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Abram Btesh Jewish Community School at Cairo, Egypt
Founded in 1928 by Abram Btesh of the Anglo-Egyptian Cotton Company, the Abram Btesh Jewish Community School is located adjacent to the Vitali Madjar Synagogue in the Heliopolis district of Cairo. [1] The school featured a curriculum that included Hebrew and other Jewish studies, though the majority of the subjects were taught in French. [2] As a result, graduates of the school were not often fluent in Hebrew. [3] Most of the families who attended the school were considered “traditional,” but were not religiously observant. They attended synagogues and celebrated rights of passage but considered themselves cosmopolitan. [4] According to former student Robert Khalifa, during the war, the school served as a detention center. [5]
Description
Attempted Sale
In July of 2010, the president of the Cairene Jewish community was convicted of property fraud for attempting to sell the school building. [6] The property was owned by the community and the court accused Carmen Weinstein, the president, of selling the property without legal authority. [7] Tried in Absentia, she was found guilty and sentenced to three years in jail. [8] Today, the site of the school and the synagogue remain in the hands of the rapidly dwindling Jewish community of Cairo. [9]
Sources
Notes
[1] “JCC President Interviewed,” Bassitine News, November 2013, accessed June 25, 2018, http://bassatine.net/bassa37.php.
[2] Joel Beinin, The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of a Modern Diaspora, (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press), 2005, accessed June 25, 2018.
[3] Ibid.
[4] Ibid.
[5] Robert Khalifa, “Robert Khalifa,” Interview transcript, Sephardi Voices. https://sephardivoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Robert_Khalifa.html
[6] Sarah Mishkin, “Undersold,” Tablet Magazine, September 21, 2010, accessed June 25, 2018, https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/45162/undersold.
[7] Ibid.
[8] Ibid.
[9] Ibid.
Works Cited
Beinin, Joel. The Dispersion of Egyptian Jewry: Culture, Politics, and the Formation of Modern Diaspora. (Cairo: American University in Cairo Press), 2005. Accessed June 25, 2018.
“JCC President Interviewed,” Bassitine News, November 2013. Accessed June 25, 2018. http://bassatine.net/bassa37.php.
Khalifa, Robert. “Robert Khalifa.” Interview transcript. Sephardi Voices. https://sephardivoices.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Robert_Khalifa.html
Mishkin, Sarah. “Undersold.” Tablet Magazine. September 21, 2010. Accessed June 25, 2018. https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-news-and-politics/45162/undersold.
Photos
"Bar Mitzvah Certificate, Cairo, 1937." From the collection of The National Library of Israel, courtesy of The National Library of Israel.
Click here to view an image of the pupils of the school.