Synagogues in Cairo

As of December 2022[update], there were twelve remaining synagogues but only three native Egyptian Jewish inhabitants in the city.

After their expulsion from Spain, more Sephardi and Karaite Jews began to emigrate to Egypt and their numbers increased significantly with the growth of trading prospects after the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869.

As a result, Jews from all over the territories of the Ottoman Empire as well as Italy and Greece started to settle in the main cities of Egypt, where they thrived.

The Ashkenazi community, mainly confined to Cairo's Darb al-Barabira quarter, began to arrive in the aftermath of the waves of pogroms that hit Europe in the latter part of the 19th century.

In the late 1950s, Egypt began to expel its Jewish population (estimated at between 75,000 and 80,000 in 1948),[2] also sequestering Jewish-owned property at this time.

[citation needed] The Sha'ar Hashamayim Synagogue (in Hebrew: שער השמים‎; in Arabic: كنيس عدلي) is located in Cairo.

[12] A synagogue has existed in the area since the 10th century and was later called by the name of the famous Jewish philosopher, rabbi and doctor Maimonides, after his arrival, around 1168, as a result of his exile in Córdoba, Spain, at the hands of the Almohades.