhood in Cairo, before the era of peace, in an apparently desperate search for her Egyptian Muslim lover. Years later, I heard her story as a casual anecdote by some of the relatives of this elusive Egyptian she was trying to meet.        

Miss M was from Shubra, a former cosmopolitan cultural hub in Cairo, which was home to 30,000 Italians, such as the famous Italian diva, Dalida, and thousands of others, including many Jewish and European residents of the capital.

Miss M didn’t waste any time; she went straight to the family of her Egyptian lover and her previous neighbours in Shubra. His mother and sister were understandably surprised by, and wary of, her visit but reluctantly let her in. She expressed delight to be in Egypt again and asserted that all she wanted was to rekindle her love and perhaps resettle in Egypt. I can only imagine the awkward silence after she dropped this bombshell, but apparently the family reacted swiftly and decisively. “Impossible,” said his mother. “My son is married now, his wife is pregnant, and I won’t allow you to ruin his life.” This hostile response left Miss M no option but to leave, and no-one ever found out what happened to her after that.

This sad anecdote, albeit simple, is arguably common. The world is full of unfulfilled love stories. But what is striking in Miss M’s story is how toxic nationalism triggered hostility against an entire ethnic minority and forced them to leave their homes and native societies. I don’t have any solid evidence that Miss M’s story is real, as all those mentioned in the story have passed away now. What I do know, however, is that most Jews of Egypt are missing their homeland and have created pages on social media expressing their love for Egypt and their desire to share their fond memories, and look for their loved ones. They are no different to Miss M, who clearly didn’t hate Egypt, otherwise she wouldn’t have put herself in danger to return and risk arrest and even imprisonment in pursuit of the love of her life.  Moreover, if she’d had a motive other than her romantic feelings, as some conspiracy theory fans may suggest, she would not have just given up after the hostile welcome she received.  

Most Egyptians and Arabs have justified their hostility towards Jews regarding the creation of the state of Israel. If only Israel didn’t exist, everything would be fine, they argue. But such an argument doesn’t explain how Egypt lost its cosmopolitan hubs, and how other religious and ethnic minorities have been oppressed and even at risk of ethnic cleansing in many parts of the Middle East. Look at Syria: the Syrian Jews left ages ago, but now, following the collapse of the Assad regime, Christians, Druze, Kurds, and Alawites are fearing for their future. There are countless videos emerging from Syria of abuse, harassment, and even unlawful murders.  Sadly, as Rabbi Jonathan Sacks once wrote “ the hate that starts with Jews never end there.”

In a way, it was better that Miss M couldn’t re-unite with her lover, even if he was still single, simply because of the challenges they both would have had to endure afterwards. Romantic stories never tell us what happened after the “happy ending.” And in this one, such a reunion would only have brought agony to the two lovers. Let’s face it, the Camp-David Peace Treaty is actually a misnomer, because it failed to change the hostility in Egypt towards Jews and Israelis.  

The tragedy of Miss M’s story didn’t end by her brief revisit to Egypt. The Egyptian Muslim gentleman she was desperate to meet didn’t live for long. He passed away, from natural causes, after his Egyptian wife gave birth to a baby girl. She subsequently had to endure life as a widow and single mother after. Perhaps Miss M was not that unlucky after all. 

The whole story broke my heart when I heard it. I wished I could dismiss it as unreal or pure fiction, but I couldn’t.   

The man that Miss M was desperate to see was my dad, an intriguing character, who continued to haunt me, despite his almost absence from my life. I spent years searching for anything that could help me understand who he was and how he lived. Miss M’s sad story was one of many I collected, and in a way, I am glad I came across it. It taught me empathy towards others, regardless of their race, faith, and ethnicity. It also taught me to aspire for peace, because hate breeds nothing but tragedies and pain. 

Happy New Year 2025 and Hanukkah Sameach to my Jewish readers.