so i haven't always been mistaken for spanish. 4 or 5 days ago, when i was still in cairo, i went to the coptic section of town. it contains both a bunch of old christian sites and egypt's oldest synagogue.
when i entered the neighborhood, i ended up in a small souq with sellers crammed with pedestrians along a narrow footpath. most of the sellers were shouting the usual sales pitches at me, so i ignored them and kept walking. then one guy looked me in the eye and said "shabbat shalom." it was different enough to get me to stop. "where are you from?" the man asked. "amrika", i said. "where is your grandfather from?" he asked. "lithuania," i said. but when he looked puzzled, i corrected myself, "russia." "ah, you are ashkenazim," the man concluded. "i am sephardic."
he then proceeded to tell me the history of the jewish community in cairo. how it went from being an ancient community of 50,000 a century ago to now, when it is very very small. "how many?" i asked. "110." "110 people? you mean, if you leave there will be only 109?" he nodded. "how is it for you?" "not good," he said. "it is not very bad anymore, but it is still difficult."
