Menashe Jewish Day School, Alexandria, Egypt

There was the Alexandria branch as well. Its patriarch, Baron Jacques Bohor Yacoub Levi de Menashe (d.1916) was the son of Semha, Yacoub Cattaui’s eldest daughter. The Menashes were amongst the first to take advantage of the blanket protection given to the Jews of that city in 1854 by Austria’s monarch. Having caught Emperor Franz Josef’s attention during the Suez Canal inaugural celebrations of 1869, Yacoub Levi Menashe, an Alexandria merchant claiming roots in Central Europe, was ennobled by the Austrian Emperor in October 1873. Two years later, the honor was upgraded to the hereditary title of Hungarian Baron. Alexandria’s colorful aristocracy thus welcomed another nobleman among its inflated ranks. Like their Cattaui cousins in Cairo, the Menashes were the leaders of the Jewish community residing in Egypt’s maritime capital.

At the turn of the century the name Menashe was synonymous of power, wealth and arts. The Menashe legacy in Alexandria is abundant starting with the Menashe gallery which faces Mohammed Ali Square (ex-Place des Consuls), the Menashe Schools, the Menashe hospitals and the Menashe temples. There were also the great Menashe houses, the Menashe immeubles de rapport and the Rue Menashe.

http://www.hsje.org/The%20House%20oof%20Yacoub%20Cattaui.html