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Al-Kalīm was a bimonthly Arabic journal of the Karaite Jews of Egypt published in Cairo between 1945 and 1957. The name al-Kalīm (Ar. The Speaker) alludes to an epithet of the prophet Moses, who was known for speaking with God. Al-Kalīm covered the news of Karaite communities both in Egypt and worldwide. Its first issue appeared on February 16, 1945, following a period of around eight years in which no Karaite newspaper had been published in Egypt.From its founding until the declaration of independence of the State of Israel in May 1948 and afterwards, Al-Kalīm covered political and worl…

Léon Casṭro was born in Izmir, Ottoman Turkey, in 1884 and died in Egypt in 1954 (?). A lawyer, journalist, publicist, and Zionist leader, he was one of the founders of the Cairo branch of B’nai B’rith, a leader of the Zionist Organization in Cairo in the 1920s, and president of the Zionist Federation of Egypt from 1944. Also a supporter of the nationalist Wafd Party, he was very close to its leader, Saʿd Zaghlūl, and accompanied him on several journeys to Western Europe to explain the Wafd’s demand for full Egyptian independence. At Zaghlūl’s request he became chief…

La Vara (The Rod) was a biweekly Judeo-Spanish journal published in Cairo in Rashi script from 1905 to 1908. The noted historian, educator, and author Abraham Galanté (1873–1961), its founder and chief editor, had moved to Egypt in 1904 in the aftermath of a dispute with the leaders of the Jewish community in Izmir (Smyrna). The author of dozens of articles and books about Turkish Jewry, Galanté targeted a predominantly Jewish audience, and devoted most of the pages of La Vara to attacks on the institutions and leaders of Ottoman Jewry, especially in Turkey. In the very fir…

La Tribune Juive was a French-language weekly that appeared in Alexandria between 1936 and 1948. It was the most important political journal of the Jewish press in Egypt during the 1940s. Its beginnings go back to  Judea, an unsuccessful journal founded in January 1936 under the editorship of Jacques Rabin (1912–1991), who had many years of journalistic experience in Egypt’s French-language press. In February 1936 a Jew of Polish origin named Mendel Kalkstein submitted a request for a license to publish La Tribune Juive. A short while after its first issues appeared, he emigra…

LʾAurore was a pro-Zionist French-language Jewish weekly in Cairo between 1924 and 1941. Its owner and first editor was Lucien Sciuto (1858–1947), a journalist, author, and educator. He had originally begun publishing L’Aurore in Istanbul, but was forced to close because of disputes with the leaders of the local Jewish community. He moved to Egypt in 1919 and there resumed publication of L’Aurore. In contrast to the weekly Israël, which appeared in Cairo during the same period, L’Aurore was critical and even provocative. Its editorial policy soon led to friction between…

In March 1917 Jack N. Mosseri (1884–1934) was appointed president of the Zionist Organization in Egypt. As one of his first acts, he provided the organization with an official organ— La Revue Sioniste, a bimonthly French-language journal. Its first issue appeared in January 1918, and it continued intermittently until 1924.Under the editorship of the lawyer and Zionist leader Léon Castro (1884–1954?), La Revue Sioniste reported on the activities of the Zionist movement in Egypt and around the world. In two articles early in 1923, Lucien Magnes called upon Mi…

Albert Staraselski was born in 1903 in Cairo into a family that had emigrated from Russia to Palestine before making its way to Egypt at the end of the nineteenth century. From an early age, he wrote for the French-language Jewish press in Egypt, often using his nickname, Stara, as a pseudonym. In the 1920s and 1930s, he was considered one of the most colorful of Egypt’s Jewish journalists. In 1923, he went to France, where he joined the Zionist movement and became the secretary and right-hand man to Zeʾev Jabotinsky (1880–1940), the founder of Revisionist Zionism. Upon his return to Egy…

La Voix Juive was a French-language weekly that appeared in Alexandria between 1931 and 1933. Its chief editor was the charismatic Albert Staraselski (1903–1980), who established Revisionist Zionism in Egypt and used the paper to promote the Revisionist program. La Voix Juive had the support of the chief rabbi, David Praṭo (1882–1951), and other Alexandrian Jewish notables. It penetrated wide segments of the Jewish community of Egypt thanks in part to Staraselski’s well-written, carefully organized articles but also to its relatively low price…

Jacques Maleḥ (Elmaleḥ) was a banker, writer, and journalist, born in Cairo in 1906. He began his literary career with a book entitled Chimères, published in Paris in 1927, and in 1935 published the novel Deux cœurs et dieux. He was a member of the Essayistes literary circle in Cairo, founded by Elian J. Finbert (1899–1976), who in the course of time became a noted author in France.In July 1931 Maleḥ took over as chief editor of the weekly L’Aurore in place of Lucien Sciuto (1858–1947), its owner and editor, who was experiencing economic and personal difficulties. Maleḥ obtained support from B’…

Al-Ittiḥād al-Isrāʾīlī was a bimonthly Karaite Arabic-language journal published in Cairo between April 1924 and 1929. Its appearance followed a period of twenty years during which there were no Karaite newspapers in Egypt. As compared to the country’s other Karaite publications, al-Ittiḥād took a favorable view of Zionism. On November 3, 1925, for example, it published an article on the importance of Zionism for the revival of the Jewish people and categorically denied claims in the Arabic press that Karaite Jews opposed Zionism. Al-Ittiḥād also reported news from Karaite com…

Albert Mizraḥi, born in Cairo in 1916, began his career in journalism as a press photographer and later as a crime reporter for Arabic- and French-language newspapers. He eventually became a newspaper publisher in his own right, and won great respect for his courageous decision to break out of the parochial realm of the Jewish press and direct his papers to a broader Egyptian audience. In 1944, he founded al-Tasʿira (The Price List), a paper that focused on business and finance, and regularly ran a list of prices for products under governmental supervision. It s…