Meir Bernstein, an Israeli-American from Monsey, was detained by Egyptian police after he davened at the kever of Rav Yaakov Abuchatzeira (the Abir Yaakov, 1806–1880) in the Nile Delta city of Damanhour.
Since 2011, when Egypt stopped allowing Jews to daven at the holy site on a regular basis, it was last visited by the Israeli Ambassador Dovid Guvrin in 2017.
“I saw no guard there, the place was closed and deserted, I did not know it is forbidden to take photos there, there was no sign warning about it, so I began davening outside the place on a chair next to the window while taking photos,” Bernstein recalled. “Suddenly, a plainclothes policeman appeared and asked if I was Israeli. I said ‘no.’ The truth is I was a little apprehensive because after all, it was Egypt, not Australia or Sweden. But I believed that thanks to the tzaddik, nothing bad would happen to me.”
“After about an hour,” Burnstein continued, “the Damanhur police chief appeared. He spoke good English. He told me he did not object to people coming to daven, but that they must get permission through the Egyptian embassy.”
Complaining that the tziyun is surrounded by garbage, Burnstein said it was time to renovate the site and allow Jews to visit there.
In another incident, Israelis vacationing in Sinai were detained for two days after photographing themselves waving Israeli flags.
