Professor Shimon Shamir - Letter published in Haaretz Magazine,
Thursday 28.04.2005
AND IT SHALL COME TO PASS….
On account of my
intense and extended conversation with Amiram Barkat, author of the article “When Israel went forth from Egypt,
published in Haaretz 22.04.05, an unintended connection was created
between the organisation of Desire Sakkal (Historical Society of Jews from
Egypt) and my statements, concerning manipulators who have dubious motives, and
who try to bring out the possessions of the synagogues in Egypt. I do not know
much about the HSJE, organisation of Desire Sakkal, and needless to say, I have no grounds for blaming him for dubious motives.
However, I stand forcefully behind my two assessments.
During my stay in
Cairo I encountered, on more than one occasion, Jews who sought ill-begotten gains and asked to illegally smuggle
religious artefacts from the synagogues in Egypt, in order to sell them on the Judaica market. In the end they were
arrested and were made to stand trial. They brought disgrace upon all of us.
I am absolutely
opposed to the actions of organisations, no matter how respectable they are,
that advocate the appropriation of Torah Scrolls and property belonging to the
synagogues in Egypt. The latter need to be centralized and preserved in large
synagogues in Cairo and Alexandria. And it shall come to pass and the
peace with Egypt will be as it
should be, and in Egypt many tourists will be present during the Sabbath and
Festivals, researchers and students, as well as business representatives from
Israel. The synagogues will serve them well.
I am opposed to the closing down of the last monuments
which bear witness to the fruitful activities of a splendid community whose history goes back thousands of
years. This is what also motivated me and my colleagues from the Academic
Centre in Cairo, to gather books and literature in Hebrew, and to salvage them
from destruction and place them in Jewish libraries in Cairo and Alexandria
with the cooperation of the Jewish community. Communities that
originate from Egypt worldwide, must be shaken into setting up and funding a
Consortium which would take responsibility for the synagogue properties, put an
end to the deteriorating neglect which is turning them into ruins, and preserve
the possessions within Egypt as a memorial to the splendour of the past and a
vision for the future.
Prof. Shimon Shamir,
Herzliya.