The Ben Ezra Synagogue is located in Fostat (Old Cairo) and was originally called the "synagogue of the Israelites". It was built in 882 on the remains of a Coptic church that had been sold to the Jews. The structure was dedicated to the prophet Elijah, and the locals called it by the name of Abraham Ben Ezra, the rabbi. One of the most famous Jews of the Middle Ages, Moses Maimonides (Moshe Ben-Maimon -Harambam), a physician, philosopher, expert on religious laws, while living in Cairo, went to this synagogue, as a result of which it received another popular name - Maimonides' synagogue.
During the restoration in the 1890s, a great discovery took place here: a medieval cache-geniza was found. Holy books and dilapidated scrolls of laws were collected and sheltered in the attic, the collection amounting to thousands of authentic documents from the Middle Ages. An exceptional find is a collection of documents known as the Jineesach, they are written mostly in "Hebrew Arabic," a variation of the Arabic and Hebrew alphabets used exclusively by Jews in the Middle Ages. They reflect the political, economic and social conditions of Jewish life under Arab rule, as well as the subordination of organisations and relations between the various Jewish sects.
The documents cited include a number of rare manuscripts from interpretations of the Old Testament, fragments of Hebrew linguistic studies, and evidence explaining how Jews interacted with Arab Muslim authorities. These documents have been rewritten several times, the earliest manuscripts being composed in the Fatimid era in Aramaic, later rewritten in Arabic, according to the regulation of the official language in government departments (divans).
There is a very deep well at the back of the temple, which was built in the place where, according to scripture, the prophet Moses was found as a baby.
In the 1980s, the synagogue was reconstructed, and today it is a historical monument and one of the most visited places in Cairo.
The synagogue was reconstructed in the 1980s, and today it is a historical monument and one of the most visited places in Cairo.
