Mansura
MANSURA
MANSURA (El Mansura; al-Mansura; Al-Mansurah ), town in Lower Egypt, on the right bank of the eastern arm of the Nile. Founded during the 13th century, Mansura has become an important center for the cotton commerce in modern times. There was a Jewish community from the 16th century. In 1583 and 1597 there were Jewish written deeds in Mansura. Around 1560 the physician Eleazar Scandari received the position of *sarraf (banker) of *Mahalla al-Kubra and Mansura. The Jewish population grew under *Ottoman rule and by the 17th century there was an organized community led by the rabbis Elijah Shushi (Shoshi) and Shabbetai ha-Kohen. During the middle of the 19th century, Jacob *Saphir found 40 families in the town, most of whom had come from *Cairo and *Damietta. During the second half of the 19th century, when blood libels were brought against Jews in various Egyptian towns, the Jews of Mansura were also accused. In 1877 during Passover, the Jews were accused of having slaughtered a Muslim child in order to use his blood for the baking of maẓẓot. In the mid-19th century 40 Jewish families lived there. At the end of the century, the number of Jews was about 500 and continued to increase at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1901 the *Cairo rabbis declared the new kiddushin regulation in Mansura and other cities. A well-organized community was set up in 1918 and educational and charitable institutions were established. An *Alliance Israélite Universelle school was inaugurated in 1903. In 1917 the Jewish community reached 586 people, its number continuing to increase. A Zionist association was also founded in the town. After World War i there was a decrease in the population. In 1927 there were still 563 Jews there, but a few years later there were only 150 to 200 Jews left, and by 1971 the community no longer existed.
bibliography:
J. Saphir, Even Sappir (1866), 8a; J.M. Landau, Jews in Nineteenth-Century Egypt (1969), 38–40. L. Bornstein-Makovetsky, in: J.M. Landau (ed.), Toledot ha-Yehudim be-Miẓraimba-Tekufah ha-Otmanit (1988), 143, 150, 160; S. Della Pergola, in: ibid., 42; E. Bashan, in: ibid., 95. A. David, in: ibid., 16.
[Eliyahu Ashtor and
Jacob M. Landau /
Leah Bornstein-Makovetsky (2nd ed.)]