From: Uriel

Dear Rabbi,

I seem to remember something in the Torah about Jews not being allowed to return to Egypt. It occurred to me that if this is true, how were Jewish communities living there for so many years, including great rabbis? Wasn’t Rambam also from Egypt? Thanks for explaining this.

Dear Uriel,

Your memory hasn’t failed you. Rambam (Melachim 5:7-8) writes that the Torah prohibits returning to Egypt in three different verses: “You shall never see the Egyptians anymore” (Ex. 14:13); “You shall not return on that way anymore” (Deut. 17:16); “You shall not see Egypt again” (Deut. 28:68).

The following excerpt from the Talmud is a poignant example of the severity of this prohibition:

“Whoever has not seen the Double Colonnade of Alexandria in Egypt has not seen the glory of Israel. It was like a huge basilica that contained twice the number of men who went out from Egypt [2 times 600,000], and there were seventy-one golden armchairs for seventy-one sages, and each chair was no less than twenty-one talents of gold. And a wooden pulpit was in the middle of the palace where the attendant of the congregation stood with a scarf in his hand, and when the time came in the prayer to respond “Amen,” he raised the flag, [to enable those who couldn’t hear on account of the great crowd to see when to respond] and the whole people said, ‘Amen’. And they did not sit mixed, rather the goldsmiths, silversmiths, blacksmiths, coppersmiths and weavers all sat separately. And when a poor man went in, he recognized his fellow-tradesmen and went to them, and received work to support himself and his family. Abaye said: And they were all killed by [Trajan (see endnote)]. Why were they so punished? Because they transgressed the passage, ‘You shall not return on that way anymore’” (Succah 51b).

The Jews of Alexandria in ancient times were punished despite their apparent commitment to mitzvot and charity, solely on account of being in Egypt. If this is the case, how did loyal Jews throughout the centuries, including leading rabbis, justify moving to and remaining in Egypt?

One explanation suggests that the prohibition against returning to Egypt is based on the verse, “You shall never see the Egyptians anymore”, which intends to outlaw living among the ancient Egyptians who were a wicked and immoral people. Since our sources say that Sanacherib uprooted and mixed all the peoples of the Near East, the inhabitants of Egypt are not the same people as the ancient Egyptians, and it should be permitted to live among them. This explanation is not satisfactory though, since the above account of Alexandria refers to a period long after Sanacherib and yet the community was held accountable (Hagahot Maimoniot 2,3).

Another explanation is based on the specific wording of the verse which associates the prohibition of returning to Egypt “on that way”. According to this, the prohibition is only to return to Egypt along the same way the Jews left, namely between Israel and Egypt. But to move to Egypt from other countries would be permitted (Yireim ch. 309). However, this explanation is also lacking. If the problem is specifically returning the way we came, perhaps it should only apply to the track they took. Another route on land, or by sea should be all right. Anyway, it seems quite arbitrary to limit return to Egypt from Israel and not from other places. Perhaps the emphasis is more spiritual than geographical, and the intention is that one may not leave the Land of Israel for Egypt. But if so, why should leaving Israel to Egypt be worse than to any other country?

In any case, the general prohibition of the third verse, “You shall not see Egypt again”, seems to be independent of who is living there or how one gets there. So how did the faithful Jewish communities and their rabbis settle and remain there?

A third explanation is based on the teaching of our Sages in the Jerusalem Talmud (Sanhedrin 10:7), “to dwell there you may not return, but for the purpose of business or to conquer you may return”. Accordingly, all those Jews who initially moved to Egypt did so not with the intention of staying there permanently, but only temporarily for the purpose of making a living. Once they were successful, they should have left. But at that point logistic difficulties in leaving and lack of significantly greater economic opportunities elsewhere resulted in their staying (Radbaz 7). This is apparently different than the account of Alexandria above, where perhaps with their great wealth, they could have returned and brought prosperity to the Land of Israel.

Your mention of Rambam may serve as a case in point. Rambam was not born in Egypt, but moved there later in life. Born in Cordova, Spain in 1135, he learned Torah from his father R’ Maimon who was in the chain of disciples of the great R’ Alfasi (the Rif). In 1148, his family fled the fanatical Berber Almohades, eventually reaching Fez, Morrocco. There, as a result of helping other persecuted Jews, his family was endangered and they fled to the Land of Israel. The dire living conditions they found there resulted in the family’s moving to Cairo. There he served as rabbi for the Jews of Egypt until his death; but as a result of his family’s loss of estate, he was forced to earn a living as a doctor, eventually becoming the Sultan’s court physician. Other well-known rabbis who lived in Egypt were R’ Saadya Gaon (b. Egypt) and R’ Ya’akov Beirav (b. Spain). R’ Betzalel Ashkenazi (Shita Mekubetzet) and the Arizal (b. Jerusalem) learned there in the yeshiva established by Radbaz.

Rambam himself writes about the prohibition to settle permanently in Egypt, and implies that remaining after the initial permission to do business is not just a minor infraction but an outright transgression. If so, according to his opinion, how was he able to stay there? Radbaz (Ibid) explains, “He was forced to stay by the government, since he was the doctor of the king and the ministers. And I also settled there for a long time in order to learn Torah, to teach it, and to build a Yeshiva, which is permitted, and then I returned to Jerusalem.”

Despite this explanation, and perhaps more to express his longing for the Land of Israel, a descendant of Rambam, R’ Shemuel, said that Rambam signed his name, “Moshe ben Maimon, he who transgresses the prohibition ‘You shall not return on that way anymore’” (Caftor v’Perach ch. 5, v’Omer). However, Sede Chemed doubts this (vol. 3, ma’arechet yod, klal 46).

Sources/Notes:

• The Babylonian Talmud (Succah 51b) quoted here says it was Alexander of Macedon (the Great) who killed the Jews of Alexandria. But the commentaries note that he lived much earlier in Greek times and actually encouraged Jewish settlement in Egypt. According to the Jewish-Greek philosopher Philo of Alexandria, more than a million Jews lived in Egypt of his day with 250,000 in Alexandria alone. This was more than the Jews of Jerusalem who numbered about 200,000. Abarbanel writes, therefore, that our text refers to a different Alexander in Roman times. The Vilna Gaon writes that the text should not say “Alexander” but rather “Trocinus”, based on the same account brought in the Yerushalmi (Succah 5:1) referring to the massacre of the Jews in Alexandria under Trajan in 116 recorded by Eusebius.