La'Shana Tova (Happy New Year). Yesterday was the first day I had to publicly be Jewish. I'm not going to lie, I was a bit nervous. From what I've picked up from people, Egyptian's don't necessarily hate Jews or are violent towards them, but for the most part if an Egyptian finds out you're Jewish they will basically dismiss your opinion and essentially disregard you. Although this is bothersome, I suppose it could be much worse.
Yesterday (Friday) morning, my friend who lives around the corner and knows Arabic pretty well came over (he's also Jewish). He had been woken up by the sermon (don't know what it's called in Islam) from the Imam of the mosque that's in between our apartment buildings. The sermon was being broadcast over the loudspeakers used for the calls to prayer, he understood enough of the Arabic to know that the Imam was blasting Jews and at one point urged the slaughter of the Jew. I found this interesting because it was the morning before Rosh Hashana began. Don't know if this was just this mosque or if it is a general message preached by a large contingent here.
Regardless we went to service that night at the oldest synagogue in Cairo. It was beautiful. The Israeli embassy flew a Rabbi in from France to lead the service. The American ambassador was there and a high ranking diplomat from the Israeli political division of the foreign ministry attended. The service was all in Hebrew, but was not too long and afterward they hosted a dinner for the 30 or so people who attended. Security outside was very impressive for Cairo. They had armed guards, high level police officers and private security. We had to show our passports and give our local residency information, telephone number, etc.
There were no issues during the service or after, we walked right out onto the street and as far as I could tell, nobody said anything, but I still wouldn't wear a kippah walking down the streets of Cairo.
At the dinner I met a number of interesting people, surprisingly (or maybe not since it was a synagogue) there was a large NY contingent. A guy named Zach I had been corresponding with about hiking in Morocco happened to be there with his wife, he's doing research for his PhD program at CUNY Grad Center. I met a girl who grew up in Syracuse and went to LeMoyne (sorry Lucy she didn't know you, her name is Justine and she dove). And most crazy of all, I met a guy who grew up in Amherst! He went to Williamsville North, but graduated in 1996. Small world.
On a different and lighter note, in order to do the hike I want to in Morocco I need hiking boots. Of course I didn't bring any with me to Cairo so I set out to find some. At least find some good, sturdy, good gripping and ankle supporting cross training sneakers. As you can imagine, this turned out to be a rather futile effort, not because they didn't have sneakers that would work, I did find a perfect pair - a Nike Gortex pair, but when I asked for my size most people laughed. It finally became a pretty fun adventure where I basically would ask with a smile and laugh and laugh with them when they said no. One shoe stand said no to having anything in that size for the shoes I needed and then tried to sell me basketball shoes. This morning I went to a department store. Reminded me of Boscov's in Binghamton. I found some hiking boots and a flashlight. I still should get a compass and sleeping bag, hopefully the hiking town at the base of the mountain has both! I'm bringing my sheet and long sleeve shirts with me just in case they don't have sleeping bags.
Ramadan may be ending tonight, the month ends with the birth of the new moon. Tonight we will find out whether Eid -the huge feast and party after the month of Ramadan - begins tomorrow or Monday. Either way, I'm excited to see what Cairo is like during a normal month and be able to get street meat and other food anytime I want. Apparently the hectic-ness I've experienced is nothing.
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