[I dedicate today’s post to the loving memory of Rose El-Kodsi Z”L, who passed away last weekend in San Francisco, California. Rose was the wife of Mourad El-Kodsi Z”L, author of the Karaite Jews of Egypt: 1882-1986. When Rose moved to the San Francisco Bay Area a few years ago, she became a regular at my family’s Shabbat dinners. I last saw her this past Friday night, just a few hours before she passed away.]
Last week, the Karaite Jews of America launched a project to film the histories and memories of the Karaite Jews who left Egypt and relocated to the United States. According to a January 15, 2013 email from the community’s president, the Karaite Jews of America hopes that its endeavor will continue the work pioneered by Mourad El-Kodsi in his book The Karaite Jews of Egypt.
Not many are familiar with Karaite Judaism, let alone what happened to the Egyptian Karaite Jews (and other Jews throughout the Middle East and North Africa) during the various wars between Israel and her Arab neighbors. A few years ago, The David Project brought these issues to light in its documentary The Forgotten Refugees. My father’s cousin was featured in the documentary and also hopes to participate in the Karaite Jews of America’s initiative.
For a just a small taste of the many types of accounts that the Karaite Jews of America intends to record, I have reproduced for you, with permission of the author, an article originally appearing in the Jerusalem Post Magazine on May 31, 2007 and reprinted elsewhere on the web:
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