The Cattaoui Family

The anteriority of the Jewish presence in Egypt far exceeds the appearance of the name Cattaoui. The community of Egypt plunges its roots into a multimillennial history, from the Hellenistic and Roman era through the centuries of Islamic domination, as Joseph Mélèze-Modrzejewski has masterfully retraced in his study of the Jews of Egypt, "de Ramsès II à Hadrien" [Mélèze-Modrzejewski, 1991]. It is in this ancient soil that a family takes root in the modern era, a family whose name preserves the trace of a precise village in the Delta.

Scholarly tradition moreover connects the Cattaoui to a learned figure of the seventeenth century. Joseph Sambari, the historian who lived in the seventeenth century, is evoked by the Encyclopaedia Judaica in connection with the earliest mentions of the family [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica]. A family memory, transmitted through Sephardic studies, further holds that one of the first known Cattaoui, Youssef (Joseph), composed two volumes on the history of the world and a history of Egypt in Hebrew [The Contributions of Sephardic Jews to the Economic and Industrial Development of Egypt]. Here, tradition and archive speak to each other without merging: the fact is plausible, transmitted, yet the attestation remains fragile. It nonetheless reveals a virtue that would run through the lineage — the attachment to knowledge and to writing, that love of study which the Memory of Israel places at the heart of its fidelity.

It is at the end of the eighteenth century that the family established itself durably in Cairo, integrating progressively into the circle of notables and administrators who gravitated around power. From the village modesty of Qatta to the capital, the journey is one of a slow ascent, preparing the entrance upon the stage of the man who would truly make of this name a dynasty.

The recognized founder of the lineage is Jacob — Yacoub — Cattaoui (1800/1801-1883). The founder of the dynasty, Yacoub Cattaui Bey (1800-83), was a high administrator in the Egyptian government and a confidant of the viceroys and khedives [The House of Yacoub Cattaui]. His rise matched the ascendancy of Egypt under Méhémet Ali and his successors.

The functions he exercised bear witness to the exceptional confidence placed in a Jew within the state apparatus. Jacob obtained numerous concessions from the government, such as the management of customs, the operation of flour mills in the Cairo vicinity, and the development of new quarters of the city [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica]. Above all, an unprecedented distinction fell to him: he was the first Jew of Egypt to be honored with the title of "Bey," and under the reign of Khedive Abbas I (1849-1854), he was appointed director of the treasury [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica]. Genealogy confirms him in his highest financial positions: director of the mint, treasury, and finance, banker to Ismail Pasha, he was the founder of the Cattaui dynasty, foremost of the great Jewish families of Egypt [Geneanet — Yacoub Cattaui].

The man lived in the splendor of his rank. He lived in opulent luxury in the fashionable quarter of Shubra, where successive sovereigns had established their residence [The House of Yacoub Cattaui]. The family left the Jewish quarter, the Haret el-Yahoud, to live in Shubra, a residential quarter of the governors [Geneanet — Yacoub Cattaui].

But the greatness of Jacob Cattaoui is not measured solely by his proximity to power. Toward the end of his life, he turned his office toward the service of his own: in his old age, Jacob became president of the Jewish community of Cairo, a function he exercised until his death in 1883 [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica] [Geneanet — Yacoub Cattaui]. This shift, from service to the prince to service to the community, speaks to a cardinal virtue of Judaism: collective responsibility, the idea that individual success binds one to the House of Israel. In this, the founder gave his descendants the model they would follow for a century.

Jacob was succeeded by his son Moïse — Musa — Cattaoui (1850-1924), who continued and amplified his father's work. After the death of Yaqub in 1883, his son Musa Qattawi (1850-1924) carried on the family legacy; he became a member of the Egyptian Parliament and received the title of "Pasha" [Jewish Legacy in Egypt — Horus Academy].

Under his leadership, the family combined economic power with commitment to the country's modernization. Under his direction, the Qattawi family became heavily involved in Egypt's infrastructure and industry; they played a decisive role in the construction of the Sha'ar Hashamayim synagogue on Adly Street in 1899, a monument for the Jewish community of Cairo [Jewish Legacy in Egypt — Horus Academy]. This place of worship remains today the most visible testimony to their patronage: built between 1903 and 1905 by prominent Jewish families such as the Mosseri and the Qattawi, it blends the styles of ancient Egypt and European Art Nouveau [Sha'ar HaShamayim Synagogue — Wanderlog]. The Sha'ar Hashamayim — the "Gate of Heaven" — remains the largest surviving synagogue in the city, in the heart of downtown Cairo, on Adly Street [Sha'ar HaShamayim Synagogue — Wanderlog].

The building of a house of prayer is no minor matter: it is the concrete expression of piety and communal charity. In endowing Cairo with a monumental sanctuary, the Cattaoui extended an immemorial gesture of Israel — to build the house where prayer gathers the scattered people. Their action did not stop at the threshold of the sanctuary. In 1903, the family contributed to the establishment of the Cairo Stock Exchange [Jewish Legacy in Egypt — Horus Academy], thus participating in the financial growth of a nation in full transformation. Economic action, here, was not merely accumulation: it irrigated the urban fabric, industry, and created the instruments of shared prosperity.

This commitment was accompanied by a dense charitable network specific to the Cairo community. The Communities, recalls the memorialist Alec Nacamuli, maintained a vast network of charitable works: hospitals, "The Drop of Milk" for needy children and orphans, old people's homes, and even a fund to provide dowries for young girls from poor families [Nacamuli, The Jews of Egypt: from Arabs to Nasser]. In this context where the Cattaoui figured among the foremost notables, tsedaka — justice made charity — found embodiment in lasting institutions.

The most remarkable figure in the lineage is undoubtedly Joseph Aslan Cattaoui Pacha. Joseph Aslan Cattaui Pacha (20 March 1862 – 1942) was an Egyptian businessman and politician who served as president of the Jewish community of Cairo from 1924 until his death in 1942 [Joseph Cattaui — Wikipedia].

His education distinguished him: it marked the family's entry into technical and scientific modernity. Born in Cairo on 20 March 1862, fourth of twelve children of Aslan Menasce Cattaui Pacha and Grazia Benroubi, he studied engineering at École centrale de Paris, from which he graduated in 1882; returning to Egypt, he briefly joined the Ministry of Public Works [Joseph Cattaui — Wikipedia]. He took the helm of the community following the death of his uncle: upon Moses's death, the leadership of the Cairo community was assumed by his nephew Joseph Aslan Cattaui (1861-1942) [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica].

His public career reached heights rarely matched by a Jew in the Arab world. In 1922, Joseph Aslan was appointed to the committee charged with drafting the Egyptian Constitution of 1923; in 1924, he was named Minister of Finance, and in 1925, Minister of Communications; from 1927 to 1936, he served as senator [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica]. His appointment was hailed by the press: the newspaper L'Aurore expressed in November 1924 the genuine joy of the community at the announcement of his appointment to the Ministry of Finance in the new Egyptian cabinet [L'Aurore, 28 November 1924, National Library of Israel]. Retirement was imposed upon him by illness: in 1938, due to paralysis, he was forced to step down [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica].

His participation in drafting the 1923 Constitution merits closer attention: it exemplifies a rare political virtue, that of the minority member who places his knowledge at the service of the common law, in the talmudic spirit of dina de-malkhuta dina — the recognition of the legal order of the country in which one lives. Joseph Aslan thus participated in the construction of an Egyptian rule of law while remaining the guardian of his community. Egyptian Judaism of that era remarkably reconciled the two loyalties: the community, Nacamuli reminds us, acted as civil authority, registering births, marriages and deaths, with French as the official language [Nacamuli, Les Juifs d'Égypte]. This dual belonging, to Egypt and to Israel, was not experienced as a contradiction, but as a harmony.

Beyond political figures, the Cattaoui left a profound material imprint on modern Cairo. The family's architectural branch offers the most tangible example. Maurice Cattaui possessed properties among the Cattaoui family's real estate holdings and, most famously, had the synagogue on Adly Street in Cairo built [Diarna — Maurice Cattaui and Edward Matasek]. Associated with architect Edward Matasek, he championed large-scale projects: in 1907, Cattaui proposed the construction of a building for the Cairo Stock Exchange [Diarna — Maurice Cattaui and Edward Matasek].

The family's influence also stemmed from its integration into the country's banking and industrial fabric. Economic historiography notes that Jews of Egypt were found on the boards of administration of nearly all banks established in the late nineteenth century. Associated with French, English, and other capital, Jews of Egypt sat on the boards of administration of virtually all banks that established themselves in Egypt in the late nineteenth century: from the National Bank of Egypt, which would become the country's central bank, to the Crédit foncier égyptien [La confiscation des biens juifs en pays arabes, Cairn]. The Cattaoui were at the forefront of this movement, contributing notably to the financing of the railway network.

This expansion was inscribed in official recognition. During the two world wars, Jews developed local industries that contributed to national revenue and created jobs for Egyptians; in recognition of their efforts, many received the title of "Bey" or "Pasha" from the sovereigns of Egypt [The Contributions of Sephardic Jews]. Here is expressed a virtue that Jewish tradition holds in high esteem: economic action conceived as tikkoun 'olam, repair and improvement of the world, where individual prosperity is justified by the good it produces for the city as a whole. The Cattaoui were not mere financiers; they were builders, in the most concrete sense, of modern Egypt.

The third and fourth generations continued their community engagement, until history came to close the great Egyptian Great Book of the Cattaoui. Joseph Aslan's son, Aslan (1890-1962), born in Alexandria, was appointed in 1938 to his father's senate seat, which he held until the end of the 1940s [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica]. Joseph Aslan's other son, René (1896-?), assisted his father in managing community affairs; in 1943, he was elected president of the Cairo Jewish community [Cattaui — Encyclopaedia Judaica].

Thus the presidency of the Cairo Jewish community remained, over nearly a century, almost continuously in the hands of the family — from Jacob in the 1870s to René in 1943. This continuity speaks to a constancy in service: from generation to generation, the Cattaoui assumed the burden — often heavy, sometimes perilous — of watching over their own. Engagement in collective life, avodat ha-tsibbour, that service to the community which tradition places among the highest obligations, was the hallmark of the lineage.

The mid-twentieth century brought trial. The political upheavals of Egypt — the rise of nationalisms, the wars, then the Nasserist period — hastened the decline of a multi-secular Egyptian Judaism, once rich in dozens of synagogues: Cairo counted nearly 25 synagogues, including the Great Synagogue on Adly Street and that of Ben Ezra, famous for its Genizah [Nacamuli, Les Juifs d'Égypte]. The French and international family preserved the memory of what its Cairo grandeur had been. The 1923 Constitution, to which Joseph Aslan had contributed, and the synagogue on Adly Street, which the Cattaoui had built, remain — one in texts, the other in stone — monuments of a presence that was.

From the humble village of Qatta to the pinnacle of the Egyptian state, the Cattaoui lineage traversed in a century a path that condenses the history of modern Eastern Judaism: economic ascension, integration into the apparatus of a modernizing state, stubborn loyalty to the community, then exile. The narrative, grounded in archival evidence and reference catalogs, leaves little room for legend; it is all the more eloquent for that.

If one had to name, above all, the virtue that this family best expressed, it would be involvement in collective life — that avodat ha-tsibbour that made them, from Jacob to René, the almost hereditary presidents of the Jewish community of Cairo. Among the Cattaoui, success was never an end in itself: it obligated. The banker became guardian of the community; the engineer, constituent and minister; the financier, builder of synagogues and patron of charitable works. In this, they embodied an intuition that the memory of Israel has carried since the sages of the Talmud: that he who receives much must give more, and that a man's prosperity is worth only by the good it spreads over the community and the city. Their singular history thus joins the long chain of those who, in the land of diaspora, knew how to be both fully of Israel and fully of their country.