[Congressional Record Volume 159, Number 51 (Tuesday, April 16, 2013)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E467-E468]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                    THE PASSING OF CARMEN WEINSTEIN

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. FRANK R. WOLF

                              of virginia

                    in the house of representatives

                        Tuesday, April 16, 2013

  Mr. WOLF. Mr. Speaker, this past Saturday, Carmen Weinstein, the 
leader of Cairo's small remaining Jewish community died at her home. I 
had the privilege of meeting Ms. Weinstein during a visit to Egypt 
earlier this year.
  She had a passion for preserving Jewish history and antiquities in 
Egypt and protecting the remaining synagogues. She told me of her 
dismay that the Jewish cemetery at Bassatine, where she herself will be 
buried, had been overrun by squatters and vandals.
  Hers was a remarkable life, set against the backdrop of a great 
Jewish emigration out of Egypt more than 60 years ago.
  Since her mother's passing, Ms. Weinstein had led a small community 
of mostly elderly Jewish women in Cairo. In fact, she was one of fewer 
than 100 Jews still living in Egypt.
  In the words of her Washington Post obituary, ``Ms. Weinstein worked 
to remind people that Jews in Egypt were once part of the country's 
vibrant economy, cultural and political life.'' I feel fortunate to 
have met her.

               [From the Washington Post, Apr. 13, 2013]

          Carmen Weinstein, Jewish Leader in Cairo, Dies at 82

                            (By Aya Batrawy)

       Carmen Weinstein, the leader of Egypt's dwindling Jewish 
     community, known for her tireless work preserving synagogues 
     and a once-sprawling Jewish cemetery, died April 13 at the 
     age of 82.
       A statement from the Jewish Community in Cairo confirmed 
     her death in Cairo. She had been suffering from knee problems 
     and poor blood circulation.
       Ms. Weinstein helped urge Egyptian authorities to renovate 
     at least four Cairo synagogues among the 15 that still exist 
     in the city. Just a day before her death, she traveled to the 
     Maadi suburb to inspect the renovation of a synagogue there.
       Since 1978, she also worked to preserve the Bassatine 
     cemetery, the only Jewish cemetery left in Cairo.
       The transformation of Bassatine mirrors the dramatic 
     changes Egypt has undergone as its population skyrocketed and 
     poverty grew. Named in Arabic after its gardens, the cemetery 
     is now a slum of tightly packed redbrick apartment buildings 
     that house thousands of poor Egyptians. Parts of the 
     Bassatine were turned into a garbage dump.
       Ms. Weinstein was able to preserve a small area as a Jewish 
     cemetery.
       Egypt's once thriving Jewish community largely left more 
     than 60 years ago at a time of hostilities between the 
     country and Israel. Since the creation of the state of Israel 
     in 1948, an estimated 65,000 Jews left Egypt for Europe, the 
     West and Israel.
       According to a friend of Ms. Weinstein's, Magda Haroun, 
     only around 40 Egyptian Jews remain in the country, split 
     between Cairo and the Mediterranean city of Alexandria, which 
     once was a thriving multicultural and cosmopolitan hub.

[[Page E468]]

       Haroun said Ms. Weinstein's father had owned a large print 
     shop in downtown Cairo, where Ms. Weinstein had worked for 
     some 50 years after her father's death. The family's name 
     remains on the shop, which now sells stationery.
       Haroun said one of Ms. Weinstein's other achievements was 
     in persuading Egypt's remaining Jews to come together and use 
     Cairo's main downtown synagogue for prayer, after it had been 
     closed for years.
       ``We were scattered all over Cairo, and she managed to 
     regroup us and keep us together,'' Haroun said.
       In her last community newsletter, Ms. Weinstein wrote that 
     this year's Passover ceremony in late March was celebrated by 
     about 50 people in Cairo's main synagogue, many of them 
     diplomats.
       Ms. Weinstein worked to remind people that Jews in Egypt 
     were once part of the country's vibrant economy, cultural and 
     political life.
       She was a graduate of both Cairo University and the 
     American University in Cairo, where she studied literature, 
     according to a biography posted on the Jewish Community in 
     Cairo's Web site. She spoke fluent French, English and 
     Arabic.
       Haroun said Ms. Weinstein often reminisced of the Egypt she 
     knew growing up, when neighbors did not ask about one 
     another's religion.

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