14 Facts About the Historic Jewish Communities in Egypt

14 Facts About the Historic Jewish Communities in Egypt
By Menachem Posner

1. Our People Left Egypt After 200 Years of Slavery
Passover, the first Jewish holiday, celebrates our people’s miraculous exodus from Egypt. Led by Moses and Aaron, our ancestors witnessed G‑d bringing 10 plagues upon our Egyptian slavemasters before leaving for freedom. Before G‑d split the sea for his nascent nation, He said: “For the way you have seen Egypt is [only] today, [but] you shall no longer continue to see them for eternity.”1 Yet it took only several hundred years before some Israelites returned to the land of our oppression.

Read: The Prohibition Against Living in Egypt

2. Jews Returned Following the Assassination of Gedaliah
Following the destruction of the First Holy Temple, a small, humble Jewish community remained in the Holy Land, governed by Gedaliah ben Achikam. After Gedaliah and many other Jews were murdered at a Rosh Hashanah feast, the community was in tatters. Some migrated to Egypt, where they hoped to escape famine and war. The Prophet Jeremiah warned them not to go, but they went nonetheless. Even after they settled there, Jeremiah continued to castigate the people for leaving the Holy Land and for serving idols in Egypt.2

Read: 10 Facts About Gedaliah
https://www.chabad.org/library/article_cdo/aid/5238303/jewish/10-Facts-About-Gedaliah-Everyone-Should-Know.htm

1. Gedaliah Was the Leader of Judea
After Nebuchadnezzar and his army destroyed Jerusalem (including the Holy Temple), the Jewish leaders were killed or taken into captivity. The remaining Jews were left under the leadership of Gedaliah, son of Ahikam, grandson of Shaphan.1

2. His Story Is Told Twice in Scripture
The brief story of Gedaliah is told twice in the Prophets: once in II Kings 25, where it takes up a total of six verses, and again in more detail in Jeremiah 40 and 41. In Kings, he is only referred to as Gedaliahu. In Jeremiah, there are a few instances where his name is recorded as Gedaliah,2 the form which has since been popularized.

3. He Protected Jeremiah
When Jeremiah was released by the Babylonians, he was given into the care of Gedaliah.3 Later, the prophet himself was told by G‑d to join Gedaliah,4 as he was to be the one through whom Israel would be cared for.

4. He Lived in Mitzpah
For centuries, Mitzpah, in the land of Benjamin, was central in the lives of our ancestors. The people had gathered there in the terrible clashes between Benjamin and the rest of the tribes,5 and it was also among the places where Samuel led the people. Many years later, Judah the Maccabee led the people in prayer there, and it is described as a place historically associated with prayer.6

5. He Advocated for Peace
Recognizing that fighting against the mighty Baylonians (also referred to as Chaladeans) was pointless, he instead urged the people: “Do not fear the servants of the Chaladeans. Dwell in the land and serve the king of Babylon, and it will be good for you.”7

Gedaliah encouraged the Jewish refugees to gather food and return home, secure in the knowledge that he would plead on their behalf before the Babylonian rulers and maintain peace in the land.8

6. He Naively Rejected Reports of a Conspiracy
Among those who gathered around Gedaliah was Ishmael ben Netanya, a man of royal ancestry who believed the rulership was his inheritance.9 Yochanan ben Kore’ach warned Gedaliah that Ishmael had been sent by Baalis, king of Amon, to kill him. Recognizing that Gedaliah’s death would spell the end of Jewish life in the Holy Land, Yochanan offered to kill Ishmael, but Gedaliah rebuffed the report, replying, “Do not do this because you speak lies about Ishmael.”10

7. He Was Killed by Ishmael
Ultimately Gedaliah gravely miscalculated. On the “seventh month” (Tishrei), Ishmael and 10 henchmen joined Gedaliah for a Rosh Hashanah meal.11 They then arose and killed Gedaliah and his men, including the Babyolian representatives.12 Their remains, as well as those of Jews who unwittingly happened upon the carnage, were thrown into a giant pit.13

8. He Was Partly to Blame
Scripture describes the dead as having been “struck by the hand of Gedaliah.”14 The sages of the Talmud ask: “Did Gedaliah kill them? Rather, because he failed to pay attention to the advice of Yochanan, he is considered responsible for the death that was visited upon his camp. Rabbah concludes from here: Although one may not accept evil reports, one must suspect that they may be true.”15

9. His Death Marked the End of Jewish Life in the Holy Land
Ishmael’s killing of innocent Jews and Babylonians brought an end to any hope for Jewish life in the Holy Land, until the return of the Babylonin exiles several generations later.

Those remaining fled to Egypt against the admonishment of Jeremiah, who warned them that G‑d would not save them there.16

10. Tzom Gedaliah Commemorates His Assassination
Gedaliah’s death, compared in its tragedy to the burning of the Temple,17 is so acutely felt that it is still marked every year on the day after Rosh Hashanah (or one day later, when the day after Rosh Hashanah is Shabbat), which is observed as a fast day.18

Since it occurs on the seventh month of the year, it is described by Zecharia as the “fast of the seventh.”19

Let us conclude with a prayerful wish that the words of Zecharia soon come to pass, and all fast days (including this one) be converted into days of celebration and rejoicing!