A group of us in Europe has tried to address the issue of the preservation of our heritage in Alexandria. We have reached a point where we need the broadest possible consensus among Jews from Alexandria or other cities in Egypt in support of our efforts. We are soliciting as well any practical help we can receive from interested parties. We are asking for your expression of support and for any comments you may wish to give. For those of you who can give practical help, we would also be most interested in hearing from you. 

The Present Situation Broadly, the assets of the Jewish Communities in Egypt consist of: 

1. Synagogues 
2. A number of Torah Scrolls (Séfarim) 
3. Civil records constituting sole legal and religious evidence of births, deaths, marriages, etc… 
4. Prayer books and other religious artefacts 
5. Various income-generating real estate holdings 
6. Cemeteries The number of resident Jews in Alexandria is dwindling fast. 

The income generated locally, as well as some support from overseas, has allowed the present Community to maintain its assets and perform religious activities as best they can. The Egyptian authorities continue to support the Community to manage its affairs as the Community sees fit, and to offer them appropriate protection where necessary. They maintain however that the assets of the Community are Egyptian and are for the benefit of Egyptian residents. They have also gone as far as classifying the Torah Scrolls as antiquities that cannot be exported. All past attempts, with one or two exceptions in the 80's, have failed to obtain permission to export any such assets. The age of the dwindling number of Jews now left in Alexandria compels us to plan for a sustainable framework for preservation and access, knowing that openly addressing issues of succession is delicate. 

Our Objectives 

1. Preserve in situ and in perfect condition the remaining assets of the Jewish Community of Alexandria 
2. Maintain synagogue services for resident and visiting Jews 
3. Provide authoritative, secure and unrestricted access to the Registers of civil status for individuals and researchers both in Egypt and abroad. 
4. Exhibit permanently in situ and abroad religious artefacts in excess of local requirements for religious services.
 5. Develop a professional management structure within an entity that can survive the present limitations. 

Our Actions 

We are aware of the lobbying done by Jews from Egypt through various associations in the United States and Europe concerning this issue. We have specifically lobbied the French government prior to President Chirac's visit for the inauguration of the Alexandria Library and we received a promising response. Some of us have made a number of trips to Alexandria to assess the situation there. We have met with various cultural and opinion leaders in Europe. We are persevering with all of these initiatives and are very sensitive to the local political conditions and the complexities they can impose. Given this background, we propose taking the following initiatives: 

1. Obtain support for our objectives from interested parties to add to our authority and legitimacy. 
2. Adjust our objectives and actions according to the comments we receive. 
3. Organise a group of individuals with appropriate connections and status to help obtain feedback from the Egyptian authorities on how best to reach our objectives. 
4. Establish a sustainable legal entity, acceptable to the Egyptian authorities and as representative as possible of the interests of Jews from Egypt, to manage the finances, assets and succession of the Community. 
5. Initially, concentrate our efforts on Alexandria where we have the better connections and knowledge and, if successful, apply the same experience to the rest of Egypt. 
6. Initiate in parallel small scale projects that tackle specific issues such as the maintenance of the cemeteries or the digitisation of the Registers. 

Your Role 

1. If you support and approve these objectives please send us a letter, fax or email giving your full address details including confirmation that you or your parents were born in Egypt. We undertake not to divulge your identity to any third party without your express permission. We will however compile sanitised counts and geographic distribution of the support we manage to obtain. 
2. Kindly circulate this letter amongst your relatives, friends and members of your association, other than HSJE, AJE, AJOE and the ASCPJE who are informed. 
3. Please send us comments that you think will help us improve our representation and effectiveness. 4. If in addition, you can offer any practical help please inform us accordingly. 

Who Are We and How to reach Us The Nebi Daniel Initiative currently consists of an Ad-Hoc Committee with the following members: R. Bilboul, R. Farhi, Y. Fedida, A. Nacamuli S. Baruch We currently have the support of: Association of Jews from Egypt, UK Association des Juifs Originaires d'Egypte, France Assoc. pour la Sauvegarde de la Culture et du Patrimoine des Juifs d'Égypte, France 

We can be reached at: 22 cours Ferdinand de Lesseps 92500 Rueil Malmaison France
E-mail : admin@nebidaniel.com