The Tragic End of Alexandria's Jewish Community: A Forgotten Chapter in History

The Jewish community of Alexandria was ancient and significantly impacted Jewish history.

Alexandria was founded by Alexander the Great in 332 BCE. It became a hub for many Jews, who made up more than a third of the city's population. Ptolemy, Alexander's successor in Egypt, allocated a separate district in Alexandria called the "Delta Quarter" for the Jews. They were involved in money lending, and their affairs were managed by a council of 71 elders.

The Jews of Alexandria established the largest synagogue in the world. As Rabbi Judah described, "Rabbi Judah said, whoever did not see the double colonnade of Alexandria never saw the great glory of Israel in his life. It was like a great basilica, with colonnades inside colonnades. Sometimes it included doubles the number of those who left Egypt, and there were seventy-one golden chairs corresponding to the seventy-one elders, each made of 250,000, and a wooden platform was in the center, and the synagogue's leader stood on the corner, and the scarves in his hand. When it was time for a response, he waved the scarves, and all the people answered Amen. They were not seated randomly; rather, the goldsmiths were in one area, the comfort-makers in another, and the tanners elsewhere, so that a traveler would find his peers and livelihood."

The practice of waving scarves to signal "Amen" was necessary due to the synagogue's vast size, as the congregation couldn't hear the leader, so the waving was their cue.

During the Roman period, Jews in Alexandria thrived, becoming about 40% of the population and living in two districts. The city's scholars wrote the Septuagint, the Second Book of Maccabees, and other significant works. Among them were philosophers and scholars like Philo. They read the Torah in Greek, and their works were also written in Greek.

In 32 CE, about 40 years before the destruction of the Temple, the Roman governor Flaccus, a known antagonist of Jews, took power in Alexandria. He imposed harsh decrees, including placing the emperor's statue in their synagogues, later allowing other residents to harass Jews, plunder their properties, and degrade them. Ultimately, he faced his downfall, was exiled to a remote island, and later executed.

However, the violence against Alexandria's Jews persisted. Each time conflicts arose between Romans and the Jews of Israel, Roman citizens would stir up animosity against Alexandria's Jews. Several governors came to their defense, including Tiberius Julius Alexander, who was of Jewish descent. Ultimately, in the event called the "Diaspora Revolt," all the Jews of Alexandria were killed. The Jerusalem Talmud recounts this horrific tragedy, noting that the blood flowed through the Mediterranean Sea to Cyprus.

Alexandria remained without Jews for a long time until the Muslim conquest, when Jews were allowed to settle again, mainly from Eastern communities, but no trace of ancient Alexandrian Jewish culture remained.