Egypt's ban on Jewish festival is a reflection of nation's attitudes
Not so long ago, this time of year would have brought the echo of songs and chants to the winding streets of this somnolent village in Egypt's Nile Delta — joyous celebrations honoring a 19th century Jewish sage..
In its heyday, the festival drew thousands of Jewish pilgrims paying tribute at the tomb of Rabbi Yaakov Abuhatzeira, a revered Moroccan holy man who died in Egypt while on a pilgrimage to what is now Israel.
Although the celebrations had been all but extinct for a few years, an Egyptian court in December formally outlawed the festival marking the rabbi's birth date, which this year would have fallen on Jan. 10, the 19th day of the Hebrew month of Tevet.
The Alexandria administrative court that imposed the ban also moved to strip the shrine of its government designation as a cultural monument, though it was not clear whether it had the jurisdiction to do so.
The vicissitudes of the shrine in many ways echo the fate of Egypt's Jews, once a large and vibrant community that dwindled to a few dozen after Jews were expelled en masse and their property seized in the 1950s and '60s.
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