Middle Eastern Themes by Jacob M. Landau

Author:Jacob M. Landau [Landau, Jacob M.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Social Science, Regional Studies
ISBN: 9781317414087
Google: uSI-CgAAQBAJ
Publisher: Routledge
Published: 2015-07-24T02:48:06+00:00

Conclusion

The beginning of the British occupation in 1882 may well be considered the starting-point of the changes in the status of the Jews in modern Egypt. These changes varied in nature and vigour. Before the British occupation, many observers and travellers73 agreed that the Jews kept the exterior of their houses poor and dirty, and that this was done intentionally—to avoid the envy of their neighbours; also, that they dressed shabbily, for the same reason, often imitating the fashions of the non-Jews in Egypt; Jewish women sometimes imitated their Muslim counterparts, by wearing the veil in the street (but not at home). These reports about the Jews, although exaggerated in the case of the wealthier Jews, are essentially correct, and indicate a general state of apprehensive caution among Egypt's Jews. Some of this atmosphere continued under British rule, as the Jews felt repeatedly the shock of bloodritual murder accusations. However, the Jewish upper class, followed by the middle class, gradually felt more secure, and openly imitated the British or French in all ways of life; indeed, it contributed actively to the westernization of Egypt. Side by side with steadily growing investment in Egypt's business, industry, and agriculture—as mentioned above—the upper Jewish strata passionately entered the swirl of social life in Cairo and Alexandria, vying with their neighbours for social elegance, increasingly so in the twentieth century.74

It is difficult to determine exactly how secure, socially and economically, Jews felt in Egypt during the British occupation. The fact that their strenuous, often frantic, attempts to obtain foreign protection continued,75 and that in 1897, about a half of Egypt's Jews were foreign nationals,76 a ratio maintained until 192777 and changed only in the following decade,78 would point to a certain reserve on their part to complete integration in Egypt.

* Reprinted, with permission, from: P. M. Holt, editor, Political and social change in modern Egypt: Historical studies from the Ottoman conquest to the United Arab Republic (London: Oxford University Press, 1968), pp. 196-208. Copyright by the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London. The chapter has been slightly adapted to avoid duplication.

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