|
The Ben Ezra Synagogue is a unique relic of Cairo's ancient Jewish community. Bereft of its former host of worshippers, the synagogue would have crumbled away were it not for the efforts of one "Rabbi" Cohen, who shamelessly overcharged for souvenir postcards to fund repairs for twenty years, until the American Jewish Congress and the Egyptian government stepped in to restore it. Today it is as good as new again. In form, the synagogue resembles a basilical church of the kind that existed here between the fourth and ninth centuries. Sold to the Jews in order to pay taxes raised from the Copts to finance Ibn Tulun's Mosque, this church was either demolished or incorporated within the synagogue, which Abraham Ben Ezra, the Rabbi of Jerusalem, restored in the twelfth century. The inlaid marble and gilded stalactite niche date from around then, but most of the graceful mouldings and floral swirls are the result of nineteenth-century repairs, which unearthed a huge cache of medieval manuscripts, including a sixth-century Torah written on gazelle hide (now dispersed around Western libraries). However, Jewish and Coptic traditions invest the site with ancient significance. Here, the pharaoh's daughter found Moses in the bulrushes; Jeremiah gathered survivors after Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem; and the temple named after him provided a haven for the Holy Family, who lived amongst the Jews of Babylon for three months. Moreover, the Copts believe that Peter and Mark pursued their apostolic mission in Egypt, whence Peter issued the First Epistle General. The rest of Christendom disagrees, however, arguing that the Biblical reference to Babylon (I Peter 5:13) is only a metaphor for Rome. Around the back of the synagogue are a newly restored chunk of the Roman walls and a derelict Jewish Refuge founded by one Ralph Green
Your Tip for Ben Ezra Synagogue
Help other backpackers! Write your own guides and backpacking tips to Ben Ezra Synagogue - they will appear instantly on this page - Please only write a tip/guide to Ben Ezra Synagogue - visit the main Ben Ezra Synagogue forum to ask a question!
Please do not post links to your site here (they won't work) - please use the Ben Ezra Synagogue webguide section below! Thanks.
| 
