Only 5 Jews Are Left In Cairo Following The Death Of Jewish Matriarch
Graphic by Angelie Zaslavsky
(JTA) — Marcelle Haroun, mother of the current president of Cairo’s Jewish community, has died at the age of 93.
Her death, announced on Saturday, leaves five Jews known to be living in Cairo, Watani International reported. The five remaining are her daughter, Magda, and four granddaughters. The AFP news service reported in March 2017 that there were also 12 Jews living in the coastal city of Alexandria.
Haroun was married to lawyer and politician Shehata Haroun, known as a Jewish anti-Zionist who was a member of the Communist Party of Egypt, according to the report. Her daughter told Tablet in 2013 that Marcelle was her father’s “comrade.”
Egypt was home to some 80,000 Jews when Israel was founded in 1948. Thousands began leaving in the ensuring years, and many more in two waves, in 1956 and 1967. The Harouns remained, considering themselves Egyptian first, according to Watani.
Haroun was predeceased by two daughters.
“The Jewish Community in Cairo (JCC) has regretfully lost Marcelle Haroun, one of its pillars who will be sorely missed,” read the statement announcing her death.
Why I became the Forward’s editor-in-chief
You are surely a friend of the Forward if you’re reading this. And so it’s with excitement and awe — of all that the Forward is, was, and will be — that I introduce myself to you as the Forward’s newest editor-in-chief.
And what a time to step into the leadership of this storied Jewish institution! For 129 years, the Forward has shaped and told the American Jewish story. I’m stepping in at an intense time for Jews the world over. We urgently need the Forward’s courageous, unflinching journalism — not only as a source of reliable information, but to provide inspiration, healing and hope.
— Alyssa Katz, editor-in-chief
Support our mission to tell the Jewish story fully and fairly.
