Hussein Aboubakr was born in 1989 to an Arab Muslim family in Cairo, Egypt. Hussein studied Jewish and Middle Eastern history and Hebrew literature at the Faculty of Arts and Oriental Studies Department at Cairo University. Persecuted by state police for his research at the Israeli Academic Center of Cairo, Hussein participated in the Egyptian revolution until he was forced to depart Egypt as a political refugee. He now lives in the United States. He is a member of JIMENA: Jews Indigenous to the Middle East and North Africa, an organization based in San Francisco.
Hussein Aboubakr Mansour shares his personal story of growing up in Egypt, while having an interest for the Jewish culture, religion, and traditions. He tells groups about his childhood and the indoctrination he experienced around anti-Semitism from his family, school, and friends. He, however, still found an interest in the Jewish people and began to study the culture, religion, and language (Hebrew) as he attended college. While in college though, the Tahir square incident occurred and he was among the many protestors who was there fighting for a future for the Egyptian people. He was put in jail for his involvement in the protest and his studies in school. He ended up spending over a year in prison for this. He was able to escape from this situation though and sought political asylum here in the United States. He shares this story to encourage others to stand up for what they believe in and to have a voice against the injustices that happen around the world, which include the demonization and de-legitimization of the state of Israel.
This program will be followed by ma’ariv and Havdalah.