HAYAT Origin of surname
Surnames derive from one of many different origins. Sometimes there may be more than one explanation for the same name. This family name derives from an occupation (also connected with raw material, finished product or implements associated with that trade).
Jiat is a spelling variant of Khiat, which means "tailor" in Arabic. The Arab prefix "El-"/"Al-" means "the". In medieval Spanish documents the name is sometimes spelled Alfayat. The name (and variants) is recorded as a Jewish family name in the following examples: in the 13th century, Cedillo Alfayat was indeed a tailor in Jerez, Spain; in the 14th century, Jocef Bar Yom Tov Khayat is mentioned in a legal document dated 1325 (Tammuz 28, 5085) in Pamplona, Spain, concerning debts of the Jewish community.
Helwan
(Place)Helwan
In Arabic: حلوان
A town south of Cairo, north-east Egypt.
The Jewish community of Helwan was founded in 1885. In that year David Museiri, a money-changer, one of the notables of the community of Cairo, was appointed in charge of the financial matters of the construction of the railway line between Cairo and Helwan. He brought fifty Jewish families from the Jewish quarter (Harat Al-Yahud) of Cairo, to operate the new line. Since then Helwan has developed into a winter resort and attracted rich Jewish people, many of whom later settled in it.
David Museiri was the first head of the community. His son Abraham succeeded him. The first rabbi of the community was Rabbi Shushan. In the 1930’s and 1940’s Rabbi Pisanti was the rabbi. He was followed by Hakham Abraham Mishan, who was also the shohet (ritual slaughterer) and hazzan (cantor). Mishan witnessed the liquidation of the community in 1952.
In the 1940’s there were about 40 Jewish families in Helwan. The gabbai (warden) of the synagogue was Habib Vidal. The Rabbi Yom-Tov Levy (Tantawi) used to deliver a sermon after the prayer service of minhah every Sabbath. The life of the community centred around the synagogue built in 1889 by the Jewish philanthropist Felix Suarez, one of the great entrepreneurs of the Jewish community of Cairo.
The number of worshippers of the synagogue varied. In the summer months many members of the community left the town to spend the hot season at the summer resorts on the shores of the Mediterranean, mainly at Ras Al-Bar near Dumyat, so that it was difficult to assemble a minyan. In the winter months more than fifty worshippers attended the synagogue for the public prayers, as many Jews from other towns used to spend the winter at Helwan.
From the beginning of the 1940’s a Talmud torah functioned at the synagogue. It was founded by the couple Esther and Joseph Azulai and was attended by boys and girls 10-15 years old on Sundays and Thursdays, 4 hours each day. The curriculum consisted of three principal subjects: learning the prayers and the Jewish festivals; rehearsing the Sabbath and festival hymns for performance by the synagogue’s choir; learning the Hebrew language out of textbooks from Eretz Israel. On the other weekdays the children attended the missionary French school.
Economically the Jews of Helwan were comfortable and most of them belonged to the upper middle class. They engaged mostly in trade, some of them were big business people, others owners of stores, and others worked for government and public companies. The three top hotels of Helwan were owned by Jews: Barzilai hotel by the Barzilai family, Jeni Palas hotel by Joe Cavallier, ands a third hotel by another Jew. David Museiri and his sons Abraham, Sliman and Morris engaged in the exchange of money, the distribution of foreign newspapers, and in lottery tickets. They founded the first department store for textiles and fashion wear.
During the First World War (1914-1918) some of the Jews of Helwan moved to Cairo and the community absorbed Jewish refugees from Eretz Israel and Europe. At the end of the war the rich Jews whose business places remained in Helwan returned to live at the town. Among the prominent Jewish business people in the 1940’s were: Baghdadi, the owner of the deli delicatessen chain; Elkanti, who managed the sulfur springs and the health baths; Levy, the owner of the chocolate factory Ika; Muas, textile people; the brothers Victor and Habib Vidal, the owners of the largest printing press in the town; Feldman, the owner of the only photo studio at Helwan; and Vadish; a government official. Other notable families were: Hayat, Shammas, Ben Simon, and Shem-Tov, whose business places were in Cairo but lived at Helwan.
The Zionist activity among the Jews of Helwan was expressed by providing textbooks in Hebrew from Eretz Israel, by visits of the Helwan Zionist activists to Eretz Israel and by visits of emissaries from Eretz Israel to Helwan. Jews from Helwan acquired land in Eretz Israel already in the 1930’s. The Zionist activity was quiet, not to arouse the attention of the authorities. Jewish volunteers from Eretz Israel to the British army during World War II were accommodated by Habib Vidal at his house and they taught the local Jews Hebrew songs. When the State of Israel was declared on the 15th of May 1948 some members of the community were arrested on the charge of Zionist activity. The Talmud torah was closed down by the authorities. Joseph Azulai and Habib Vidal were detained in a detention camp for some 18 months. Since then harassment of the Jews of Helwan occurred repeatedly from time to time. The property of Victor Vidal was foreclosed by the government of King Farouk.
When Gamal Abdul Nasser came to power in 1952, Helwan became the center of steel industries and it turned to be a workers town. The Jews of Helwan then moved to Cairo. Some of them emigrated to Israel and the community was liquidated. The synagogue building was sold in the early 1990’s and was demolished.